If you are a person who loves cyberpunk and dystopian novels, run, do not walk, to pick up The City Inside. I am merely a person who sometimes likes and mostly dislikes cyberpunk and dystopia and I still found a lot to like in it. What first struck me is how real the dystopia feels. It is “objects in the mirror may be closer than they appear” kind of real. You can very clearly see how placing one foot in front of the other, and a hop skip and a jump later, we’re in this world. It felt so real and so close that I had to put the book down several times because someone would mention waves of pandemics, or something about forgetting a mask, and I would need to go look at pictures of puppies for a while. What I’m trying to say is, whatever the opposite of escapist reading is, this is that thing.

One of the ways this book felt particularly grounded to me was the scenes that everyone experiences, just with a slight twist. Talking to your parents about how not to get all their data stolen; being stuck in traffic--that constant tension between the various fragmented funhouse mirrors of the different versions you show to family, coworkers, friends. Despite feeling very grounded--I did feel there was enough originality to the world and overall the world-building was far and away the best thing about this book. (Though I would also praise the editor--this book is a tight 275ish pages and does not overstay its welcome).

I do have a few quibbles, and I’d argue that the book has strong debut energy--some very good scenes and sentences, but the quality and pacing are a little uneven, and it veers into preachiness a bit at the end. The back half is much stronger than the first, and I felt at the end that there was a bit of “the most interesting character is not the main character” and also there was one big missed opportunity--the book flirts with experimental forms, and I wish it had come down on one side of the line--either fully lean into the experimental meta nature, or just cut the crap and tell me a good story.

All in all a very interesting debut from a clearly talented author. Not in my wheelhouse, but if I were a bigger fan of dystopia and cyberpunk I’d be clapping right now.

I was provided an ARC in return for an honest review.

thought-provoking, rich, glorious, and intriguing. all of these adjectives and more describe the city inside. this book by samit basu follows joey and rudra, our main protagonists who are tasked with maneuvering their way through numerous overarching & intense themes (abusive governments, concentration of wealth, the rise of technology, and so much more). and what stands out from all of this is how despite the gravity of these themes, it's seemingly near to our own future. while this book is definitely the dystopian novel its described to be, it also has a sense of realism, which drew me in and motivated me to finish this wonderfully written book.

as i said above, this book deals with a lot of very prominent and prevalent themes we encounter today. basu explains and interacts with such topics in a smart and engaging way, which was truly a joy to read. the main protagonists were easy to read about, as i found myself relating to much of which they went through. despite the typical info dumping that occurred at the beginning of this novel, it didn't really take away with my enjoyment of the story. i have never read anything by samit basu, but i absolutely will be seeking out other novels by this extremely talented author. 4/5 stars!

thank you to both netgalley and macmillan-tor/forge for a digital e-arc in exchange for an honest review. all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you so much, NetGalley, Mcmillan-Tor/Forge and Tordotcom, for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review.

“They'd known the end times were coming but hadn’t known they’d be multiple choice.”

Joey is a "Reality Controller", supervising the multimedia multi-reality livestreams of Indi, one of the Asia online celebrity, her friend and ex. Her job gives her considerable culture power, but she's too caught up dealing with Indi and her job to understand that and what she wants from her own life, except proving for her family, herself and trying to protect them from the violence and injustice of the outside world.
On the other side, Rudra is estranged from his wealthy family, now living in an impoverished immigrant neighborhood and when his father dies he's forced back into his family's orbit and only a job offer from Joey helps him escape a life he never wanted.
As both of them start to become enmeshed in conspiracies, complicated relationships, lies and the constant pressure of surveillance capitalism, they will have to understand what they want from their own lives and what they can do to better their world, where everything seems finalized to maintain a status quo and where resistance means risking everything.

Set in near-future Delhi, The city inside is a powerful story, with a magnificent and very original worldbuilding and setting, a futuristic one where the main important thing is the status quo.
Dealing with survelliance, violence, racism and a world still divided in the caste system, where there's a huge difference between riches and poors, Joey and Rudra move, trying to do their job and to understand if they want to change something or if they prefer to live their own lives without rebelling.
I liked reading this book, even though it can be confusing at times, since the reader is directly thrown into the story, surrounded by a complex worldbuilding, made of technology, survelliance and lies. The story is captivating, the characterization good, even though I'd love to know more about the others.
Overall I liked this book and I recommend it to those looking for a powerful read.

