When The Sparrow Falls is a stunning debut featuring a futuristic utopian nightmare that feels plucked from history.
Agent Nikolai South knows better than to trust anyone in the Caspian Republic, including himself. Touted as the last sanctuary for humanity in a world run by artificial intelligence, the Republic is strict in keeping technology out. If you break the laws, your life is forfeit.
When a journalist and staunch supporter of the Party is killed, South is reassigned immediately. The journalist was a “machine” and to avoid an international incident, the Republic is allowing his widow to enter their country and identify his remains. When she looks almost exactly like South’s dead ex-wife, his world is upended. With factions closing around them, South struggles to keep both of them alive. As the ghosts of his past come back to haunt him, he stumbles on a conspiracy that could end the Republic for good. But first he has to survive.
Part spy thriller, part dark dystopian, When The Sparrow Falls is a complex examination of identity, technology, power, and control.
We’re thrown into the Caspian Republic via a political execution. It’s a brutal but effective way to introduce us to this extremely authoritarian society and the people operating within it. Nikolai South does little to hide his weariness and almost indifference to the world in which he lives. There’s a reckless hopelessness to him. He isn’t going to stick his neck out and help anyone, but he isn’t under any illusions over who he is or what he’s expected to do.
We also get one of our only interactions with Paulo Xirau, the journalist and fanatic Party supporter. He doesn’t talk to Nikolai, but how he behaves in the scene tells us everything we need to know about his beliefs and how far Xirau will go in the name of the Party. Until he dies anyway. The juxtaposition between outward appearance and inner secrets is rooted in this opening scene, and really highlights that no matter how much a government strives to control its people, they will always have secrets. And we see these secrets come out in almost every character in one way or another. In this case, we find out that Xirau is in fact a “machine”, artificial intelligence living in a body.
This strikes the core of what the Caspian Republic is. There are supposed to be ways to detect if machines infiltrate their borders. But who would better know the limitations of a technologically regressed society than technology itself? It’s a bitter truth that the things we fear, the things we run from, the things we try to avoid, usually end up being our biggest downfall. In the Caspian Republic, their hatred and determination to keep technology out means they are almost helpless when it comes to actually protecting themselves from it. Of course, the real irony lies in the fact that the governing artificial intelligence entities have stronger ethics than the humans, and simply stay away because it’s the right thing to do. It’s a brilliant way to highlight hate and how it diminishes and stagnates us so entirely.
The next question is why would a machine want to live in a society that was disgusted by his very existence? Again, Sharpson walks us through this complex web of identity in the context of artificial intelligence related ethics. South may not be a fanatic, but he can’t help but be shaped by the society he lives in. Except when Lily, Xirau’s widow, shows up his biases are both brought to light and challenged. But it’s in Xirau that we get the most interesting exploration of identity and belonging. He obviously knew how to stay undetected but fought fervently to defend its laws and beliefs against technology.
In every way, South and Xirau are opposites. It’s a beautiful contrast that really grapples the contradictory nature of humanity. Xirau doesn’t physically belong but believes he should. And South belongs without believing in anything. They both hide who they truly are for fear of the consequences, keeping secrets and living half a life in many ways. Their struggle is so similar even though their goals oppose each other. Once AI turns intelligent and aware, what stops it from being human? Sharpson presents these questions to the reader, opening the door for thoughtful discussion without offering an answer. He presents us with situations rife with potential consequences for us to consider, resulting in a story that stays long after the cover is closed.
While the book is set far in the future, the Caspian Republic is so opposed to technology, shunning even cell phones, that it gives the entire country a very Soviet era meets North Korea vibe. Combine that with government issued housing, warring secret police, and the sense that your neighbour can murder you with one word to the right authority, and it cements the feeling even more. Take out the artificial intelligence running the world and the book almost feels like historical fiction. Or even more frightening, a realistic near future. However, Sharpson makes sure that while we very much are rooted in the backwards country, we never forget all the ways the world has advanced around it.
Each chapter opens with various snippets and clips from newsworthy events around the globe. This helps orient us in the world, while showing all the ways the Caspian Republic lacks. But we also get glimpses into the past, letting us see how this rigid autocracy came to be in the first place. Even the way Lily identifies Xirau’s body gives us a clever reminder that this world is very different from our own.
When The Sparrow Falls is a slow-burn novel that takes threads we didn’t even know we were holding and pulls them together as we careen towards a shocking end. This is a novel fans will want to read again, picking up the subtle clues overlooked the first time. The political commentary is timely but timeless. As the world divides around us in real time, it’s easy to see alarming similarities in leaders and policies taking shape. The story is layered and nuanced, filled with complicated characters that opens conversations rooted in our past, present, and future. It’s a brilliant mirror to our reality packaged in a fast-paced sci-fi plot.
When The Sparrow Falls is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of June 29th 2021.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
Life in the Caspian Republic has taught Agent Nikolai South two rules. Trust No One. And work just hard enough not to make enemies.
Here, in the last sanctuary for the dying embers of the human race in a world run by artificial intelligence, if you stray from the path – your life is forfeit. But when a Party propagandist is killed – and is discovered as a “machine” – he’s given a new mission: chaperone the widow, Lily, who has arrived to claim her husband’s remains.
But when South sees that she, the first “machine” ever allowed into the country, bears an uncanny resemblance to his late wife, he’s thrown into a maelstrom of betrayal, murder, and conspiracy that may bring down the Republic for good.
WHEN THE SPARROW FALLS illuminates authoritarianism, complicity, and identity in the digital age, in a page turning, darkly-funny, frightening and touching story that recalls Philip K. Dick, John le Carré and Kurt Vonnegut in equal measure.
