Description:

Warning: The world of 2125 is extremely toxic. It is ruled by huge corporations called Coms. The workers, or Protes, are enslaved. Humanity's only hope is a neurosurgical technique that could unlock the mind's power to alter reality-or destroy it.

From Booklist

In the late twenty-first century, Earth is wracked by brutal storms and toxins, and people have moved underground and poleward. The northern hemisphere is run by the .Coms, while the southern is free. Jolie runs Extreme Tours, taking the wealthiest commies to the surface, where the former tunnel rat somehow feels at home. When she introduces her friend Jin to Dr. Merida, she sets off quite a chain of events. First, Jin's father, head of Pacific.Com, arranges financing for Merida's experimentation--on Jin. Soon enough, Jin is to hear the underlying sound of the universe and understand his role in it. Rebellion breaks loose in the northern .Coms, and Jolie is caught up rescuing whom she can. In the midst of this, though, she goes to rescue Jin. Together they flee across the surface, playing one .Com against another, racing for survival as nanocytes in Jin's brain give him astonishing visions. This is one successful adventure story and a neatly packaged allegory on thought and the future. Regina Schroeder
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Review

One of the best debut novels I've read in a long time. (Allen Steele)