Reflection's Edge

Book Review: The Age of the Conglomerates, by Thomas Nevins

Reviewer: Kyle White

In the future, you're either a member of the Conglomerate party, or an outcast. Can the Coots and Dyscards survive in this bleak world? Maybe with a little help from each other.

One should be suspicious when a book's prologue consists of nothing more than a massive info-dump, devoid of any action, character introductions, or dialogue.

Briefly, The Age of the Conglomerates: A Novel of the Future is set in 2048 after all safety nets - Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, etc. - have failed. This leaves the Conglomerates, a powerful political party, to rule the United States Big Brother-style.

Therein ends the futuristic feel of the book. The rest of the story reads as if it could have been set in 2008. No surprising technologies. No disturbing intrusions into personal space (such as George Orwell's Thought Police). The book might as well take place in today's world with the current presidential administration.

The Age of the Conglomerates deals with three themes that could have been intriguing, but are presented in a pedestrian fashion. The elderly, or Coots, are stripped of their possessions when they turn 80 and forced to relocate to government camps in the desert Southwest. Nevins tries to make this sound horrifying (they eat oatmeal for breakfast - every day!) but fails.

Unwanted children, or Dyscards, are sold by their parents to the state and forced to live in city subways. Handled correctly, this could have sent chills down readers' spines. Nevins tries to offer a sense of the overcrowding and deprivation, but it's unbelievable. Instead, the kids (whose ages vary from newborns to adulthood) have shelter, food, electricity and a medical center that would rival even today's top hospitals. The author never details how this ragtag group achieved such luxuries. The rest of society, supposedly members of the Conglomerate party, is enamored with creating the perfect baby through genetic manipulation. This could have been the strongest theme, but falls flat, and serves as nothing more than a backdrop for the story's predictable ending.

The ultimate problem with the book, however, stems from Nevins' writing style. Throughout the work, he continues to dump information in long, dissertation-like paragraphs that bring what little action exists to a grinding halt. Worse, the characters are one-dimensional and lack logical motivation. The dialogue is sparse, and when characters finally do speak, they all sound like Harvard-educated Ph.D. candidates (especially the Dyscards). Nevins missed an opportunity to develop distinctive characters who could have breathed life into this otherwise dull story. As it is, it's both unmemorable and unbelievable - a bad combination for any novel, but particularly so for speculative fiction, and a pass for any reader.

To buy a copy of this book, click here.

If you liked this book, check out:

Anathem, by Neal Stephenson

Firstborn, by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter

Juggler of Worlds, by Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner