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The Age of the Conglomerates: A Novel of the Future
Now that they are in power, there are no more checks and balances. The Conglomerates, and their mysterious party chairman, have taken over everything and everyone. There is no one left to stop them.
Forty years in the future, in a world where Big Brother runs amok, a powerful political party known as the Conglomerates has emerged, vowing to enforce economic martial law at any cost. Dr. Christine Salter, director of genetic development at a New York medical center, is in charge of â genetic contouring,â the much-in-demand science of producing the ideal child. But Christine is increasingly troubled by odd events, including the strange disappearance of Gabriel Cruz, a co-worker for whom she has a developing affection, and the fact that her latest assignmentâ making the Conglomerate chairman more youthful through genetic engineeringâ is an especially dangerous task.
As mandated by the Family Relief Act, Christineâ s grandparents are relocated to a government-designed community in the American Southwest, along with other Coots (the official term given to the elderly), who are considered an economic and social burden to family and society. But even in this cold, cruel age, the Conglomerates can only control so much.
In his enthralling debut, Thomas Nevins thrillingly chronicles a brave new world where one family struggles to survive by keeping alive feelings of mercy, loyalty, and love.
Praise for The Age of the Conglomerates:
â Smart and exhilarating . . . a highly original debut novel, told in an exciting voice, that casts shades of Asimov.â
â Steve Berry, New York Times bestselling author of The Charlemagne Pursuit
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Forty years in the future, in a world where Big Brother runs amok, a powerful political party known as the Conglomerates has emerged, vowing to enforce economic martial law at any cost. Dr. Christine Salter, director of genetic development at a New York medical center, is in charge of â genetic contouring,â the much-in-demand science of producing the ideal child. But Christine is increasingly troubled by odd events, including the strange disappearance of Gabriel Cruz, a co-worker for whom she has a developing affection, and the fact that her latest assignmentâ making the Conglomerate chairman more youthful through genetic engineeringâ is an especially dangerous task.
As mandated by the Family Relief Act, Christineâ s grandparents are relocated to a government-designed community in the American Southwest, along with other Coots (the official term given to the elderly), who are considered an economic and social burden to family and society. But even in this cold, cruel age, the Conglomerates can only control so much.
In his enthralling debut, Thomas Nevins thrillingly chronicles a brave new world where one family struggles to survive by keeping alive feelings of mercy, loyalty, and love.
Praise for The Age of the Conglomerates:
â Smart and exhilarating . . . a highly original debut novel, told in an exciting voice, that casts shades of Asimov.â
â Steve Berry, New York Times bestselling author of The Charlemagne Pursuit
From the Trade Paperback edition.
- GenresFictionScience Fiction
294 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
November 8, 2008
A near-future controlled by rampant corporations is not too hard to envision, but the dystopian prognostication of The Age of Conglomerates manages to be deeply unsatisfying. The economy has crashed dramatically, leaving the wealthy political party called “the Conglomerates” in de facto control of the government. Rather than enforce laissez-faire industry regulation and start lucrative wars to fill the coffers of their businesses the Conglomerates decide to become involved in social services, presumably for their own financial gain. Three government programs are described in this novel: creation of designer babies through genetic manipulation, mandatory removal of the elderly to national care facilities, and disposal of problem children in the subway system. Each of these programs has huge logical flaws, making the entire dystopian construct of this novel difficult to believe.
The protagonist, Christine, works as the head of a department that organizes the creation of designer children through genetic manipulation. Christine’s own sister is a designer baby, and Christine remembers that her mother was never pregnant before bringing this clearly genetically related child home from the hospital. This leads me to believe the government is not only manipulating the genomes of embryos, but is somehow growing them in vitro, which would be both massively expensive and technologically unlikely, given that no other major technological improvements are introduced in the novel. The scientific description of Christine’s work is almost pure gibberish (I happen to be a geneticist, unfortunately for the author), further enhancing the general aura of implausibility. However this is the most believable of the social programs instituted by the Conglomerates, as we can understand both the financial interest (selling the genetic services) and the motivation of the citizenry (to provide the best possible for their children).
