Walkaway (Cory Doctorow novel)
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| Author | Cory Doctorow |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Dystopia, Utopia, oligarchy, surveillance, post-scarcity, alternative lifestyle, war |
| Genre | Adult Science Fiction |
| Publisher | Head of Zeus, Tor Books |
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Publication date
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April 25, 2017 |
| Media type | Book (Hardcover, Paperback and E-Book) |
| Pages | 384 |
| ISBN | |
| Preceded by | Homeland |
| Website | craphound |
Walkaway is an adult science fiction novel by Cory Doctorow, published by Head of Zeus and Tor Books in April 2017.
Set in our near-future, it is a story of walking away from "non-work", and surveillance and control by a brutal, immensely rich oligarchical elite; love and romance; a post-scarcity gift economy; revolution and eventual war; and a means of finally ending death.
In a world of non-work, ruined by human-created climate change and pollution, and where people are under surveillance and ruled over by a mega-rich elite, Hubert, Etc, his friend Seth, and Natalie, decide that they have nothing to lose by turning their backs and walking away from the everyday world or "default reality".
With the advent of 3D printing – and especially the ability to use these to fabricate even better fabricators – and with machines that can search for and reprocess waste or discarded materials, they no longer have need of Default for the basic essentials of life, such as food, clothing and shelter.
As more and more people choose to "walkaway", the ruling elite do not take these social changes sitting down. They use the military, police and mercenaries to attack and disrupt the walkaways' new settlements.
One thing that the elite are especially interested in is scientific research that the walkaways are carrying out which could finally put an end to death – and all this leads to revolution and eventual war.
Writing on NPR online, Jason Sheehan is of the opinion that Doctorow's writing is "super weird in the best possible way."
The reviewer says that Walkaway is a remarkable "story of a utopia in progress, as messy as every new thing ever is, told in the form of people talking to each other, arguing with each other and working together to solve problems. It's all about the deep, disturbing, recognizable weirdness of the future that must come from the present we have already made for ourselves, trying to figure out what went wrong and what comes next."
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