Analog/Virtual and Other Simulations of Your Future

by Lavanya Lakshminarayan

'WE ARE A MERITROCRATIC TECHNARCHY.
WE ARE THE FUTURE OF THE HUMAN RACE.'

The world’s nations have collapsed, and a handful of city states form the remains of civilization. Erstwhile Bangalore is now rebranded, ruled by the insidious Bell Corporation.

Welcome to Apex City. Here, technology is the key to survival, productivity is power, and the self must be engineered for the only noble goal in life: success.

With the right image, values and opinions, you can ascend to the ranks of the Virtual elite and have the new world at your feet. The price of failure is deportation: you are marked an Analog, with no access to electricity, running water or your humanity.

Lavanya Lakshminarayan’s extraordinary debut sinks its teeth into this dystopian future, offering a glimpse into a world we may be dangerously close to inheriting. Brilliant, searing and imaginative, the stories in Analog/Virtual will make us question our choices and rethink who we want to be.

'This is fiction playing for the highest stakes - and winning'
Chandrahas Choudhury, author of Clouds

'Masterful work...in the best tradition of dystopian fiction'
S.B. Divya, author of Nebula Award finalist Runtime

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Dystopia, India, Short Stories, Cyberpunk, Speculative Fiction

310 pages, Paperback

First published February 20, 2020

Reviews

[John Mauro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Check out my Interview with Lavanya Lakshminarayan.

My complete review of The Ten Percent Thief is published at Grimdark Magazine.

In The Ten Percent Thief, Lavanya Lakshminarayan immerses us in Apex City, formerly known as Bangalore, once the Silicon Valley of India and now governed by a technocapitalist meritocracy. The Big Brother of the tale is Bell Corp, a corporation that has created its own technocratic caste system by ranking individuals on its signature bell curve. Individual productivity and the virality of social media posts help to improve one’s score, propelling them toward the upper tail of the bell curve. But it’s not enough to reach the top percentile: citizens must continually strive toward perfection to maintain this privileged ranking. Bell Corp has a zero-tolerance policy toward failure: anything less than perfection is unacceptable.

The harshest dichotomy in the neo-caste system of the novel arises between “Virtual” citizens at the upper end of the curve and “Analog” individuals at the lower tail. The Virtuals enjoy a technologically privileged, purportedly utopian lifestyle. But in reality, this existence has taken the humanity out of humankind. Despite numerous technological luxuries, being a Virtual is a stressful existence, with the constant fear of becoming unproductive and sinking to a lower caste. Moreover, Virtuals are implanted with a chip that monitors their thoughts and nudges them toward making decisions favorable for Bell Corp.

In the lowest caste, Analogs of The Ten Percent Thief live an existence similar to our own with (gasp) face-to-face conversations, trips to the grocery store to buy food, and newspapers that are printed on actual paper. The Analogs are the new untouchables, treated like zoo animals by the Virtuals who observe them through glass but are forbidden from interacting directly. In a further act of dehumanization, Virtuals even refer to Analogs with the pronoun “it.” The Analogs who fall to the lowest part of the curve are considered beyond saving and are ultimately harvested for their organs.

The Ten Percent Thief is constructed as a set of interconnected short stories, shifting perspective among a diverse set of characters from both the Virtual and Analog worlds. Lavanya Lakshminarayan employs both first- and third-person narration to show us different facets of Apex City. My favorite chapter is actually told in the second person by an AI algorithm implanted in the brain of a Virtual news reporter, addressing the reporter as “you” from within her own brain. She struggles against the AI algorithm as it tries to optimize her as an individual. It is difficult to separate her own genuine thoughts from the whispers of the AI.

The point of view characters in The Ten Percent Thief include a Virtual schoolchild having contact with Analog society for the first time, a Virtual citizen who has become unproductive and demoted to Analog status, and a Virtual worker who compromises his own ethics to reach the upper echelon of the bell curve. We also see a Virtual social media influencer terrified of people discovering the truth behind her carefully crafted persona, a pregnant woman who defies Bell Corp’s draconian rules about procreation, and a group of Analog revolutionaries plotting to secure justice and equality for their people, including the titular Ten Percent Thief herself.

The Ten Percent Thief has an undeniable Orwellian flavor, with citizens constantly monitored and punished for any views that oppose those of their tyrannical government. It is especially interesting to read how the Virtual people attempt to control their own minds, pushing out any nonconformist thought and focusing their attention on corporate-approved ways of thinking.

Although it embraces all the familiar tropes of techno dystopian science fiction, The Ten Percent Thief shines because of Lavanya Lakshminarayan’s finely honed prose. Lakshminarayan succeeds in establishing emotional connections to the rotating cast of characters in each chapter, while providing a broader view of Apex City society. Lakshminarayan’s pacing is excellent throughout, with none of the chapters outstaying their welcome. The book ultimately circles back to the beginning, providing new perspectives based on everything we have witnessed in between.

The Ten Percent Thief is a deeply thought-provoking and timely novel that updates the traditional notion of castes for a near-future meritocratic society infused with artificial intelligence. The future caste system is every bit as rigid and frightening as the old system India discarded decades ago.

[Rosh ~catching up slowly~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a Nutshell: A dystopian sci-fi presented in an innovative format – a mosaic novel. Took me a while to get used to the structure, but overall, it was worth it. Found an outstanding Indian fictional work after a long time, though the story isn’t Indian as such.

Story Synopsis:

In the near-future, everything in Apex City (formerly known as Bangalore) is ruled by Bell Corp and its Bell Curve. Citizens who are born into or fit into the top twenty percent in terms of productivity/success/wealth dictate terms. They are the Virtual Elite, lording it over the next seventy percent who live in constant fear of deportment if their productivity index dips. The bottom ten percent are the Analogs, the ‘scum of humanity’ who live outside the technologically segregated zone, with no access to even the basic facilities such as running water or electricity. The system is perfect, or at least the Virtuals think so. However, unknown to them, a ‘ten percent’ thief has stolen a jacaranda seed from Apex City’s lush climate-protected gardens, and planted it in the barren soil of the Analog world, thereby setting off a revolution.
The novel is written as a series of vignettes coming from the first-person and third-person perspectives of various characters, both Virtual and Analog.

The cyberpunk elements in the story are quite dominant, what with the astounding details of the futuristic technology coming to the aid of every Virtual. Many of the episodes are satirical, containing exaggerated harmful versions of today's technology, focussing on the obsessions with social-media influencers, and poking fun at the heavy dependence on technology for even basic tasks. It also highlights how digital influence and nepotistic connections are valued over genuine talent, a problem even in our own world. All the sarcastic jabs at our generation’s expense are funny yet thought-provoking.

The Analog world is also sketched realistically, reminiscent of the overpopulated dystopia of ‘Ready Player One’ but without the gadgets or games. Their life, their frustrations and their aspirations all come out well.

The story hits hard in many ways through this strangely straightforward yet convoluted approach. The guaranteed limitations of hubris ensure that we can see the ending coming, but it is still fun to read.

The book was originally published in India a few years ago as ‘Analog/Virtual and Other Simulations of Your Future’. ‘The Ten Percent Thief’ is the title of the new US edition, published on 28th March 2023. I am not a fan of the new name; while it is catchy, it doesn’t represent the novel well. I will not mention any individual characters who made a mark, because unlike what the title suggests, the story doesn’t belong to any single character. On the contrary, every character is necessary for this story to come together into a convincing whole.

