Malka Older: Null states
Feb. 4th, 2018 04:14 amMalka Older’s second novel in the Centenal Cycle, Null States, is set a few years after the first novel, Infomocracy. The new global Supermajority - the Policy government - is in place in those parts of the world that have opted into the microdemocracy system, and specialised teams from Information have been waking overtime to restore confidence in microdemocracy itself, which has become precarious following the almost successful attempt to steal the last general election.
Null States opens in Darfur, where a new government has joined the microdemocracy movement and is making the transition to the centenal system. On hand to aid in the transition is an Information SVAT team led by Roz, one of the Information troubleshooters we met during the first novel. She’s not expecting this to be a particularly difficult assignment until the governor of one of the centanals, and the leader of the resistance to the former traditional government, is assassinated. What’s even more troubling, is that he’s not the first leader of a region new to microdemocracy who has died in suspicious circumstances over the past year.
While Roz leads the investigation into the murder, Mishima, who has been freelancing as an analyst since resigning from Information after the election, is asked to return for a vital intelligence assignment. Heritage, the disgraced government that had formed the previous Supermajority, has threatened to secede from the microdemocracy system, turning all the centenals it governs into an independent state. Mishima is tasked with infiltrating Heritage headquarters to find out what their plans are.
Adding to the instability is the looming threat that war between Kazahkstan and Kyrgystan, two “null states” - nation states not part of the microdemocracy - in Central Asia will spill over into neighbouring centenals. And two of the most powerful of the null states, the core regions of China and Russia, are moving toward involvement in the dispute. The last thing microdemocracy and Information need is a land war in Asia.
Null States has the same flavour as its predecessor; it’s a tightly written techno-thriller that at the same time engages in a sophisticated exploration of new approaches to global governance. The stakes have increased from the first nivel, globally and personally, and the future of microdemocracy itself is in the balance. I can hardly wait for the next chapter in the story.