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Mood: Happy ]
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Currently: Listening to CBC Radio ]
Louie Hong is a young man looking to find his fortune by heading into the West. The American West that remains after a biological attack of some kind has wiped out the population. Cities have fallen in to disrepair and humans are scattered into small settlements that hug the still being built railway. Louie also has one more thing going against him. He is a "control-natural", someone who is not allowed by law to have a cyborg enhancement. The rest of the population have bought whatever enhancements they can afford and that can improve their lives. This means they have arms that have built in whips or eyes that can see in the infrared spectrum. And they tend to shun people like Louie.
In this world, Louie gets caught up with a gang of bank-robbing, cattle rustling outlaws and is on the run from the law. He also ends up on the run from the outlaws when they think he has stolen the loot. Can Louie survive long enough to make his fortune?
I stumbled across this book as I was preparing for the Race in Fantasy Fiction podcast, but really this is not a book about race in a post-apocalyptic America (which would be an awesome story BTW). Rather this is a book about the value of humanity and an exploration of what would happen if cybernetic enhancements were common place.
Unfortunately, it tends to get cited as a book about race because the author is of Asian descent.