I had never heard of the term ‘mosaic novel’ before, and this book was a great way of experiencing this unique style of storytelling. The scenes are set in the same world but come to us from different characters. It takes a while to get into, and the start is especially rocky, but with time, we get to see the jigsaw come together piece by piece. The story is still linear, and we get to see a proper start-middle-end progression, albeit from different perspectives that are almost never repeated. Some characters make an entry in another character’s episode, so if you are reading this through print or audio, better make a character list. Kindle search will come to the help of digital readers.

That said, I don’t think this story will work well on audio – it will be too tricky for most readers to stay abreast of the long list of characters and to track when they make guest appearances in others’ scenes.

Though the story is set in Bangalore (now Bengaluru) in South India, the only thing “Indian” about the novel is the names of the characters and the locations. The dystopian world is so neutrally depicted that it could very well be any metropolis. The world-building is amazing without feeling overwhelming, especially in terms of descriptions. There was only one doubt I had in the world created by the novel: How on earth do the Analogs have physical newspapers if they have no trees?

All in all, I enjoyed this imaginative dystopian sci-fi story, though it took me a while to get into it. The author’s creativity is mind-blowing! After a long while, I feel proud of an Indian writer’s work, and I can’t wait to see what’s coming next from her pen.

Strongly recommended to fans of dystopian sci-fi.

4.25 stars.


My thanks to Simon & Schuster, Solaris, and Edelweiss+ for the DRC of “The Ten Percent Thief”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.




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[K.J. Charles]

Wow, this is great. It's a--polyphonic? mosaic? novel made up of a lot of closely linked parts focusing on different people in the same terrible world. Within the city, the top 20% have tech and privilege, the next 70% do well but not so luxuriously, and the bottom 10% every year get culled, pushed outside the city shields to become Analogs--no tech but what they scavenge, no running water, harvested for their organs. Your percentage is decided by social points won by having the right opinions, social media points, appearance, and mostly productivity--which, as we see, means busy work and endless creation of pointless wasteful things. And your percentage can change at any time for the worse if you fall off the treadmill or diverge in any way.

It is a fantastic, biting satire of the stupidly cruel hamster-wheel society we create for ourselves, of social media and how easy it is to fall, of the damage we do to ourselves in the pursuit of success. Terrifically imagined and vividly written, desperately compelling situations and characters, the structure really works to give us a 3D view of Apex City (once Bangalore) and its people, and the moral dilemmas and issues are all too plausible. A tremendous piece of SF as well as a deeply observed look at humanity and society and our compulsion to judge and divide for sodding stupid reasons. We don't stick with a single main character and while there's a throughline it's not a single driving plot, but neither of those things makes it in any way less compelling or enjoyable (and I'm normally a very plot-driven reader, so.)

Highly recommended. I absolutely wolfed it down.

[Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engaging and timely work of dystopian fiction, taking aim at unbridled capitalism, obsessive work culture, claims of meritocracy in the face of rampant structural inequality, technology dependence, and more. I think this phrase “mosaic novel” was coined specifically to describe this one, but it suits; each chapter focuses on a different character, a different facet of life in the futuristic Apex City, and this turns out to be a great way to explore the world and themes from a variety of angles. That said, there is still some overarching plot, and I found the book to be quick reading and highly engaging; the chapters feel bite-sized even when they’re not, with a clean style and lots of dialogue, and it is quite propulsive.

It is also a clever novel, which somehow despite very straightforwardly making a lot of points about contemporary problems, never felt obnoxiously heavy-handed. Perhaps it’s that I believed in its world, and in these characters as inhabitants of it. Perhaps it’s that they are a logical extension of us. Perhaps it’s that the author is Indian, Apex City an imagined future Bangalore, providing a different perspective from all the U.S.-set dystopias and not wading into our particular politics, though I almost wonder if this book was edited for its U.S. release because it speaks so directly to so many of our problems too (or maybe that’s just globalization for you).

That said, while the individual stories are engaging, it’s more a book you read for setting and themes than for characters; I was only truly invested in one of them (Nina), though I cared a lot about her. But the others still felt interesting and believable. I would have liked a bit more closure, for individual characters if not for the society as a whole. But overall, I found it an engaging read—I want to say fun, but it can be quite dark—and exactly what I look for in dystopian novels, something timely and relevant and compelling, with characters who respond to their world in believable ways. I would recommend it and am interested to see what Lakshminarayan does next.

[Gautam Bhatia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few of the things I liked very much about this novel: excellent near-future speculative fiction: the mark of success of near-future spec-fic is how it makes its world plausible - showing you the trajectory our own world can take to get there - while at the same time maintaining an eerie sense of defamiliarisation. Analog/Virtual does that very well. Further, it doesn't give in to the temptation of dystopia, but shows readers how even the most repressive regimes allow for the possibility of imagining alternatives. And lastly, the multiple p.o.v.s - going on and off-stage - is a devilishly difficult thing to pull off, but Analog/Virtual does so seamlessly - and the book is richer for it. Recommended.

[Natasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was sent to me by the author, complete with annotations, making the reading experience more enjoyable.

This story is set in a future Bangalore where everything has changed, starting from the very name. Undoubtedly, if there's one place in India where such a story could be set, it is this one. Being a current IT hub, it perfectly suits the storyline of the future. Basic necessities have become luxury and one has to earn them by being productive all the time. I loved the world building, very thoughtful and innovative.

People are divided into classes based on technology rather than money. Analog and virtual are actually the two categories that determine the kind of life one would live. Virtual has an elite group too, and that is where everyone tries to reach because it is the ultimate luxury. Social issues are addressed realistically, from climate change to capitalism. Commendable debut.

[Lukasz · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

You're either productive or culled. The future Bangalore, renamed Apex City, isn't an easy place to thrive. What counts is productivity, virality or Engager-to-Lurkers ratio.

Ten Percent Thief is structured as a collection of interconnected short stories with recurring characters. The stories build on each other and lead to an interesting culmination. Consequently, there's no distinct plot or central character to root for. In my opinion, Ten Percent Thef sacrifices character development and plot in favor of ideas and dark satire. Each story shows a different facet of society and leads to an intense climax.

Let's take a look at life in the Apex City. The Bell Corporation has established a "meritocratic technarchy." It determines how people should live. The "Virtuals" live in the virtual world and despise the "Analogs" forced to live in a world that's succumbed to climate change, where there's almost no fresh food or water and no technology. The society is literally split into two and divided by electric shield known as a Carnatic Meridian.

Sounds harsh? It is, but the "Virtuals" don't have it easy, either. Their productivity metrics are constantly being recalculated, and it's easy to slide down the ladder. And if you slip, you can be harvested or turned into an Analog.

By telling the story through interconnected short stories, Lakshmirayan is able to present multiple perspectives of the citizens of Apex City and show readers how the revolution begins and develops. While the narrative is complex, the storyline is quite simple. A subgroup of the Analogs are planning revolution to gain equal rights, and equal access to the technology. Nothing new here. The way of telling it, though, is new.

Lakshminarayan's world-building is detailed and technology-oriented. She's created a world where productivity is the only thing that counts and citizens receive benefits according to their calculated value to society. The narrative allows readers to see every aspect of the world from different perspectives (Bell Corp executives, employees, adopted analog musicians, tour guides, and more). It's an interesting, kaleidoscopic journey.

I appreciate the concise and intelligent writing style. Ten Percent Thief does everything right if you're here for the ideas and world building. However, if you're looking for good science, I'm not convinced it's here. If you're looking for emotional characters' arcs, some stories have them, but overall the book lacks an emotional core or central characters to sympathize with.

