Cyberabad Days
By Ian McDonald
Pyr, $15.00, 330 pages
Cyberabad Days is a collection of seven tales set in the world that McDonald created for his popular River of Gods novel, of which one was a Hugo winner and one a Hugo nominee. Each touches on timely, relevant idea about our society today and is set in near future India. McDonald seems unapologetic about tackling difficult topics with a particular focus on unbridled, unhindered technology and its effect on culture. McDonald has a literary writing style, and so the use of analogy and metaphor are common, and not always obvious. This tale reminded me a lot of Peter Beagle, Jeffrey Overstreet, and Patricia McKillip in its form and content, beautiful writing, full of electric emotions.
I highly recommend you take the time to read Cyberabad Days. This book is a good entry point to McDonald’s writing, and an exemplar of some of his best work. In particular An Eligible Boy and The Little Goddess are exemplary. Like other British writers before him – Kipling, Forster, and Masters – McDonald has managed to give Western civilization a glimpse of the exotic and beautiful country that is India.
Reviewed by John Ottinger III
