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moonmama's review against another edition
4.0
#netgalley
#thequantummagician
I found this surprisingly easy to read, with the amount of hard science and esoteric mathematics and physics, though I won’t say I completely understood all of it! But, as said, it was quite thrilling. The author effortlessly built the future world up, making it as believable, though heavier on the Warcraft than expected. I liked it more and more as more and more interesting characters were introduced and fleshed out. If you’re a fan of hard sci-fi, and even of sci-fi, you won’t want to miss this mind bending thriller!
#thequantummagician
I found this surprisingly easy to read, with the amount of hard science and esoteric mathematics and physics, though I won’t say I completely understood all of it! But, as said, it was quite thrilling. The author effortlessly built the future world up, making it as believable, though heavier on the Warcraft than expected. I liked it more and more as more and more interesting characters were introduced and fleshed out. If you’re a fan of hard sci-fi, and even of sci-fi, you won’t want to miss this mind bending thriller!
fredcthulhu's review against another edition
5.0
Hard Sci-fi at its finest.
Part heist novel plus part hard sci-fi equeals one of the best novels I have read in some time. Where most sci fi revolves one or two high concepts Derek Kunsken bombards you with a salvo of concepts that will leave you in awe. The Puppets are one of the creepiest creations I have ever read. I could not recommend this book enough for fans of sci fi.
Part heist novel plus part hard sci-fi equeals one of the best novels I have read in some time. Where most sci fi revolves one or two high concepts Derek Kunsken bombards you with a salvo of concepts that will leave you in awe. The Puppets are one of the creepiest creations I have ever read. I could not recommend this book enough for fans of sci fi.
chlcrc617's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
florinese_expert's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
arhgee's review against another edition
5.0
Really enjoyed this book and it's sequel. The Quantum Evolution books hearken back to the post-human genre popular in the 2000s and the Afro-futurism of Alastair Reynolds. Would recommend.
egid's review against another edition
2.0
Künsken sets out to create a heist set against a frankly disturbing backstory of exploited post-humans — and succeeds, too well. No more genehacked slaves-turned-slavers torture cult for me, thanks.
It’s also tough to suspend disbelief when the primary far future superpowers are an alliance between the English and Spanish… and a colonial French empire. There’s no indication that other post-Earth cultures exist in this world aside from brief mentions of “The Middle Kingdom”. Maybe ¾ of the dense quantum info dumps could have been swapped for a greater sense of what this universe is like without harming the plot. It was a gamble that fails without justification for how and why these states and languages persisted. I love the odd nod to history here and there, but this world ultimately felt contrived and implausible.
It’s also tough to suspend disbelief when the primary far future superpowers are an alliance between the English and Spanish… and a colonial French empire. There’s no indication that other post-Earth cultures exist in this world aside from brief mentions of “The Middle Kingdom”. Maybe ¾ of the dense quantum info dumps could have been swapped for a greater sense of what this universe is like without harming the plot. It was a gamble that fails without justification for how and why these states and languages persisted. I love the odd nod to history here and there, but this world ultimately felt contrived and implausible.
humanignorance's review against another edition
3.0
3 stars. The characters and plot were interesting, and the prose was generally high-quality. There were a ton of interesting ideas as well. Unfortunately, these ideas were sometimes explored in so much depth as to be boring. Additionally, too much time was spent on less important aspects of the plot. The conclusion was supposed to be exciting but ended up being too confusing to follow well. I feel some tighter editing may have been called for.
hank's review against another edition
4.0
Just how I like my sci-fi, weird, techy, made up words and space! This is an Oceans Eleven in space (except there were only 8 of them) with space guns and space ships and space people and tons of modified humans. It really was fun even if it was heavily inspired by the movie above. A sweet con job with all the geek stuff that I love. 4.5 stars.
stephenmeansme's review against another edition
4.0
This was good! Not quite a 5-star banger like NINEFOX GAMBIT, but close, with a world that I really want to read more stories about.
The basic plot is that Belisarius Arjona, a homo quantus genetically-modified human with spooky quantum brain powers, who's also a con man, gets hired by a scrappy rebel navy with some secret-weapon spaceships to get across a heavily-fortified wormhole gate. So Belisarius assembles a crew and gets to work - it's only a matter of who's double-crossing who, and how, and why.
So that's pretty good fun. What's also interesting is that this is a pretty religious book, too, and not just because one of the characters is an AI who thinks he's a reincarnated Catholic saint. Rather, the different human subspecies―the homo quantus savants, the homo eridani "mongrels", and the homo pupa "Puppets" (truly fucked up and creepy, once you get there)―represent different philosophical and spiritual attitudes towards life. Quantus are ascetics, contemplating the universe in rapture; Eridani are nihilists, understanding that they were created in desperation and that their life essentially sucks until they die; Puppets are what happens when a religion is made flesh, and the scriptures are literally random utterances. (And more! It's actually really disturbing!) I hope Künsken explores these themes in his other works.
On the downside, the writing is somewhat uneven, which hurts the pacing, and (for example) keeps the climax from feeling as climactic as it probably should have been. I think the "explore/reveal the world" parts were in tension with the "sci-fi heist" parts: they demand different tempos, and I don't quite think the narration pulled it off. Still, I knew what was going on even if I didn't "feel" it (with the severe exception of the Puppets, creepy as heck), and it made me want to return to this setting.
4 stars.
The basic plot is that Belisarius Arjona, a homo quantus genetically-modified human with spooky quantum brain powers, who's also a con man, gets hired by a scrappy rebel navy with some secret-weapon spaceships to get across a heavily-fortified wormhole gate. So Belisarius assembles a crew and gets to work - it's only a matter of who's double-crossing who, and how, and why.
So that's pretty good fun. What's also interesting is that this is a pretty religious book, too, and not just because one of the characters is an AI who thinks he's a reincarnated Catholic saint. Rather, the different human subspecies―the homo quantus savants, the homo eridani "mongrels", and the homo pupa "Puppets" (truly fucked up and creepy, once you get there)―represent different philosophical and spiritual attitudes towards life. Quantus are ascetics, contemplating the universe in rapture; Eridani are nihilists, understanding that they were created in desperation and that their life essentially sucks until they die; Puppets are what happens when a religion is made flesh, and the scriptures are literally random utterances. (And more! It's actually really disturbing!) I hope Künsken explores these themes in his other works.
On the downside, the writing is somewhat uneven, which hurts the pacing, and (for example) keeps the climax from feeling as climactic as it probably should have been. I think the "explore/reveal the world" parts were in tension with the "sci-fi heist" parts: they demand different tempos, and I don't quite think the narration pulled it off. Still, I knew what was going on even if I didn't "feel" it (with the severe exception of the Puppets, creepy as heck), and it made me want to return to this setting.
4 stars.