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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
Another book that's more interested in "world building" then having an actual story.
TLDR:Hard scifi, you'll love it or you'll hate it.
This book is like being dropped off into the middle of another country where you don't speak the language, don't have the currency, you don't know where you are going, why you are there, and everyone in the country has a PhD. But, and this is a big BUT, the place is amazing and beautiful, the culture is fascinating, and the exploration is worth the effort. Sometimes I read 100 pages before I figured out what happened 100 pages ago. Sometimes I had to put the book down and mull over a single passage for several minutes before it made sense. The books takes no prisoners. I had to read this book at half speed. All in all, my summery is: A very "hard SciFi" book that is not for the faint of heart. But the reward for taking the time to ponder the prose allows one to experience an awesome mind bending universe, fun characters, and intrigue galore.
This book is like being dropped off into the middle of another country where you don't speak the language, don't have the currency, you don't know where you are going, why you are there, and everyone in the country has a PhD. But, and this is a big BUT, the place is amazing and beautiful, the culture is fascinating, and the exploration is worth the effort. Sometimes I read 100 pages before I figured out what happened 100 pages ago. Sometimes I had to put the book down and mull over a single passage for several minutes before it made sense. The books takes no prisoners. I had to read this book at half speed. All in all, my summery is: A very "hard SciFi" book that is not for the faint of heart. But the reward for taking the time to ponder the prose allows one to experience an awesome mind bending universe, fun characters, and intrigue galore.
Not bad and I think there was probably a time—back when I read a lot more hard science fiction—that I would have loved it. Now, I enjoyed the ride, but was never able to immerse myself in it. You spend a lot of time....confused isn't the word, but definitely waiting to have things explained. But the prose is beautiful, I did like the characters and the story does eventually loop back around to make a sort of sense. Plus, the narrator did a fabulous job. But the story is just a little too like water, slipping through your grasp, for my taste.
Read the review and more here http://www.scrivler.com/reviews/book-reviews/surreal-action-sci-fi-from-the-quantum-thief/
In terms of comparisons, Hannu Rajaniemi's The Quantum Thief, most reminds me of Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson. While the novels take place in vastly different universes, Rajaniemi creates a surreal, action-filled sci-fi novel along the lines of Snow Crash. The writing is fresh. The ideas are unique. For the most part, I felt I hadn't read this story before.
And, while there is no Hiro Protagonist, there are two characters, Jean le Flambeur, and Mieli, who embody the Protagonist spirit. Flambeur is the best thief in history and through technological advances may have been almost godlike, before being tossed in prison and forced to compete in the prisoner's dilemma using a pistol day in and day out for years. Mieli, is a tech-enhanced warrior with allegiance to a godlike being, and she has wings, because, wings are cool. The gist of the novel is that Mieli breaks Flambeur out of prison to steal something and then shit goes sideways.
While Snow Crash was partly grounded in virtual reality, in The Quantum Thief, people, especially on the Oubliette, an ever-moving city on the ravaged surface of Mars, live with augmented reality, and designer bodies allow others in the solar system to basically shapeshift. The residents of the Oubliette are extremely private and are able to adjust their privacy settings so they appear to be nothing more than a blur to strangers.
Technology
A few of the futuristic concepts that stood out included:
A flamboyant thief by himself isn't interesting. Rajaniemi opts for archetype instead of innovation and recreates a Sherlock-esque character to thwart Flambeur. It's definitely the weakest point in the novel and Rajaniemi compensates by making him younger and slightly bumbling. How the relationships between characters fit together becomes obvious partway through the novel and it's not quite the surprise that it may suppose to be.
The Quantum Thief is a fun book. I enjoyed the characters, the pace, and the strange universe. If you're looking for an escape without a lot of depth, this novel is entertaining.
In terms of comparisons, Hannu Rajaniemi's The Quantum Thief, most reminds me of Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson. While the novels take place in vastly different universes, Rajaniemi creates a surreal, action-filled sci-fi novel along the lines of Snow Crash. The writing is fresh. The ideas are unique. For the most part, I felt I hadn't read this story before.
And, while there is no Hiro Protagonist, there are two characters, Jean le Flambeur, and Mieli, who embody the Protagonist spirit. Flambeur is the best thief in history and through technological advances may have been almost godlike, before being tossed in prison and forced to compete in the prisoner's dilemma using a pistol day in and day out for years. Mieli, is a tech-enhanced warrior with allegiance to a godlike being, and she has wings, because, wings are cool. The gist of the novel is that Mieli breaks Flambeur out of prison to steal something and then shit goes sideways.
While Snow Crash was partly grounded in virtual reality, in The Quantum Thief, people, especially on the Oubliette, an ever-moving city on the ravaged surface of Mars, live with augmented reality, and designer bodies allow others in the solar system to basically shapeshift. The residents of the Oubliette are extremely private and are able to adjust their privacy settings so they appear to be nothing more than a blur to strangers.