This was such an intriguing book. The 'plot' is largely 'here's what this area of near-future India is like.' We see how the caste system still affects everyone. The question arises, 'Did this person end up in this situation from their own merits or because of their name?' In terms of a straightforward 'go from A to B' plot, there's not much there. I think this could bother some people hoping for a clear-cut story. While understandable, I liked the more hazy atmosphere of the storytelling. We're thrown into the action, not really knowing who to trust. What bothered me, though, is that after one of the perspective shifts near the end, we learn things about one of the POVs that feels like it came out of nowhere. It's like there was this time skip that we're supposed to infer happened, but instead it just felt like a whole section of the book was missing.

The characters to me felt like they were more there to show us the setting rather than people to really focus on. While this may not have been the intention, I still think it worked out. This is a book that makes you think, 'Something like this isn't that far off from actually happening.' It feels like there's no hope, but we do find little moments of goodness throughout. Moments of taking a stand and moments of finding people you can truly trust. The ending is still uncertain, but this novel shows that it doesn't have to be void of hope.

Eu fui sedento nesse livro pela capa e pela proposta do livro em apresentar uma Deli em um mundo distópico. Como eu nunca tinha lido nada que se passasse na Índia, achei que esse livro seria uma boa escolha. E até pode ser uma boa escolha, mas não para mim.

Esse é um livro que “não se demora" para explicar os conceitos e os termos que ele apresenta, então, o primeiro capitulo é bem maçante por te jogar em um mundo desconhecido, onde você tenta se agarrar a qualquer coisa que o autor te fale para começar a entender o plot e seguir adiante com a leitura.

Por mais que eu tentasse investir na leitura, eu não consegui me conectar com nenhum personagem, nem o plot e muito menos o estilo narrativo do autor que invés de me fazer querer me aproximar do livro, me afastava. Veja bem, esse não é um livro ruim, ele aborda diversos temas interessantes e que podemos relacionar com o alto crescimento das redes sociais, propaganda e do metaverso, mas mesmo com temas que me fizeram chamar atenção para esse livro incialmente, não foram fortes o suficiente para me manter lendo e acabar abandonando a leitura em 50%.

I was so excited for this book and really, really wanted to like it. Set in the late 2030s in New New Delhi, the book follows Joey, a futurised Social Media Manager, and Rudra, a poor little rich boy seemingly lifted off the page from a Chetan Bhagat novel. In between overarching social commentary and evocative descriptions of their dystopic reality, we follow their journey from NPC to Important NPC.

First, what the book does well: The book immediately pulls you in to the world of New New Delhi. The dystopia described sits squarely in that uncanny valley realm - just close enough to the real thing that your hands get clammy at the thought of it. Recent (Indian) political events are referred to as history, the Years Not To Be Discussed, and the dread descends on you the further you get into the book. As other reviewers have mentioned, Basu does a great job of setting the tone for this unsettlingly claustrophobic novel.


BUT we now come to the missed potential of this book: the further you get into it, the more the world building just seems to fall apart. Yes, I thought some ideas were clever and fantastic (CyberBazaar, the mention of Haraamcore, the briefest description of a rebellious cyberpunk underground) but others, well...it was all kind of boring you know? I'm a little disappointed that the world imagined seems to be plucked directly from the hands of QAnon conspiracists - cabals and child sex rings and organ farming and baby modification. The only difference lies in who runs the thing, and I'm just not interested in a leftist version of QAnon. As we get into the second half of the book, the character arcs all kind of fall apart, we're not expected to follow the character's journey as much as allow the events in the book to unveil the world to us - which, again, might have been fun if not for the fact that there's really not much to the world building aside from "body markets" and "sex slaves".

And do not even get me started on the climax(?). After an unnecessarily long chapter on how Joey says no to the CyberBazaar doctor ("Joey u are different and amazing, the world is fucked, work with us" "No, but thank you" ad nauseum), Joey finds her calling in a CorpDev D&I initiative???? Get out.
And ofc, Rudra doesn't even get a climax, which honestly I'm fine with because I did not want to read more about him.
Don't worry though, there is a puppy to drive home some endorphins.

