(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through NetGalley.)

In 2041, Jen Nakauto invented a floating pod ~
The equivalent of a trailer home that lives in the skies forever.
She called it "Dandelion".

Vagrants, immigrants without asylum,
And workers displaced by post-labor automation
Were sent to the skies to live out their days in these Dandelions.

They were known as EXILES.

***

In the not-too-distant future, the 1% are clinging to a dying earth, banishing the most marginalized humans to trailer homes in the sky. At first blush, life in a Dandelion doesn't seem all that bad: food is delivered via drones; virtual reality helps to stave off loneliness and alienation (from nature, the earth, and humanity); and, let's face it, a five-bedroom house is more than most of us can afford, even in 2024. But these modern miracles are floating prisons, no matter how gilded the cage. (Although, tbh, it sounds pretty awesome to this socially anxious introvert. Throw in a few doggos and I'm sold!)

DANDELION explores this all-too-plausible future through a series of interconnected stories. There's Reggie and Amy, whose lives were changed irrevocably after a car accident. After witnessing the massacre of a community of Dandelion citizens who dared touch down on earth, violating international law, an artist known only as Vesper crashes her stolen Dandelion to earth, vowing revenge. When Somchair and his brother become orphans in the flooding of Bangkok, they rebuild their family home - only to see it burned to the ground by vandals. Rather than board a Dandelion with his brother, Somchair rebuilds once again - this time taking to the seas as a pirate.

These vignettes are interspersed with interviews and podcast transcripts featuring Jen Nakauto, the elderly - and missing - inventor of the Dandelion, who supposedly got the idea from a dream. But there's more to the story than Jen is willing to tell.

I wanted to like DANDELION more than I did. It's an interesting idea, but in jumping between characters, I felt a little disconnected from the story. Also, some of the details didn't quite make sense to me; for example, why would the government (and thus the 1%) waste money keeping "unproductive" and "useless" Dandelion citizens in supplies? ( )