Blue Remembered Earth
Alastair Reynolds
 Blue Remembered Earth takes place in the 2160s, at a time when humanity has repaired Earth's climate and extensively colonised the solar system. An omnipresent surveillance system (known as the "Mechanism") ensures that violent crime is almost unheard-of, and genetic engineering has vastly extended human lifespans. China, India and the nations of Africa are now the world's leading technological powers, although they face competition from the United Aquatic Nations, a new underwater civilisation populated by water-breathing transhumans. Almost all humans possess neural computer interfaces known as "augs", which allow them to access online information, view augmented reality displays, translate speech in real-time and operate telepresence robots. Some individuals, wishing to escape the constant surveillance of Earth's Mechanism, live in a bohemian, ungoverned "Descrutinized Zone" on the dark side of the Moon. The story focuses on Geoffrey and Sunday Akinya, a brother and sister who are members of a powerful African corporate family. Following the death of their influential grandmother Eunice, the siblings begin investigating a series of cryptic messages that Eunice left across the solar system over the previous century.