Customer Reviews

The Age of the Conglomerates: A Novel of the Future

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Completely enjoyed this novel of the near future. A cautionary tale of what might happen if corporations ruled the world. Not that far fetched if you look at what is happening today. Read it and enjoy.

A near-future controlled by rampant corporations is not too hard to envision, but the dystopian prognostication of The Age of Conglomerates manages to be deeply unsatisfying. The economy has crashed dramatically, leaving the wealthy political party called "the Conglomerates" in de facto control of the government. Rather than enforce laissez-faire industry regulation and start lucrative wars to fill the coffers of their businesses the Conglomerates decide to become involved in social services, presumably for their own financial gain. Three government programs are described in this novel: creation of designer babies through genetic manipulation, mandatory removal of the elderly to national care facilities, and disposal of problem children in the subway system. Each of these programs has huge logical flaws, making the entire dystopian construct of this novel difficult to believe.

The protagonist, Christine, works as the head of a department that organizes the creation of designer children through genetic manipulation. Christine's own sister is a designer baby, and Christine remembers that her mother was never pregnant before bringing this clearly genetically related child home from the hospital. This leads me to believe the government is not only manipulating the genomes of embryos, but is somehow growing them in vitro, which would be both massively expensive and technologically unlikely, given that no other major technological improvements are introduced in the novel. The scientific description of Christine's work is almost pure gibberish (I happen to be a geneticist, unfortunately for the author), further enhancing the general aura of implausibility. However this is the most believable of the social programs instituted by the Conglomerates, as we can understand both the financial interest (selling the genetic services) and the motivation of the citizenry (to provide the best possible for their children).

Christine's grandparents have been rounded up and sent to Arizona as part of the government's second social program, the federalized care of the elderly (now known gracelessly as "Coots"). Persons over 80 are divested of their remaining property, transported south, and interred in government-run nursing homes. The very expensive medical care of the elderly could not possibly be offset by the value of their property, making this an odd choice for a government consumed by financial interest. Christine's younger sister has become a victim of the third social program, in which the government removes problem children for a fee, and then dumps them in the subway system. These discarded children are known, unsurprisingly, as the "Dyscards". In order to believe in the existence of these two programs, we would have to believe that the majority of the people of the future have become willing to sell out their parent's, grandparent's, and children's lives for a very modest financial gain. The only explanation provided for this rip in the social fabric is that "everyone became hard in the age of the Conglomerates". That is just not good enough.

Against this unpromising backdrop lies the story of the novel. The story is told is stilted language and compromised of unlikely coincidences (both Christine and her grandfather independently stumble upon antiquated computer equipment hooked into a still-functioning dial-up internet system), unnecessary action, and a smattering of the bizarre (a major plot device involves the transport of a dozen ill newborns in a hand-built subway car driven by a blind man). After all the main characters have been introduced it is abundantly clear what the ending will be, making the intervening action seem unnecessary. Having completed the book, I am not entirely sure what the message is meant to be. Dystopian novels are supposed to show us possible evils in human systems, that we may avoid them. All I see here is a confusion of amorphous fears and a pat ending.

Orson Scott Card states as a cardinal rule to be followed by anyone intending to write science fiction that a potential author be extremely well-versed in the genre. This author has not done his homework prior to embarking upon the exercise of building his new world. Science fiction allows an author to create a world of his or her choosing; however, a fanatic attention to detail is required in order to prevent the story from being merely a cautionary tale retold in artificial surroundings. Good science fiction does not allow a huge group of people to simply be ditched in subways with no means of support--heavens, this is a vast country.

Civilization is far too nuanced to be simply rewritten in a couple introductory pages. The seeds of some fine writing are present in this book but the attention to detail was lacking. Fine science fiction has a depth--you can pierce the surface and find an infinite wealth of detail; likewise in the fantasy genre. The worlds created by J.R.R. Tolkien and Frank Herbert are fantastic and strange but consistent. Age of the Conglomerates was just not consistent; like episodic television, it placed its characters, stated its plot and ground to the inevitable conclusion.