I think that this could have been the intelligent, funny, clever, desi dystopic novel we've been waiting for. Unfortunately, its too focused on driving home the message to really care much about the story. Less virtue signalling and more world/character development and it could have been a winner. Read it for the chills, and I'll expect more from Basu's next.

Thanks to Macmillan-Tor/ Forge for allowing me the opportunity to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book had me excited to read it based on the beautiful cover art and the interesting story idea, but I realized pretty quickly that this is mostly stream of consciousness writing which isn’t particularly for me.

I do think that the themes of this book are important and Samit Basu paints a disturbingly realistic picture of what the future could one day look like. I think that as is the case of most science fiction, authors are able to come up with ideas that seem dystopian and distant by looking at the world around them and finding patterns and probable outcomes and just writing about them well before anything similar comes to pass. While this is fiction, there are parallels drawn between their world and the one we live in now.

I enjoyed the story but had a hard time getting through it due to the writing style.

I really wanted to like this book, but the pacing was way off. I am admittedly not a fan of stream of consciousness, but my problem here had more to do with the pacing and the information shared with the reader. The stakes are not clearly stated, and you're nearly halfway through the book before the actual plot of the book really gets moving, I did find a few lines very poignant, but other places it was just a list of details, beyond the rule of three. Some very interesting stuff here, and a vibrant world, but the pacing was just not right for how the book is billed.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Macmillan- Tor/Forge for an advanced copy of this dystopian view of our future.

Science fiction has gone from a genre full of hope for the future to being a lot of a downer recently,as science fiction has really always mirrored the reality in which it was written. It's easy to see the great future of Star Trek as man was reaching out for the stars. Now it technocratic oligarchs hoping to escape the cesspool they have made of the planet. Add in the joys of social media, and the future is bleak indeed. Samit Basu in his book The City Inside takes a look at the future of the city of Delhi the effects of a surveillance state, and constant live streaming social media, and while it might look bleak, maybe, somehow good things could still happen.

Joey lives at home with her family in Delhi about 10 years from now. She jogs, decrypts messages leading to social protests and protects her parents from the modern day by controlling their media usage to old tv shows and movies from the past. She is also a reality controller for the fastest growing South Asia, supervising the on-line life and message of Indi. Indi, is also Joey's ex- college boyfriend and a super popular Flowstar. Runda is a son of privilege, but a mess in everyway who Joey meets at Runda's father's funeral, and decides to make a project out of. Soon, there are scandals, both real and faked, underworld threats, real world dangers, and the constant threat of living in one of the most surveilled and crowded places on earth.

The writing in the book is a little tough. The constant stream of consciousness writing, and the fact that there is a lot of infodumping at the beginning means it takes a lot to get into. The setting though is different, and one not much explored in western science fiction and I enjoyed the different cultural perspective. However it is a little rough to get into and to kind of stay with. I understand what the story was going for, but the journey to take there was a little long, even though the book is not.

For people who want to try science fiction that is not so western in setting or ideas, this might be of interest. The world building and the extrapolations of what not only Delhi, but what the future might be like 10 years from now is also noteworthy, and you can tell a lot of thought and planning went into the writing.

DNF at 17%

I just couldn't get into this. The cover is beautiful and I was excited to read scifi from an Indian perspective. I don't get to read a lot of Indian scifi and was looking forward to that.

Unfortunately, I just didn't vibe with this writing style. It is very detailed and impersonal and stream of consciousness. There is a lot of world building, which I normally love, but in this case it was a level of detail and info-dumping that was too much for me. I felt like I kept waiting for the story to start. What was I supposed to care about? What was the thread I was supposed to follow? I think this will work better for readers with a more detail-oriented personality. That just isn't me.

Read to the half, but could not finish. I was not interested in the character devolepment, although I was liking the worldbuilding. The chapters were excessively long and, I am sorry for this, but I actually was bored by how the narrative was being told. This read was just not for me!
This review is based on NetGalley ARC provided in exchange for an honest criticize.

DNF.

I picked up this book when I did because I wanted something short that I could get through somewhat quickly, but despite its length this just dragged for me.

The premise was cool and interesting, but in execution it was confusing to the point of being too hard to follow to get invested. “Social media is bad and will lead to our downfall!!” certainly isn’t a new concept in books, but the idea of the Flow Stars and the setting in India as opposed to the usual Western setting appealed to me. But the chapters were so long and, at least where I stopped a good third into it, the world itself isn’t really explained.

