[4] Lauren Beukes dives into the lives of four main characters to exemplify the wide spectrum of social hierarchies that reside in Moxyland.
Through these four characters, Beukes illustrates a society where technology rules with an iron fist and in doing so shows the limitations of freedom.
A side effect of the nanotechnology is that it makes Kendra addicted to a high-tech soft drink called Ghost.
He and Ash, his lover, create and conduct projects to help provide food and shelter to street children in Cape Town.
Tendeka, along with the help of skyward*, participates in underground revolutionary events attempting to end technological totalitarianism in Moxyland.
The city is plagued by various economic, ecological, medical, racial, and socio-economic issues, and the populace is divided into tiers based on one's class, health, race, and ownership of a cellphone and a SIM card.
Online and virtual gaming are one of the hedonistic trends promoted by the media and used to distract the affluent and privileged upper class from the reality of AIDS, apartheid, and the social stratification created by technology and the ownership of a cellphone and a SIM card.
Genetically engineered and injected with nanotechnology, dogs called Aitos are used as a weapon to enforce the law and inspire fear in the people.
[6] Citizens use SIMs in cell phones to access their homes, money, jobs, various areas of Cape Town, and is also used as punishment.
The technologically advanced society, where online presence is important to life, considers this form of punishment worse than imprisonment.
Throughout the novel, the main characters’ (Toby, Tendeka, Kendra, and Lerato) actions reflect the fear of being disconnected.
[5] However, as the story progresses she is brought into the chaos due to Tendeka's orders from skyward*; an online contact from a game.
Tendeka faithfully follows through believing his actions will provoke change, instead things take a turn for the worst and one begins to wonder who really is in charge.
Instantaneously Kendra is dehumanized through nanotechnology and transformed into a mindless experiment with an abnormally resilient immune system.
The nanotechnology inside Kendra slowly eats away at her until she falls submissive to the futuristic technological control in Moxyland.
The fact that inhabitants are protected and enforced through bioengineered entities reinforces the theme of biotechnology as a method of authority.
Cell phone and internet usage are heavily monitored to make sure that everything is happening in the exact way that the government sees fit.
Tendeka has a family and could be a fairly respectable member of society but instead crosses the line into the impoverished side to offer a helping hand.
[5] This blending of societal castes is evident throughout the book and creates interesting comparisons of characters when juxtaposed in the story.
Speaking to the injustices of authority in segregation, Beukes makes the point that a unified society can communicate and cooperate much more efficiently than a divided one.
[8] The plot of the story is seen as feasible, and its chaotic complexion serves to as a warning of what could happen in the future if society's everyday indulgences are treated with too much disdain.
Beukes wrote the novel in first person, yet some found the characters lacking in a distinct voice, which took away from the purpose of the literary technique.