Periodically, I make an effort to diversify my fiction reading. It’s easy to slip into just reading authors I know, especially those that are quite prolific. My fiction reading has been dominated by John Le Carré, Mick Herron and Adrian Tchaikovsky lately, and it felt like time to find some new authors.

Malka Older was a good choice. I haven’t blogged in a while because I’m studying and that takes up a lot of time but Infomocracy was so good I wanted to share.

Infomocracy is near-future science fiction, set some decades into a future earth. Exactly when isn’t specified but ‘now’ is within living memory. The premise is that government is at a level closer to the citizens. The world is divided into centenals which are geographical groups of 100,000 people. That’s about a third bigger than a parliamentary constituency in the UK. Neighbouring centenals might have very different governments. This is all powered by Information, a global network that provides real-time data on everything with impartial analysis; the theory being that democracy is only possible with an informed populace.

Elections are held every ten years to allow for governing in between campaigning and Infomocracy is set at the third of these elections. The novel follows an Information operative and a campaigner for one of the governing parties, who both find evidence that one or more of the dominant parties (i.e. those with the most centenals around the world) are trying to subvert the system.

This is Older’s first novel and it is really good. Infomocracy is book 1 of a trilogy and I’m looking forward to reading the rest. The characters are engaging, the worldbuilding is solid and the premise is really interesting. I’ll admit, I’m kind of into policy and government and how all these things work so I appreciated the depth of understanding of psephology and how voters engage (or don’t) with facts vs campaigning. It’s also a cracking plot and a lot of fun. If you’re looking for something new to read, this is highly recommended.