Liv 3.0 : Att vara människa i den artificiella intelligensens tid

The sequel to Meru, about humans being limited in their activities due to their destructive past by their genetically engineered offshoots (the Alloys), follows Akshaya - the human-Alloy hybrid daughter of the characters from the first book. 

Akshaya was always destined to live on Meru, her parent's dream for a human colony free from Alloy interference and an atmosphere perfectly suited for people like her - with sickle-cell. But as Akshaya comes of age, she resents the imposed destiny of living on a lifeless world and embarks on the Anthro Challenge - a circumnavigation of Earth only reliant on old human technology - to prove she's strong enough to stay on Earth. 

This book covers areas I wish we saw more of in the first book; how the tamed humans live in the approved, safe areas of Earth and those exile areas at latitudes that are yet to recover from the catastrophe that human ambition wrought. Yet I did feel that their trip across continents and oceans progressed with such speed it missed any opportunities to really learn how these different human communities (those living under Alloy guidance, and those lost in the wilds) really lived; especially culturally.

Instead, it very much focuses on the journey, the various perils they face along the way, and the doubts they have about the challenge as the losses mount. In the background, those following their trek mount movements both in their favour and against both human ambitions like the challenge.

It chimes with the original in being a very human and hopepunk-focused vibe. The beauty and dangers of humans as individuals and a collective. It's a fundamentally optimistic story with some great reflection. 

It takes a while to sink into this, to stop being vaguely confused and no longer need to reread sentences to see if you missed some context that would make sense of the whole thing. Similar to Gene Wolfe's SF, Miéville just throws the reader into the middle of this world and leaves them to muddle things out. Which on the one hand, sort of makes sense... Though on the other hand, not, because it leaves me to wonder who the narrator's intended audience is. Other Embassytowners? Off-worlders? Is it a private journal?

Otherwise, this is a brilliant book, exploring the role of language and figure of speech in psychology, and speculating on the role it might play in the lives and interactions of extraterrestrial sentient species.
The characters, even the only briefy-mentioned or wholly alien, are extremely well-fleshed, interesting, relateable. I got teary during a certain speech at the end of the book, not going to lie. (pun intended?)