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post-industrial-decay
The setting depicts a world struggling with resource scarcity, black markets, and the collapse of previous technological and social orders.
1 chapter across 1 book
The Windup Girl (2009)Paolo Bacigalupi
Chapter 25
In this chapter, Kanya, now a captain in the Environment Ministry, reflects on the brutal enforcement actions against illegal fuel users and the harsh realities of power struggles within the Ministry and the city. She meets with Narong, a powerful and menacing figure, who provides her with a list of General Pracha's allies to target, indicating a strategic move to destabilize Pracha's faction. Haunted by memories of past violence and her own complicity, Kanya grapples with the moral costs of her actions and the cyclical nature of violence and retribution in their world.