R3: New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson

Released: 2017

Genre: Climate Fiction/Thriller

Number of Pages: 613

Kim Stanley Robinson has a very strong reputation in the United States for science fiction with a large helping of publications on his resume; he sets himself apart from other authors by going for a more realistic bend for the future landscapes portrayed. New York 2140 is a prime example of this, a direction that unfortunately ends up working against its appeal.

The novel (as the title suggests) takes place over a century into the future; with global warming having risen sea levels and transformed the sprawling city into a maze of canals and flooded districts. Even with all this damage, people carry on with a divide between rich and poor remaining constant. From this backdrop, we follow a variety of characters who all reside in the Metlife apartment block at varying levels of society from up-and-coming trader Franklin Garr, all the way down to the young orphans Stefan and Roberto. Across eight main parts, these characters all try to make their way in the flooded city and all have their own wants and desires; Franklin sets his sights on a similarly affluent female trader Jojo, Stefan and Roberto attempt to scrounge up whatever loot they can dig up and the mild-mannered Vlade tends to the engineering side of things to name a few. With this variety of perspectives against the future backdrop, 2140 has a lot of potential but the futuristic Manhatten skyline on the front cover lured me in, only to let me down with the plot contained within. New York 2140 is a very ho-hum affair, never really raising the stakes and rarely putting its characters in tough situations. The corporate greed shown as the cause of the city’s drowning mostly happens off in the background and the global warming that envelopes New York City is mainly a backdrop, not doing enough to pull you in.

That’s not to say that the novel is completely uninteresting. The main strengths of New York 2140 showed through its differing perspective and ties to reality; driven by the same fiercely competitive capitalism that drives current western economies, Robinson does paint a convincing rendition of our current world even if it never really forms a compelling story; outside of references to the 2008 financial crisis, the character Amelia Black for instance ferries polar bears away from the melting ice caps, while simultaneously delivering a reality show for a vast audience; a collision of ideals that does add a certain amount of depth to her character. Each character is also written from a different viewpoint with a fair dose of witty dialogue here and there; Franklin’s first-person perspective pulls you into his inner thoughts, while Vlade is shown from the third-person, providing some variety. Underpinning all these characters is an anonymous citizen who relays the themes to the reader and stringing things along with a couple of references to historical events. Multiple plot points take place throughout the 613 pages and characters often converge with each other, but you never get much of a sense that the residents of the Met are all bound together by a close bond. Because the novel never leverages these stronger points to provide an engrossing pace, you’ll find little to grip you.

Recommended?

Not so much I’m afraid; I went into New York 2140 for its intrigue as a thriller and strong reviews, only to be met with a dull narrative. Robinson goes for a more realistic outlook of New York’s future driven mostly by economic talk and an undertone of political rhetoric. This really took the wind out of its sails as a thriller and because of this it took quite a bit out of me to read all the way through. Things did get a bit more interesting towards the end with a certain storm sweeping its way through the central setting, but the novel couldn’t win me over fully. You might get more out of it if you happen to be a resident or regular visitor of the Big Apple, but I didn’t enjoy it personally. In a bid to capture an authentic window into New York’s future, 2140 feels empty and uneventful.