Helpful Score: 1
This one I wanted to like a lot more, but once I began talking about it online with my fellow nerds, I took it from 5 to 3½ stars.
The details: The Windup Girl is set in a independent Thailand of the future - a fairly dystopian one at that. Oil is no longer common, carbon credits are traded and enforced harshly because of climate change, giant agriculture companies control food and what is planted harshly and on and on. Plagues are common taking out agricultural species and jumping from animal to human. And its hinted that the agricultural corporations created those plagues. Genetic engineering is common - heck, one of the main characters is a genetically engineered human. And genetically engineered organisms like megadonts and donkeys are common. There are some neat bits in this too - molecular springs that store energy in incredible amounts,kite sailed clipper ships and zeppelins. And, oh yes, Thailand struggles on independent of the great powers and agricultural corporations, thanks to its king and his White Shirts (Environmental Ministry security troops responsible for keeping the nation clear of plagues). But the Ministry of trade yearns to open the Kingdom to the outside of world and that is the basis of much of the struggle in the book.
That's the setting. The characters are neat too. We start with Anderson Lake, manager for Mainspring and a calorie man (reporter of patent violations and scout for new food sources). Lao Gu, a Malay Chinese refugee and Lake's factotum. Capt. Jaidee Rojjanasukchai and Lt. Kanya Chirathivat of the environment ministry. Finally, Emiko, the windup girl of the title. A genetically engineered 'secretary' from Japan abandoned in Thailand by her previous employer. None are particularly sympathetic save Emiko. And Bacigalupi doesn't make any side particularly virtuous either - there aren't any good guys or bad guys here.
Lake's, Lao Gu's and Emiko's stories are all tied together from the beginning. Jaidee's and Kanya's are separate but begins to converge with the others. Especially as the source of new plants becomes apparent to Lake.
This is an interesting book. I'd call it dystopian magical realism. Why? Well, its a dystopia (duh). Magical realism because of the ghost. I will say one character dies fairly early on and becomes one. I also wouldn't call it hard SF. Bacigalupi admits in an interview on io9 that he took all the alternate energy sources (solar, wind, OTEC, geothermal, gengineered plants to create oil, etc.) dragged them outback and shot them in the head to create the setting for his book. He also botches some basic science - one early phrase has the springs Mainspring he's working on will meet gasoline. Well, check the math. The springs he has in the book already beat gasoline in terms of energy storage. I know, a nerdy quibble, but... If you can swallow that, its an engaging setting and a good book. The starvation for power drives everything in the world of The Windup Girl. Everything.
So, likes and dislikes.
Likes: An interesting and unexpected (and not entirely believable) dystopia; a look at an unusual location (Thailand); post-peak that isn't the end of the world; twisty plots and factions over opening Thailand to the larger world, or not; well drawn (if not very sympathetic) characters; a one off scene with a trimaran clipper ship using kite sails. I thought that was fiction but discovered its real. Its also better explored in Bacigalupi's YA novel Ship Breaker.
Dislikes: Genetic engineering not logically applied (wouldn't it be easier to tinker with plants over elephants?); international organizations continue in the face of impossible odds (WTO without fast communications?) and mass starvation; very uncomfortable scene in a sex show for Emiko; death of one of the more sympathetic characters; the book being characterized as hard SF (its not).
Overall, I liked it. I wouldn't buy it in hardcover again. As a trade, library loan or a mass market paperback, sure. I'd suggest this to fans of River of Gods, Cyberabad Days, 1984, Brave New World, Lacy and His Friends, Ship of Fools, fans of Alastair Reynolds and dystopian fiction in general.
The details: The Windup Girl is set in a independent Thailand of the future - a fairly dystopian one at that. Oil is no longer common, carbon credits are traded and enforced harshly because of climate change, giant agriculture companies control food and what is planted harshly and on and on. Plagues are common taking out agricultural species and jumping from animal to human. And its hinted that the agricultural corporations created those plagues. Genetic engineering is common - heck, one of the main characters is a genetically engineered human. And genetically engineered organisms like megadonts and donkeys are common. There are some neat bits in this too - molecular springs that store energy in incredible amounts,kite sailed clipper ships and zeppelins. And, oh yes, Thailand struggles on independent of the great powers and agricultural corporations, thanks to its king and his White Shirts (Environmental Ministry security troops responsible for keeping the nation clear of plagues). But the Ministry of trade yearns to open the Kingdom to the outside of world and that is the basis of much of the struggle in the book.
That's the setting. The characters are neat too. We start with Anderson Lake, manager for Mainspring and a calorie man (reporter of patent violations and scout for new food sources). Lao Gu, a Malay Chinese refugee and Lake's factotum. Capt. Jaidee Rojjanasukchai and Lt. Kanya Chirathivat of the environment ministry. Finally, Emiko, the windup girl of the title. A genetically engineered 'secretary' from Japan abandoned in Thailand by her previous employer. None are particularly sympathetic save Emiko. And Bacigalupi doesn't make any side particularly virtuous either - there aren't any good guys or bad guys here.
Lake's, Lao Gu's and Emiko's stories are all tied together from the beginning. Jaidee's and Kanya's are separate but begins to converge with the others. Especially as the source of new plants becomes apparent to Lake.
This is an interesting book. I'd call it dystopian magical realism. Why? Well, its a dystopia (duh). Magical realism because of the ghost. I will say one character dies fairly early on and becomes one. I also wouldn't call it hard SF. Bacigalupi admits in an interview on io9 that he took all the alternate energy sources (solar, wind, OTEC, geothermal, gengineered plants to create oil, etc.) dragged them outback and shot them in the head to create the setting for his book. He also botches some basic science - one early phrase has the springs Mainspring he's working on will meet gasoline. Well, check the math. The springs he has in the book already beat gasoline in terms of energy storage. I know, a nerdy quibble, but... If you can swallow that, its an engaging setting and a good book. The starvation for power drives everything in the world of The Windup Girl. Everything.
So, likes and dislikes.
Likes: An interesting and unexpected (and not entirely believable) dystopia; a look at an unusual location (Thailand); post-peak that isn't the end of the world; twisty plots and factions over opening Thailand to the larger world, or not; well drawn (if not very sympathetic) characters; a one off scene with a trimaran clipper ship using kite sails. I thought that was fiction but discovered its real. Its also better explored in Bacigalupi's YA novel Ship Breaker.
Dislikes: Genetic engineering not logically applied (wouldn't it be easier to tinker with plants over elephants?); international organizations continue in the face of impossible odds (WTO without fast communications?) and mass starvation; very uncomfortable scene in a sex show for Emiko; death of one of the more sympathetic characters; the book being characterized as hard SF (its not).
Overall, I liked it. I wouldn't buy it in hardcover again. As a trade, library loan or a mass market paperback, sure. I'd suggest this to fans of River of Gods, Cyberabad Days, 1984, Brave New World, Lacy and His Friends, Ship of Fools, fans of Alastair Reynolds and dystopian fiction in general.
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