This review contains spoilers.

Chloe Gong’s new novel, “Coldwire,” left me in a cold sweat after an extraordinary plot twist and its warnings of what humanity’s future could look like if technological developments lack sufficient guardrails. 

Gong, known for her “Secret Shanghai” historical fiction book series, released the new cyberpunk dystopian novel on Nov. 4. 

In the book’s fantastical world, which faces severe climate and public health crises, most of society spends its time in a virtual reality called “upcountry.” People who cannot afford to live upcountry reside in “downcountry.” 

Two powerful nations, Atahua and Medaulo, are in a cold war, and tensions have never been higher. Medan orphans in Atahua are required to attend Nile Military Academy, and many become soldiers to pay off their debt from attending the academy. 

Eirale, one of the main characters of the novel and a Medan orphan soldier, is tasked with capturing Atahua’s most wanted anarchist, Nik Grant. After a failed attempt to apprehend him, Grant frames her for shooting an Atahuan politician. Grant kidnaps Eirale and convinces her to help him retrieve data files without telling her what the files do until hundreds of pages later. 

Nik’s lack of transparency, while frustrating to Eirale, made the novel’s plot all the more intriguing to me.

Lia, the other main character and also a Medan orphan, is expected to locate Chung Yin, an engineer involved in a top-secret program. It’s later revealed that the goal of the program is to develop sentient artificial intelligence. 

Although Eirale travels to Medaulo in downcountry and Lia pursues Chung in upcountry, their missions are deeply interconnected. 

Structurally, the novel frustrated me at first. The point of view switches between the two protagonists each chapter, interrupting the flow, especially at key plot points. Eirale and Nik’s heart-thumping chase scene is interrupted by the next chapter, in which Lia walks to the academy headmaster’s office. 

Although both scenes are engaging, the constant change in context and pacing between chapters is difficult to adjust to at first.

However, in the last 100 pages of the novel, Gong’s purpose in switching perspectives each chapter becomes clear and the technique is effective. 

Questions raised in one point of view are later answered by the other, which provides an incentive to keep track of what information is known by some characters and not others. 

A plot twist in the final part of “Coldwire” is made possible by the reader’s knowledge of the world through the two different perspectives. The shocking reveal near the end picks up plot’s pace for the rest of the book.

Another strong aspect of the novel is its critique of the highly developed technological world, which features deeply concerning problems that readers may be unfortunately familiar with. 

Gong challenged my understanding of what it means to live in a technologically dependent world. She weaves in problems mirroring the real-world modern day, such as data privacy issues and attempts to replace human jobs with artificial intelligence. 

NileCorp, the corporation that dominates the fantastical world of “Coldwire,” has access to a large volume of data, including people’s bank accounts and messages. If NileCorp were to be hacked or wanted to cause harm, people’s lives could be ruined completely. Gong expertly explores these chilling threats and creates a fictional space with expanded versions of real-world data privacy risks that are not entirely unrealistic to see in the near future.

Gong also avoids the all-too-frequent flaw of lackluster or frustrating endings. The novel’s details click into place, and all the progress the characters made over the course of the book perfectly sets up the expected sequel to this thrilling start to the series. 

With a heart-stopping reveal and timely questions about technological risks, “Coldwire” is a thought-provoking read in a world consumed by AI advancements. 

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