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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
dark
hopeful
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a well-crafted thriller with some weird SF elements-- we're in a future where the MLB has been taken over by big pharma and they are juicing players. The protag, who is a former player in a cyborg enhanced league, watches his childhood best friend melt at the plate of the World Series, and sets out to solve the murder.... As a mystery, it moves pretty briskly, though I think there's not that page 100 reframing of what we've seen before or major revelation. But this is well-plotted, and there are some striking sequences, like a very violent fight in the protag's apartment, and it sails to a pretty good cynical resolution.
I thought that the world that was built here was a little thin, that we'd be in this place where pharma was so important is fine, I guess, but it seemed like a shallow shift in our culture in terms of the way society was structured? The set-up reaches for some kind of comment on the way we live now (including an obvious Trump stand-in, except for the former president part). It was all OK but lacked that special something to elevate it above competent genre exercise.
I thought that the world that was built here was a little thin, that we'd be in this place where pharma was so important is fine, I guess, but it seemed like a shallow shift in our culture in terms of the way society was structured? The set-up reaches for some kind of comment on the way we live now (including an obvious Trump stand-in, except for the former president part). It was all OK but lacked that special something to elevate it above competent genre exercise.
Hard for me not to immediately fall in love with a sci-fi noir about a murdered New York Mets cybernetic player. The mashup of all my favorites to impart the very brutal truth that things just keep going no matter what morals you have lying around.
I'm not usually into world building but I truly relished every new detail and flourish we were given. It made me laugh and then also filled me with dread because of course our future is doomed to be this.
As a kid, I used to read books and picture them as movies. I can see this one so clearly.
I'm not usually into world building but I truly relished every new detail and flourish we were given. It made me laugh and then also filled me with dread because of course our future is doomed to be this.
As a kid, I used to read books and picture them as movies. I can see this one so clearly.
adventurous
medium-paced
Didn’t love writing style. Pacing was slow but predictanle
Good world-building (even if the world would be horrendous to live in) and a well-paced mystery.
Meh. Mediocre noir not made substantially more interesting with interchangeable body parts and cloning thrown in. Not unreadable by any means, but there is nothing special about this book.
There are two ways to judge this story. The first is simply as a novel. Seen through this lens, I would say it was good not great. The world building didn't do a lot for me. It felt a lot like a cyber punk Harry Potter. The main character was not particularly like able but not overly unlikable. Overall the as a story it was just *meh*.
The second way is as an indictment of modern politics, technology and finance. In this aspect, I found the treatment to be a bit ham fisted. This lens too was simply *meh*.
In summary, I don't regret having read this but I'm not sure I'd recommend it.
The second way is as an indictment of modern politics, technology and finance. In this aspect, I found the treatment to be a bit ham fisted. This lens too was simply *meh*.
In summary, I don't regret having read this but I'm not sure I'd recommend it.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes