Alina Leonova in her cyberpunk story - 'Entanglement' - takes us to an altogether different world through an enjoyable storyline by infusing fascinating imaginations:- A person getting the exact copy of the brain with feelings and memories of the other person; editable DNA to keep the body immortally healthy via most modern brain implants that replicate themselves; suits of the person due to which a camera sees him as an inanimate object; an unimaginably powerful, yet extremely compact power source.
Alina has set a fantastic tone which delves into the aspects of nature beginning to overrule the humans. Living virtually via almost realistic simulation is a widespread phenomenon in the era of this story. She has crafted some good characters with interesting situations. A strange plague caused by non-destroyable plants forces people to live only on the upper floors of high-rise buildings, to escape from its devastating effects. Cay, affected by peculiar feelings, begins to doubt his reality. He cuts his palm implant and undertakes a quest to fulfil his innate desire of finding a truth concerning his wife Limea - "I am no one. I am a work in progress.” Inexplicably, I remembered a line from 'Cyberpunk' by Victoria Blake - “Every separate human life is a moment in the life of some great being which lives in us.”
An uncompassionate psychopath - the Master - has perfected cloning technology. He manipulates Vietra for his enigmatic mission. Vietra wants to escape even at the cost of her life, from the cruelty of the Master - better late than never. She knows how to deploy psychological tricks of deception. Vietra and Cay, hitherto total strangers, accidentally meet each other and surprisingly find an inexplicable bond between them. They decide to cross the stream where it's the shallowest. Vietra sees interesting paradigms about the universe in her final pursuit against the Master:- about those who pollute, destroy whole species of animals and plants not only on the Earth but also by colonizing other planets as well, through interstellar travel, even to a parallel universe; about people who ignore to live in the present as a united cosmic consciousness beyond boundaries. It's indeed an engaging read, due to the suspense built-up about the Master and his mission!
I had a true delight in some places. I liked Alina's portrayals of mistaken identity of true happiness and descriptions about those misleading humanity in a mirage-like 'glorious' civilization. One of my favourite lines is:- "They wanted a world where everyone could have access to resources, education, medicine, power and technology, and they wanted this world to live in harmony with their planet and other beings. They were ready to rearrange their lives and give up their habits to achieve that."
There are adorable features:- Alina's matter-of-fact writing style and flow; vivid detailing of some smart scenes with a good dose of sentiments; the right mix of science and emotion for science fiction. They overshadow the book's moments of hesitation and flaws:- unbalanced narratives; slow pickup; drag; sequencing issues; indirectness; doubts while reading; wavering direction; and predictable climax. Alina has narrated the story in a way that anybody with a willingness to pay attention can follow it. The story may not be perfect but gives many wonderful moments to the readers. In effect, the small themes work cohesively, but the bigger theme lacks clarity.
I could infer Alina's passion to protect the environment from her writing. In Nature, the best things in life are free. Alina's narratives for preserving the nature and issues that arise due to advanced technologies are commendable - ''They kept changing the environment, bringing it closer to collapse each year, kept driving animals and plants extinct, kept committing atrocities in the name of greater good the understanding of which was constantly shifting.''
Alina has breathed through Vietra a blend of Utopia too - 'And those people looked so genuinely happy, so serene as if they rediscovered some deep truth that set them free. They didn’t see themselves as lords of nature but as an organic part of it, as nature itself. They saw clearly that their well-being depended on the well-being of the whole system and everyone in it."
'Entanglement' is captivating with intriguing concepts, good plot twists and unexpected events. It has beautiful psychological depictions of how advanced technologies, and its side effect of apathy towards the environment, can have adverse effects on humans.
I recommend it to all the lovers of cyberpunk stories.
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