It's unusual for me to pick up a sci-fi novel but I'm trying to read outside my comfort zone and the synopsis for this one grabbed my attention.

The structure of this book is unlike any other that I've read so far. It almost reads like an anthology of short stories to create a bigger picture. This was an interesting way to create the storyline but I feel there were just too many characters and I didn't get to know any of them with any great depth. I feel this writing style could have worked better for me if the stories all came together at the climax of the book. Some did, but other character threads just seemed to fizzle out with no resolution.

The book is set in the near future with world building and technology that isn't too far fetched to be believable. I certainly found this novel to be thought provoking and engaging despite the lack of connection to the characters.

I'm a sucker for possible futures where things can actually happen if we are not careful as a society. Its also very refreshing that the book is not set somewhere in the US as it's the usual trend with books like this. It had its interesting parts but there were also some I didn't quite liked. But in a general sense it was an interesting read.

My Quick Take: Sci-fi satire in a quick-paced novel that reveals the inherent injustice of the “meritocracy.” A great read!

“They will love him because he is filled with all the things they like to hear. They will love him because he is empty.”

In the near future, climate change has wreaked havoc and traditional world order has broken down. Apex City (previously known as Bangalore) is the centre of an organization that now runs the show on the basis of the Bell Curve. It's a meritocracy that rewards those in the top 20%, takes care of those from 10-70%, and throws away those in the bottom 10% of productivity (The Analogs). And the Analog rebellion is afoot!

This novel is sci-fi satire in a quick-paced novel that reveals the inherent injustice of the “meritocracy.” I really enjoyed this novel. It is:

-A fast-paced examination of the natural, awful consequences of a meritocracy to rule a nation. The theme of social injustice is not subtle, and starts to hit home just over half way through. It's a good reminder of how the notion of meritocracy as just fails us on so many levels.

-A cool look at a sci-fi style that I had to look up. I think it’s best described as “Retro-Futurism,” but science fiction purists may need to correct me. There are VirtuoPods, reflecto-screens and OmniPorts. Be-Mojis surround people’s heads in a pixelated cloud (“Nobody…wants to have to waste any more time on verbal self-expression.”)

-A “mosaic novel,” where we see each chapter from a different character’s POV, but stitched together to create one, linear story. Main characters recurred later as minor characters so the narrative was totally coherent. There isn’t deep character development or world building, but I didn’t miss it here.

The ending really brought the characters together, and was surprisingly humane…the best possibility of what humanity can be, at least for a time. Perhaps overly optimistic, but really lovely. I’d recommend this one!

Thanks to @rebelliondevelopments @solarisbooks and @netgalley for a digital ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

The Ten Percent Thief by Lavanya Lakshminarayan is a gripping mystery novel that will keep you hooked until the very end. The story revolves around a group of college friends who reunite after several years to participate in a reunion party. However, their celebration is cut short when one of their friends goes missing, and they are forced to come together to solve the mystery of her disappearance.

Lakshminarayan's writing is sharp and suspenseful, drawing the reader into the story with her skilled pacing and vivid descriptions. The plot is well-crafted, with plenty of twists and turns to keep readers guessing until the very end. The characters are also well-developed, each with their own unique personalities and motivations that add depth to the story.

One of the strengths of The Ten Percent Thief is its portrayal of the bonds between friends. The characters' relationships are explored in detail, and the ways in which they support each other through difficult times are heartwarming and relatable. Additionally, the novel touches on important themes such as privilege, corruption, and the impact of technology on society, making it a thought-provoking read.

Overall, The Ten Percent Thief is a well-written and engaging mystery novel that will appeal to fans of the genre. With its strong characters, intricate plot, and thought-provoking themes, it is a book that will stay with you long after you've turned the final page.

A few of the things I liked very much about this novel: excellent near-future speculative fiction: the mark of success of near-future spec-fic is how it makes its world plausible - showing you the trajectory our own world can take to get there - while at the same time maintaining an eerie sense of defamiliarisation. Analog/Virtual does that very well. Further, it doesn't give in to the temptation of dystopia, but shows readers how even the most repressive regimes allow for the possibility of imagining alternatives. And lastly, the multiple p.o.v.s - going on and off-stage - is a devilishly difficult thing to pull off, but Analog/Virtual does so seamlessly - and the book is richer for it. Recommended.

A sci-fi that hits too close to reality...