Christine’s grandparents have been rounded up and sent to Arizona as part of the government’s second social program, the federalized care of the elderly (now known gracelessly as “Coots”). Persons over 80 are divested of their remaining property, transported south, and interred in government-run nursing homes. The very expensive medical care of the elderly could not possibly be offset by the value of their property, making this an odd choice for a government consumed by financial interest. Christine’s younger sister has become a victim of the third social program, in which the government removes problem children for a fee, and then dumps them in the subway system. These discarded children are known, unsurprisingly, as the “Dyscards”. In order to believe in the existence of these two programs, we would have to believe that the majority of the people of the future have become willing to sell out their parent’s, grandparent’s, and children’s lives for a very modest financial gain. The only explanation provided for this rip in the social fabric is that “everyone became hard in the age of the Conglomerates”. That is just not good enough.
Against this unpromising backdrop lies the story of the novel. The story is told is stilted language and compromised of unlikely coincidences (both Christine and her grandfather independently stumble upon antiquated computer equipment hooked into a still-functioning dial-up internet system), unnecessary action, and a smattering of the bizarre (a major plot device involves the transport of a dozen ill newborns in a hand-built subway car driven by a blind man). After all the main characters have been introduced it is abundantly clear what the ending will be, making the intervening action seem unnecessary. Having completed the book, I am not entirely sure what the message is meant to be. Dystopian novels are supposed to show us possible evils in human systems, that we may avoid them. All I see here is a confusion of amorphous fears and a pat ending.
The protagonist, Christine, works as the head of a department that organizes the creation of designer children through genetic manipulation. Christine’s own sister is a designer baby, and Christine remembers that her mother was never pregnant before bringing this clearly genetically related child home from the hospital. This leads me to believe the government is not only manipulating the genomes of embryos, but is somehow growing them in vitro, which would be both massively expensive and technologically unlikely, given that no other major technological improvements are introduced in the novel. The scientific description of Christine’s work is almost pure gibberish (I happen to be a geneticist, unfortunately for the author), further enhancing the general aura of implausibility. However this is the most believable of the social programs instituted by the Conglomerates, as we can understand both the financial interest (selling the genetic services) and the motivation of the citizenry (to provide the best possible for their children).
Christine’s grandparents have been rounded up and sent to Arizona as part of the government’s second social program, the federalized care of the elderly (now known gracelessly as “Coots”). Persons over 80 are divested of their remaining property, transported south, and interred in government-run nursing homes. The very expensive medical care of the elderly could not possibly be offset by the value of their property, making this an odd choice for a government consumed by financial interest. Christine’s younger sister has become a victim of the third social program, in which the government removes problem children for a fee, and then dumps them in the subway system. These discarded children are known, unsurprisingly, as the “Dyscards”. In order to believe in the existence of these two programs, we would have to believe that the majority of the people of the future have become willing to sell out their parent’s, grandparent’s, and children’s lives for a very modest financial gain. The only explanation provided for this rip in the social fabric is that “everyone became hard in the age of the Conglomerates”. That is just not good enough.
Against this unpromising backdrop lies the story of the novel. The story is told is stilted language and compromised of unlikely coincidences (both Christine and her grandfather independently stumble upon antiquated computer equipment hooked into a still-functioning dial-up internet system), unnecessary action, and a smattering of the bizarre (a major plot device involves the transport of a dozen ill newborns in a hand-built subway car driven by a blind man). After all the main characters have been introduced it is abundantly clear what the ending will be, making the intervening action seem unnecessary. Having completed the book, I am not entirely sure what the message is meant to be. Dystopian novels are supposed to show us possible evils in human systems, that we may avoid them. All I see here is a confusion of amorphous fears and a pat ending.
May 8, 2009
Sometimes, you just have to wonder. Thomas Nevins’ “The Age of the Conglomerates” (Ballantine, $14, 294 pages) is clearly the work of a young author trying to find his way – and it’s hard to figure out why the editors at Ballantine felt it deserved to be published.
The construction is awkward (the exposition at the start removes any sense of mystery), the characters flat (heroes and villains go through their paces by rote) and the plotting confused (a character who supposedly has Alzheimer’s and can barely function also has a perfectly coherent discussion with her daughter). The premise – that corporations take over the country (indirectly) and banish Boomers to Arizona and troubled kids to nowhere – also makes little sense, as it’s hard to imagine people ruthlessly exiling their parents and children without a hint of remorse.
In short, “The Age of Conglomerates” is not worth buying, or even worth checking out of the library – and more important, it casts into question the entire process of how some books are chosen to be published, and others aren’t.
The construction is awkward (the exposition at the start removes any sense of mystery), the characters flat (heroes and villains go through their paces by rote) and the plotting confused (a character who supposedly has Alzheimer’s and can barely function also has a perfectly coherent discussion with her daughter). The premise – that corporations take over the country (indirectly) and banish Boomers to Arizona and troubled kids to nowhere – also makes little sense, as it’s hard to imagine people ruthlessly exiling their parents and children without a hint of remorse.
