The novel “Crux” by Ramez Naam was published for the first time in 2013. It’s the second book of the Nexus trilogy and follows “Nexus“.

Six months have passed since Kaden “Kade” Lane publicly released Nexus 5, the latest version of that nanotechnology that allows a direct connection between different minds, and the world’s situation has become explosive between repression and terrorist attacks. Kade and Feng are fleeing, hunted by bounty hunters and governments, but at the same time must try to face events that are likely to lead to a war between humans and posthumans.

Rangan Shankari and Ilya Alexander are prisoners of the US government and are being tortured to be forced to reveal the secrets of Nexus. Samantha “Sam” Cataranes abandoned the ERD and is taking care of a group of childre born with Nexus in their brains but how can she avoid getting involved in the crisis? Kade possesses the secret of Nexus backdoors, will he be wiser than all humanity?

“Crux” is the direct continuation of “Nexus” of which reprises the various subplots, so you need to have read the first novel to understand the new developments and the protagonists, who are the same. There’s an interval of six months between the end of the first novel and the beginning of the second but the new events are the direct consequence of the previous ones.

In the USA, in the autumn of 2040, the situation got even worse for those who use Nexus. The US government is becoming increasingly repressive but there are those who believe that using Nexus illegally is not enough and decided to fight the government with acts of terrorism but the situation is more complex than it seems.

Ramez Naam uses the development and diffusion of Nexus since the beginning of the trilogy to offer not only an idea of the ​​possible biotechnology and nanotechnology of 2040 but also many ethical reflections about their possible uses and abuses. It’s a clash that concerns not only the control of these technologies but also the future of humanity with the relationship between normal humans and humans with Nexus compared to that between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens.

Like all human-invented technologies, Nexus is an instrument that can be used in constructive ways but also to commit crimes. In the first novel several examples were already made, in “Crux” others are added including various possibilities of use in children, some of them born with Nexus installed in their brain.

Humanity is at a crux and the road that will be taken will heavily influence its future. The ethical problems connected to that choice are the best part of “Crux” because the different points of view are further developed. From the beginning of the trilogy there’s no black and white division between good and bad but there are many shades of gray.

For example, Kade is an idealist who possesses the secrets of Nexus, an enormous power because he can literally take control of the body of another person who uses it penetrating his Nexus. Kade is the first who tries to fight that kind of abuse but can he be wiser than all of humanity?

These ethical dilemmas are the great force of “Crux” but the novel is not perfect. There’s a lot of action and the pace tends to be fast but the developments of the various subplots sometimes fragment the big picture. In the case of various characters there are nuances about their positions but in the case of governments, Ramez Naam tends to use some cliches, generally negative.

In “Crux”, the US government is becoming increasingly totalitarian by strengthening a state of police. That’s in some ways a projection of the recent years’ situation but since 2040 will be a year of presidential elections it would’ve been interesting to develop that subplot with greater nuances. As for the Chinese government, it’s even more totalitarian than the American one but acts more subtly in the subplot that tells what happened after the neuroscientist Su-Yong Shu’s physical death.

Altogether, Ramez Naam seemed more balanced in mixing the various elements in “Nexus” while in “Crux” is sometimes a bit chaotic but I think that its merits are still far greater than its flaws. For this reason, I recommend reading both novels.