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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
informative
tense
fast-paced
Minor spoilers in this review...
I really enjoyed this one and it has been a real change of pace from what I have been reading recently. What we have is a quite fast paced 'tech-thriller' set in a near future where significant technological advances have been made by mankind yet the 'great leaps' have been harvested and controlled by secretive organisations effectively working outside of governmental boundaries.
Jon Grady is a scientist who makes a groundbreaking discovery by creating a gravity mirror which suggests that gravity can be warped and controlled. Before he can do a whole lot with this he is abducted by the BTC - the 'Bureau of Technological Control', nominally a US Government Department but effectively an independent organisation that harvests new technology until humanity is 'ready for them' and drip feeds scientific advances. The basic reason for this is that if scientific advances were distributed to wider humanity then humanity would do harm to itself (a basic notion that if teleportation was possible then it would wreck the transportation economy for example)
Grady deduces that it is wrong to withhold technology from society and refuses to co-operate by working for the BTC in isolation on his gravity mirror. Needless to say this doesn't go down to well with the BTC and we enter a straightforward 'nefarious, secretive exceptionally advanced yet dastardly organisation' using it's full powers to bring into rein this one difficult to handle rogue scientist.
This novel won the Prometheus Award (for science fiction novels that explore ideas of liberty and freedom) and I have to say it's a good winner because it ticks a lot of boxes and raises many interesting questions. Some things I've considered after reading this book are;
1) Is it justifiable to withhold scientific advances from wider humanity that could benefit them (consider how relatively easy it would be to provide the worlds population with clean drinking water for example)?
2) Is it ethical to release potentially harmful technology on humanity if they are not ready to use it in humanity's best interests (I am thinking here of the absurdity of nuclear weapon proliferation in the last century)
3) Legitimacy of 'extra' governmental organisations
4) The 'rights' of Artificial Intelligence and whether Artificial Intelligences can truly have sentience. I think there are lots of interesting ideas to explore in relation to Artificial Intelligence in relation to free will and making ethical and moral choices
5) The owning or patenting of biological material and DNA
6) and of course the rights for individuals to do what they want, work for who they want and be in control of their creative output
The pacing of the novel is fantastic, once the book kicks in it's a real page turner. I was always keen to see where the novel went and to see the development of the story and the characters. I think the first and last chapters of the book were the weakest. The first chapter was a lot of 'hard sci-fi' physics babble that I was struggling to follow but I stayed with it and was glad I did. The climax of 'Grady vs. BTC' suffered, like a lot of novels do when trying to describe exciting action sequences. It is quite difficult to pull off 'the last ten minutes of an action film' in a book with explosions and stuff like that. I do have a minor criticism of the book in that in the novel there is reference to splinter 'BTC' groups and I don't think their likely actions are sufficiently explained in the novel - there seems a large gap here.
I did think at times I needed to put my brain to one side and refuse to sense check the novel but this worked for me as it helped me just go along for the ride. Some parts of the book are excellent. The sections in 'Hibernity' (BTC's 'home' for rogue scientists) are absolutely terrifying. The sense of loss, fear, hopelessness is quite horrible. I totally loved this section of the book.
Really enjoyed this one.
I really enjoyed this one and it has been a real change of pace from what I have been reading recently. What we have is a quite fast paced 'tech-thriller' set in a near future where significant technological advances have been made by mankind yet the 'great leaps' have been harvested and controlled by secretive organisations effectively working outside of governmental boundaries.
Jon Grady is a scientist who makes a groundbreaking discovery by creating a gravity mirror which suggests that gravity can be warped and controlled. Before he can do a whole lot with this he is abducted by the BTC - the 'Bureau of Technological Control', nominally a US Government Department but effectively an independent organisation that harvests new technology until humanity is 'ready for them' and drip feeds scientific advances. The basic reason for this is that if scientific advances were distributed to wider humanity then humanity would do harm to itself (a basic notion that if teleportation was possible then it would wreck the transportation economy for example)
Grady deduces that it is wrong to withhold technology from society and refuses to co-operate by working for the BTC in isolation on his gravity mirror. Needless to say this doesn't go down to well with the BTC and we enter a straightforward 'nefarious, secretive exceptionally advanced yet dastardly organisation' using it's full powers to bring into rein this one difficult to handle rogue scientist.
This novel won the Prometheus Award (for science fiction novels that explore ideas of liberty and freedom) and I have to say it's a good winner because it ticks a lot of boxes and raises many interesting questions. Some things I've considered after reading this book are;
1) Is it justifiable to withhold scientific advances from wider humanity that could benefit them (consider how relatively easy it would be to provide the worlds population with clean drinking water for example)?