In short, “The Age of Conglomerates” is not worth buying, or even worth checking out of the library – and more important, it casts into question the entire process of how some books are chosen to be published, and others aren’t.
May 21, 2013
This is a terrible book that I just couldn't finish. I put it down some time ago and am just now getting around to writing a few words about it.
Frankly, I have no idea why this book got published. It's that bad. Perhaps it's because the author is a publishing house's sales rep. Yep, that would be the reason.
The book centers around a near future where a conglomerate of corporations have taken over. Geneticists are employed to grow babies. The elderly are packed off to Arizona, their possessions sold for a profit. (How profiting from old people while still caring for them provides any profit at all isn't addressed.) And unwanted young people are dumped into NYC's sewers to fend for themselves. The protagonist is a woman named Christine, one of these geneticists. We follow her and her extended family throughout the novel.
Unfortunately, the writing in this book is terrible! The characters are not well developed, the writing seems stilted, there are too many odd coincidences, and the plot is ludicrous. I'll give you just one example. The conglomerates are in charge in this society. One of the characters, Gabriel, who I think works with Christine, has been targeted for a political kidnapping. As he's in his office in a NYC high rise, the conglomerate agents go through surprising ruses to get him, dressing as firefighters, sneakily putting out the security cameras, taking him out on a stretcher after they've gotten him, as though they're rescuing him. Well, that's silly! If they're in control, why do they have to fool anyone? Who do they need to fool in order to take Gabriel in? Why go to these lengths when they can just send some agents/cops up to the office and lead him out in handcuffs? This is the type of writing that screams "I'm an amateur writer!" Boy, is it bad. This book is not entertaining. It's not good sci fi or a good type of any fiction. Ballantine should be ashamed for publishing crap like this. Don't bother reading this book.
Frankly, I have no idea why this book got published. It's that bad. Perhaps it's because the author is a publishing house's sales rep. Yep, that would be the reason.
The book centers around a near future where a conglomerate of corporations have taken over. Geneticists are employed to grow babies. The elderly are packed off to Arizona, their possessions sold for a profit. (How profiting from old people while still caring for them provides any profit at all isn't addressed.) And unwanted young people are dumped into NYC's sewers to fend for themselves. The protagonist is a woman named Christine, one of these geneticists. We follow her and her extended family throughout the novel.
Unfortunately, the writing in this book is terrible! The characters are not well developed, the writing seems stilted, there are too many odd coincidences, and the plot is ludicrous. I'll give you just one example. The conglomerates are in charge in this society. One of the characters, Gabriel, who I think works with Christine, has been targeted for a political kidnapping. As he's in his office in a NYC high rise, the conglomerate agents go through surprising ruses to get him, dressing as firefighters, sneakily putting out the security cameras, taking him out on a stretcher after they've gotten him, as though they're rescuing him. Well, that's silly! If they're in control, why do they have to fool anyone? Who do they need to fool in order to take Gabriel in? Why go to these lengths when they can just send some agents/cops up to the office and lead him out in handcuffs? This is the type of writing that screams "I'm an amateur writer!" Boy, is it bad. This book is not entertaining. It's not good sci fi or a good type of any fiction. Ballantine should be ashamed for publishing crap like this. Don't bother reading this book.
March 8, 2012
Corporations are in charge of the government, put old people in concentration camps and legitimize disowning imperfect children. This turns out to not be a perfect society.
I got the distinct impression while reading this that it wouldn't have been published if the writer wasn't in the publishing industry. The plots were contrived. The mind hopping PoV was awkward. The characters were flat. The ideas were interesting (if not original) when info-dumped for the first time, but their execution was lacking and that obvious lack was whitewashed by rehashed info-dumps.
I got the distinct impression while reading this that it wouldn't have been published if the writer wasn't in the publishing industry. The plots were contrived. The mind hopping PoV was awkward. The characters were flat. The ideas were interesting (if not original) when info-dumped for the first time, but their execution was lacking and that obvious lack was whitewashed by rehashed info-dumps.
Read
July 14, 2009I could not finish this, and I finish nearly every book I start. It's incredibly bad, Dan-Brown-bad, only-book-on-the-airplane-and-I'm-reading-the-Skymall-catalog bad. It appears to be a mainstream attempt at science fiction (pardon me, at A Novel Of the Future), but it exhibits the worst cliches of the genre.[return][return]http://books.kenficara.com/2008/05/th...
