We Are Satellites

This was a great book! Subtly written and character-driven, it centers around a technology - and its consequences - that is disturbingly plausible. The author's last book, A Song for a New Day, achieved notoriety for seeming to have predicted the COVID-19 pandemic, and it's hard not to feel like she's reading the tea leaves once again.

Unlike some stories that introduce body implants that turn peole superhuman, the technology here is simple (a brain implant that helps you multitask.) The book switches between each of the four members of a family, and cleverly uses this technique as a means to examine the book's technology from four different perspectives - the one who gets it and hates it, the one who gets it and likes it, the one who can't get it, and the one who doesn't want it. The author not only convincingly captures the four unique personalities, she uses them to explore bigger societal challenges with technology access and usage in society (especially the divide between the haves and the have-nots.)

The plot is well-paced and deceptively suspenseful - without even resorting to the classic flashy cliches of armed men in black sedans chasing down the heroes. There's a little espionage and conspiracy and public altercations, but they are very realistic - and a good reminder that sometimes everyday life can be very dramatic!