All in all, I have mixed feelings about Ten Percent Thief. It's certainly an interesting read, but not one I was emotionally invested in. There's nothing wrong with intellectual stories, but I'm not sure the science here would stand up to scrutiny. I think it's more of an interesting look at how technology and social media can corrupt and dehumanize people. Don't get me wrong. I'm glad I read Ten Percent Thief. I simply feel it sacrifices parts that are subjectively important to me (characters, plot) in favor of ideas and themes.

ARC through NetGalley

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m not *quite* willing to call this book a masterpiece, but it’s a near thing.

This is set in a moderately-near future Bangalore, now known as Apex City. The city is run by the Bell Corporation, which strictly and impartially enforces a system of privileges based on any individual’s “productivity.” The 20 percent most productive live in luxury. The middle 70 percent live a comfortable middle-class existence. The least productive 10 percent - known as Analogs - is cast out into the post-climate change wasteland, condemned to grinding poverty (with organ harvesting a real possibility for anyone who causes trouble - one last final bit of productivity from the “unproductive” dregs of society).

For the people who live in Apex City proper, life is defined by their position on the bell curve. Everything they do is focused on rising along the curve, or at the least avoiding dropping so far in their productivity they face deportation.

For the Analogs who live on the outside, life is all about simple survival.

This book is a series of vignettes. They’re mostly independent of one another, though loosely connected - the main character of one vignette might get mentioned in the next one, that kind of thing. Though they’re disconnected, they come together to form a mosaic of life in and around Apex City that is touching, challenging, and compelling by turns.

The one and only complaint I have about this book is that one of the vignettes, which was clearly meant to be taken seriously - I just couldn’t. (It’s the one about the emojis, for anyone who is curious and has read it.) I get what the author was trying to do, but I simply couldn’t be anything but bemused.

But that’s a minor complaint in a book that I overall *loved*. Highly recommended.

Comes out March 28.

My blog

[Netanella · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dystopian, near-future novel of technology and efficiency curves run amok in Apex City, the renamed Bangalore that has survived water wars and Bell curve wars and emerged as a stratified society of haves and have nots. The vast majority of citizens of Apex live in the majority 70% of the curve, striving to increase their efficiency and production ratios so that they can make the elite 20%, the rarified group with the high-tech privileges and social status of the elite. These folks live as Virtual citizens, with implants that allow immediate access to information, hormonal adjustments, anything that keeps them from interacting too much with the mundane world. That despised condition is relegated to the Analogs, the 10 percenters who live with no technological implants or virtual assistance, but who have been plotting a revolution for years.

The story is told as a mosaic set of different stories of various characters, some of whom are connected to one another, and others who are included for the amazing world-building of a city that is so almost like our own. The author does an incredible job here, in the attention to little details of the city, of the everyday lives of the different citizens. I look forward to more by Lakshminarayan.

[Hirondelle (not getting notifications) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sf novel, a debut one (and an amazingly mature one), which fit accidentally into my short fiction project since it is a "mosaic novel", a set of vignettes, changing PoVs and theme, developing a world and what happens to it. In a climate-change dystopic future, now Bangalore became Apex city, under the settlement from a Singapore company. It is a particular flavor of dystopic, technological meritocracy is fascinating - and of course it is all divided between the have-a-lot (the 20 percent), the have nothing (the 10 percent outside its walls), and the middling 70 per cent, aiming to go up, and doing everything to not slide down.

The novel keeps changing PoVs, not one single person is its focus, different voices and narrative types, mostly alternating between the virtuals (the 20 +70 percent elites) and the analog (the outsider poor). It all works surprisingly well (the first couple chapters were a bit confusing for me, though...), adding to the vividness of the worldbuilding. The Virtual (the rich guy) chapters were often very satyrical, commenting a lot of social media trends, and quite credibly showing its self-gaze obliviousness. Incidentally this was first published in India with a different title Analog/Virtual and that is to me a better title - the 10 percent thief is not a particular central character of the novel (there might are subtleties I missed...), the book really is all about that contrast between the "analog" and "virtual" societies.

It is all very good, and quite amazing for a first novel. The ending kind of rushes though to a crescendo. It stops at a fantastic scene, but an open kind of ending and I decided I am quite OK with it.

Really good sf debut, I am now looking for her short fiction and I will keep an eye on her next novel (though it does not seem to be sf...)

[Jassmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

It bursts into flower, a whisper of jacaranda falling to the ground. There's a face at the grimy window. Gasps of wonder. Footsteps. She melts into the shadows, invisible.
Tomorrow, there will be consequences. Today, there is hope.

This book was such a surprise for me. I really fought against reading it, I already had a mountain of BRs planned for June and I planned to skip this one. As usual I couldn't resist and joined and I'm so glad I did, because this was EXCELENT. I almost never say thing like this, but... this book feels like a new classic.

"John. John, John. Your Productivity isn't an issue. I've looked through your reports. Your Productivity Points are through the roof."
"Oh."
"There's no need to work longer hours."
"Oh. Good."
"However. Your opinions, John." Mr Morris looks at him gravely. "Your opinions just aren't right."

The important thing that you need to know before reading this is that it's mosaic novel - each chapter follows different character and often there is no clear link between the chapters, especially in the beginning. There usually is one if you are reading closely enough, but... either way, there really isn't an overall plot, or is there?
This isn't a dramatic book, it's focused description of dystopian society based on productivity from different POVs. Some chapters are genious, some not so much (I'm also certain I didn't get everything).

Magistra AB43 is calm but stern. Teresa has discovered that she - for the bot's pre-assigned gender is female, just like all edu-bots and nanny bots - is programmed to be feminine. Bell Corp has designed her Sentient Intelligence algorithm to favour emotional sensitivity and heightened skill at handling children. Teresa questions the validity of these assumptions regarding womanhood, but as with most other matters, she does so in silence.

I'm not sure how am I supposed to talk about this book... it reminded me of 1984 minus the action & drama, the focus on main character and infodumps. Also, the society it describes is understandably different since it's based on different ideology, but... omg, just loved this so much. Would SO recommend, though I would say that going into it with no expectations of plot is what would make the read most enjoyable...
The one part that I raised my eyebrow a bit about is the "inspirational disabled character" that gets mentioned... I think it doesn't copy the problematic trope precisely and that it makes sense in the context, but... you know, didn't love that bit.
This is one of my favourite reads of the year so far...

P.S: The cover! 🥰 And it also fits very well with what's actually inside of the books, so... pretty much perfect.
BRed at WBtM: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Justine · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This is a mosaic or tapestry novel, meaning that it’s made up of short related chapters or stories that fit together to give you a whole picture of the story. Thematically it’s about the ongoing division between haves and have nots; but also the idea that revolutionary thinking about what constitutes a better society is both ongoing and circular. We never reach perfection, we always resolve into divisions that treat one group as better and more deserving than the other.

Because who would we be if there were no “other” to compare ourselves to?

[Ryan Berger · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

Bailing on this one. Another book to shake my confidence in the entire yearly SF award establishment.

The writing in this book is extremely poor. There's no escaping honest conversations about this book without addressing how noticeably shaky it is. It's conceptually poor with ideas that were stale when Black Mirror did them (yet another book that feels entirely built by regurgitated visual SF that is 99% watered down) that does nothing with an intriguing premise, a reminder that books must be better than their blurbs and a book is not good inherently good based on its premise.