This is set in a moderately-near future Bangalore, now known as Apex City. The city is run by the Bell Corporation, which strictly and impartially enforces a system of privileges based on any individual’s “productivity.” The 20 percent most productive live in luxury. The middle 70 percent live a comfortable middle-class existence. The least productive 10 percent - known as Analogs - is cast out into the post-climate change wasteland, condemned to grinding poverty.

Filled to the brim with AI and situations that made me feel all the emotions, I found this to be an exhilarating read. This was imaginative and fun, and I would recommend this if you're just getting into the genre!

It's the world building where The Ten Percent Thief really shines. As the author seamlessly blends the solarpunk and cyberpunk genres. In a very believable dystopian future.

My only problem with the book is every chapter focuses on new character. Sometimes characters from one chapter will be in another one. And they're beautifully written. But your never really with a character long. So there's no connection to root for one of them.

The stories do all coalesce into a very satisfying ending. All in all this was a fantastic read with absolutely phenomenal world building.

I first encountered this novel in the anthology The Best of World SF: Volume 2, edited by Lavie Tidhar, which included the first chapter as a standalone story. I found that collection a little uneven, but the short story "The Ten Percent Thief" was one of the better ones, not so much for the story's sake as much as for the skillful worldbuilding that it hinted at. So, when I saw this pop up on NetGalley I had to take a look. And, ultimately, I liked it ... but not so much for the story's sake as for the worldbuilding.

It's actually quite appropriate for Lakshminarayan to be so closely linked to Lavie Tidhar in my head, as this book reminds me of nothing so much as his book <I>Central Station</I>. I've never really been able to totally like "mosaic novels," in part because I hate the pretense of a connective plot that never really exists (just be an honest short story collection, please), and both this book and that shared the vibe of having some really effective moments and interesting setting but left me a little impatient to get through it by the end. Lakshminarayan leaves the ending here a lot less open-ended, limiting the prospect of further works in this world, but I can still hope for its equivalent of Tidhar's <I>Neom</I>, picking back up with this excellent setting but with a real book-length plot to go with it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this dystopian debut from Lavanya Lakshminarayan.

Set in Apex City, formerly Bangalore, some time in the future, this is a world convinced it is running successfully as a meritocracy.

Ninety percent of people are Virtuals, living in a world with remarkable access to technology. Seventy percent of them have two potential futures. Work really hard, have the right sort of face and the right sort of opinions, and you might be able to rise to the elite - the top twenty percent. Fail at your job, say the wrong thing at the wrong time, and you may be deported to the Ten Percent Analog world, where there is no electricity or running water, and where the lowest of the low are sent to the Farm and 'harvested'.

The Ten Percent Thief is a series of vignettes set within this world - and I loved them.

I'm not always keen on a books that are effectively made up of connected short stories because it can make it a challenge to care about the characters and the world they live in. But I was hooked with this one.

Maybe it was the simplicity of the idea behind it all - that people can be cruelly separated into have-it-alls and have-it-nots. Maybe it was because the vignettes were connected. A character could pop up in one, then later in another, and I did care about how they'd end up - and how they got there. Maybe it was the way the stories were layered on top of one another to give a rounded view of this crazy world where in one chapter people are fighting for their lives, then in another fighting for promotion to the upper echelons.

As for plot, this builds with each vignette, as the Ten Percent set out to prove why they should never be written off - eventually arriving at a more than satisfying conclusion for this reader.

I’m not *quite* willing to call this book a masterpiece, but it’s a near thing.

This is set in a moderately-near future Bangalore, now known as Apex City. The city is run by the Bell Corporation, which strictly and impartially enforces a system of privileges based on any individual’s “productivity.” The 20 percent most productive live in luxury. The middle 70 percent live a comfortable middle-class existence. The least productive 10 percent - known as Analogs - is cast out into the post-climate change wasteland, condemned to grinding poverty (with organ harvesting a real possibility for anyone who causes trouble - one last final bit of productivity from the “unproductive” dregs of society).

For the people who live in Apex City proper, life is defined by their position on the bell curve. Everything they do is focused on rising along the curve, or at the least avoiding dropping so far in their productivity they face deportation.

For the Analogs who live on the outside, life is all about simple survival.

This book is a series of vignettes. They’re mostly independent of one another, though loosely connected - the main character of one vignette might get mentioned in the next one, that kind of thing. Though they’re disconnected, they come together to form a mosaic of life in and around Apex City that is touching, challenging, and compelling by turns.

