(ID)entity

Manney continues her award-nominated Phoenix Horizon series of geopolitical cyberthrillers with a second volume that mixes action with questions of selfhood in the shadow of global catastrophe. In (R)evolution, the uploaded human consciousness called Major Tom exposed the worldwide machinations of the Phoenix Club, causing tumult and revolution across the planet that appeared to lead to the destruction of the club’s power. Now Tom’s erstwhile friend and current nemesis, Carter Potsdam, who had been uploaded and incarcerated within Tom’s virtual home, the Memory Palace, has escaped to lead a multipronged attack. The assault combines the trashing of cryptocurrencies, a “weaponized narrative” rewriting Tom as the villain, and the kidnapping of identity purveyor Dr. Who. Tom’s allies must find a way to download Tom back into a physical body to rescue Dr. Who and prepare for “Civil War 3.0.” Personal identity concepts are explored through uploaded or downloaded characters and a young hacker and Major Tom fangirl, Veronika Gascon, who’s trans. Manney’s intricate worldbuilding includes a resurgent Chinese empire and the Southern States of America, a nation reconstituted from fragments of the former U.S. This near-future science fiction thriller should have broad appeal. (Oct.)