In this long novella published in two parts in the last two issues of Asimov’s, Nancy Kress tells a very action-packed futuristic exciting story with plenty of cool concepts and ideas. It is a future with sort of a next-level AI internet where people interface with it through a brain implant and some have even managed to upload themselves to a digital afterlife, in a cloud setup with no communication to the world of the living. Though all of that is threatened by a recent increase in solar activity.

Asimovs May/June 2025

We follow young Kenda and her 5 year old sister as they are struggling to survive, and are forced to move into an especially bad part of the city in an apartment with frequent “ghost” appearances. As in electromagnetic disturbances from the nearby upload center for the rich dead people that messes with people chip implants. The story also follows Robert who is running for governor, and his daughter Hailey is seeking to get her chip removed as there is a growing sceptical movement on the effects and safety of the implants. The storylines converge in one big plot heavy action adventure.

There is clearly a lot going on in this story, but Kress writes well making the narrative easy and engaging to follow. It is very cinematic in the sense that it feels like scenes playing, with a long string of chapter cliffhangers, foreshadowing and dramatic plot points. While I must admit it makes for an entertaining read, it was also somewhat jarring. Like simply too much, and while Kress have always written stories filled with advanced tech and a dramatic narrative, this jumps the shark in some places and felt almost pulpy.

The story isn’t without some thematic depth though. The whole catastrophic situation it builds up to functions as a reasonable metaphor for how we are dealing with the current threat of climate change. As well as AI for that matter. While all of that is good, I just know that Kress is capable of unpacking such themes with more depth, as the interesting concepts presented here almost drowns in the action movie plot.

Read in Asimov’s March/April & May/June 2025
Rating: 3