Looking for the Mahdi

Debut novel. I gobbled it up, first page to last. The words flow fast and slick, a delight to read; inciteful and clever. Global politics, a microchip, danger, sex, and, yes, more! Here is the story of a female journalist, who, disguised as a man, travels on assignment to the Middle East with a humanoid fabricant. In the first chapter, Kay Bee states: "As a woman, I was homely as a mud fence, but as a man, the same features were judged as craggy or distinguished." She adds: "There were no women field reporters in Khuruchabja except me. It's hard to do decent report if you're covered head to toe with fifteen yards of heavy red wool and banned from all male company except immediate family." What a terrific voice, first person, sarcastic and hopeful. I plan on reading it again.

Can't praise it enough. Barely science fiction, mostly a journalist/spy/love/culture story. Cynical and hopeful, very well written, lots of local color.Dense reality, good overview and philosophy. A thinking person's book.Lew

Kay Munadi is a burnt out war correspondent journalist who is persuaded to escort a humanoid fabricant (a biological human-based "android") to a middle eastern country that is not known for it's frendliness to the USA or women. (she goes disguised as a man as she is not a "pretty woman")This book is very well written, and unusual for a number of reasons. The author appears to have a very good grasp of Muslim values and the resentment that first world countries (read europe and the USA) have stirred up there, by very effectively using divide and conquer methods.However, all this is just background for a well written character based story as we get to know Kay and the "robot" John Halton better. This is not based in some future where all our problems have been somehow fixed, instead it is based on a continuation and intensification of todays trends. It makes you think about the power of today's media and in the end you come away with a feeling that you have read an outstanding book.

I found this book to be very enjoyable. The ideas that it presented though not knew are presented in an interesting fashion and made me more aware of the various dimensions of the middle east peace process.The prose I found was very easy to read. The protagonist I found was very entertaining. And though parts of the book are a bit predictable that didn't detract from the quality of the book.

Like Marge Piercy's HE, SHE, AND IT, this book takes the story of a golem protecting a group of true believers and places it in the near future. But, instead of a magically animated golem, we have an android.But the ending of this novel takes a big turn. In this unique ending, Wood suggests a way out of the usual cyberpunk, offending god ending.This is both wonderful piece of cyberpunk and a light religious read.I loved it. I read 60+ cyberpunk novels and short stories last year and this is one of my top 5.