Book Review : J. David Osborne - Dying World (2022)
Cyberpunk isn't really my thing. It should theoretically be. I should like narratives that feature mysteries, computers, internet and a vision of the future that's inspired by the present, but I believe cyberpunk sounds cooler than it really is. Most of the time anyway. So, I didn't know what to think when one of my favourite authors J. David Osborne announced his much awaited novel Dying World would be cyberpunk. But I trust the man to tell a smart and compelling story, so I giddily went in anyway.
Dying World tells the story of Kentaro, Sasuke, Mika, Zuno and other kids who are part of an organization called the Dying World Clerics, which is a mix between a street gang, a third party executioner service and a cult. They’re minding their own business and trying to survive when a bounty is put on little man with a big mouth named Jimmy Apanatchi. If they accept the contract, they have a few days to eliminate him or their head will literally explode. But they sign up anyway.
Environment as a character 101
World-building is a concept writers will attempt to violently shove down your throat in any creative conversation. It basically means that a fictional world should be consciously constructed in a way that's immersive and believable. Dying World is really good that it. I would even say that world-building in Dying World is more important than the characters themselves. The world they inhabit is the real protagonist of this story as it dictates their decisions and actions.
The titular Dying World is a place halfway into the future and halfway into the past, without a proper present to speak of. Technological evolution has been controlled and embraced by corporations and elites, leaving the common man with whatever scraps they could purchase or piece together and pieces of the past to fill the gaps. When Kentaro moves through the city, he is constantly observing people getting by using objects with like lawn chairs, beer cans, dominos, etc.
These objects exist in the same reality as flying cars and augmented reality software. The future and the past coexist on the same time frame, leaving not much of a present. Conceptually, the kids of Dying World are not that different than the roommates of Osborne's God-tiered Black Gum Cycle. They are forgotten, trying to survive and to find meaning in who they are and what they do. The story of Dying World is a story of a world that evolves at two different speeds at the same time.
Kentaro and the Traces of the Past
While I didn't relate to any of the characters of Dying World on a visceral level like I did for the Black Gum Cycle (I do believe it's by design), Kentaro was by far the most interesting character to me. Fed up with being part of an organization with strict rules, he erased his memory to start his life over. Only problem is that traces of the past coupled with his nature as an assassin brought him back to the path he was following. His existence become one big fucking déjà vu.
One trait that made Kentaro endearing to me was his determination to make a fuckload of money on his own. The phrase comes off with a mix of desperation and resolve that underlines the transient nature of material comfort. Kentaro wants to make a fuckload of money because he wants to care about other things than money. Even though he doesn't really remember it, he's feeling the effect of the poverty and abandonment the world thrusted upon him.
Kentaro doesn't lament his predicament because he doesn't remember it, but he does think it's wack and decides to do something about it. That is why he's cool.
*
Dying World is such an abrupt departure from J. David Osborne's trademark working class spiritualism that it caught me off guard a little bit. It is also not a conventional narrative as it is really emphasizing the fallacy of evolution and how technology and innovation always leaves people behind and having to fend off for themselves. I really liked it because I enjoy unconventional storytelling. Enough for me to read the next chapter of Gods Fare No Better.