The one and only complaint I have about this book is that one of the vignettes, which was clearly meant to be taken seriously - I just couldn’t. (It’s the one about the emojis, for anyone who is curious and has read it.) I get what the author was trying to do, but I simply couldn’t be anything but bemused.

But that’s a minor complaint in a book that I overall *loved*. Highly recommended.

This was such a fresh and exciting book. I loved the way the story was told in many short stories and together produced a multifaceted viewpoint. It was just so different from anything I have read. Loved it.

I read the opening of this book as a short story by the same name, in a collection not so long ago, so I knew I had to read "The Ten Percent Thief" as soon as I saw it. It is blunt, brutal, and feels all too possible as a potential future for humanity. I did get a little bit confused at times (not enough brain cells to keep the characters organised!), but that was part of the charm for me. This is a fantastic read.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

The Ten Percent Thief starts with a robbery. Not anything violent, but a seemingly innocuous theft of a Jacanda Tree. However this small act of rebellion sets off a series of events that will topple the divisions of Apex city, the highly productive city that used to be Bangalore, but is now governed by the Bell Curve. The Bell Curve is an algorithm that governs the lives of the inhabitants of Apex City dividing it up by percentages. The top 1 percent are the Untouchables, the super mega rich. The twenty percent are the high flyers and CEO's whilst the Seventy percent are the workers. However, no one wants to be a Ten Percent. Those known as Analogs.

You see there is a division amongst the citizens of Apex city.. The visuals are those people who have access to the technology of the Bell Curve, whilst the Analogs are those dependent on their own skills, and are deemed as lazy and unproductive.

The Ten Percent Thief tells the story of a rebellion using a mosaic storyline, which is a series of interconnected stories where characters or objects may crop up in stories that appear to have very little relevance to each other.

It's an interesting method of telling a story as it gives a wider picture of a central conceit by using indidual scenes and stories. However, this can also have its downside as the story may not centre on plot or character and at times can appear unemotive as you don't have a central character or set of characters to become engaged with, and there may not be that impetus of plot dragging the story along.

Now, this can be a difficult form of storytelling to pull off as there does need to be something that hooks you in, whether it be theme or writing, and in fairness, the Ten percent Thief doesn't really tread new ground, particularly the corpratisation of the future. However, as always, if familiar tropes are done well they can be the strength of the story, and Lavanya Lakshminarayan does approach the theme in an engaging way. In addition to that, she presents us with a entertainmently satirical view of the future with recognisable nod to technology that is available today and highlights the technological gap between rich and poor and the disadvantage that this promotes.

Whilst the book isn't perfect, which you can kind of expect with this approach, Lavanya Lakshminarayan presents us with an interesting vision of the future and a plausible commentary on today's advancement in its use of technology. Not only that, it's good to see sci fi based in the Asian subcontinent, giving us a different perspective on familiar themes.

I think as well, it has to be mentioned that it's a hats off to Rebellion who continually invest in stories that push the limits and presents us as readers with books that are challenging and original

I am quite ambivalent about dystopian novels and I like to pick ones with a premise that really grabs my attention as at times it seems such a prolific genre. Hence my interest in this one, but I have to admit I really struggled with it, although it was well written with good descriptions, I found the short story style difficult to follow and quite unsatisfying by the end.
Thank you to netgalley and Rebellion for an advance copy of this book.

I’m always eager to read a new dystopian novel and the premise behind this one really intrigued me.

Set in a future version of the city of Bangalore, society has been organised like a bell curve and is run by Bell Corp. Most of society fall into the 70% band and are classed as being productive. They are therefore entitled to the benefits of civilisation including modern technology. Then there is the elite 20%. Those members of society who have proven their value but also have to keep upping their game to maintain their status. Finally, we have the bottom ten per cent. This group are not considered to be productive and are excluded from life in Apex City and modern technology hence ‘analogues’. They scratch out a life as best as they can but if they fall foul of any of the rules that govern their existence, then they will be ‘harvested’. It might only be a single organ such as a kidney or it might be total, their lives being productive in a final sacrifice for society.

The story is told as a series of vignettes from different members of society. We have the ten per cent thief who steals to help the analogue population including stealing a tree which becomes a symbol of revolution and we also see the people right at the peak of the bell curve. I really liked some of the characters, Nina for example and wanted to read of her story whereas others were less engaging but still necessary to the story as a whole. For a while, I was in two minds about whether I enjoyed this format or not.

