Ian McDonald's River of Gods merged AI and near-future India to show a dazzling alien world. In Brasyl, McDonald manages to repeat his alien-in-our-world theme, turning South America's vast country into a prism of the future, which goes to show that for most American and European readers, you don't really need off-planet adventures and space operas to experience the truly alien. Brazil's strong cultural and historical ties to Portugal through centuries of colonization make it less alien than India, perhaps. At the same time the wholesale blending of African (through slavery), European, and native cultures result in a wild mix.

Brasyl tangles together three seemingly disconnected narratives, from the years 2006, 2032, and 1732. In the present, we experience the life of an aggressive TV producer fighting and scratching to advance through the ranks. In the future, dominated by RFID and perpetual surveillance, a young businessman from the favelas stumbles upon quantum mechanics and alternate world theory. Meanwhile, 300 years in the past, a young priest arrives from Europe to admonish a rogue colleague in a Heart of Darkness/Apocalypse Now vein. Amid tales of a frog's toxin with the powers to make people walk through worlds, the three threads slowly come together.

McDonald's novel is a tense and edgy book, almost permanently on fast forward. The heavy use of Portuguese words and Brazilian slang adds to the otherworldliness. McDonald's present and future reminded me of the gritty movie City of God. The result is a colorful, heart-pounding sf thriller, well worth every Brazilian Real.