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**Frownland** · 03-21-2021, 11:50 PM

The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

20 million die in India during a harrowing wet bulb heat wave and the world responds with ecoterrorism and the titular global climate organization while the usual suspects remain indifferent. It straddles an interesting place between fiction and nonfiction, using accounts from different perspectives to propel the story while going into some thoroughly researched ecological, economic, psychological, and scientific concepts. This does lead to some pretty flat characters but the thought-provoking climate change solutions and unique approach make up for that in spades. The chapters are also super short, so the predictable character arcs don't overstay their welcome. There's a bit of a lull in the middle as he sets the foreground for some of the economic policies, but otherwise this was pretty engaging.

Spoiler for spoilers:

A really informative and interesting novel with some flaws, but none that are glaring. 8.5/10

03-21-2021, 11:50 PM	#11 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,541	The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson 20 million die in India during a harrowing wet bulb heat wave and the world responds with ecoterrorism and the titular global climate organization while the usual suspects remain indifferent. It straddles an interesting place between fiction and nonfiction, using accounts from different perspectives to propel the story while going into some thoroughly researched ecological, economic, psychological, and scientific concepts. This does lead to some pretty flat characters but the thought-provoking climate change solutions and unique approach make up for that in spades. The chapters are also super short, so the predictable character arcs don't overstay their welcome. There's a bit of a lull in the middle as he sets the foreground for some of the economic policies, but otherwise this was pretty engaging. Spoiler for spoilers: While I get that KSR wanted to show how these solutions fleshed out, the ending was too optimistic. Plus for as much as he bemoans neoliberal hegemony, his key proposal of the carbon coin is built on strengthening it. There's a brief mention of some investors attempting to short the carbon coin that's waved away with an unhelpful assertion that they just made some new laws to fix it. For as well-researched as this book was, the way that that particular loose end was tied up felt really cheap. I see why it serves his purpose, but just a touch of lingering conflict or an unforeseen policy blunder for the Ministry to tackle as Mary steps down would have really strengthened this on a literary level. A really informative and interesting novel with some flaws, but none that are glaring. 8.5/10 __________________ Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth. d e a f b o x