On the one hand, it is a brilliant way of letting the reader see all aspects of this society that they have created. The world building is amazing and the author has created a coherent society that I could really see happening at some point. The separate stories aren’t really linked although some of the characters to reappear momentarily in other stories. However, as someone who really enjoys character driven stories, this series of separate episodes was a bit frustrating as I never really got to engage with any of the characters.
On balance, I found that the story arc drew me in and the different view points were essential to really understand the how and why things were this way.

I also loved the ending which definitely had echoes of the Asimov short story’ Nightfall’.
Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I wasn’t expecting this book to be a sort-of collection of short stories set in the same world at the same time, in the sense that it is told from several different people’s perspectives but only once - you don’t hear from the same person again though they may appear in the periphery of another character’s narrative. It was an interesting approach and took me a while to settle into it but I eventually found my rhythm and enjoyed the book. It offered a satirical exploration of a futuristic world where people on the inside of the city walls are ‘Virtual’ and are wholly reliant on technology for everything, and the people on the outside - by birth or deportation - are ‘Analog’ and have no technology or electricity. We see different perspectives of these worlds from those on the inside, those on the outside and those who have crossed over the barrier either into or out of Apex City. Within the city, there’s a desperation amongst the citizens who are rated by their productivity and any who drop too low on the bell curve are ousted. One recently unemployed citizen is slowly having her tech downgraded to acclimatise her for an analog life, whilst she’s set ‘productivity’ tasks such as going to a real store, buying groceries and carrying them home - something she’s never done before. Meanwhile, there’s an uprising in progress on the outside, told through different analog citizens and wondering whether this will be the rebellion that succeeds.

I thought the Ten Percent Thief would play a bigger role in this story but other than her first narrative, she’s seen occasionally in snippets from the Analog world, which was a shame as it would have been interesting to understand more about her character. Otherwise, this was an interesting approach to storytelling and an intriguing tale of our could-be future.

Regular readers of the blog will know that I love dystopian fiction and will always jump at the chance of reading something new in the genre. The premise of this book sounded fascinating, a post-apocalyptic world where technology is at the centre of everything – everyone wants it but access is strictly controlled, you have to earn it. What you have depends on your productivity and the value of your contribution to society at large. The top 20% are the elite and are richly rewarded, the next 70% are constantly striving to move up to the top layer. The 10% at the bottom are outcasts who live in an analog world. Everyone is constantly under pressure to maintain their position, controlled by the overriding threat of being consigned to the analog world. Some people already fear that this kind of world, where the value of your contribution to society determines how much help you get from the State is where we are headed so it is a fascinating topic to explore.

The book is an inter-linked series of stories about different characters from the various social strata in this world. The ‘Ten Percent Thief’ of the title opens the book, an Analog who is an expert at stealing things from the ‘Virtual’ world to assist the Analogs to live better and plan an uprising to try and gain equality. We then meet a series of people from other communities – the ‘elite,’ who find that their social status can come at a price they aren’t willing to pay, people who are under constant pressure to maintain their social status and live in fear of falling, the ones who hide who they really are, the ones who have made the almost impossible move from Analog to Virtual, but never really fit in. They all come together to paint a picture of a complex and unfair social strata that seems incredibly unhealthy for all involved.

The world-building that has gone into this book is incredible. The author has really constructed something fascinating that examines, with uncomfortable clarity, the inequality that plagues this society and, sadly, reflects the inequality of our own reality back at us in a way that is extremely distressing. This is dystopian fiction that asks the reader to look at the world and really ask if this is a nightmarish possible future or the horrifying reality of the modern world and the answer will not leave you sleeping easily in your bed at night if you have thought about it honestly.

However, the impact of this book is lessened somewhat by the disjointed narrative structure that the author has chosen here, which makes it almost impossible to become emotionally invested in the story. There is no central character for the reader to get to know and in whose success or failure we become invested. Instead we are given a transient series of characters to get to know only fleetingly, who have only peripheral importance to the overall plot, and who then disappear, never to reappear, or who do reappear for a nanosecond, but not in a way that moves us to celebrate their triumph or mourn their demise. Even the title character is not written in a way that makes her central to the story and, by the end, I had come to the conclusion that the title of the book was chosen purely because it sounded enticing, rather than because they were central to the plot.

