Industrial Threat
Hovering over the dystopic portrait of society in this book is a corporation known simply as “the Company.” This biotech entity bears the primary blame for the state of the city inhabited by the characters. It is a location left in ruins in the aftermath of the decision by the Company to create a being called Mord. The original intent of Mord was to protect the citizens from external threats. As often happens with industrial development, however, Mord turns out to become a much greater threat to citizens from within than anything which had threatened them from the outside. The theme of how industrialization has created worse problems as a result of solving existing difficulties is thus tracked throughout the story as more and more of the firm’s biotech creations are revealed.
Trickle-Down Economics
he main character, Rachel, is a scavenger. Mord is a giant furry beast who attacks the city below but in the process often gets things of worth stuck in that fur. At times, these things fall to earth from the flying Mord. More dangerous are the times when scavengers like Rachel must wade into the fur and try to collect things of worth without waking the sleeping giant. The book pursues a theme criticizing the proven failure of what is known as trickle-down economics with posits that increasing the wealth of the most powerful will eventually result in increasing the wealth of everyone down the economic ladder. In fact, this economic theory has created the equivalent of scavenging by those on the lower rungs of the ladder in order to merely survive. Scavenging is equated with survivalism and survivalism is thematically portrayed as the standard quality of life for most people living within a such an ill-conceived economic system which is dependent upon the decision-making by those living far ouside the boundaries of normality.
Climate Change
Mord the flying beast is very easily viewed as a thematic symbol of climate change. He was created by the industrial revolution of the Company but eventually got out of control and became an existential threat that citizens must learn to live with while also vainly trying to avoid. One of the key elements in the narrative is that it is never explained how Mord learned to fly. The mystery of this dangerous aspect of his being thematically connects to the mysteries lying in wait for society about the unforeseen consequences of climate change.