Technology
A few of the futuristic concepts that stood out included:
- Storing human consciousness in artificial, non-humanoid bodies.
- Migrating between life
- Combat autism (for when focus is necessary and emotions are not).
- Quantum communication (there was a lot of quantum stuff that was sort of lost on me).
- Physical identity theft.
- Bullets that basically hack a person or device.
A flamboyant thief by himself isn't interesting. Rajaniemi opts for archetype instead of innovation and recreates a Sherlock-esque character to thwart Flambeur. It's definitely the weakest point in the novel and Rajaniemi compensates by making him younger and slightly bumbling. How the relationships between characters fit together becomes obvious partway through the novel and it's not quite the surprise that it may suppose to be.
The Quantum Thief is a fun book. I enjoyed the characters, the pace, and the strange universe. If you're looking for an escape without a lot of depth, this novel is entertaining.
What the hell even is this book.
Like, don't be fooled by the gorgeous cover and the sassy blurb on the back cover, or even the simplicity and witty intrigue of the prose if you happen to glance at the first page. This book is HELLA CONFUSING. But, like, in a super interesting and entertaining way? That I can't really explain?
This is not a book for the casual sci-fi reader, first of all. If you like heist stories and stories about con men, you will probably have an okay time, but so much of the story and world is built on freaky deaky sci-fi that is so cutting edge and ahead of it's time, it's hard to get a handle on, even with help.
About thirty pages in, I actually gave in and spoiled the hell out of myself just so I could feel more comfortable in the world Rajaniemi created. I'd been warned ahead of time that everything does become clear by the end of the book, that all the pieces fall into place, but since there is absolutely NO exposition to be found in this book, some of the key concepts of the worldbuilding aren't even revealed until about 75% of the way through. I figured it would be a fine trade-off to be spoiled if I could know ahead of time what was actually going on, and I was right.
I know this is not how most people will want to experience this book.
For those people, I recommend pushing through. And honestly, I could have done it. Rajaniemi's prose and his characters and the way he writes the book is SO readable, even if you're not sure what's going on. It's like, who cares! I'm having fun! It's honestly so bizarre how he can do that.
Jean le Flambeur is a great character, and even though it's a bit hard to find the emotional core of the stories at first because Rajaniemi is busy flinging you head first into zany sci-fi hijinks, it is there, and by the end, the part of me that craves emotional connection to stories was satisfied.
I really can't say any more about this without spoiling it. I mean, the book starts with Jean getting busted out of this prison where he's been forced to take part in a literal version of the Prisoner's Dilemma, and then suddenly we're on Mars, and there's this weird thing with privacy and immortality and I JUST CAN'T EVEN.
It's also one of those rare books that can be read shallowly for fun, but if you stop to think about it on a deeper level, a whole mess of crap spills out. Stuff about identity and the panopticon and surveillance. Hannu Rajaniemi is an incredibly smart dude (which he wrote in his SECOND language).
Bottom line: this isn't a book for everyone, but if you like science fiction a lot, you definitely need to read this. Just know once you start it, you need to either spoil yourself like I did, or commit to finishing. This is not a book designed to DNF. You're missing the whole point if you do.
I'm not sure when I will get to the second and third books in the series. I hope by the time I do, they've released them in mass market paperback, otherwise my books aren't going to match each other and it will drive me insane when I look at them.
Like, don't be fooled by the gorgeous cover and the sassy blurb on the back cover, or even the simplicity and witty intrigue of the prose if you happen to glance at the first page. This book is HELLA CONFUSING. But, like, in a super interesting and entertaining way? That I can't really explain?
This is not a book for the casual sci-fi reader, first of all. If you like heist stories and stories about con men, you will probably have an okay time, but so much of the story and world is built on freaky deaky sci-fi that is so cutting edge and ahead of it's time, it's hard to get a handle on, even with help.
About thirty pages in, I actually gave in and spoiled the hell out of myself just so I could feel more comfortable in the world Rajaniemi created. I'd been warned ahead of time that everything does become clear by the end of the book, that all the pieces fall into place, but since there is absolutely NO exposition to be found in this book, some of the key concepts of the worldbuilding aren't even revealed until about 75% of the way through. I figured it would be a fine trade-off to be spoiled if I could know ahead of time what was actually going on, and I was right.
I know this is not how most people will want to experience this book.
For those people, I recommend pushing through. And honestly, I could have done it. Rajaniemi's prose and his characters and the way he writes the book is SO readable, even if you're not sure what's going on. It's like, who cares! I'm having fun! It's honestly so bizarre how he can do that.