All in all, I found the book an intellectually interesting exploration of a society that relies too heavily on technology, where that reliance warps and corrupts all the people within it, and where the yawning chasm of inequality eventually sucks the whole edifice in. However, the lack of a cohesive plot or central, dominating character meant it lacked the emotional heart that would have really delivered that final sucker punch to the reader’s psyche. I think this author has some fascinating ideas and I look forward to seeing what they come up with next, but the story needed a more human connection to really make it work.

3.5 stars. This book had an intriguing premise and was told in an experimental format I’ve not seen before. It wasn’t quite a short story collection, as the short stories didn’t really have arcs. More a collection of snippets highlighting different aspects of life in Apex City.

Apex city and Bell Corp certainly deliver on dystopia and I thought some of the issues explored were really interesting. Other stuff was quite on the nose and I almost wish the extent of the dystopian elements were unveiled more slowly.

I always appreciate an experimental approach and I did find this quite interesting to read, but the lack of returning characters to connect with does lower investment a bit. Especially as some stories and characters resonated a lot more than others.

Would definitely read more about this world and from this author!

The synopsis of The Ten Percent Thief immediately grabbed my attention. Set in a dystopian futuristic world with a clear divide between two parts of society: those deemed ‘productive’, and those not.

I loved the premise from the start. Those on the outskirts are denied technology and comforts of living, forced to scrape their way through life, outcast from the prominent society. As with any downtrodden peoples though, there’s a rebellion stirring, and being put in this place doesn’t mean they intend to stay there. The threat of being ‘harvested’ for their organs to serve the greater good isn’t always enough to keep people down.

On the flip side, we have the high functioning society. Implants, upgrades and life designed to make you as productive as possible. There’s a cost: that productivity can make or break you. You can rise through the ranks, but only if you remain highly productive, every moment of the day.

As someone who pushes herself too much to be productive, this concept shouted at me. The idea of society going to the extreme and everything you do has to aid your scores is terrifying – and realistic. In a world of burnout, targets and exhaustion, this type of society is one I can easily see happening.

While the premise was great, I found it a little hard to connect to the story. Practically every chapter is told through a different character’s point of view. While there is some overlap, especially towards the end, there’s very little consistency. The ten percent thief does not lead this story.

This worked in the sense that you get to know all walks of life: the challenges in both sides of society, crossing the lines between the two etc. It adds to the world building. It also provides a steady pace as each new character brings new events.

It shows the strength of the writing because you still feel for each of these characters and know which side you want to come out on top of this ongoing struggle. But I wanted to get to know the characters, watch them overcome their situation and grow with them, and that’s denied to the reader.

If you’re interested in dystopian worlds and the divide between societies, this may be the book for you. It’s well written, well-developed and chilling in that I can see it being the type of world that may develop.

An enjoyable read. As someone who prefers character driven stories, I couldn’t engage as much as I wanted, but that’s a personal preference. It’s a well-written book that makes you think. One I’d recommend if this is your sort of thing.

Apex City exists where Bangalore used to be. This is a Meritocratic Tecnarchy where productivity is power. You can be part of the top 20 percent who are the Virtual Elite and have everything, the 'worker' 70 percent who are below them, and then the ones at the bottom always in danger of being deported to the Analog side of the city. The Analogs live technology-deprived, without basic needs like running water or electricity. But there is a thief that helps the Analogs. A Ten Percent Thief that steals a seed and plants a revolution.

This is attention-grabbing sci-fi and scary dystopian (dystopian should be scary), keeping in mind how easy it is for something like this to happen and some would say we are already going in that direction. Technology to marvel in the immersive and oh-so-creative worldbuilding. I really enjoyed the sharp, to the point of being brutal, in-your-face honesty. The biting social commentary.

The author manages to say so much even through the simplest of scenes. There are a lot of characters, each chapter like a short story about their life. It brought to mind TV anthology series. Some I liked more or considered they contributed more to the overall story than others. They depict the antithesis between each character's situation, giving us an all-enveloping sense of this world and an undercurrent of intrigue flows through them.

I do with the story had spent some more time on certain characters and the mechanics of the revolution. Also, the story seems to sometimes get lost in its musings.

Free will is examined and championed through the gaping hole between the haves and the have-nots, the totalitarian aspect of this society where your opinions and interests must be like everyone else's. Being liked and how others perceive you has become fundamental to living your life. There is a battle between humanity and egocentrism being fought here. The narrative argues the place of technology in our lives.

Gripping, gut-wrenching and thought-provoking, this is what you would call philosophical sci-fi.