The Ten Percent Thief is a novel that was originally published in India as Analog/Virtual in 2020 and which is now being published in the West by Solaris/Rebellion in March 2023. The novel was hyped up by a few authors I like, and carries a dystopian science fiction premise: what if, in the future, a society/city is organized as per a bell curve, with privileges and technology - particularly technology based upon internet and virtual tech - offered foremost to those higher on the curve - your top 20%ers (or higher) - and almost everything denied to the bottom ten percent. So of course society is organized as per "merit"....but who decides what is meritorious and how is it all enforced is of course the devil in the details.

It's a fascinating book, told in chapters that are each their own vignettes, such that the book tells a number of stories even as it moves overall general story of the city, Apex City, forward from one story to another. And this works tremendously well as it shows the dystopian ways Apex City keeps and tries to keep its citizens both "productive" and socially desirable according to its preconcieved notions and shows how the people cast out of it, the Analogs, struggle to survive, build their own society under its noses, and to resist. Not any part of this story is subtle, but the book's stories cover an incredibly wide scope as it examines society, satirizes attributes of our own society in hilarious but dark ways. The result is really really good, and I highly recommend this.



-----------------------------------Plot Summary-------------------------------------
Apex City is the ideal society, a society that has come through the dark days of the past to be based solely upon merit, with society's benefits going towards those who most deserve them. The top one percent most meritous - as determined by an algorithm judging productivity and social tastes - have access to the best technology and privileges, the remaining members of the top twenty percent have access to most of this tech and privileges, and the next seventy percent - everyone above the bottom 10% - gets to live under the technology of the Sunshield Umbrella, protecting them all from UV radiation and the Earth's harsh climate, all the while they stil get to enjoy most of the benefits of the latest in virtual and cyber technology. They are the Virtuals, and as long as they keep their merit above that of the bottom 10%, they will prosper.

And then there are the bottom ten percent, the Analogs, people who are not productive or valuable to society, who are cast off or left to be born and live outside the Umbrella, in the suffering heat, with no access to virtual technology...and who are forced to make do with things like paper money, old cell phones (if they still work), dangerous water, cassette tapes, and outdated medicine. The Analogs continue to exist thanks to the mercy of civilized society...and to serve as laborers and to be harvested as punishment for their organs or body parts for the use by Virtuals who deserve them more.

Apex City is a truly Just and Wondrous society. And yet despite that, Nayaka, the Analog woman known as the Ten Percent Thief, is about to make her most daring heist of Virtual technology yet - a tree that she plants at the center of Analog society. And alongside that tree will grow a spark, a spark that will give birth to a revolution like no Virtual could ever expect, which will result in a drastic shift in society to come.....
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I spend so much time talking about the setup and setting in the plot summary above because The Ten Percent Thief doesn't really have one overarching plotline. The story is split into 20 vignettes/short-stories, taking place on both sides of the Meridian that divides the Virtuals and Analogs, with each story generally showing some new aspect to life in the two versions of society that reflects the system and the injustice that centers it. The overall story does move forward with each story, with characters from one story recurring as more minor characters in later ones, and the events at the heart of each story being affected by events in prior ones, such that the ending of the story is (and this is hardly a surprise so I don't mind "spoiling") the revolution that is sparked by the first chapter and mentioned as major parts of middle and later chapters, but that overall arc of things is honestly less interesting or even the point than how each chapter disects the injustice of a society built like this...a society that can easily be seen as the endpoint of certain human trends or ideas by certain oligarchs or billionaires (and well, how it seems an extension of caste systems like India's is almost certainly not a coincidence).

And these stories cover so so so much in each chapter. So the first covers of course the titular Thief and how she tries her best to be a robin hood like character in stealing from the Virtuals for the sake of the Analogs, which is far easier than it should be. And then you've got a story about how a technology given to a person who has analog roots but wants to rise in Virtual society is a robot that electroshocks him whenever he starts having bad ideas or thoughts, such that his personal tastes match that of the centralized ideal at the end of it (divergence in even those of course is unacceptable). You have the Virtual member of the middle 70% whose productivity drops after their mother dies, leading them to be forced to have a taste of analog life - oh my god having to physically go out and exert oneself to get food and thrive - as a way to ensure he doesn't fall further and be cast out; You have a girl forced to take virtual children on an automated tram tour through Analog society so she can make what she knows is false propaganda about them to ensure they don't become Analog sypathtizers; you have an Analog girl adopted by a Virtual set of parents who is not allowed to use the technology and finds herself shunned and discriminated against as she tries to pass the tests to get full privileges...and to become an accomplished pianist without the musical aids that other virtual kids have...and she has it better by far than other adoptees.

