She’s a little bit grumpy, but that’s understandable when you’re a creative type and you’re stuck dealing with the business end of things when all you want to do it make art. But it’s fine–she lives for the music, it’s an essential part of her being. She’s lived that road life, playing gigs from town to town in all sorts of unsavory venues for smaller crowds. But what’s great about this novel is that it also offers us hope, in the form of our two main protagonists. In an age when our digital information is already being sold to the highest bidders for ad space, where corporations already buy politicians and government officials to keep laws in their favor, where small businesses and larger companies alike are being subsumed by corporate giants, it’s not too hard to imagine the world Pinsker has painted for us here–it’s a natural progression of things that are already in motion. This book examines the relationship between people, corporations, and the government. This is a near future dystopia where mega corporations have capitalized on people’s fear of large gatherings and the governments laws preventing such gatherings–working from home is encouraged and virtual meet ups are more popular than ever. I really loved this structure for a couple of reasons - 1) the contrast of timelines presents an interesting puzzle for readers and 2) I loved that we got to see a glimpse of the Before. Luce’s story starts out in the Before, while Rosemary’s starts out in the After.

In part one, we have two different timelines going on as well. In each part we have chapters which focus on one of two characters – not exactly alternating back and forth, but for the most part. But when she sees how the world could actually be, that won’t be enough.įirstly, I really enjoyed the way this story was written. Find the illegal concerts and bring musicians into the limelight they deserve. The only catch is that she’ll have to do something she’s never done before and go out in public. By lucky chance, she finds a new job and a new calling: discover amazing musicians and bring their concerts to everyone via virtual reality. She spends her days in Hoodspace, helping customers order all of their goods online for drone delivery–no physical contact with humans needed. Rosemary Laws barely remembers the Before times. She does what she has to do: she performs in illegal concerts to a small but passionate community, always evading the law. Now, in the After, terror attacks and deadly viruses have led the government to ban concerts, and Luce’s connection to the world–her music, her purpose–is closed off forever. One of her songs had just taken off and she was on her way to becoming a star. In the Before, when the government didn’t prohibit large public gatherings, Luce Cannon was on top of the world.

A song for a new day book