2054

Rating 2 of 5

2054 is a mediocre piece of science fiction. Set 20 years after the novel 2034 it includes a number of the same characters and children of characters from the 2034 novel.

The book has two main story lines that converge at the end.

The first story line is a bit of palace intrigue in the USA. The current president who has trying to run for a third term is assassinated by a remote gene editing attack somehow related to RNA vaccines. This triggers a chain reaction that brings The country to the brink of civil war.

The other story line is about the competition and search for the singularity. Nation states are all competing to reach singularity first to dominate the world. Somehow, this leads to pursuing a mad genius in a remote corner of the Brazilian Amazon who I guess already discovered the singularity? Honestly after reading the story its all a little fuzzy…

In the end 2054 is just not very good. I didn’t care much for 2034 because I felt like it had some pretty good potential. 2054 lacks the potential. The author is dealing with topics I don’t think he really knows much about and then whole thing just feels very contrived. Since the potential of the book is lower it really doesn’t bother me as much that the book is mediocre.

If you ask me I recommend you not read 2034. If you want to read something about the Singularity read Nexus. If you want to read political drama maybe just read some Bob Woodward reporting like Peril.