The WindUp Girl – Paolo Bacigalupi

Summary:

Future dystopian novel set in the Kingdom of Thailand, in a world where calories are king, fast travel is mainly by kink-spring propelled vehicles, and factories are powered by genetically-modified elephants/yaks known as megodonts.

Main Characters:

Anderson Lake: Calorie-man extraordinaire, ostensibly he is in the Kingdom to run a factory. In reality, he is there to find and exploit the Kingdom’s seedbank resources, for his employer Agri-Gen.

Emiko: The windup girl, a genetically modified human. Programmed to serve, she was abandoned by her Japanese owner in Thailand, and she lives a life of increasing degradation.

Hock Seng: Formerly a wealthy Chinese man in Malaya (sic), now a “yellow card” refugee, he is Lake’s factory manager, but always on the lookout to improve his own precarious situation.

Jaidee Rojjanasukchai: the Tiger of Bangkok, he is lauded by the people as a true defender of the kingdom, impervious to bribes or corruption.

Minor Characters:

Akkarat: Minister for Trade, he schemes to control the country without opposition.

Gibbons: The debauched genius geneticist who is protected by the Thais, in return for his continuing to protect the Kingdom against diseases.

Plot:

It is a bleak outlook for humanity.

The world is in terminal decline, sea-waters have risen, and the global economy is smashed. Isolated pockets of prosperity survive, like the Kingdom of Thailand, but these are rigidly protected from invasion by without, and revolution from within. The city of Bangkok is protected by a sea-wall, but this must be carefully maintained or else the city will be swamped. The agents of this control are the white-shirts, of which Jaidee is one, operating through the Environment Ministry.

Huge profits are to be made by calorie corporations such as Agri-Gen, who sell genetically-modified food. They need fresh resources, so employ people like Anderson to hunt down and secure valuable items like seedbanks. These are vast resources which can be used to fight virulent diseases, and protect food sources.

Anderson’s front is a kink-spring factory in Thailand, (a Kink-spring is a device that stores energy), the running of which is left to Hock Seng, an elderly yellow card, but sharp as a tack. Anderson is a farang, a foreigner, but Hock Seng is a barely-tolerated refugee.

We find Jaidee intercepting a large consignment of contraband, as he shakes down some Trade Ministry officials at the air-pads (an airport for dirigibles). While not the clean-cut hero of public adoration, he is a patriot, and does have a good heart. His right hand woman is Kanya, who has her own secrets and agenda. Jaidee’s torching of the airpads signals the beginning of the end for him.

Emiko struggles to survive, and is subjected to nightly degradations in a sex club, where her latest patron [Raleigh] is forcing her to pay off her debts. She is fully human in terms of feelings and thoughts, and desire for freedom, but is genetically modified to always seek to serve, and her body is designed to overheat if she runs. She is instantly recognisable by her movement, and is nearly universally despised.

Every character is intent on pursuing his or her own agenda, but their success or failure depends on the level of power they have. Ultimately it becomes a faction fight between the Environment and Trade Ministries, with the greedy calorie companies supporting their preferred candidate. Emiko is unwittingly instrumental in providing the spark that ignites the civil war. As the various characters jostle for power and position, a new plague breaks out in Lake’s factory.

Everything is up for grabs, and it is survival of the fittest. At the end, there is a surprising twist in the creation of a new world order in the Kingdom.

What I Liked:

• The world building is superb. It is gritty, bleak, and populated by characters who have been deeply damaged by their environment. I could clearly see the slum-like conditions of the city, and the juxtaposition with the upper-class areas.
• The seamless mix of science and plot-line. The genetics angle worked really well, and the results are all too believable. The genie never goes back into the test-tube!

What I  Didn’t Like:

• The level of world-building means, at the beginning, the story takes time to get going.
• There is no hope in this world, merely to get through another day. The only relationship with any real warmth is that of Jaidee and his wife, which is cut short. Everything else seems driven by greed, instant gratification, and fear.

Overall:

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the fairly unique setting, I found the tech to be believable, and the characters well-drawn. There are a couple of explicit scenes which means this is not YA material, but the plot line had several threads excellently woven together to make an interesting read, and one I would definitely recommend.