Carnival

Carnival is a standalone science fiction novel by Elizabeth Bear, and the first of her books that I bought - also the only one I've ever seen in a bookshop over here. The several books I now have of hers seem to fall into groups which represent her take on a particular sub-genre - to me this one is Bear's take on the eco/feminist science fiction story. By that I mean the sort of thing that Sherri S. Tepper writes. But as with the others of Bear's books that I've read this takes the familiar tropes of that sub-genre and does something different with them.

Carnival is set in a future where Old Earth is still the political leader of several colony planets. The population of Earth is much reduced - the majority have been Assessed by the Governors. This is explained later in the book, the Governors are AI constructed by a group who felt humans were damaging the Earth too much so the best thing to do is to kill off most of them, then enforce strict controls on population and other ecologically damaging practices. The Governors use the ubiquitous nanotechnology to kill those they Assess as needing to die - starting in the first instance with all the white people (which included the creators of the Governors, something they would definitely have approved of). It's an End of the World as We Know It catastrophe caused on purpose by a small group of extremists. After the first wave of Assessments several off-world colonies are founded, then the Governors bring the remaining population down to an "appropriate" number. Two of the protagonists are from Old Earth, on a diplomatic mission to one of the colonies.

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