July 9, 2014
Although the premise of the book was interesting (who does not think that rich can take over the political system in the age of Citizen United), the execution was not very good. Aside from the bad writing, I thought the ending was too small in scope. If one is going to write badly at least have the decency to make the ending rewarding considering the scope of the premise in a post-apocalyptic age in which industry takes over government. I give this book a 1.5 instead of just a 1 because I like the premise of the book of absolute power corrupts absolutely with the twist of corporate America taking over government in a dystopian future.
The conglomerates are group of rich business leaders who takeover government after it defaulted from the massive debt which demolished the society's safety nets. They lumped the Coots (the elderly) and the Dyscards (unwanted problem children) the drainers of societal wealth in cities and in its place they genetically engineered children devoid of any defects who were made to contribute to the state. Lo and behold, genetic engineering of babies produced undesirable "products". The Conglomerates shipping people out who do not physically contribute to society is a little short-sighted since the Conglomerates can also get sick and debilitating disease and they can be discarded too in this new society or at the very least isolate themselves. Did they not know that they are setting a dangerous precedent in confiscating the Coots property, what do they think would happen to them when they get older?
Dr. Christine was head of the genetic engineering division and worked for the Conglomerates and now hated being constantly kept tabs on. Dr. Gabriel Cruz who worked with Christine and was getting to like her a lot was secretly sabotaging the genetic engineering project of the Conglomerates. Christine is the modern woman who looked to their careers before their personal life so when she meets Gabriel who takes her out, she is surprised but pleased that she could take a little time out of her busy schedule to have a social life. Christine loved that Gabriel was a step ahead her intellectually and that she had an intellectual sparing partner. There increased attraction to each other was work related. Gabriel also made Christine look forward to unexpected events.
In the age of Conglomerates, Gabriel's niceness and inclusivity were real assets in the business world. The Conglomerates acted as if Gabriel were lost and disobeyed the trust that the Conglomerates and Christine gave to him when their men were the ones who got rid of Gabriel. Just like everyone in power, the Chairman wants to keep it despite having to retire @ age 55 b/c he enacted a policy in order to get his predecessor out of office. He convinces himself that the party needed him as the Chairman. The Chairman wants Christine to give him a genetic graft in order to make him younger so he can continue being the Chairman in exchange for information on Gabriel.
The Coots were all transported to the southwest to live and all their assets confiscated by the Conglomerates. I like how Patsy who has Alzheimer's has not lost the will to live and is in fact the only old person who has resilience in her life. Patsy knew how to take care of others and how to take care of a bruised life. I also like how the elderly captain knew how to fly the plane in a mechanical failure. I think this is the danger of genetic engineering for babies personalities, we will cull out the improvisation that is so important for the survival of humanity in favor of "successful traits" of today.
Meanwhile, Christine's 18 yrs old sister X has just been Dyscarded by their mother for being too independent for her mother to control. Their mother also wanted their grandparents to be "resettled out West" so she could get a cut and start over with her life with perhaps a "designer baby". Gabriel joined X in the Dyscard hospital. Dr. Walters was a problem child who was not admitted to medical school b/c she had behavioral issues which showed them the uncanny mistakes they could make with screening people based on behavior. Dr. Walters also showed Gabriel the disastrous effects of their genetic engineering in the land of the Dyscards. Gabriel wanted Christine to help him out in his new role as the Dyscards doctor for the disastrous effects of their work in genetic engineering.
The Border Patrol were the Dyscard security force that were discarded simply b/c they were too big for their parents. Dyscards were the Conglomerates dirty little secret, people who were not wanted by their parents but since the financial penalties were steep then no one knew for sure whether a Dyscard came from a normal birth or from the Genetic engineered babies. The Conglomerates just wanted people to buy their "designer babies" regardless of the result. Apparently the Dyscard's grew in population while the Conglomerates shrank in their number b/c they were pushing their "designer babies" product line to increase their revenues.
Any monopoly of goods is bad for the quality of the goods as could be seen by the central control of the Conglomerate of both the money and the goods that are sold to the general public which caused the deterioration of the quality of the goods and the inflation of price which cause shortages in the amt of goods. Although business is good @ getting goods to market, it should never replace govt b/c business goal is to maximize profit with as limited cost as possible thus a monopoly will be by its very nature try to maximize profit by doing what its best for it regardless of what it does to its citizens.