Jean le Flambeur is a great character, and even though it's a bit hard to find the emotional core of the stories at first because Rajaniemi is busy flinging you head first into zany sci-fi hijinks, it is there, and by the end, the part of me that craves emotional connection to stories was satisfied.
I really can't say any more about this without spoiling it. I mean, the book starts with Jean getting busted out of this prison where he's been forced to take part in a literal version of the Prisoner's Dilemma, and then suddenly we're on Mars, and there's this weird thing with privacy and immortality and I JUST CAN'T EVEN.
It's also one of those rare books that can be read shallowly for fun, but if you stop to think about it on a deeper level, a whole mess of crap spills out. Stuff about identity and the panopticon and surveillance. Hannu Rajaniemi is an incredibly smart dude (which he wrote in his SECOND language).
Bottom line: this isn't a book for everyone, but if you like science fiction a lot, you definitely need to read this. Just know once you start it, you need to either spoil yourself like I did, or commit to finishing. This is not a book designed to DNF. You're missing the whole point if you do.
I'm not sure when I will get to the second and third books in the series. I hope by the time I do, they've released them in mass market paperback, otherwise my books aren't going to match each other and it will drive me insane when I look at them.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Honestly? Maybe I'm too stupid for this book. Maybe something about the prose encouraged me to disassociate while reading it. The author is a neuroscientist who's specialty is this subject but... I don't know that fiction is entirely his thing. I feel like I've read a lot more complicated sci-fi's then this and found them way easier to follow.
The actual Quantum part of this feels half baked and unimportant until the last 20% of the book and at that point the "revel" is just another moment of "Uh huh. Ok. Sure.".
A lot of it is about uploading your consciousness between bodies that are mostly quantum computers and privacy around the things your brain can do in a semi-dystopian world where at some point you end up running out of free time and have to work as a "quiet" which means your a husk of your personality inside a giant mech meant to work for the good of the world.
There's a sect of people who are super important who may or may not have normal bodies that they can make appear as hyper fantasy creatures.
One thing is for sure though, There is 1 of 5 characters in this book that isn't hateable and even then, he's pretty... meh.
For a space opera (is it? I don't think so) the depth of these characters could drown in a sidewalk puddle in a wealthy new build neighborhood.
Isidore is reasonable as a character, but sad (One of those that would be labeled as Autistic these days). The story is only about 1/5th about him. The rest is about Jean Le Flambeur and frankly I would have been a lot happier if every time he should have died, he did. I would in fact like an entire book dedicated to the suffering of him dying.
I guess if you really want an example of how to write a narcissistic man and women who do not even remotely matter to anything but the plot, this book is for you.
The actual Quantum part of this feels half baked and unimportant until the last 20% of the book and at that point the "revel" is just another moment of "Uh huh. Ok. Sure.".
A lot of it is about uploading your consciousness between bodies that are mostly quantum computers and privacy around the things your brain can do in a semi-dystopian world where at some point you end up running out of free time and have to work as a "quiet" which means your a husk of your personality inside a giant mech meant to work for the good of the world.
There's a sect of people who are super important who may or may not have normal bodies that they can make appear as hyper fantasy creatures.
One thing is for sure though, There is 1 of 5 characters in this book that isn't hateable and even then, he's pretty... meh.
For a space opera (is it? I don't think so) the depth of these characters could drown in a sidewalk puddle in a wealthy new build neighborhood.
Isidore is reasonable as a character, but sad (One of those that would be labeled as Autistic these days). The story is only about 1/5th about him. The rest is about Jean Le Flambeur and frankly I would have been a lot happier if every time he should have died, he did. I would in fact like an entire book dedicated to the suffering of him dying.
I guess if you really want an example of how to write a narcissistic man and women who do not even remotely matter to anything but the plot, this book is for you.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Stalking, Sexual harassment
Minor: Mental illness, Slavery, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Murder
You know that guy you knew in highschool who was going to program the matrix? He was the smartest little shit in the room as far as he was concerned. Mommy's freaking little boy who was big into computers and trench coats. He maps out all the what ifs and how to make people into cyborgs who live forever- all to justify why his story has a really dubcon scene in in the book he wants to write? And he made sure to display his feminism by having young women who get hit on by the creep in the story to rightfully react to his leering and narcissistic confidence by scoffing and walking away in disgust. But his super cool thief character still gets laid. Even by the lesbian. Well, her body anyway. Her consciousness went away.
Muy interesante.
La historia me pareció más potente que el sistema tecnológico inventado, el que sin embargo se potencia al final de la historia, invitando a una segunda parte, que sin duda leeré.
La historia me pareció más potente que el sistema tecnológico inventado, el que sin embargo se potencia al final de la historia, invitando a una segunda parte, que sin duda leeré.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A