The City Inside
Ratings6
Average rating2.8
15
Ratings6
Average rating2.8
A highly anticipated 2022 release for Polygon | The Washington Post | The Nerd Daily | BookBub | The Philadelphia Inquirer | The Portalist | Tor.com The City Inside, a near-future epic by the internationally celebrated Samit Basu, pulls no punches as it comes for your anxieties about society, government, the environment, and our world at large—yet never loses sight of the hopeful potential of the future. “They'd known the end times were coming but hadn’t known they’d be multiple choice.” Joey is a Reality Controller in near-future Delhi. Her job is to supervise the multimedia multi-reality livestreams of Indi, one of South Asia’s fastest rising online celebrities—who also happens to be her college ex. Joey’s job gives her considerable culture power, but she’s too caught up in day-to-day crisis handling to see this, or to figure out what she wants from her life. Rudra is a recluse estranged from his wealthy and powerful family, now living in an impoverished immigrant neighborhood. When his father’s death pulls him back into his family’s orbit, an impulsive job offer from Joey becomes his only escape from the life he never wanted. But as Joey and Rudra become enmeshed in multiple conspiracies, their lives start to spin out of control—complicated by dysfunctional relationships, corporate loyalty, and the never-ending pressures of surveillance capitalism. When a bigger picture begins to unfold, they must each decide how to do the right thing in a world where simply maintaining the status quo feels like an accomplishment. Ultimately, resistance will not—cannot—take the same shape for these two very different people. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Reviews with the most likes.
Probably more of a 3.5 though.
I couldn't read it early despite having the arc because I was in a bad slump. But now that I managed to get the audiobook, I had to give it a try. It's quite well narrated by Reena Dutt and I didn't wanna put it down much. However, despite the lovely voice, I can't say I was completely into the story. I totally believed the world (or a near future Delhi) the author created, which felt both similar to the current political climate in the country and as a natural progression to the future if the authoritarian tendencies of our politicians aren't curbed soon. This world where reality is what we see on social media platforms, and everything is controlled by politicians and corporations and oligarchs, dissent is curbed immediately - there's just so much information here and I was lost in the world, but I also couldn't keep up with it.
On the other hand, I didn't feel the same with the characters. Atleast it felt like Rudra had some kind of a character arc, but Joey who has the biggest presence was more static. I think I understood the reasoning - because most people are going to keep their heads down and work within any existing system, not participate in revolutions - which is what Joey does for the most part, but she also has a good understanding of what she is capable of. The other side characters really weren't ppl I cared about much, or even kinda hated - but that was also the expected reaction I suppose, so the author succeeded.
I guess I'm not disappointed because I knew going in that this book is not about characters participating in a revolution and bringing about drastic changes in their world - it's about the characters realizing that they want to change the system and hope to be part of a resistance. So it stops where most dystopian novels start. However, despite knowing this, this story just felt more like a recounting of all the cool and bad facts of this futuristic world, with not much focus on character development. I would still definitely look forward to the author's work, even more so if he decides to write a sequel for this one.
