= River of Gods =
=== 2006 Ian McDonald ===
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This is a science fiction novel about India in 2047, four decades into the author's future.  40 pages in, where I abandoned it, the book is a depressing dystopia about a 1990s India with magic technology used badly.  '''Reality to !McDonald:''' India has big problems, sure, but they are ''solving them''.  Literacy has doubled over the last decade, and by 2047 the country may have a higher literacy percentage than !McDonald's Belfast.  The young people I know from India (admittedly a select subset) are very hopeful for their country, and engineers are returning from the US to help construct a prosperous superpower.  This will take decades, but the process will be well along by 2047.

So, I abandoned the book.  I would rather help my Indian friends grow the best parts of their culture than waste time on pessimism.