The idea of a meritocracy-based dystopia is fascinating. So many aspects of life sell the idea that the more capable you are, the farther you'll go and more of the world will open up for you. Yet you'll find everywhere from Hollywood to Hospitals don't hold true to this.

A schism forming between high and low performers across a cyberpunk Bangalore that's been purchased by a corporation that holds the Bell Curve as a sacred golden ratio (or whatever. I'm making a more coherent case for their reasoning in this review than what the book actually puts forward) is as fertile a setting, and I am always interested in modern fixup novels. But Lakshminarayan hasn't figured out how this meritocracy *really* works or why this kind of ideology can not only false, but how even when it operates as intended-- people on all placements of the curve suffer. Those that are blind to the suffering aren't great advocates for this system of exploitation and those that are crushed under the weight don't engage with the problem at all. We *only* feel the wealth inequality and significant gap in technology. There's been no actual reckoning with the specific conditions that led to this dystopia. Nothing feels deliberately placed or holds a greater worldview. It is the Star Wars style of empire and rebellion where the material conditions for how the world got this way or even the specifics of how it all works are handwaived in favor of a cookie-cutter dystopia.

It's frankly sort of amazing that Lakshminarayan bounces around so many different elevations of her setting and doesn't manage to create a single engaging character who feels alive in any way. All of them are paper-thin caricatures. The author's ear for dialogue borders on horrendous and this is probably the most cliche-laden book I've ever read in my entire life. The clumsy, near-constant use of Brand-X for totems of our world is a relentless tide of cringe.

Not to say that all cyberpunk should read a certain way or even that The Ten Percent Thief purports to *be* judged in the cyberpunk canon-- but this strange, stiff regency-era dialogue feels utterly inappropriate in this setting dominated by social media, tech culture, and revolution. Everything has this low-rent epic fantasy lilt to it, presumably because fantasy can get away with being nebulous about why and how pernicious systems operate. SF requires more if it's to be taken seriously and certainly if it's going to be nominated for an award.

Initially, I wanted to give this two stars just for its ambitious concept and interesting setting but the more I read the more I realized the world would not come to life in the hands of this author (at least with this book) and the entire exercise was a vague gesture at a problem and is only interested in the aesthetics of a story involving class struggle. There's no deeper reckoning with an idea here-- and that's becoming all too common in contemporary SF.

[queenie · Rating 4 out of 5]

“When the veil drops, it is both devastating and empowering. Reality awakens you to all you thought you knew, and the possibilities that arise from letting it go. It begins with facing the truth. Here’s ours: we are dirt.”

Rating: 3.8 stars
★★★★✩

do consider reading this review over at my blog!

A gritty and bold satire, The Ten Percent Thief proves itself to be dystopian and speculative to its very bone, all the while promising to be haunting, and raise a hundred questions about society, change, and revolution. This is a novel that takes the phrase, “History repeats itself.” to the next level—in a way you wouldn’t expect but in the way it all makes sense.

Welcome to Apex City. This is a city not divided by caste, religion, colour, or creed but classified on the basis of productivity. The more productive you are, the higher your rank is likely to be on the Bell Curve, the curve that measures a person’s worth. The lower you sink, the more plausible it is for you to be harvested in the vegetable farm. I greatly admire the world-building in this book, Lakshminarayan has really outdone herself in crafting the basics. As you read, it feels very believable that such a future can exist, or is in the making. And that’s what makes the novel all the more horrifying, don’t you think so?

The Ten Percent Thief does not follow a single person or a selected multitude of beings. Instead, it chooses to be a mosaic, something that worked very well with the story and the message. The reader is everywhere, inside everyone’s heads—from the wealthy and untouchable twenty percent to the outnumbered and impoverished Analogs. Sometimes, the perspectives don’t come again, but they stay long enough to gnaw in people’s minds, whispering unsettling things about the society and future.

Demarcating the lives of the Analogs and Virtuals; the previously published title of the book, is an electric shield christened the Carnatic Meridian. And being born an Analog? That’s a fate one wouldn’t wish upon their worst enemy. (okay, maybe they might, but still!) However, unbeknownst to the upper class, there’s a Resistance brewing, that threatens to—or rather, declares to—rewrite a chapter in history in a way that claims to be beneficial to all.

But isn’t that what humans do? It’s in their nature, to think that they’re capable of change, to think that somehow, they will achieve something no one ever has. Something everyone tried to do. Unearthing more questions than answers, this novel is speculative at best and satirical at worst. So if you’re still waiting for a reason to pick this up, I hope this review offers an answer to your question!

— Thank you NetGalley and Rebellion, for presenting me with an ARC of this book in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are my own.

[Vijayalakshmi · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Bell Corp declares that civilization is free from discrimination.

A universal system of Merit determines an individual’s worth to society.

We are a Meritocratic Technarchy.

We are the future of the human race.

– from the Bell Charter on Human Rights."

-FROM ANALOG/VIRTUAL: AND OTHER SIMULATIONS OF YOUR FUTURE


This is a review that is long overdue. I’d been wanting to read this book ever since it released last year, but as things turned out, I could only read it recently. Ever since I’ve read it though, it has been living rent free in my head. Ever so often, I come across something, that sparks a memory of something I read within these pages, and with it comes that sense of being forewarned.

Because Analog/Virtual, is in many ways, a warning.

It is set in the Bangalore of the future, now dubbed Apex City, administered by Bell Corp. What side of the Carnatic Meridian one gets to live in, and whether one has access to basic necessities like clean water, fresh air, food and adequate shelter, etc. depends on one’s position on the bell curve, which in turn depends on one’s “productivity”, and “merit.” So…not too different from life right now.

What is truly interesting though, is that Lavanya Lakshminarayan chooses to tell us this story in fragments. Instead of following a central protagonist/s, we experience this vision of the future via a series of interconnected short stories. A name mentioned in one, turns up in another story as the main character; a character whose head we have been in, appears in another one as seen through someone else’s eyes.

"All men and women are given a choice — to be the hero of the tale or its teller."
- FROM ANALOG/VIRTUAL : AND OTHER SIMULATIONS OF YOUR FUTURE

What this does then, is that it gives us a wider view of the world of Analog/Virtual. The reader is not stuck with any one perspective, and has a greater freedom to draw their own conclusions about this world.

And what a world it is! The author’s attention to detail is admirable. Whether one wonders what life is like for the elderly, or how schooling happens, or indeed, what is social media like in this future — the author has thought of it all. The world building offers one just enough to sate curiosity, without info dumping (there was just one place where I was a little overwhelmed by it, and even then it made sense within the narrative structure of that story), and leaves one interested in learning more about this world. World building apart, the book really shines in its exploration of the human psyche, especially when it comes to how bigotry and discrimination get normalized in society. Climate change, feminism, class differences, the suffocating grip of meritocracy and capitalism, dissent, revolution — this book touches upon all these and more, and for a reflective reader offers much to chew on.

"When the veil drops, it is both devastating and empowering. Reality awakens you to all you thought you knew, and the possibilities that arise from letting it go."
- FROM ANALOG/VIRTUAL : AND OTHER SIMULATIONS OF YOUR FUTURE
-
It is a dystopian world, with characters that are firmly in the grey. Should one empathize with the woman who is falling behind the curve because she is dealing with grief, or condemn her for her disdain for the Analogs? In a world where dissent is severely punished, is it surprising that people for prioritize self preservation? When the alternative is a hellish life, is internalizing disgust for ones “own,” a defence mechanism? These are questions that one finds oneself considering on a daily basis, in real life, and while the book does not offer any answers, it does provide a multiplicity of perspectives. I must admit to feeling a sense of subliminal anxiety while reading the book — I would not survive the world of Analog/Virtual; I’m destined for its “vegetable farm.”

