THE PRICE OF PERFECTION

A mother and her daughter struggle to understand one another and their clashing 22nd-century worlds in Barash’s sci-fi debut.

Erika Verne loses her cyberneticist fiancé to a brutal murder before their daughter is even born. She feels the only way to protect her baby, Veronica, from “this awful world” is to get the girl into Prism, an expansive virtual-reality world. Erika can’t afford this, as she lives in poverty in California City’s smog-covered Groundtown. Fortunately, Paragon, the company behind Prism, chooses Veronica to be part of an experiment to “install” a newborn who’ll grow up in this so-called digital paradise. After 25 years, Erika has seen her daughter face to face a mere eight days per year. But this latest Visitors’ Weekend in Prism takes an unexpected turn after something Veronica has done gets her unceremoniously disconnected. She’s in the real world for the first time in a quarter-century, enduring such brand-new trials as hunger pangs. The mother and daughter regularly bump heads, but not all of their conflict is internal; someone tries to kill one of the women in an apparent murder-for-hire. Erika turns to Wolf, her late fiancé’s friend and business partner, who can help keep Erika and Veronica hidden from whoever is targeting them. Veronica, however, is more invested in finding a particular person tied to a mysterious code, which necessitates a rare trip off the mainland. While it seems that Veronica only wants to return to Prism, Erika doesn’t give up hope that she can somehow connect with her daughter.

Barash has deftly grounded this novel with meticulous worldbuilding. The social classes are visibly separated; the more upscale Midtown and Uptown are accessible via elevators at a Vertical Transport Hub or a taxi-like flyer that requires authorization. Despite the distant-future setting, the story is topical, with characters preferring VR over the frustrations and responsibilities of the real world. The mother-daughter dynamic provides the novel’s fuel—there’s no doubt that Erika has sacrificed a lot for Veronica, whose initial hostility gradually eases up. Many of their conversations spin off into philosophical discourse, giving the narrative a noticeably unhurried pace; this approach perfectly suits the story of two women who are truly getting to know each other. (“I thought you had lived a life of uniform melancholy. I never knew you had once been happy,” Veronica muses. “I didn’t even imagine it was possible.”) The novel hits on familiar sci-fi themes to great effect, including humanity surviving in a world dependent on technology, and the psychological fallout experienced by a VR-immersed (or tech-obsessed) person suddenly cut off. Several mysteries unspool as the story progresses, including stories behind the murder of Veronica’s father and Erika’s facial scar and cybernetic eye. The author’s prose evocatively describes worlds both virtual and real: “They passed below a suspension of fine fishing net into a seemingly makeshift bazaar filled with drying fish and seaweed, scavenged sea-junk, and a patchwork of rugged clothes.” The final act burns with sheer intensity all the way to the end.

Loved ones rediscover kinship and common ground in this rich, absorbing dystopian tale.