The Space Fountain is an intercontinental transportation system with megastructures built in capital cities around the world. These structures contain apartments, like the New York station, where Aria lives. All stations are split into sections organized by wealth; Aria goes to art school in Section 9, because her father, who’s friends with the police commissioner, pulled some strings. Meanwhile, teenager Vijay hails from Section 20, one of the poorest areas in the Delhi station. When there’s a chance that he’ll be kicked out of said station, partially due to his father’s failing health, he sneaks onto a shuttle and winds up in New York. As Aria is running for a local political seat (along with several fellow residents, including “bankers, engineers, entrepreneurs, eccentric billionaires, etc.”), Vijay struggles to find a job and stay healthy, lest he be sent to the less-desirable mainland. Elsewhere in the same station, Max, a cyborg resident gardener, seems content, but that may change when his lost memories slowly return. Agarwal delivers wonderfully dynamic characters: Vijay earns sympathy with his plight as he leaves behind his mom in Delhi, but he also does something that will shock many readers. Max’s hazy past makes him a curious enigma, and Aria is generally unlikable, thanks to her sense of self-importance and occasional mean-spiritedness. Despite the far-future setting, this narrative is topical, with a political campaign that turns nasty, talk of deportation, and the wealthy segregating themselves from those in poverty. As the trio of plotlines gradually intertwine, an increasing sense of chaos results in a frenetic final act. Relatively brief chapters and scenes keep the story ticking along, even during indeterminate periods of time. A few instances of violence pop up, but the author smartly implies them, focusing on the consequences, rather than the acts themselves.