River of Gods by Ian McDonald is a huge sprawling book set in India in the near future (with near future meaning 40 years). And it is a slow moving book at first and requires much patience before the plot starts up in earnest. Anathem had a similar buildup, but was easier to follow due to a single main character, where River of Gods has several characters and we jump between them every chapter. The book itself is good, if you have the patience to make it to the plot.

India in 2047 is a different country than the one today. The country itself is split into multiple smaller states that have an uneasy alliance. Global warming has made water a much more valuable commodity, some states are bringing in icebergs to meet their water needs. And Artificial Intelligence (referred to as aeais) is a viable technology, as long as it doesn’t get too intelligent. Mr. Nandha is a cop, whose job is to shut down rogue aeais and figure out where it came form. Vishram Ray has just inherited a power company from his father, who split his company into two pieces for each of his sons, that is working on zero-point energy. Lisa Durnauis is called up to an asteroid, where an ancient mystery has her looking for artificial intelligence guru Thomas Lull, who has found a girl that can see into the future.

The plots of the aeais, zero-point energy, mysterious asteroids and girl who can see the future start fusing together two-thirds of the way through the book (assuming you’re still reading at this point). Before that the book feels like it’s about several smaller stories which are only tangentially related. It takes a lot of patience to get to the point where the plots intersect. Fortunately McDonald’s writing is good enough to carry you over the setup. If you like books with a lot of action or have trouble with large casts of characters, then this book isn’t really for you. Recommended.