More Perfect

Oh (Do You Dream of Terra Too?) loosely riffs on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in this clever, if slightly overwrought, sci-fi thriller set in a near-future London, where Pulse, a brain implant, allows people to live and work in an augmented reality, but also grants the government unprecedented control over citizens. Moremi, an aspiring dancer, can’t wait to get a Pulse, which she believes will cure her loneliness. Meanwhile, Orpheus’s off-grid life takes a devastating turn when his enigmatic father (who claims he has found a way to “defeat death”) is killed by security officers who inform Orpheus that his dad was secretly a terrorist associated with an organization of “neo-Luddites.” There’s a lot of backstory to get through, and both Moremi’s obsession with love and Orpheus’s desperation to escape into the Pulse’s vivid dreams make the first half drag, but their meeting and subsequent romance tempers the protagonists into more enjoyable characters. The mythological inspiration is slight, but it comes to the fore when Moremi and Orpheus become wrapped up in a political conspiracy and Orpheus discovers more unsettling truths about his late father. Dystopian fans will appreciate Oh’s incisive and nuanced take on technology’s place in society. Agent: Judith Murray, Greene and Heaton. (Aug.)