The video of "Cootsland" was a veiled threat that they expected total cooperation from the Coots. George thought that their daughter, Judy was brainwashed into agreeing with Conglomerate policy of bringing her parents into Cootsland and Dyscarding her daughter X. After Gabriel contacted Christine, she decided to buy time in order to discover about the whereabouts of Gabriel and what the Dyscards were all about by agreeing to cure the Chairman of his old age.
The Conglomerate would separate the elderly who were well with the elderly who had a chronic debilitating disease in the name of greater efficiency even if they have to separate family members.
Christine is being investigated by the NYPD and she is angered but resigned that her privacy was attacked. Unfortunately, Christine and X were on two opposite sides of the war while Christine was on the Conglomerates side, X was on the Dyscard side. Christine told Gabriel and the Dyscard command that the Chairman was planning an operation against the Dyscards.
The Conglomerates did not take into account the Dyscards would organize and form their own government. The Conglomerates sought to destroy the Dyscards sense of order by introducing criminal elements into their society which the Dyscards turned against the Conglomerates by recruiting the criminals and turn them against the Conglomerate society. In order to destroy the Dyscard, the Conglomerates had to destroy the cities power source thereby destroying the Dyscards ability to cope while blaming them for the problem. The Chairman decided that his plan to destroy the Dyscards would come during his recovery since he could blame the power failure on them while looking like a hero in fixing the power outage thereby allowing the party and him as the head of the party as sole purveyors of power. Besides blaming the Dyscards for the power shortage, the Chairman cut the program for the Coots leaving them to their own devices. The Chairman would control the media so his coup would go unimpeded. The Chairman states the price of freedom would be to kill some of the Conglomerate people in order to destroy the Dyscards. The Chairman and not the President were clearly in charge (is this the foreshadowing of what Citizen's United means to the United States?) As the Chairman predicted mayhem ensued with him under sedation, there was no one who was in control.
Dr. Walters is shocked how someone who is as kind as Dr. Gabriel Cruz could work for the Conglomerate which proves there are good and bad people in every society and one should never treat a person with monolithic contempt based on his society. Unrealistically, the Dyscard command seems obsess with the defective babies when their own people are being slaughtered. In the end, George, Patsy, Christine, and X lived happily ever after in the Arizona sun while the Chairman was still in comatose and the other Dyscards were being slaughtered everywhere.
The conglomerates are group of rich business leaders who takeover government after it defaulted from the massive debt which demolished the society's safety nets. They lumped the Coots (the elderly) and the Dyscards (unwanted problem children) the drainers of societal wealth in cities and in its place they genetically engineered children devoid of any defects who were made to contribute to the state. Lo and behold, genetic engineering of babies produced undesirable "products". The Conglomerates shipping people out who do not physically contribute to society is a little short-sighted since the Conglomerates can also get sick and debilitating disease and they can be discarded too in this new society or at the very least isolate themselves. Did they not know that they are setting a dangerous precedent in confiscating the Coots property, what do they think would happen to them when they get older?
Dr. Christine was head of the genetic engineering division and worked for the Conglomerates and now hated being constantly kept tabs on. Dr. Gabriel Cruz who worked with Christine and was getting to like her a lot was secretly sabotaging the genetic engineering project of the Conglomerates. Christine is the modern woman who looked to their careers before their personal life so when she meets Gabriel who takes her out, she is surprised but pleased that she could take a little time out of her busy schedule to have a social life. Christine loved that Gabriel was a step ahead her intellectually and that she had an intellectual sparing partner. There increased attraction to each other was work related. Gabriel also made Christine look forward to unexpected events.
In the age of Conglomerates, Gabriel's niceness and inclusivity were real assets in the business world. The Conglomerates acted as if Gabriel were lost and disobeyed the trust that the Conglomerates and Christine gave to him when their men were the ones who got rid of Gabriel. Just like everyone in power, the Chairman wants to keep it despite having to retire @ age 55 b/c he enacted a policy in order to get his predecessor out of office. He convinces himself that the party needed him as the Chairman. The Chairman wants Christine to give him a genetic graft in order to make him younger so he can continue being the Chairman in exchange for information on Gabriel.
The Coots were all transported to the southwest to live and all their assets confiscated by the Conglomerates. I like how Patsy who has Alzheimer's has not lost the will to live and is in fact the only old person who has resilience in her life. Patsy knew how to take care of others and how to take care of a bruised life. I also like how the elderly captain knew how to fly the plane in a mechanical failure. I think this is the danger of genetic engineering for babies personalities, we will cull out the improvisation that is so important for the survival of humanity in favor of "successful traits" of today.
