Last Week’s MM: IFLScience

Ramez Naam has created an interesting series.  Set in the very near future, Kade, a young scientist discovers a way to alter an illegal nano-drug called Nexus.  He uses it to link people mind to mind.  Beyond that, he can use it as an operating system and use it as software.  But he gets blackmailed into helping the government.  In the second book, Crux, the world is a very different place and Kade is a highly wanted man.

This series is filled with danger, tension, questions of who can be trusted, what is crossing the line, and even, what it is to be human and the full potential of all that that entails.

There are many interesting parts to the books.  I love the realism and potential of the technology.  He’s created some unique adaptations.  But it doesn’t stop there.  Beyond the nano-drug, he also explores gene splicing and human enhancements.  Another interesting thing about this book is that a large portion of it takes place in countries other than America.  There’s China, Vietnam, and Thailand, just to name a few.  It’s a growing angle that I’ve seen in books, and I welcome it.

I really enjoyed both of these stories.  I think there is going to be a third book, and I can’t wait for it.  Nexus won the 2014 Prometheus Award, and Crux has had also been well received.