But at the same time, it wasn’t the sort of anxiety that drags one down. It set me thinking, not worrying. And despite the disturbing setting and plots, there is just enough hope in the book, to keep one’s spirits up.

While I enjoyed every single one of the stories in the book, I do have a few favourites. ‘The Persona Police,’ ‘Etudes,’ ‘Time,’ ‘The Be-Moji Project,’ and ‘The Seven-Year Glitch’ are stories I find myself thinking about quite often.

Analog/Virtual is a vision; a glimpse in the crystal ball. It could very easily come true, in one form or another. But things could just as easily be different. For this reason, Analog/Virtual is not just an entertaining book, but also an essential one. Do get a copy, and read.

[Lata · Rating 5 out of 5]

After years of environmental catastrophes, ecological, governmental and infrastructure collapses, and other terrible things, Bell Corp emerged and took over Bangalore, renaming it Apex City, and allocating resources and services based on one’s productivity and performance. (Bell Corp took over several other cities also in the world, and all follow the same ideology and rules of meritocracy where people's performance is constantly monitored, including their social media standing, and graded on a Bell Curve.

Apex City is enclosed by a shield, and the top workers/earners are called the 20%, and live lives of unimaginable luxury. The bulk of people are the 70%, who are well off, but not as well as the 20%. Much of the lives of those in Apex City are virtual, and they are constantly assessed, and every year anyone not falling within acceptable parameters are exiled and become Analogs, the 10%. The Analogs must scavenge and barter for water and even basic tech, and some end up in the Vegetable Farm where their organs are harvested for those in Apex City.

Lavanya Lakshminarayan shows us people in the 70%, some of whom are struggling to maintain their privilege, the self-absorbed 20%, and the 10%, who are slowly finding ways to take back control from the wealthy. Each story in this loosely connected collection follows a different person in a different economic class within Apex, or within the burgeoning revolutionary movement in the Analog world. We see Apex children indoctrinated against Analogs, and constantly aware that unless they work hard, they'll be kicked out of the City. We also meet Analog individuals figuring out clever ways to steal tech and plot against Apex.

The stories are bleak, horrifying, satirical and really compelling. They also point out how easily people will make up rules to exclude and harm others, and ruthlessly follow and support these rules. And though there is not one narrative in the book, all the stories illustrate the author's points so well. This is a terrific book.

4.5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Rebellion for this ARC.

[Frasier Armitage · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s appropriate that The Ten Percent Thief has the number ten in its title. Why? Because it’s definitely a 10/10. Lavanya Lakshminarayan has produced a flawless book that feels like an instant classic.

Where do I even start in trying to capture how much of a triumph this book is?

I mean, I could spend time talking about the poetic language, and the way sentences are both rich in depth and philosophically rooted, but also sharply incisive and needle-like in how they weave the story together.

Or I could talk about the structure, and the many different characters who share the stage to offer glimmers into this fantastically realistic world. Each is unique, and their constantly shifting perspectives make this feel at times like a short story collection. But to boil the book down into a series of short stories is unfair to it, because the little flashes that connect these characters are absolutely genius, and the whole narrative strikes home with more complexity than a typical anthology could muster.

I could waffle about the emotional richness, the highs and lows, and the expanse of reactions it prompted in me. But that might make it sound like a rollercoaster. And it’s not. It goes deeper than thrills. It stirred feelings of empathy in me, as though I were listening to a group of friends telling me about the most stunning and heartbreaking moments of their life.

Shall I talk about the world itself, and how it’s so dazzlingly realised? This is a future where productivity and conformity make up a person’s total worth. Consumerism at its most debauched level. There’s a culture of property and convenience in Apex City, where the most unproductive 10% of society are relegated to life without technology, whereas the most productive 20% seem to have every luxury there is. You’d better not think anything differently to what the company says you’re allowed to think, or that could deduct productivity points and you’ll find yourself having to exist without the contrivances of modern life. Allegories abound to highlight the contrasts of this class system — from differences in music to the simple act of planting a tree — and the implications of this cutthroat society are startlingly realised. Revolution against Bell Corp (the company that maintains this social order for the elite) is an itch that the narrative takes its sweet time to scratch, but when it does, it absolutely soars.

Comparison titles don’t really do it justice. It’s like if William Gibson met Becky Chambers, and they decided to reinvent the darkly acerbic wit of Philip K. Dick together. If this is cyberpunk, then cyberpunk doesn’t come more literary than this. A satirical flair makes this the kind of sci-fi that holds up a mirror to our place in the world, and the reflection is tragic and unsettling. But that’s the point. It’s not a vision of a future dystopia, it’s life right now repackaged into a technologically advanced Bangalore, and the scope of its reach is impressive and inescapable. Put simply — I haven’t read a more essential book when it comes to speculating on the modern world than this one.

Despite its seriousness and the depths of its themes, it’s fun. It’s charming. It’s beautiful. It’s poetic. And it‘s surprising. Just when you think you’ve got a handle on it, something new opens up. Reading this book is like walking through a garden at sunrise and watching flowers open up to the light, but each petal is a piece of you, and each new bulb is different from the last. By the time you get to the end, you’re completely satisfied by the variety of each individual flower, but stepping back to survey the whole scene is an absolute joy.

The Ten Percent Thief stole my heart. I fell in love with this book. If I had to rank it on the Bell Corp curve, it would definitely make the top 1%.

Seriously, I don’t even know where to start when it comes to summing up this book. You can forget about 10% — this is 100% awesome.

[The Captain · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ahoy there me mateys!  The ideas of a meritocracy are always interesting for me.  I want to know how they got started, how they work, and how merit is evaluated.  This meritocracy takes place in India.  Social media seemed to be the key indicator of status of the majority of the 20 or so characters followed in the book.  While that seemed realistic given today's reality, I wanted more insight into the jobs that did not involve being social media personas. I never truly understood the practicalities of how this meritocracy functioned.

The other personal preference is that the insight into the lives of the characters all were vignettes.  I wish there was at least one character who could have been a through-line in the plot.  The major problem was that while I liked how all the characters were portrayed, I didn't get enough insight into their lives, thoughts, or what happens to them. 

The timelines were also a bit hard to follow because of the writing style.  I wasn't always sure how much time was passing.  This was particularly evident in the rebellion subplot.  I don't really know what the rebellion was hoping to accomplish and the ending was weak on that point.  Overall, while the concepts are always worth reading about, the execution didn't really work for me.  I would try another book by the author though.  Arrr!

[Nirmal Raj · Rating 5 out of 5]

I call myself a science fiction nut but this is my first encounter with an Indian SF story in English. India is still finding its feet in the world of SF, and authors like Lavanya Lakshminarayan are at the front of a new wave: https://locusmag.com/2020/12/sf-in-in....

Spoilers ahead.

'Analog/Virtual' is a tech fiction dystopia set centuries in the future in Apex City, once "Bangalore" ("Bengaluru" was perhaps lost to its historians). It has been long-listed for the British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Novel: https://bsfa.co.uk/bsfa-award-for-lon.... One of its charms is its unusual structure: 20 interconnected short stories narrated from shifting viewpoints and sometimes by the characters themselves (including a software program!). How do I mean by "tech fiction"? Sometimes the ecosystem of a tale is so rich in future technology, its presence so pervasive in plot, character and language, that to call it simply "science fiction" would be missing the point. To illustrate, Spielberg's 'Minority Report' is science fiction despite the constant introduction of gadgetry, but his 'Ready Player One' crosses the genre into tech fiction.