I could list all 20 scenarios here but finding out what is next and what are the next concepts is just as fascinating as reading them, because while each short vignette doesn't last long, and isn't necessarily followed up on (although they are followed up on in less direct ways), they are all done so incredibly well at exploring pretty much every result of this society being put into place. And they're both entertaining and sometimes funny all the while being horrifying at the same time, like the best dystopian satires (a chapter involving two different technologies and ideas, one social and one meant to save the environment, is utterly outrageously funny such that I do not want to spoil it by giving any hint as to its premise). Most books with dystopian settings do not really explore the implications of how these societies must work and how they function, or how they affect various peoples at various levels - The Ten Percent Thief tries to explore all of them and it does so so so well. The way it explores technology and privilege and oppression in the name of merit is all incredibly relatable, applicable and understandable to the modern reader, and the book cuts no corners in exploring and showing how this could be built, how horrifying it can be, how it could come crumbling down...and how it might come rising back up again through no bad intent whatsoever.

Not sure how to say more here without spoiling parts of the experience, so I'll just say: An absolute stunner and a Must Read, and an easy recommend for basically everyone.

I am now a reader reborn. This is the form I want all of my dystopian novels delivered in now. 9/10 times I read this genre I am underwhelmed with the worldbuilding, as it is either not developed or explained on a page in unreasonable detail. The connected short stories avoid this issue and create a coherent, detailed world that I found incredibly interesting. It fit together so neatly I was absolutely ready to accept even the silliest ideas. I think the author had a very good grasp of what they wanted to achieve with each theme and plot point and it transferred beautifully into the writing.
I'd recommend this book to people who are not too much into character-based novels, people who are tired of sci fi and dystopia trying to be serious and triggering at every page, and readers who catch themselves wishing they could see the other pov of the short story they are reading.

I was offered this book as an ARC via NetGalley and the premise reminded me a little of 'Q' by Christina Dalcher. Now I am aware that I didn't give that book a high score either so you may wonder why I bothered trying this one. The truth is that I do think there is an opportunity for a good story in this kind of dystopian setting (I do love a good dystopia) however this one failed to hit the mark for me too. In places it reminded me a bit of the TV series 'Black Mirror' which I do like but I feel that this book will appeal far more to those who are big on social media. I found this novel a bit too erratic for my taste and there were times where I wasn't sure what the author was advocating as a replacement social structure. Perhaps I am just getting old!

This science fiction novel from an Indian writer is made up of a group of separate stories and characters which gradually interlink to reach an exciting conclusion. It’s cleverly done and, as a reader, you’re quickly drawn in.

The premise of the novel is that the advanced world has developed to such an extent along meritocratic lines that those who have the technology are locked in competition with one another to have the status which brings rewards both in virtual realities and devices. The world of these ‘Virtual’ individuals exist to serve the elusive Bell Corporation which owns and operates a series of cities.

Outside the city is where the ‘Analogs’ live. They live in relative poverty and are harshly repressed, even occasionally harvested for their organs. However, there are revolutionary movements stirring in this situation which eventually come to fruition as the virtual world reveals its vulnerabilities.

It’s a good dystopia, underlining how technology can come to control and shape people making them dependent on devices, competitive at work yet, ultimately, losing any sense of autonomy and control. Seeing an adult who has lost his or her mobile shows that we are not that far away from this situation!

The Analogs fight back by hacking the systems which provide for the Virtuals and infiltrating the shield which guards the Virtual city. As resilient and adaptable human beings they have the upper hand!

Throughout the story, there’s lots of almost satiric detail and comment about devices and technology which the Virtuals aspire to and think will bring them happiness and success. All in all, it’s a great read.

This was good science fiction. Not the best I 've ever read, but good storytelling and writing skills that service an interesting plot that might especially hook newcomers to the genre.

The Ten Percent Thief is a novel made up of interlinking short stories set in Apex City - formerly Bangalore - a futuristic, high-tech "meritocratic" dystopia where the population is split into privileged Virtuals and disadvantaged Analogs.

I wasn't familiar with the idea of a mosaic novel before picking The Ten Percent Thief up, but I really enjoyed how most of the short stories stood on their own, whilst also contributing to the overall plot. Despite the dystopian setting and underlying plot of revolution, there was still a lot of humour to be found from chapter to chapter.