Our author had the admirable goal of showing the importance of family ties, of demonstrating the dangers of profligate government, he warns of the real consequences of placing immediate concerns above regard for the future. He has much to say about the potential dangers of genetic science and the fragility of our economy--but this story did his worthy ideas a disservice.

In 2048, the Conglomerates political party led by the mythical "Chairman" runs the country based on one commandment: strict enforcement of economic law using force. The country has been divided into zones of sorts; the octogenarian "Coots" live in Cootsland enforced retirement camps in the southwest out of sight and not draining society while out of control young runaway "Dyscards" live in the New York City subways.

New York Medical Center, director of genetic contouring Dr. Christine Salter feels strongly that she and her team provide an important public service when they assist people in trouble by recreating them or their children using genetic manipulation. However, her perfectly balanced world collapses starting with her top aide Gabriel Cruz vanishing after being accused of seditious crimes against the state. Her grandparents turning eighty are deported from the mainland to "Cootsland," and her sister runs away becoming a Dyscard. All this makes Christine reexamine what she does at the same time she begins to uncover a nefarious disturbing conspiracy to tighten the Conglomerates control of society starting with "youthenizing" the Chairman.

Combining the premises of 1984, Logan's Run and Soylent Green, Thomas Nevins provides a grim future of a genetic contoured world. The story line is fast-paced, but owned by Christine who had always thought her work as valuable to people until recent societal events shake her to her core. Although the Conglomerates comes across sort of like an extremely evil Maoist Communist Party, readers will enjoy this fine thriller starring a reformed David-ette battling Goliath.

Harriet Klausner

Avoid this like the plague. I'm glad it was as short as it was. I read the whole thing hoping to find an original thought or at least one recycled in an interesting manner. Subject verb agreement was valid.

Nevins presents a plausible view of the near future, considering current socio-economic trends, but the story is a sketch rather than a full-blooded novel or novella. It almost reads like a script for a TV show, rather than as a literary piece. When I finished it, I wished he had spent another two years writing in the fine details that might have made it believable.
There was potential here, but not well utilized. His editors need a good,swift kick.

Thomas Nevins' first novel probably started off as a great bar napkin sketch of what our country could look like if every liberal's darkest dreams came true. He started off, then, with a rather fascinating premise. But after setting things up the novel falls flat: the characters aren't memorable even when they are coherently drawn, there are too many threads and the plot movement is entirely predictable. As an Arizonan I also was offended by his ungenerous yet tired description of the Southwest.

Still, the novel is an interesting experiment and Nevins can write even if his novel has some issues. I read this on a mid-haul flight with a scotch - at that point it was just my speed.

The opening pages of this book draw an eerily familiar picture of a world headed into an economic abyss. The main story is solid, as are the supporting subplots. There is not much technology, it is more "social thriller" than science fiction. The book doesn't take political sides, which I appreciate - government and corporations are portrayed as equally inept and corrupt.

I enjoyed the book and read it in one sitting. That having been said I would consider this a deeply flawed work.

The pacing is massively uneven, to the point where it is jarring. In some sections plot and character development proceed at a reasonable rate then, all of the sudden, major plot developments just "bing!" appear. At one point the disconnect was so pronounced that I leafed back through a few pages just to make sure I hadn't skipped any.

The work would have benefited greatly from 50 or so more pages. The ending is rushed almost to the point of becoming a summary.

I hope there is a second book, and I hope the writer gets better.

A pathetic attempt at "dystopian" SF. The characters are one-dimensional, the dialogue is amateurish, the plot fabricated and poorly resolved, the writing is mundane... this is truly the worst book I've read in years. Avoid.

I'm sorry, but this was a complete waste of my time. A weak plot, boring characters, "so-what" ending ... why was this published?