Technology in 'Analog/Virtual' has reached jaw-dropping point. Manned spacecraft go as far out as the moons of Saturn, while back on Earth, teleportation is a mode of travel. Yet this progress has not extended to living conditions. Apex City is one among several self-governing metros across the globe, as nation states have collapsed in the chaos of population explosion. It is governed by Bell Corporation as a draconian meritocracy and a 'technarchy', which I think means a monarchy with an algorithm standing in for the crown. Bell has read '1984'. "War Is Peace, Freedom Is Slavery, Ignorance Is Strength" is now "Productivity is Power, Passion is Priceless, Persona is Prime", alliterations and adjectives sneaked in for effect. While not quite teaching "2+2=5", they prod you -- literally -- into getting you to agree with their Top 40 party tunes. Their Panopticam is watching you. Where they differ from Orwellian tyranny is in their use of a "Bell Curve" to divide the populace over a productivity metric. The bell curve, you may recollect, is the means by which your soul was crushed in undergraduate years when relative grades were assigned. The top 90% of the Curve are the Virtuals, who enjoy access to technology, with the highest privileges reserved for the top 20%, a rung to which everyone aspires. A flagging work ethic or a workplace error, however honest, can get a Virtual demoted to the bottom 10% -- to an Analog. Analogs live in slum-like housing, are barred from basic technology like holographic videos, and as punishment for sloth have their organs harvested at a "vegetable farm". They inhabit the other side of the Carnatic Meridian, which sounds like a global standard by which shruti boxes are tuned, but is actually a membrane crackling with blue electricity that'll fry you to a crisp if touched. Surely every Analog dreams of an escape to Saturn, preferably via teleporter.

The book is filled wall-to-wall with technovations, the most memorable of which is the "BE-moji". This is a spherical shell of pixels around your head that'll read your emotions and display them in a series of 3-dimensional emojis. The growth of its popularity is the tale of "The BE-moji Project", well placed for comic relief. By far the best story is "Etudes", of an Analog orphan adopted by the kindest-hearted Virtuals in the novel. Adoption is the privilege of Twenty Percenters: even the freedom to exercise compassion must be earned. This story also features one of the book's more original technologies, DreamMusician, a program you can implant in your person to learn music with "real precision", replete with Tactile+, GlimmerKeys, and In-Ears.

The book has its faults. Often the point-of-view narration feels like watching someone play a video game with unfamiliar cheat codes. The first-person avatar leads you to new corners of the city, but we don't quite sense why. We often suspect that characters are puppets of the plot, and not personalities from which a story would emerge. The author also succumbs frequently to annotation. For instance, a David-like army says out loud, "This is what happens when you're obsessed with living in a picture perfect world... when you're blind to everything but your vision. This is the price of hubris. Nothing is infallible" after triumphing over a Goliath-like army, a scene that would have carried more punch if the Davids had said nothing. Similarly we have "too busy raising the heat on the political climate", "navigated the sandstorm with skill", "a secret beach untouched by climate change", a "child destined to a life of poverty and discrimination", and a cruel line which "Sneha says cruelly". A fine storyteller shines the spotlight on her stage and walks away, leaving commentary to the critic. I'm certain that the author already knows all this -- for proof I submit Story #5, "...Into that Good Night". Because it is all "Show, don't tell", and because character precedes all else, we are perfectly haunted. I also felt that the order of the stories could do with slight rearrangement. Story #6, "Welcome to the Machine" -- one of the best -- should have been the first. It establishes geography clearly, its guided train tour is a perfect excuse to introduce the world of Analogs, and it gives us a relatable character, the Virtual tour guide with an inner life she dare not reveal. To top it all, the frankness of the child passengers creates strong emotional impact. By contrast, the first four stories leave us disoriented, feature characters we don't connect with (one is a mysterious thief and another, by his own admission, 'a nobody'), and make us wonder if there is any overall momentum to the story arc. My ideal order would have been #6, #5, #7, #1, #2, #3, #4.

Ms Lakshminarayan more than makes up for these with her seemingly unlimited imagination and plot lines, and with splendid passages of prose. I smiled every time somebody swore "Harvest me!" or "What the ten percent is that!" or "Oh, seventy percent on a spaceship", or remarked "When it glitches it fries" -- usages for which she wisely omits footnotes. Some turns of phrase catch you unawares: "She is used to loss but not to absence. Absence implies the possibility of return, and it is this hope that wears one down. Loss promises finality", "In the old days, women could screw corporations over by getting pregnant... They built their own glass ceiling", "M.I.M.E.S.I.S. panics, insofar as an alphanumeric set of conditional clauses can." "The self-driving car is a frenzy of hormones" must be the niftiest description I've encountered of a sex scene. I liked how Vidhana Soudha and the ISKCON Temple appear but are never mentioned by name; Bangaloreans will no doubt recognize other landmarks. I also appreciated how the novel ends in a moment of beauty unfamiliar to its occupants. It evoked in me not quite Asimov's 'Nightfall' but the quote of Emerson that prefaces it: "If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore, and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God!"

'Analog/Virtual' is available on Amazon.

[Dr. des. Siobhán · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked by my wonderful reading group, I read "The Ten Percent Thief", which I wouldn't have picked up otherwise because I don't like the cover. (It's stupid, I know. Sorry.) Both title and cover also do not really fit the fascinating and mind blowing scale of this book which is about future Bangalore, renamed Apex City by Bell Corp, and has become a dystopian technocracy. Told through the eyes of some inhabitants, we learn about a society divided by algorithms and productivity. It is social media and capitalism gone haywire, it is "Black Mirror" and "1984". I absolutely adored the book and I didn't expect to. So many characters grew on me even though the chapters are short and the mosaic structure makes the readers work a bit to follow the general, societal developments. I also had a lot of moments of utter disbelief or disgust, but good schifi will do that to you. I still feel like some themes of the novel were underdeveloped, e.g. climate crisis, other cities, some storylines, but I overall enjoyed this a lot and read it rather quickly. What a smart book, truly. And how refreshing that it's not set in London or Europe at all, but Bangalore. 5 stars

[Priya · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dystopian novel by an Indian author set in a city that was formerly Bangalore, my very own city, had to be on my list of must reads and I'm so glad I finally got around to reading it. This book was recommended by several friends who loved it and I definitely agree with them.

The setting of the story in Apex City which is divided by a shield called the Carnatic Meridian into Analog and Virtual worlds is both intriguing and very intelligent and also feels extremely topical. In this world, individual progress is tracked on the mathematical Bell Curve by the Big Brother esque Bell Corp which oversees everything. Merit is determined by social media standing and individual accomplishment. The best get to be in the top twenty percent and enjoy the most privileges while the rest are in the seventy percent bracket aiming to reach the top. The bottom ten percent are relegated to the Analog side with zero technology and no running water or electricity and no trees even. A revolution is brewing on the Analog side with the chief instigator known as the 'ten percent thief' stealing and planting the seeds of a jacaranda tree, signalling the beginning of the end of Virtual domination.

