Review: Fans of The Beam will love this book.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 10, 2013
Plugged is a fictional history through the year 2097 set in the world of The Beam. According to the "author" the book is following the "here is my theory, and here are the facts to back it up" style of exposition, while in reality the authors were using it as a method of world-building and providing the fans with more background information without bogging down the series itself with endless exposition.  In both instances, the book works fantastically.If you haven't read The Beam then I recommend reading that ahead of time; many of the concepts and events in this book are at least mentioned or implied and knowing where this book is going to end up (as the fictional intended audience already would, as they live in that world of 2097) will lead to enjoying the book more than just coming into it cold.One thing that I did miss, however, was the introduction of Respero (it's need, it's implementation, it's consequences, etc) which isn't touched on at all, and would have enjoyed more information about the AI Clerics although in the context of this book I think that mentioning them was probably enough.Hopefully in the future there can be other "non-fiction" or persuasive books or short stories published by the folks in the future in this world to further flesh things out; for example, an invitation to the Church of West would be fun to read.