When Resistance opens, massive monsters (kaiju) habitually slump toward innocent cities, gifted tech-youngsters suppress them in Transformer-like formation, superheroes and villains vie for primacy, and a shadowy corporation appropriately named Utopic is misruling the world. In his treatment of a world gone posthuman, Basu raises subtle questions about the nature of government, the limits of control, and the future of a world that is messed up already. It all takes place in the same superpowered future of its predecessor, the well-received Turbulence some can suddenly clone themselves or fly, others are indestructible and godlike, and still others are simply very ugly. His second adult novel, Resistance, delivers cinematic sequences and colorful supercharacters duking it out in a smoldering, crowded world. Samit Basu is a wunderkind when it comes to action. The result is a smart but slogging tale that never quite gets moving.Self-referential humor creates a refreshing metafictional world that paves the way for a well-balanced and entertaining superpowered adventure. Basu creates a cramped-feeling world, and though the insightful plot thoroughly probes the political and social consequences of life increasingly lived within virtual reality, Joey’s lack of ambition or agency throws a wet blanket on any tension and causes the pace to lag. Now Joey must finally wrest back control of her life and use her resources to influence change. When she offers a job to the elusive Rudra, a wealthy recluse who’s returned to Delhi following his father’s death, what should ease her burden only adds to Joey’s trouble as loyalties shift between her coworkers, corporate greed grows, and Joey and Rudra stumble on a government conspiracy. Joey works so hard managing and producing her Flowstars-a roster of virtual reality celebrities that includes her ex-boyfriend turned influencer, Indi-that her own life takes a backseat to curating their content and she relies on a “lifestyle management” app to keep herself functioning. Basu ( Resistance) delivers a lukewarm sci-fi tale that feels just as stuck as its main character, Joey, the best Reality Controller in a near-future Delhi.

Resistance samit basu