The narrative is comprised of interconnected stories from the perspective of different characters on both sides of the divide. We see how technology has completely taken over and trapped the seeming elite on the Virtual side and the ways in which they can do nothing without the aid of some device or app. In fact, they shudder at the thought of having to go to a grocery shop in person or talk to other individuals face to face! This actually does not seem far in the future at all because we see it around us today! Since everything is measured in terms of productivity points, a fall in social media points means a slide on the curve and the horrible prospect of being exiled to the other side! We see how school kids are taught to be afraid of and hate the Analog side through carefully curated stories and demonstrations of their 'savage lives'. People will do anything, even disown their own loved ones, to avoid the ignominy of sliding to the bottom. Several themes like climate control, artificial beauty aids, the use of online avatars that have nothing to do with the true persona and excessive intrusion of technology into every aspect of an individual's life are wonderfully illustrated through each of these stories that build up into one cohesive plot alongside the brimming revolution. While I loved all the stories, my favorites were the Persona police which demonstrates how technology insidiously shapes how people are seen online and Be-moji which is about communication becoming completely non verbal with quickly changing graphical representations of every emotion on a person's face as they feel them. There is also one chilling story about the takeover of a person's brain by an AI technology that tries to control emotions and interactions with others to maximize personal gain. This felt like a premonition of what's to come in the future as well!

This is satire at its best and there is a thread of dark humour evident through the novel and the feeling of being overwhelmed by something of our own creation that we can no longer control. How power and the promise of unparalleled success at any cost causes people to behave in ways they wouldn't have thought themselves capable of, is at the centre of this world. I loved the nod to Bangalore in the mention of well known restaurants and my beloved Corner House with its unbeatable icecream and sundaes!

The way the ruin of this world is planned is both expected and inevitable but also very clever in the way it is executed. Sometimes we feel as though we cannot survive in a world that is devoid of all the technology we use day in and out even in situations where it is totally possible to do without it. This book seems to accurately predict our plight if we continue along the same lines without a healthy appreciation for the 'real' world and efforts to retain our ability to think and feel for ourselves in the good old-fashioned way!

It is great to see such a thought provoking, well written novel from an Indian author, particularly in the sci-fi genre. I look forward to reading more from the author in the future.

[Tredaran · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am not a fan of science fiction but always like to read it from time to time to challenge my comfort zone. This book reminded me why I’m not a fan, but I will give a fair and honest review.

For those readers who love imaginary dystopian urban landscapes and social structures, this is an incredibly well-imagined and highly detailed world, right down to the names and descriptions of futuristic technologies and the language people use. That said, I wonder whether the liberal use of the hashtag and @sign for this future world’s social media will date it to the 2020s for future readers.

Plot and characters - this is where I struggled the most. Describing a divided society of the 90 percent with access to the best technologies and the ten percent “have-nots” forced to salvage from the detritus of old technologies such as cassettes and Walkmans in a series of vignettes, there is no plot as such, only descriptions of tensions and the threat of rebellion in what threatens to be an unfair war. Characters are defined by their position in the bell curve - ten percenters, seventy percenters and the top twenty percent, with the latter two groups being controlled, monitored and motivated by their access to the very best immersive technologies. This, unfortunately does not lead to interesting, engaging or memorable characters. The ten percenters come across as more interesting, authentic and creative, but we’re they engaging enough to sustain my interest throughout the story? Sadly not.

Whilst I appreciated the detail of thought and imagination that has gone into the creation of this dystopian story, it didn’t work for me. But then again neither did Lord of the Rings, so this might just be a case of the wrong book for the wrong reader. With thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy.

[Miquel Codony · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5/5)

El conjunt m'ha agradat molt, però també em sembla un llibre força desigual i m'ha costat una mica entrar-hi. Crec que fa un abús important del tecno-argot per aconseguir un efecte sobre el lector.

Dit això, aconsegueix un in crescendo bastant xulo i té relats/capítols concrets (és una mena de fix-up) francament interessants.

[Sahitya · Rating 5 out of 5]

It almost feels like after a horrible reading slump and being frustrated that I’m not keeping up with any of my reading plans all through this pregnancy, I’m finally feeling the FOMO in these last weeks before my due date and trying to catch up as much as I can. This time it was the turn of the very beautiful looking The Ten Percent Thief by Lavanya Lakshminarayan, which got an international release early this year after being debuted previously in South Asia with a different title. I was expecting quite a bit from this book but turns out, it’s even better and I finished the book in just 2 days, to my utter surprise and delight.

This is a mosaic novel, a bit reminiscent of the profound How High We Go in the Dark, though this one takes place in a much more near future technocratic dystopia, within a much shorter time frame. Set in erstwhile Bangalore but now called Apex City, run by the Bell Corp where all citizens are rated on the bell curve, this book through the eyes of both the privileged and oppressed characters, gives us a glimpse into what this world controlled by a mega corp, optimized by algorithms, and driven by themes of productivity and conformity, has turned into.

While we get various POVs, each of different age groups and professions, we see their lives closely and what motivates them to keep going - how some of them have to work extra hard to conform and ensure that they don’t fall down on the curve, how they are ready to completely transform themselves to achieve this outcome, how utterly dependent every single aspect of life is on technology and how some of the Analogs are ready to fight back. Even though there are through lines between the stories, we don’t always meet the characters again but even in the short time we spend with them, it’s very easy to feel for them. But the beauty of this book is in how realistic and plausible the author makes this future feel - already we see ourselves living out social lives at the whims of algorithms everyday and it’s no surprise that the world envisioned in this book feels like a logical conclusion. I was captivated by the writing and the while it’s not necessarily a singular plot focused, it still moves at a fast pace building towards a thrilling end.

To be honest, I feel like I’ve not done justice to the book in this haphazard review of mine. But what can I say. I don’t have the right words in me at the moment. Just know that this book is very impressive, the futuristic world the author creates very familiar and scary and prescient, and a uniquely structured tale that is easy to read as well as hard to put down. I can’t wait to see what the author writes next.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the idea behind this book. A near future dystopia based in what's today Bangalore but has become 'Apex City' - a city run/owned/whatever by Bell Corporation. The premise is that your place in society depends on where you fit on the Bell Curve - with the top 20% having a life of luxury, the next 70% striving to move up and fighting against demotion, and the bottom 10% consigned to a technology-starved role as so-called 'analogs'.

The idea, as I said is great. At times, the pace and delivery are great. The problem is that a big bunch of great ideas are thrown together without a linking thread running through them. It's just a heck of a mess.

I was about halfway through before it hit me that I didn't actually have too much of a clue what was going on. I would meet a new character, get the impression they were important, and then a few pages later, they were gone, never to return.

Some of the characters are great. Some I forgot almost instantly.

10% didn't make sense. It's counter-intuitive for a Bell Curve to only pull out such a small proportion. There's also a mass of other communities that are touched upon but never developed

I'd have loved this if there were fewer characters and they linked together in some stronger way. It's a mass of loose ends and unfinished stories.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers. I'd love to read this author again but I'd like a much more integrated story next time.

