This guy has so many interesting ideas. It’s a bit of a shame that he’s not writing short stories rather than full-length novels. His ‘20 minutes into the future‘ style dystopias are fascinating. My biggest criticism is that so many of them aren’t explored outside of set-dressing.

The story itself is kind of fun — the UK government has done a bunch of stuff to encourage people to get (and stay) married, and they use smart devices to perform surveillance on those who have opted into the program.

He does a fantastic job of weaving a half dozen stories together, and he’s an expert at helping the reader keep the characters straight. He doesn’t adhere to a rigid structure, which allows him to pursue key stories more frequently.

But it’s been less than a day and I’ve already forgotten a few of the storylines. This is why I’d love to see a Ted Chiang-style collection from him. I guess I’ll settle for finding his sci-fi books that I haven’t read yet.