Vikāra

"A hard-hitting, sometimes frighteningly realistic portrayal of a dystopian world." - Kirkus Reviews (Verdict: GET IT)

___

In a world with total biological surveillance, immunity is the ultimate luxury, and some lives are far cheaper than others.

The year is 2271. The richest have abandoned a hostile mainland for the fountain apartments: vertical cities where only the healthy are allowed to live. Under the rule of ruthless Section 23, the air is pure, crime is non-existent, and culture is paramount. Life doesn't get any better. As long as you can maintain your microbiome scores. 

• Aria is an artist who believes she can teach the elite to feel empathy. But when she enters the cutthroat world of New York station politics, she learns that power requires a different kind of art: the art of control.
• Vijay is a refugee who clawed his way up from the dark, undocumented maintenance shafts. He believes in the system's promise of meritocracy. He is wrong.
• Max, part human, part machine, is tasked with maintaining the delicate and lush gardens of Section 19. But Max remembers things he shouldn't: previous lives, past rebellions, and the terrifying truth of how the station tracks its citizens.

As multiple crises creep through the station's air vents, the fragile peace between the sections is shattering. In a society engineered for perfection, the greatest threat might just be human nature.