The amount of knowledge and research that must have gone into this is highly impressive, as it covers all of the above, plus the various occupations of the characters, all with detail and authority. The characters offer each other acceptance and support, and conflict and failure are minimal, which means it comes off as fairly warm and fuzzy.

The book includes a lot of history, economics, finance and science, which weaves through the text, but this is actually character driven. Everybody has their own busy life, but their activities start to overlap as they fend off a hostile takeover of their building, find lost treasure for financing and come up with a workable scheme to remake the world. This includes coders Mutt and Jeff, market trader Franklin, cloud star Amelia, building manager Vlade, police inspector Gen, Householders Union rep Charlotte and two kids who live under the docks, Stefan and Roberto. First, there is a broad cast of main characters, all of whom live in the Met. Can they take advantage of the disaster to establish a new world order? Hurricane Fyodor appears on their horizon, certain to leave destruction in its wake. The intertidal economy has been stable for some time, but it’s becoming obvious to residents of the Met Tower that the structures not grounded on bedrock will eventually fall-they need a better housing solution. However, people still live and work there, assisted by new waterproofing technologies to keep basements dry, plus sky bridges and boat docks to assist in getting around. The lower end of Manhattan is now intertidal, flooded by two major pulses of sea-level rise. It’s science fiction, is published by Orbit and runs 613 pages. He lives in Davis, California.This novel is a finalist for the 2018 Hugo Award. In 2008, he was named a 'Hero of the Environment' by Time magazine, and he works with the Sierra Nevada Research Institute. He is the author of more than twenty books, including the bestselling Mars trilogy and the critically acclaimed Forty Signs of Rain, The Years of Rice and Salt, and 2312. Kim Stanley Robinson is a New York Times bestselling author and a recipient of the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards. Livestream of this event will be available here. The panel will discuss the novel and its vision. Novelist Kim Stanley Robinson will read from and discuss his new novel, New York 2140, which presents a vision of our region in a future of extreme sea-level rise. After his talk, Robinson will join a panel of distinguished Rutgers faculty with expertise in climate science (Robert Kopp), urban planning (Clinton Andrews), urban agriculture (Laura Lawson), and the environmental humanities (Jorge Marcone).

New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson