The City Inside

Basu (Resistance) delivers a lukewarm sci-fi tale that feels just as stuck as its main character, Joey, the best Reality Controller in a near-future Delhi. Joey works so hard managing and producing her Flowstars—a roster of virtual reality celebrities that includes her ex-boyfriend turned influencer, Indi—that her own life takes a backseat to curating their content and she relies on a “lifestyle management” app to keep herself functioning. When she offers a job to the elusive Rudra, a wealthy recluse who’s returned to Delhi following his father’s death, what should ease her burden only adds to Joey’s trouble as loyalties shift between her coworkers, corporate greed grows, and Joey and Rudra stumble on a government conspiracy. Now Joey must finally wrest back control of her life and use her resources to influence change. Basu creates a cramped-feeling world, and though the insightful plot thoroughly probes the political and social consequences of life increasingly lived within virtual reality, Joey’s lack of ambition or agency throws a wet blanket on any tension and causes the pace to lag. The result is a smart but slogging tale that never quite gets moving. (June)