Ian McDonald’s latest novel, Brasyl, is a superb work of literary fiction as well as postcolonial SF. It’s about the quantum nature of parallel worlds and how those parallel worlds are actually simulations running on a computer spanning the entire universe. Centered in Brazil, it takes place in three different times, but not linearly connected in the same parallel universe. The three protagonists discover threats to a freedom more basic than that described in The Matrix, and they fight their own overlapping battles to challenge the dogma of quantum time line unalterableness.
I highly recommend this novel for the story, the author’s superior word choice and style, and the postcolonial message lying just beneath the surface of observable reality. For a more through review, check out my piece in the upcoming SFRA Review.
