CHUNG KUO

Fourth of Wingrove's Chung Kuo series of yarns (The White Mountain, 1992, etc.)—a vast epic of revolution and war in a relatively low-tech, overpopulated medium-future ruled by seven Chinese overlords, or T'angs. This time out, in 2209, the albino Dispersionist leader Stefan Lehmann gains control of the criminal gangs—the tongs and Triads—that order the existence of society's lower echelons. In North America, meanwhile, the House of Representatives begins to flex its political muscles; Europe also challenges the rule of the T'angs. And divisions between the T'angs themselves also grow deeper, as some progressives push for a relaxation of the Edict of Technological Control, and positive action to deal with the chronic overpopulation problem. More of the same: those already hooked on Chung Kuo will want to continue their acquaintance; the merely curious would do better to start with volume one—this is a heavy, tortuous series with a cast of thousands, and isolated installments are not readily intelligible.