Reviews

Idolon by Mark Budz

nwhyte's review

http://www.strangehorizons.com/reviews/2007/04/the_2007_philip.shtml[return][return]Our setting is Santa Cruz, California, about a hundred years from now; everyone (at least everyone we meet) has had their skin covered with a nanotechnology gimmick called "philm" which allows its wearer to look like anybody they please. Our viewpoint characters are a detective trying to solve a murder, a man who tests out experimental new philms, his cousin who has got more involved with the seedy side of the philm business than she would like, and an illegal immigrant who appears to have become impregnated by her philm. Appropriately enough for a Dick nominee, the backdrop is very reminiscent of Blade Runner, which is not to accuse Budz of unoriginality: the ideas in here fizz and pop.[return][return]They fizz and pop just enough to help you through the many neologisms (you don't "wear" philm, you "ware" it; anyone fancy a fajizza take-away? - in fairness I found this aspect of the book much less intrusive than the neologisms in Living Next Door to the God of Love or Spin Control), and to distract from the fact that several important questions in the plot are not very satisfactorily resolved - what are the virgin pregnancies all about? What are the mysterious images of fish and dragonflies generated by the expermiental philm meant to be? Is the religious cult of the Transcendental Vibrationists actually meant to be a serious statement about belief (as Budz has hinted in interviews) or just a front for unscrupulous philm developers (as it seemed to me reading the book)? And while the characters were all credible and believable, I didn't find any of them truly engaging. I finished Idolon feeling that it was a very good book, but not quite a great one.

tarabyt3's review

2.0

It was so good that I forgot what it was even about. Oh. Yeah. Really interesting technology and cultural impact, not interesting enough plot. I think it started off well and then just got really weird without much support. But I did love the technology and limited science in it. I'd only read if you really like post-cyberpunk fiction.