This book was just incredibly fun to read. Didn't get near enough respect this year. Our protagonist is a powerful djinn imprisoned in rock for 3000 years, coming back to life in a postapocalyptic future where humans survive with a lot of careful management and help from AIs. The AI that manages Kathmandu is called Karma, and it's intelligent but does not have agency--it's just an algorithm. Other reviewers have commented that this is how they understand karma IRL--it's just rules. With the djinn we have a Gurkha who has renounced technology, and a "sheriff" who serves as backup to Karma.
It's hard to convey all the fun you have reading this without just quoting large blocks of it. The djinn who would be King likes to party, and finds the best partying among the "zeros", people with no Karma points at all. Some folks have hacked the system and seem to have all the Karma. Drama ensues.Descriptions do very little for this lively novella. You just really need to read it.
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