Meanwhile, Christine's 18 yrs old sister X has just been Dyscarded by their mother for being too independent for her mother to control. Their mother also wanted their grandparents to be "resettled out West" so she could get a cut and start over with her life with perhaps a "designer baby". Gabriel joined X in the Dyscard hospital. Dr. Walters was a problem child who was not admitted to medical school b/c she had behavioral issues which showed them the uncanny mistakes they could make with screening people based on behavior. Dr. Walters also showed Gabriel the disastrous effects of their genetic engineering in the land of the Dyscards. Gabriel wanted Christine to help him out in his new role as the Dyscards doctor for the disastrous effects of their work in genetic engineering.
The Border Patrol were the Dyscard security force that were discarded simply b/c they were too big for their parents. Dyscards were the Conglomerates dirty little secret, people who were not wanted by their parents but since the financial penalties were steep then no one knew for sure whether a Dyscard came from a normal birth or from the Genetic engineered babies. The Conglomerates just wanted people to buy their "designer babies" regardless of the result. Apparently the Dyscard's grew in population while the Conglomerates shrank in their number b/c they were pushing their "designer babies" product line to increase their revenues.
Any monopoly of goods is bad for the quality of the goods as could be seen by the central control of the Conglomerate of both the money and the goods that are sold to the general public which caused the deterioration of the quality of the goods and the inflation of price which cause shortages in the amt of goods. Although business is good @ getting goods to market, it should never replace govt b/c business goal is to maximize profit with as limited cost as possible thus a monopoly will be by its very nature try to maximize profit by doing what its best for it regardless of what it does to its citizens.
The video of "Cootsland" was a veiled threat that they expected total cooperation from the Coots. George thought that their daughter, Judy was brainwashed into agreeing with Conglomerate policy of bringing her parents into Cootsland and Dyscarding her daughter X. After Gabriel contacted Christine, she decided to buy time in order to discover about the whereabouts of Gabriel and what the Dyscards were all about by agreeing to cure the Chairman of his old age.
The Conglomerate would separate the elderly who were well with the elderly who had a chronic debilitating disease in the name of greater efficiency even if they have to separate family members.
Christine is being investigated by the NYPD and she is angered but resigned that her privacy was attacked. Unfortunately, Christine and X were on two opposite sides of the war while Christine was on the Conglomerates side, X was on the Dyscard side. Christine told Gabriel and the Dyscard command that the Chairman was planning an operation against the Dyscards.
The Conglomerates did not take into account the Dyscards would organize and form their own government. The Conglomerates sought to destroy the Dyscards sense of order by introducing criminal elements into their society which the Dyscards turned against the Conglomerates by recruiting the criminals and turn them against the Conglomerate society. In order to destroy the Dyscard, the Conglomerates had to destroy the cities power source thereby destroying the Dyscards ability to cope while blaming them for the problem. The Chairman decided that his plan to destroy the Dyscards would come during his recovery since he could blame the power failure on them while looking like a hero in fixing the power outage thereby allowing the party and him as the head of the party as sole purveyors of power. Besides blaming the Dyscards for the power shortage, the Chairman cut the program for the Coots leaving them to their own devices. The Chairman would control the media so his coup would go unimpeded. The Chairman states the price of freedom would be to kill some of the Conglomerate people in order to destroy the Dyscards. The Chairman and not the President were clearly in charge (is this the foreshadowing of what Citizen's United means to the United States?) As the Chairman predicted mayhem ensued with him under sedation, there was no one who was in control.
Dr. Walters is shocked how someone who is as kind as Dr. Gabriel Cruz could work for the Conglomerate which proves there are good and bad people in every society and one should never treat a person with monolithic contempt based on his society. Unrealistically, the Dyscard command seems obsess with the defective babies when their own people are being slaughtered. In the end, George, Patsy, Christine, and X lived happily ever after in the Arizona sun while the Chairman was still in comatose and the other Dyscards were being slaughtered everywhere.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 8, 2022
Pretty bad SF written around one modestly interesting dystopian premise about a government disposing of the elderly ("ok Boomer!") and a score of clichés, empty characters, and plot elements that go nowhere. Dialogue and exposition are interchangeable, with all characters having the voice of Siri explaining the story to the reader. Some of the writing is indistinguishable from that of a Neil Breen screenplay:
The Age of the Conglomerates, p.221:
Fateful Findings
Plus, as an added bonus, the author's colleagues in the publishing industry didn't do him any favors in the editing and proofreading departments. "Novocain and clover extract" (p. 264). Did the author mean to say "Novocain and clove extract"? Sheesh.
