The author whose talent for style is not to demonstrate, was pleased to imagine a Europe closed, folded on itself, besieged by poverty and by Sino-Russian geopolitical dangers and other delicacies such as religious fundamentalism.
Within this universe, Europe is prosperous, fairly empty and cleaved as the reader will discover.
It is true that Wang is a "novel" transition from the perspective of francophone history of the genre, because it is still in the post apocalyptic vein of the 70s, and it has all the charms of the themes of those years there, then it is perfectly contemporary.
Finally it is a text written in the language of Molière and thus far we are right or wrong translations. To the extent that the author's style is excellent, it's a rare pleasure to finally enjoy science fiction texts written in French qualities. Thus far the "betrayals and false friends", moreover the author is a European who thinks Europe.
Embroidered Wang curling his universe on an antique canvas (Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages gestation).
Europe is a Hight Tech company, surrounded by barbarians who are regularly admitted in small numbers in "paradise".
The world "perfect" and hedonistic is surrounded by religious fundamentalism, by poverty or by nepotism and mafia behavior.
A "barbaric" admitted to "empire" to the "games" will change the world (in the second volume), as in late antiquity the short history of the extreme west was changed by acculturated exogenous populations.
This first volume sets up this whole universe and all these external or internal problems in Fortress Europe ..
Characterization is perfect, the universe has meaning, it is animated in that it has a soul, and the author's arguments are nothing ideologically vehement last words are well chosen without being in a dynamic bombastic or overblown.
The ideas and findings that are supported by the novel, are not without some relevance if we stick to level the findings and potential dynamic.
The author is a bit pessimistic in my humble opinion, when he asks Wang universe (that's an understatement). A universe that is the result extrapolations by the author, which nevertheless poses and still very good questions by delivering our food these two excellent novels, clearly mutual solidarity.
An excellent text francophone science fiction thus: 1) Bravo and 2) crowing ....