2) Is it ethical to release potentially harmful technology on humanity if they are not ready to use it in humanity's best interests (I am thinking here of the absurdity of nuclear weapon proliferation in the last century)
3) Legitimacy of 'extra' governmental organisations
4) The 'rights' of Artificial Intelligence and whether Artificial Intelligences can truly have sentience. I think there are lots of interesting ideas to explore in relation to Artificial Intelligence in relation to free will and making ethical and moral choices
5) The owning or patenting of biological material and DNA
6) and of course the rights for individuals to do what they want, work for who they want and be in control of their creative output
The pacing of the novel is fantastic, once the book kicks in it's a real page turner. I was always keen to see where the novel went and to see the development of the story and the characters. I think the first and last chapters of the book were the weakest. The first chapter was a lot of 'hard sci-fi' physics babble that I was struggling to follow but I stayed with it and was glad I did. The climax of 'Grady vs. BTC' suffered, like a lot of novels do when trying to describe exciting action sequences. It is quite difficult to pull off 'the last ten minutes of an action film' in a book with explosions and stuff like that. I do have a minor criticism of the book in that in the novel there is reference to splinter 'BTC' groups and I don't think their likely actions are sufficiently explained in the novel - there seems a large gap here.
I did think at times I needed to put my brain to one side and refuse to sense check the novel but this worked for me as it helped me just go along for the ride. Some parts of the book are excellent. The sections in 'Hibernity' (BTC's 'home' for rogue scientists) are absolutely terrifying. The sense of loss, fear, hopelessness is quite horrible. I totally loved this section of the book.
Really enjoyed this one.
A Daniel Suarez book that reminded me of his first books. Wild eyed technology and intriguing characters provides provides a glimpse into an alternative future that could be upon us now.
adventurous
informative
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Just... falls up..
This book was pretty terrible. The characters were flat, cut from cardboard. The main character was dislikeable. The plot predictable and unimaginative. The one bright spot in this book is the description of Detroit.
Fuck this book. Spoilers!
So it looks like a lot of people had issues with the beginning cause of the physics, which i actually enjoyed what i understood, and just moved past what i didn't. Then when he gets captured by the government (which is an American government, so they have no power to restrict China/Russia/whatever. But lets ignore that!) and they tell him what they're about, the main character is all 'That's wrong!!'. And they're 'but look at all the cool shit you get to play with'. 'But that's wrong!!!'. And back and forth and back and forth for 10 minutes. Terribly frustrating? Why is it wrong? Why isn't it wrong? FINALLY, they tell him why it isn't wrong, but for no good reason at all, he isn't convinced. So they send him to some south american cottage or whatever, where he finally tells us why he thinks it's wrong. Which still isn't convincing, because it's basically a 'despite all the science that they've put behind this model of the world destroying itself, i don't believe it cause of a feeling i have'. Ugh. But still, we finally have a reason from him too other than just him throwing a tantrum, it just took way too long.
So then they put him in the torture room, which is when i dropped out. This lasts WAY too long for me (I never understand people that want to read that), and they love pulling little switcheroos about 'look how smart he is and he's able to get past this torture in a certain way! Now look how it doesn't matter'.
Yep, noped right out of there.
So it looks like a lot of people had issues with the beginning cause of the physics, which i actually enjoyed what i understood, and just moved past what i didn't. Then when he gets captured by the government (which is an American government, so they have no power to restrict China/Russia/whatever. But lets ignore that!) and they tell him what they're about, the main character is all 'That's wrong!!'. And they're 'but look at all the cool shit you get to play with'. 'But that's wrong!!!'. And back and forth and back and forth for 10 minutes. Terribly frustrating? Why is it wrong? Why isn't it wrong? FINALLY, they tell him why it isn't wrong, but for no good reason at all, he isn't convinced. So they send him to some south american cottage or whatever, where he finally tells us why he thinks it's wrong. Which still isn't convincing, because it's basically a 'despite all the science that they've put behind this model of the world destroying itself, i don't believe it cause of a feeling i have'. Ugh. But still, we finally have a reason from him too other than just him throwing a tantrum, it just took way too long.
So then they put him in the torture room, which is when i dropped out. This lasts WAY too long for me (I never understand people that want to read that), and they love pulling little switcheroos about 'look how smart he is and he's able to get past this torture in a certain way! Now look how it doesn't matter'.
Yep, noped right out of there.
**Influx** by *Daniel Suarez* was disappointing, especially since I enjoyed Daemon f. – Influx bore all the marks of a sub-par action movie, with one Deus ex Machina chasing the next, random high-powered technology spawning all along, a big reveal (oh no! everybody knew!), and characters who are flat, and either Good™ or Evil™. It didn't help that I disagreed fundamentally with the barely-veiled message Suarez tries to bring across (don't ever hide innovation, kids, or you may bring about the end of the world). Even the writing was way over-the-top to make readers see every scene as part of a generic action movie. Very meh.
No rating yet as I want to discuss it in the deadmen book club first.
I devoured this book. Daniel Suarez once again dumps you into a fast paced technology focused thriller.
You're thrust into a world where advances in technology are stifled by a government agency with the goal of keeping the world stable.
The book gets a bit ridiculous but that is part of the fun. Technology should probably seem a bit crazy in a book about hiding super-advanced technology from the world.
You're thrust into a world where advances in technology are stifled by a government agency with the goal of keeping the world stable.
The book gets a bit ridiculous but that is part of the fun. Technology should probably seem a bit crazy in a book about hiding super-advanced technology from the world.