She tagged eight novels by authors who "have found ways to critically examine capitalism—and its alternatives—in speculative fiction." One title on the list:
Foundryside by Robert Jackson BennettRead about the other entries on the list.
In Foundryside’s city of Tevanne, magic, or “scriving,” has become industrialized and controlled by the Merchant Houses. The Merchant Houses have used scriving to encode everyday objects; as a result, Tevanne runs like a brutal, well-oiled machine. All this may change when Sancia, a young thief with an ability to sense scriving, is sent to steal an artifact of immense power. This artifact, responsible for generating the codes for the current system, is equally capable of revolutionizing and rewriting the world of Tevanne. (Not to bring in too much Marx here, but Bennett’s “artifact” really reminds me of the famous quote in The Communist Manifesto, where Marx and Engels proclaim that the tools for overthrowing the bourgeoisie will grow from the very system of capitalism itself.) Using magic as a framework, Foundryside—the first book in Bennett’s series—doesn’t shy away from examining the ethics of capitalism and the consequences of corporatization.
--Marshal Zeringue
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