Yes, there was little to be enjoyed in the way of character development, but if you enjoy strong, satirical world-building, this is the book for you.

I requested a digital copy in order to sample the prose on my phone (since I don't have a eReader) before requesting a physical copy for review. My review will be based on the physical ARC I read (if I qualify)

Thank you to #NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing the advance review copy of this novel by Lavanya Lakshminarayan.

Finally, a sci-fi preview to read! This is why I signed up for advance review titles. This novel was very interesting, as it’s a fairly new author who is much-lauded by the sci-fi community, a female (not many female sci-fi authors, let’s be real for second) and it was originally published in India, where the teribble caste system is still in use. And this novel deals with an ‘advanced’ society that uses a caste system, how about that…

Overall I was very much drawn into this story, as it deals with many issues/tropes common in many sci-fi settings, but seeing how a new ‘fresh voice’ author deals with various plotlines and bits of story was very interesting. Highly recommend this one for any sci-fi fans out there.

This review has been posted to Amazon.co.uk, Netgalley.co.uk and Goodreads, as well as my own site Frankthewriter.wordpress.com

This was great - it opens with a theft of a tree from the ten percent, and follows the system and eventual collapse of Apex City. The story is told from multiple points of view, all linked, and the different characters are sometimes in the background of other stories. It's a clever look at how technology and elitism could shape society, where the idea of doing anything physically or analog is shocking, but where there is also no room for failure. One character's productivity drops after her mother dies, and she's downgraded because there's no space for depression, she must perform to retain her place in society and the amenities she's used to. Another strives for perfection in music, but is perceived as being held back by not having access to the full range of technology to support her - and eventually discovers that the AI distracts her instead.

It's a really clever concept, but it does lack a thread holding it all together as it doesn't tell one single story and there's no main character. I'd have liked to know more of the ten percent thief herself, or some of the other people who are featured, and thought that might have pulled it together a bit more tightly. But I did enjoy it, and it's definitely got a lot to think about.

A look into our possible future where the world is divided into virtual and analog societies. A place where social media rules, perception means more than reality and decisions are made for you. Independent thought is for the outcast analog society. However, they have not been the lazy layabouts portrayed, waiting for harvesting. They have been watching and waiting and planning how to even everything up. Many parallels to our present values, makes you think

I loved the idea behind this book. A near future dystopia based in what's today Bangalore but has become 'Apex City' - a city run/owned/whatever by Bell Corporation. The premise is that your place in society depends on where you fit on the Bell Curve - with the top 20% having a life of luxury, the next 70% striving to move up and fighting against demotion, and the bottom 10% consigned to a technology-starved role as so-called 'analogs'.

The idea, as I said is great. At times, the pace and delivery are great. The problem is that a big bunch of great ideas are thrown together without a linking thread running through them. It's just a heck of a mess.

I was about halfway through before it hit me that I didn't actually have too much of a clue what was going on. I would meet a new character, get the impression they were important, and then a few pages later, they were gone, never to return.

Some of the characters are great. Some I forgot almost instantly.

10% didn't make sense. It's counter-intuitive for a Bell Curve to only pull out such a small proportion. There's also a mass of other communities that are touched upon but never developed

I'd have loved this if there were fewer characters and they linked together in some stronger way. It's a mass of loose ends and unfinished stories.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers. I'd love to read this author again but I'd like a much more integrated story next time.

With thanks to

This may evoke a number of emotions for some readers. I don't it will resonate with many readers, but for those that like it, they will probably like it quite a bit.

Thanks very much for the free ARC for review!!

10/10: ‘The greatest gift of art lies not in its beauty or its horror, but in the manner of its creation. It has the power to bring people together. It urges us to recognise in each the other. It makes us more than Analogues. It makes us human,’

I absolutely loved this story. In a world that’s becoming more and more about tracking what you do, how active you are and so much of our data, in many ways this dystopian future isn’t completely unreasonable.

The story follows multiple viewpoints as the bottom part of society rises up and destroys much of the tech that was used to separate the Virtuals from the Analogues. These viewpoints also include people who are in a precarious position where they were removed from the analogue society but watched to make sure they don’t have any sympathy towards the society they were born into.

In some ways, I always find I benefit from not reviewing books as soon as I've finished them, as even whether I can actually remember much about them a week or two later can tell me a lot about how much the book in question affected me. In the case of <I>The Ten Percent Thief</I>, time has not necessarily been kind to it - I finished it a couple of weeks ago and life got in the way of me writing a more timely review, only to find I can't recall a lot of detail of it or its characters.

The book itself is set in a future version of Bangalore, one strictly divided between the haves and the have nots, in this case where people are graded on a very strict bell curve. If you're in the top 20%, life is extremely luxurious but you're permanently worried about slipping down, while the middle class of this society fear not just the loss of luxury but being cast out of the virtual world completely. Outside the city, the people are cut off from many of the necessities of daily life, with some even being literally recycled. It's a fairly heavy-handed metaphor and tends to overpower the characters a little at times.

As for the characters, I discovered after downloading it that this is a mosaic novel, so it follows the experiences of a number of different individuals, some of whose paths cross along the way. The downside of this is that it's not always massively easy to care that much about those individuals as you don't see a great degree of character development happening (or if it does, it's off page). Chalk this book down to another one where I'm happy to have read it, I didn't throw it aside partway through (which happens more often than you'd think) but I was left somewhat feeling 'is that it?'.

<I>I received a free copy of this book from the publisher, via Netgalley. This is my honest review of the book in question.</i>

We are the future of the human race.

Welcome to Apex City, formerly Bangalore. Here, technology is the key to survival, productivity is power, and even the self must be engineered, for the only noble goal in life: success.

Everything is decided by the mathematically perfect Bell Curve. With the right image, values and opinions, you can ascend to the glittering heights of the Ten Percent – the Virtual elite – and have the world at your feet. The less-fortunate struggle among the workaday Seventy Percent, or fall to the precarious Twenty Percent; and below that lies deportation to the ranks of the Analogs, with no access to electricity, running water or even humanity.

The system has no flaws, and cannot be questioned. Until a single daring theft sets events in motion that will change the city forever...

This was an interesting read, a series of interconnected short stories, each from the perspective of a different person. I liked that I got the different perspectives, but it lacked a central character and therefore didn't have anyone the reader could connect with emotionally. It was a disjointed read and a lot of the stories did not have an adequate ending, they ended abruptly or without any closure. Others seemed rather pretentious.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in return for my honest review.

The Ten Percent Thief by Lavanya Lakshminarayan is a mosaic dystopian sci-fi story.
In this book are multiple points of view, countless characters, and places where we can observe this new and fascinating technological world. The Ten Percent Thief is a unique book, complicated, funny, and horrible at the same moment. Lavanya Lakshminarayan is a genius author.
Thank you NetGalley and Rebellion, Solaris for an eARC!

I absolutely loved this book.
Imagine a future world, when following an ecological disaster Bangalore (and other major cities), is divided into two “tribes”.
The Virtuals, who have all the technology at their fingertips, and live in a great city, and the Analogues, who are outsiders, living alongside the city in poverty.
The Virtuals all aspire to reach the top twenty percent who have the most privileges and are constantly monitored to ensure that they are performing to their full potential.
The Analogues are viewed as the rejects from Virtual society, every year the bottom ten percent of Virtuals are sent out of the city.
It might seem that the Virtuals have the better life, while the Analogues are constantly suffering, but through the medium of interconnected short stories, one soon realises that they all have their own pressures and insecurities.
The narrative arc connects all the stories together, and brings a compelling climax.

Thanks to Netgalley and Rebellion Publishing for the opportunity to read this book.

The Ten Percent Thief takes the tired trope of a future dystopia and the society split in two, the have and have nots. In this book, it’s a future blighted by climate change, and Apex City society is divided into the Virtuals, a merit based population constantly striving to be in the top percentile, or face exile to the half of the city where the Analogs reside in misery.

The book is structured as a series of short stories that tell the reader how the Virtuals live, and how a revolt is being planned by the Analogs. The satirical tone of some of the Virtuals stories was annoying to me, and the rebellion by the Analogs just superficial and, to me, poorly written in some parts. For me, the book just didn’t hang together as a whole.

My thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing me an ARC of the book.

The book is structured as a collection of short stories describing a future Banglalore, renamed Apex City, where the city is split into two parts, one for the ultra-wealthy who embrace technology, and one for everyone else. Overall, this is a difficult read in part due to the structure, and in many ways the world building felt unoriginal and in many ways predictable and dull.

The writing also had issues, and it made it difficult to engage with the characters, the world, or the text at all. Overall, an interesting concept, albeit not new, that is poorly executed.

I was disappointed with this book. I found it difficult to engage with until about page 50. Up to then it was confusing without a thread. The story picked up after that but the ending also got confusing. I tired of the constant references to the media outlets, Socs, etc.

Not for me I'm afraid.