Worth a try if you’re in the mood for something in the modern 1984 vein, but not for me.

I loved reading this book! I found the writing to be very insightful and interesting. I was intrigued by the premise and I enjoyed reading it from start to finish.

The premise was so good but the execution was a bit chaotic. DNFd this one for now. Might try to pick it up again later

I enjoyed the start of this book, but in the middle the story line for me lost purpose and seemed to get tied up in a nought with so much irrelevant content that I totally lost enthusiasm. Which is why 2 Stars. But maybe you will have a different opinion. This is a very dense story for the current age of influencers, set slightly in the future in Delhi. The writing style actually gave me an impression of the crush from the millions of people in an Indian city. Air quality is poor so for entertainment people spend time indoors following their favourite on-line Flow Stars Reality controllers manage the Flow Stars. Picking out settings, relationships, story lines, picking actors to be part of these story lines. All with the aim of getting to be the biggest Flow Star possible, influencing people and ultimately, cynically, making money. Thank for the team at Tor/Forge and NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this as an ARC. The review is my freely given honest opinion.

The concept of this was wonderful. I liked the culture. I thought this was interesting! But the chapter length and stream of consciousness writing style aren’t for me. I the paragraphs were just massive bricks with little dialogue at times and it kept me from connecting strongly to the characters.

I do think this was worth the read!

The City Inside by Samit Basu

The City Inside takes place in the South Asia of the future. Everyone has a live feed, similar to a live showing of a TikTok video. Some people have reached the level of Flowstar, and they each have a team of people helping produce a reality show based on their lives. The brains of the operation is a person known as a reality controller.

We are immediately thrown into the action with this book. It is a bit confusing at first. Several characters and settings are introduced quickly, and the reader is left feeling like they didn't get the memo.

If you continue reading, however, you become swept into the story of Joey, a reality controller, her ex-boyfriend and current client, Indi, and Joey's unlucky cousin, Rudra.

One day, Indi is the #1 Flowstar. Indi, Joey, and Rudra have their lives overturned by scandal. Can they find their way through chaos?

The City Inside takes you on a fast-paced adventure in a world that is under surveillance 24/7, and everyone has to maintain their image. What the author does best is illuminate each character's strengths and weaknesses when they are forced to thrive under the crushing demands of capitalism in a world feeling the wrath of climate change and social unrest.

The premise and themes were important, but the stream of consciousness narrative style wasn't at all for me.

his ability to create fantastic new worlds and weave mythology seamlessly into a futuristic narrative is truly enviable

I received an ARC of The City Inside by Samit Basu in exchange for an honest review.

The City Inside is set in a near future, dystopian Delhi, India and takes place right after the Times Not Mentioned. Joey, India’s premier Reality Controller, is the best at what she does. She manages Flows, multi-reality live streams, for her ex-boyfriend and one of South India’s quickest rising stars, Indi. Rudra is estranged from his wealthy family and seeks to keep it that way. His father’s death forces him back into his family’s influential sphere. Impulsively, Joey offers her family friend Rudra a job on Indi’s Flow to get him out of joining the family business. The two make an unlikely alliance as they navigate what they want out of their lives and begin to build a better, more inclusive India.

This book really hits on the anxieties of corrupt governments, society, and the eye of big brother, which really resonates in today’s society. Unfortunately, I’m not sure it quite landed the way the author was intending. There was a lot of mention of different forms of media and their uses, but they were never fleshed out. I wish the reader could have gotten more of that. In terms of plot, it felt like there were a lot of subplots that were just shy of weaving together one cohesive main storyline. The first half of the novel was spent trying to figure out what actually happened to Delhi to make it this dystopian environment that people wanted to escape from. The second half felt like a jigsaw puzzle I couldn’t quite figure out with massive amounts of information and exposition coming all at once. I felt like I never received any of those answers. Ultimately, I finished the novel with more questions than answers. I wanted both more and less all across the board. I think some history of the unspoken times and a narrower focus on the plot would really help with continuity and structure.

This could very well be an issue of content going over my head or the writing style not resonating with me. It’s very apparent that the author took a lot of time constructing this dystopian society. I know this book garnered a lot of praise for its original publication under a different name, but it did not work for me.