Review
Cyberabad Days
2009
Pyr
Review by Peter Young in Big Sky #1 (2013).
Six stories and an original novella all set in the universe of the excellent River of Gods. This has been a slow burner with me for all the best reasons – McDonald makes it next to impossible to rush a story anyway – and India circa 2047 must be one of the best-realised futures so far in 21st century SF. These stories remind me there is still an original and currently lesser-used meaning for the word ‘alien’ that science fiction has all but replaced with its own trope: with their varying points of view these stories rehabilitate the strangeness of that original concept while not resorting to ‘othering’; McDonald also reengages our sense of wonder in things that might otherwise be dismissed as not foreign enough. Among the stories here is ‘The Djinn’s Wife’ which deserved its Hugo and BSFA awards, and ‘Vishnu at the Cat Circus’ was also worthy of its recognition. A genuinely great read throughout.