You can use your Boston Public Library card to borrow titles from these partner libraries:
2 of 3 copies available
An “antic, madcap noir with flair" (Wired) and “fast-paced cyberpunk story” (The New York Times Book Review) from one of South Korea's most revered science fiction writers, whose identity remains unknown.
***
On the fictional island of Patusan—and much to the ire of the Patusan natives—the Korean conglomerate LK is constructing an elevator into Earth’s orbit, gradually turning this one-time tropical resort town into a teeming travel hub: a gateway to and from our planet. Up in space, holding the elevator’s “spider cable” taut, is a mass of space junk known as the counterweight. And stashed within that junk is a trove of crucial data: a memory fragment left by LK’s former CEO, the control of which will determine the company’s—and humanity’s—future.
Racing up the elevator to retrieve the data is a host of rival forces: Mac, the novel’s narrator and LK’s chief of External Affairs, increasingly disillusioned with his employer; the everyman Choi Gangwu, unwittingly at the center of Mac’s investigations; the former CEO’s brilliant niece and power-hungry son; and Rex Tamaki, a violent officer in LK’s Security Division. They’re all caught in a labyrinth of fake identities, neuro-implants called Worms, and old political grievances held by the Patusan Liberation Front, the army of island natives determined to protect Patusan’s sovereignty.
Originally conceived by Djuna as a low-budget science fiction film, with literary references as wide-ranging as Joseph Conrad and the Marquis de Sade, Counterweight is part cyberpunk, part hard-boiled detective fiction, and part parable of South Korea’s neocolonial ambition and its rippling effects.
-
Creators
-
Publisher
-
Release date
July 11, 2023 -
Formats
-
Kindle Book
-
OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780593317228
-
EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780593317228
- File size: 956 KB
-
-
Languages
- English
-
Reviews
-
Starred review from July 3, 2023
South Korean sci-fi luminary Djuna makes their English-language debut with a tremendously propulsive thrill ride that would be at home on shelves beside such heavyweights as Doctorow, Stephenson, and Dick. On a former resort island, South Korean megacorporation LK has set up a factory city that powers the construction of LK’s space elevator. LK’s External Affairs spymaster, Mac, is kept busy finding anyone who might pose a threat to this mission. Choi Gangwu, a low-ranking LK employee obsessed with the space elevator, doesn’t seem terribly interesting to Mac when he turns up on a captured terrorist’s intel list—until Mac meets him. Choi Gangwu himself doesn’t know why, but he has fragments implanted in his brain of another personality, which belongs to the most important man in the world: LK’s recently deceased president, Han Junghyuk. Now Mac must protect Choi Gangwu from everyone who wants Han Junghyuk’s secrets—and find out what Han Junghyuk would defy death to see accomplished. Hur’s translation is zippy and often quite funny as the cinematic plot unfolds, packing in both twisty cyberespionage and deep questions about legacies, AI, and the price worth paying to do something truly great. English-speaking readers have been missing out. Agent: Jinhee Park, Greenbook Literary. -
June 1, 2023
Reading like classic dystopian fiction, this novel is set in a future when bodies can be modified and people have brain implants called Worms that hold memories and enable tracking and communication. On the island of Patusan, the Korean megacorporation LK has built the first space elevator. Mac works for LK, taking care of external threats to the company such as the Indigenous people of Patusan, who take issue with the use of their land and their treatment by the company. However, it's low-level LK employee Choi Gangwu who keeps catching Mac's attention. This shy, simple man who loves butterflies suspiciously turns into a completely different person when talking about the space elevator. As Mac investigates, it becomes clear that the deceased former president of LK is still calling the shots through mysterious means. A high-stakes race ensues, to retrieve crucial information he left behind in the counterweight of the space elevator. VERDICT The first novel to be translated to English from South Korean author Djuna (whose identity remains a mystery), this quick-moving puzzle of an SF story is intriguing and fascinating as it imagines a future where humanity is intertwined with AI.--Melissa DeWild
Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
-