With thanks to

[Booxoul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have you ever given a thought about how our future would be like, with all the latest AI technology rushing towards us and taking over our life?⁣⁣
⁣⁣
How would you feel when all your moments/actions/reactions 😐💃🏽are watched and rated throughout the day? Even your thoughts! What’s more, your freaking life depends on those freaking points? And the scary part is that your life depends on those points you accumulated. The lower your points get; the lower in the rung you go.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Now you ask who all are in the lowest rungs? And I say, the Analogs; the people who resist AI. They are the poorest of poor. Looked upon with contempt and abhorrence.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Sounds scaryyyy na!?⁣😥⁣
⁣⁣
And scared I was when I read Lavanya Lakshminarayan’s book Analog Virtual. And just reading about it gave me the scare of my life!⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Okay, let’s stop here for a moment and let me address my grievances to the author @lavanya.ln , why oh, Why did you have to write such a scary scary novel that depicted the sort of future we are going to face, in maybe 50 yrs or maybe 100 yrs⁣⁣
⁣⁣
I did not want to read the book. No Sir, I resisted as I might. But your storyline and beautiful writing style compelled me to plough on the page after page till the end was in sight.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Listen to me when I say that the end was freaking frightening than the beginning and the middle.⁣⁣
⁣⁣

[Si · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC)
Set in what was Bangalore, now known as Apex city, in the not-too-distant future. Society is divided into separate classes with the people at the top having access to the most advance VR technology, and those at the bottom having barley any electricity. The citizens of Apex city are kept in line by a system of merit. Those with the highest productivity, talent and culture are promoted to the top. Those who are deemed less valuable are demoted and deported. A kind of modern take on the Orwellian thought police.
This book explores a lot of modern ideas. Like how technology keeps people in line and the threat of losing it can be a form of control. How society values some forms of merit over others. Or how always striving for productivity has a dehumanising effect.
It's written as a series of loosely connected short stories with each chapter following a different character. The characters are very varied in terms of age, occupation and social status. This paints a clear picture of all the aspects of Apex city from a diverse set of perspectives. The only downside to this style of narrative is there is no single protagonist that you follow all the way throughout the book.

So, interesting ideas if you come at it from a philosophical perspective.

[Sudeepa Nair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Analog Virtual hooks the reader with its intense world-building rooted in the present-day technological hubris. It is part science fiction and part social satire. The stories of the inhabitants of Apex City, a dystopian Bangalore, are intriguing. Society is divided into the Analogs and the Virtuals, with the Virtuals themselves divided into meritocratic hierarchies. The Virtuals are the meritocratic high class who are governed by the principles of Bell Corporation and tracked by the multitude of technologies developed at Bell.
The Analogs, on the other hand, have limited access to technology and other resources, many of them on the brink of poverty.
There is constant friction as the two worlds interact at the peripheries.
Some of the characters are interesting enough to have entire books written about them. Hopefully, we will get to know them more in the upcoming sequel.
The book feels like a collage of individual stories that partly find closure in the showdown between the two worlds. The dystopian world they inhabit is the thread that connects the stories. I could take a break in between and not be under pressure to complete the book in one go.

[Veronika Nunhardtová · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Ten Percent Thief by Lavanya Lakshminarayan is a mosaic dystopian sci-fi story.
In this book are multiple points of view, countless characters, and places where we can observe this new and fascinating technological world. The Ten Percent Thief is a unique book, complicated, funny, and horrible at the same moment. Lavanya Lakshminarayan is a genius author.
Thank you NetGalley and Rebellion, Solaris for an eARC!

[Tathagata Mitra · Rating 1 out of 5]

Gosh.

I really didn’t want to write this review. I really wanted to love this book. But my best efforts failed, mostly because the author didn’t put enough effort into building the dystopian world she promised to showcase in the premise.

I don’t know where to start, except to say that THE WORLD IS BROKEN. The author has written a mosaic novel, presenting a narrative through 20 different, disjointed stories. While each short story is interesting to read, the larger elements of the world cannot coexist with each other—they constantly contradict each other.

The author calls this world a "meritocratic technarchy," where everyone suffers because privileged people must continuously be productive to a corporation to retain their status. But that’s NOT a meritocracy. That’s just old-fashioned capitalism. In a true meritocracy, hierarchies would be determined by who is most educated or capable—but this world is no different from our own. There is still a foreign boss from the western side of the world barking nonsensical orders, no different from today’s Walmarts or Amazons.

Also, may I ask: how is it that world governments collapsed and corporations thrived by taking over modern-day cities? How could cities like Bangalore and Delhi survive if the rest of the country is suffering from drought and barely able to sustain life, while people in these corporate city-states live comfortably? What do these corporations produce? Who grows the food the survivors eat? Where are the trees producing oxygen for everyone?

As for contradictions: apparently, only the privileged class has access to soil for growing trees. This is explained in the first story, where the eponymous “ten percent thief” steals a plant for the ‘Analogue’ section of the city. But in the next chapter, we learn that Analogues get newspapers, while Virtuals receive all information virtually. My question is: who’s planting the trees that produce the paper for the newspaper? There’s also a water crisis. So, again, who’s providing the water needed to make the ink for these newspapers? Also, how is there still cinema and music if the artists and thinkers are pushed to the underprivileged sections of the society?

This book has no central character or plot because it’s a mosaic novel. That leaves the setting as the sole constant—and the setting makes ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE. NONE AT ALL.

The author hasn’t examined the world she’s created as a whole. She has little imagination and seems unaware of how she contradicts herself in every chapter. Example? The Bell Corporation declares that civilization is “free from discrimination.” So, discrimination just ends by decree, apparently. Caste discrimination was “declared” illegal in the 1950s. What a success that was, right?

But on closer inspection, discrimination hasn’t ended. The children of the super-privileged take pride in their parentage, while Analogues who have broken societal barriers are ashamed of theirs. That’s just good old-fashioned caste discrimination and caste pride.

Yet, in a later chapter, we learn that the children of the super-privileged can risk becoming Analogues by reducing productivity, while Analogues’ children can secretly, or through adoption, climb to more privileged classes all the time. So that just solves the problem of social mobility, doesn’t it? At this point, how is this even a dystopia? It sounds like an amazing place to live, if you ask me. What exactly are the Analogues lacking? The book stresses that technology is key to survival, but Analogues have “Analogue” technology that provides everything they need: newspapers for information, stores with food, and money to buy it. They’re missing only climate-based technology and a few gadgets that either impose restrictions on their lives or aren’t needed. If anything, the Analogues are freer.

The problem is that the author lacks the imagination to understand what truly underprivileged life is like. For instance, there’s a secret meeting of revolutionaries, and when the main character of that story arrives, he finds a working bar where he must spend money to buy a drink. WHAT REVOLUTIONARY BASE HAS A WORKING BAR? This isn’t Star Wars. This is Bangalore.

Speaking of money, the author describes how the Virtuals use digital money while Analogues use physical cash. But one has to ask: who’s making this money? Do the Analogues have the power to print their own? Clearly not. So why are the Virtuals going to extra effort to ensure the underprivileged have physical money? In a post-apocalyptic world, that feels like a huge waste of resources.

These contradictions arise because the author jumps from one idea to another without thinking things through. One group has to be deprived, while the other must be privileged? Fine. One side has no plants, while the other has trees and water. There has to be a technological divide? Sure. Let one group have newspapers while the other has digital news. The weapons must differ? Let the Analogues have Hydro weapons, while the Virtuals have lasers. Do you see what I’m getting at here? She even writes that people fighting for water rights use water to fight their battles!

The author also makes no effort to describe what her world looks like. She just expects readers to conjure an image based on a few familiar words. PanOptiCam is just CCTV. HoloTube is holographic YouTube. Everything is just something familiar from the real world or other sci-fi stories, repackaged with new names. Overall, it’s very, very disappointing.

I take worldbuilding seriously because I love immersing myself in worlds that make sense and feel real. I’m currently reading Provenance by Anne Heche, which achieves exactly that. Sadly, Analogue Virtual does not. I don’t understand how a book this lackluster could be a finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award. If it had won, it would have been a loss for sci-fi fans worldwide.