The Immortal King Rao

 

The Immortal King Rao by Vauhini Vara
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This felt like three books in one: the story of King growing up in India, of coming from the poorest caste and how he overcame poverty and prejudice to become a titan of technology, business, and politics; the story of him and his daughter, Athena, secluded on an island where King is Athena's whole world until she inevitably chafes under his control and runs away to join dissenters; and the story of Athena in jail in a world different from ours but maybe not so far from the future. All the stories are well told and intriguing. There is a lot of exploration of technology and how we sacrifice privacy, uniqueness, and personal values for easy knowledge and convenience. Algorithms can take the difficulty of sifting out truth, can help us determine our style, can entertain us without boring us. But what if the algorithms start determining what and who you are? Is that any different than the caste system King was born into? You question whether the world King helps design is any more civilized or compassionate than the rural coconut farm he grew up in. Also loved the allusions the Greek myths and tropes--emphasizing that humanity keeps reaching for an idealized civilization only to be undone by humanity itself.

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