I'm glad the author sat down and banged out his NaNoWriMo opus, I'm just not glad I read it.
The Age of the Conglomerates, p.221:
He pulled out the drawer of his desk and removed a pad and pen. He printed the word "Coots" across the pad and drew a line down the page diagonally through the word. He put the pen down and folded his hands.
Fateful Findings
Dylan : [while cradling Jim's dead body] I can't believe you committed suicide. I cannot believe you committed suicide. How could you have done this? How could you have committed suicide?
Plus, as an added bonus, the author's colleagues in the publishing industry didn't do him any favors in the editing and proofreading departments. "Novocain and clover extract" (p. 264). Did the author mean to say "Novocain and clove extract"? Sheesh.
I'm glad the author sat down and banged out his NaNoWriMo opus, I'm just not glad I read it.
October 3, 2024
I'm certain the author was well intentioned, and the book has an interesting premise. Unfortunately, I believe the book is being published prematurely. There is too much "telling not showing", awkward writing, and the plot wanders around with too many loose ends for my tastes. Not every work will be a writer's best, and I could easily see this story being revised in time. Even the best-known authors have released substantially retold tales and this would be a candidate - decent idea in need of some polish.
June 19, 2008
When I first opened The Age of Conglomerates and read the Prologue, I was a bit worried. The premise, the banks failing and big business taking over and cleaning house, seemed a bit pedantic. The descriptions sets up a tone that isn't really reflected in the rest of the book, thankfully, but if there wasn't information about the society he's crafting that's vital in that prologue, I'd say skip it. It should have just been weaved into the book, but as it's not, you have to wade through the first few pages.
What this book reminds me of the most is Jennifer Government, but a bit more insular. If you like that kind of broadly writ thriller, you'll probably enjoy this. It's not great writing or going to change the world, but it's good for a trip to the beach. Good and evil are drawn pretty broadly, with large corporations and a for-profit mindset being the ultimate evil, but this story centers around one particular family. A family that happens to span the whole range of society. This conceit happens to be one thing that aids the writer's cause here. The writing is fairly direct and might not be the most engaging at times, but there's a shorthand to families, and roles within them, that helps the author out.
I wasn't that drawn in at first by the main character, Christine. She works as a geneticist, heading up a ward that produces designer babies. But she has these grandparents... In the second chapter we meet them as they're being transported to these camps out west where older people go when they hit 80, their property being seized by the state. Their relationship, as the grandmother's Alzheimer's hits hard and the grandfather tries to hold onto her, both physically and mentally, drew me in a bit. That helped me be more sympathetic to the other characters.
About half-way through the book, the pace starts picking up. Stakes start to get higher, and things go wrong. The chapters become shorter, more staccato. It's when the pressure is on and things are starting to draw together that the writing style works the best. The action is telegraphed in, building the tension. In the end, all of the plot threads are tied together, in a convergence of characters, both major and minor. There are certainly things I wish were fleshed out more, and some motivation that was more deeply explored, but it's fun enough, and a quick read.
What this book reminds me of the most is Jennifer Government, but a bit more insular. If you like that kind of broadly writ thriller, you'll probably enjoy this. It's not great writing or going to change the world, but it's good for a trip to the beach. Good and evil are drawn pretty broadly, with large corporations and a for-profit mindset being the ultimate evil, but this story centers around one particular family. A family that happens to span the whole range of society. This conceit happens to be one thing that aids the writer's cause here. The writing is fairly direct and might not be the most engaging at times, but there's a shorthand to families, and roles within them, that helps the author out.
I wasn't that drawn in at first by the main character, Christine. She works as a geneticist, heading up a ward that produces designer babies. But she has these grandparents... In the second chapter we meet them as they're being transported to these camps out west where older people go when they hit 80, their property being seized by the state. Their relationship, as the grandmother's Alzheimer's hits hard and the grandfather tries to hold onto her, both physically and mentally, drew me in a bit. That helped me be more sympathetic to the other characters.
About half-way through the book, the pace starts picking up. Stakes start to get higher, and things go wrong. The chapters become shorter, more staccato. It's when the pressure is on and things are starting to draw together that the writing style works the best. The action is telegraphed in, building the tension. In the end, all of the plot threads are tied together, in a convergence of characters, both major and minor. There are certainly things I wish were fleshed out more, and some motivation that was more deeply explored, but it's fun enough, and a quick read.
