Agency is packed with characters, acronyms, technical jargon, and arcane diction (eg chyron, mews, opsec, sigil, vuln, tipstaff, vetiver, anamorphic floor lamp). The story speeds along in short and sometimes cryptic chapters, much of which is explained later, requiring the reader to make notes or have a very retentive memory in order to fully understand what’s going on. Adding to the challenge are the dual plotlines, one in 2017 and the other in 2136, each with a different set of characters,
The word “agency” refers to the capacity to act. Characters in the novel who are agents in this regard are Eunice, Lowbeer, and Stets. Ironically one of the principal characters, Verity, does not have much agency herself, and spends most of the novel being shuttled around by others. The blurry cover photo depicts Eunice, an AI that identifies as an African-American woman “eight hours old,” when first encountered by Verity.
For a while I thought that Lowbeer might be an AI, as she seems as omnipresent and knowledgable as Eunice, but near the end of the book Eunice dispels that notion when Verity voices the same thought, to which Eunice replies, “No, but she’s about running competitive control areas. Had to teach herself, though, while her country turned into one.”
A number of characters from The Peripheral show up but several years older. Some are just mentioned, while others play minor roles, except for Wilf Netherton, Ainsley Lowbeer, and Ash, who are all from the future. The only one from the near present to get actively involved is Connor, who plays a very active and energetic role. Those who haven’t read The Peripheral will miss out on the tie-ins.
The ending is somewhat underwhelming, perhaps due to the difficulty of constructing a conclusion that doesn't give too much away for the real ending in the final book of the series.
FUTURE LONDON 2136
Detective Inspector Ainsley Lowbeer (female) – officially a member of the London Metropolitan Police, but “tries to improve things in orphaned stubs, to do that she manipulates the course of their future history, or tries to. It’s all surreptitious, in the stubs themselves, which suits her.” She is present in both timelines.
Ash (female) – working with Lowbeer, formerly for Lev Zubov
Wilf Netheron – now also working for Lowbeer
Rainey –Wilf's Canadian wife
The Aunties – Lowbeer’s “pet name for her office’s coven of semisentient security algorithms”
Vespasian – “our hobbyist of hell worlds...the one who made such horrific stubs...all war, all the time.” There’s a suggestion in Chapter 2 that Vespasian was responsible for initiating contact with Verity’s timeline, and that Lowbeer is trying to stave off the results of Vespasian’s interference by encouraging “an autonomous self-learning agent...then nudge it toward greater urgency.” The agent of course being Eunice. Vespasian was dispatched by Lowbeer but not described how.
Jackpot – a global catastrophe that resulted in an 80% reduction of human population caused by the combination several factors, eg global warming, extinctions, pandemics, nuclear winter.
NEAR-PRESENT 2017
Verity Jane – the book opens shortly after she’s signed a contract to evaluate an alpha build of “a customized virtual avatar, serious AI.” She’s sometimes referred to as an “app-whisperer” (a silly phrase)
Eunice – “the first fully autonomous AI.” Developed by a company called Cursion, which thru Tulpagenics hired Verity to evaluate it. The name Eunice is “the acronym for the product that produced her ... Untethered Noetic Irregular Support System. U-N-I-S-S” built on the “skill set” of Navy Chief Marlene Miller. Eunice disappears for most of the novel, after Cusion panicks and and erases her. However, Eunice anticipated this development and arranged to have her laminae [aka her “branch plants” or subselves] to spirit a copy of her out before her erasure.
Gavin Eames – Verity’s boss, CTO of Tulpagenics, a startup company
Cursion – parent company of Tulpagenics, variously refered to as spooks and scam artists, and “a subspecies of a formerly fully deniable Department of Defense op.”
Joe-Eddy Рshort for Jos̩ Eduardo Alverez-Matta 21, Verity lives at his place
Stetson Howell aka “Stets” – a billionaire tech investment whiz and former boyfriend of Verity
Leon Fisher – Flynne's cousin now president of the USA
Connor – now works for Leon
Flynne – doesn’t make an appearance in the book but her peripheral does when used by Verity to visit future London. We are told that Flynne is now married with kids.
Qamishli – a town in Turkey and nuclear war flashpoint
3.7 – a coffee shop
Wolven + Loaves – shop that serves breakfast including Egg McWolven, “a mutant savory muffin”
