The only reason I didn’t like this book more is that I know Carr can write much better. Carr is a historian and a writer. This book which takes place in the near future has a lot of passages that read like “and this is the history that brought us where we are today...” which are good in a historical novel, less so in a sort of space thriller where the protagonist is flying about in an amphibious spaceship with holographic cloaking and wood panelling inside. Also, the foreshadowing is really really clunky, so much so that whatever suspense the book might be able to muster, a lot of it is telegraphed so early, you wind up waiting for it instead of surprised by it.

So, leaving aside that it’s written by Carr, this book is a fun romp. It’s the near future, the greedy capitalists and the governments they own have ruined the world and the Internet is the main source of information for people. A few rich separatists [shades of Atlas Shrugged here] are trying to make it better through a quirky misinformation campaign which is supposed to clue people in to the mess they’re making of things. It works badly, or slowly, and stuff gets destroyed and they get to fly around a lot in the spaceship. It’s fun, has some interesting doomsaying predictions about the path we’re presently on, and is pretty forgettable but fun to read while you’ve got it.