November 12, 2012
I don't typically have this issue with books of this genre, but this one was kind of a chore to get through. I found myself re-reading paragraphs a lot because I was unable to picture surroundings or how the characters got there. As someone who has never been on/in/near a subway or subway station, there were large tracts of this novel where the environmental descriptions seemed to be in a different language that I was unable to picture or navigate. I would like to see how much more I may have enjoyed this book having been someone from a major metropolitan area. In addition to not being able to picture where the characters were, I also couldn't figure out how they got there half the time - describing environments is one thing, but the transition and the emotion the character feels within it is absent. While the idea of the story was creative and had good intentions, much was lost in the lack of embellishment of character personalities, their emotions when internal monologues were occuring, and lack of explination for their actions. Each character seemed more two-dimentional than the last - with the releif of George, the only character with explained thoughts and feelings. For a 300 page book, this took a remarkable amount of time to finish. Unclear, unemotional, and left me feeling as though I'd been through a struggle similar to the characters - and not in the way the author intended.
August 7, 2011
The story is based on a scary concept that’s way too close to becoming our reality. In this book the conglomerates have taken over society and the government. Thus the elderly were sent off to a segregated area in the west to live the remaining years of their lives outside of society because they were deemed unworthy and too expensive to care for. The undesirables (lost children) were shunned by society and forced to live underground. This story fits the premise that government sets up systems to fail so they can then hire a private organization to step in and run services once funded and operated by the government. The detention system for criminals and the education system (schools) seem to be getting closer to the idea of full privatization everyday. The concepts presented in the book are fantastic and really get you to thinking. However, the writing style and story presentation moved slowly at times.
August 6, 2016
I read this book when it came out in 2008/2009. I really enjoyed the story. I still have the book, and I re-read it once a year. I contacted the author several years ago asking if there would be another, and from his reply it did not sound as though that would happen. Shame really. I did not find the story all that far-fetched, and the characters were interesting. "The Age of the Conglomerates" is worth reading. I do wish Mr. Nevins would release a follow-up story on his blog or something to clear up the loose ends.
March 31, 2010
If you are interested in the dystopian novel after 9/11, or life in post Corporate America give this book a try, please? If you are afraid of how you're going to be treated when you are no longer economically viable, or if you wonder what society will do to the kids that are different, loud, or just plain teenagers, this book might be worth a look?
Read
October 28, 2009The collapse of the US economic system leads to the greedy Conglomerate takeover. It ostracizes the Coots to the western deserts & the Dyscards 1st to the NYC subways & then to other areas. The book centers on Dr Christine Salter, the head of Genetic Development, & her family. I often like futuristic things, not so much this one.
April 30, 2016
Bought this book at a used books bookstore for a real bargain price. I was intrigued with the prologue and that got me hooked. Then I read the whole thing. While the story is quite promising, the writing could have been improved much,much more. I wish it was more descriptive rather than depending on my own inference to figure out what was happening in the story.
December 2, 2008
It was an ok read. The first half was more interesting than the last half. I felt like the author decided it was time to end so he wrapped up all the loose ends and that was it. Little disappointing.
October 21, 2008
An interesting fictional take on an Orwellian America of 40 years in the future, when Conglomerates have taken over the government. The book occasionally lacks the imagination to see the evolution of technologies, but the book is a pretty quick and entertaining read.
Want to read
January 4, 2012Well, I think I really am going to go with my aforementioned New Years Resolution of not finishing crappy books. I can already tell from the prologue to this book it's going to be a clunky, preachy, boring ride. A ride... not worth taking.
September 27, 2008
Reads like a low-budget, low-quality sci-fi movie. Surprisingly unimaginative given the cover reviews and the breaks in the narrative action to try and sweep you up in the dystopia being depicted.
November 27, 2009
A chilling novel about the world 40 years from now. Sort of in the spirit of 1984 but not as well written.
October 15, 2011
When I read this book, I couldn't help but see it as the counterpoint to Ecotopia. An engaging, frightening look at a possible future for our country.
October 16, 2011
This was fun, a bit disjointed in the storyline and storytelling, but it worked well. It made for really good reading on a train. Pace was good and the distopia was worth reading.
February 5, 2012
I used to work with the author at Random House. Tom is awesome!
October 20, 2012
I think I might be done with Dystopian novels. That is all...
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