River of Gods

2006 Ian !McDonald

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 will have a higher literacy percentage than McDonald's Belfast. The young people I know from India (admittedly a 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.