The Windup Girl

Imagine being in a world where the energy has collapsed, environmental disasters occur regularly, genetic-engineering ruins the world's crops and trigger waves of plagues, and where American genetic engineering cartels control the worlds supply of plague-resistant GM crops. Seems like a crappy world right? This is the earth portrayed in The Windup Girl by Paolo Baclgalupi.

The setting of this book takes place in Bangkok, Thailand following characters trying to cope with the world that they have been abandoned in. Anderson Lake is an economic hitman, and Emiko is a Japanese designed windup girl (which is basically a humanoid used as a slave...reminds me a bit of a Japanese manga, Chobits) It seems like an interesting concept where most of their problems have been caused by global warming and biotechnology among other issues. I can't help but wonder whether this was after the end or heading up to the end or there is even an "end". All that I can gather about this world, without spoiling the plot for myself, is that it seems that technology was the starting of the end.