The only previous Ryman I had read — the amazingly conceptual 253 — had lingered in my mind long after reading, and Air will likely have the same effect. It is testament to the ability of any author to be able to create a fictional world that is so fully immersive as to be believable. Beyond the clever sci-fi/tech agenda of Air, the village of Kizuldah in the country of Karzistan is wonderfully developed, full of backstories, context and local politics; not contrived at any time. Its remoteness provides the perfect setting for Ryman to explore the impact of technology. Per Pandora's box, the arrival of a future iteration of the internet (‘Air’) opens something up that it is impossible to reverse. At the heart of Air are two of the most fundamental questions in literature: what is it to be human (and distinct from a machine), and how do we deal with change (embrace or repulsion)? Written over 15 years ago, there is a certain prescience in Air, with Ryman contemplating the (still now) radical idea of brain-computer interfaces or neural lace. At times Air was a little over-ambitious (especially Mac’s ‘immaculate’ conception), and perhaps slightly over-long (at circa 400 pages), but overall very worthwhile. Eight out of ten.
By Geoff Ryman