New York 2140

January 9, 2017
Unlike J.G. Ballard’s The Drowned World, which was also set on a mid-22nd-century Earth devastated by global warming but focused on the effects of that cataclysm on the human psyche, Robinson’s latest near-future novel examines the political and economic implications of dramatically higher ocean levels, specifically their effects on New York City. The writing, ironically, is dry; several sections are exposition-heavy. They not only explain why 2140 Lower Manhattan is submerged but contain dense analyses of how investments in real estate could be evaluated via a “kind of specialized Case-Shiller index for intertidal assets.” Such sections illustrate the comprehensive thought Robinson (2312) has given to his imagined future, but they slow down the various interesting narrative threads, which concern a diverse cast of characters, including a reality-TV star who travels above the U.S. aboard an airship; the superintendent of the old MetLife building, which now contains a boathouse; and an NYPD inspector called in to investigate the disappearance of two coders. Readers open to an optimistic projection of how humans could handle an increasingly plausible environmental catastrophe will find the info dumps worth wading through. Agent: Chris Schelling, Selectric Artists.

February 15, 2017
The Big Apple persists, despite climactic disasters that have flooded the lower floors of New York City's buildings and turned the metropolis into a so-called "SuperVenice."Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City meets George Turner's Drowning Towers in this series of interconnected narratives concerning the residents of the Met Life tower, a historic skyscraper converted into a co-op. The head of the co-op board and the building's super fend off an offer to purchase the building from a shadowy corporation so determined to buy that they're willing to sabotage the building's infrastructure. Two coders living in an inflatable structure on the building's farm floor are held prisoner in an underwater container after one of them hacks the financial system. A tough cop investigates the coders' disappearance and links it to a wide-ranging conspiracy. An ambitious trader tries altruism and civic improvement to impress a woman. A pair of "water rats" (homeless boys with a boat) search for sunken gold in the Bronx. And a media star famous for her "assisted migrations" tries to transport polar bears in her dirigible from the warming Arctic to cooler Antarctica. This offers parallels to Robinson's previous novel, Aurora, which also featured an ecosystem in distress (in that case, a generational spaceship). Of course, this being Robinson, there are plenty of infodumps, mostly on climate, finance, and history, with some trenchant commentary on both gentrification and the perils inherent in ignoring human damage to the environment. But he also lightens the mood with a heavy dose of witty epigrams, including two delightfully relevant quotes from the children's classic The Pushcart War. And exploring this vastly changed cityscape, where familiar streets are replaced by skybridges and subways by vaporettos, is great fun. A post-disaster fairy tale that's light on plot and heavy on improbable coincidences but a thoroughly enjoyable exercise in worldbuilding, written with a cleareyed love for the city's past, present, and future.

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February 15, 2017
The year is 2140, the city is New York, and the tale is one of adventure, intrigue, relationships, and market forces. Global warming has caused a sea rise in two Great Pulses, as they became known, raising sea level around the world some 50 feet. New York has become a Super Venice, with many lower Manhattan skyscrapers becoming massive, semi-self-sufficient, residential co-ops. The focus of the story is the former Metlife building, which now houses some 2000-plus people from all walks of life. We follow the narrative from several residents' perspectives as well as through an unnamed citizen, the voice of the city itself. The cast is large and varied; just to name a few, the chief inspector of the NYPD, a dirigible captain and reality star turned animal rescue activist, two treasure hunting scamps, and the impassioned co-op executive board chairperson who is trying to help refugees from the rising waters. The individual threads weave together into a complex story well worth the read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

November 1, 2016

Sf great Robinson, winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards, takes us to 22nd-century New York City, which has been semisubmerged by rising waters. But, hey, New Yorkers are tough, and they turn the streets into canals. With a 100,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2017

In the 22nd century a series of climate disasters and ocean level risings have left New York City partially underwater. In Manhattan, the old Met Life building is one of the skyscrapers-turned-islands that houses residents determined to stay in the city. Robinson focuses on those residents to tell a story of real estate, finance, climate change, treasure hunting, and kidnapping. Two missing computer programmers bring an unusual mix of the Met residents together, including a financial trader, the building super, a tenants' rights advocate, a police inspector, and two intrepid orphans. Robinson (Aurora; "Mars" trilogy) writes dense sf that often has an ecological bent. His large cast of characters provide appealing windows into his near-future world, but the cityscape itself is the most interesting protagonist, with New York ringed by superskyscrapers housing the rich as well as the lower regions of canals, collapsing buildings, and encroaching tides. The only frustration in this ambitious and impressive work is that the author relies too heavily on information dumps to fill in the details of climate change, explain the financial world, and liberally sprinkle fascinating nuggets of New York history. VERDICT Robinson's many admirers and sf readers who enjoy ecofiction will want this. [See Prepub Alert, 10/6/16.]--MM

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.