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kvbixal's review against another edition
5.0
This was a re-read, this time with my partner, and I enjoyed sharing the experience with him as much as reliving Denice's story. I could go on for days about why I love this book, but perhaps the thing that struck me the most this time around was how eerily prescient Moran's work was. This was written before mobiles were ever really a thing, yet he foresaw the use of handheld devices that people would carry with them everywhere, using them to contact others and access the internet. About the only part of that vision that didn't pan out in reality is that he apparently didn't foresee phone cameras, nor any of the cultural and social shifts and pressures that came along with services like Instagram and Snapchat. (And, tangentially, that he saw networked surveillance being a thing -- but he pinned it on payphones. I can't even remember the last time I saw a payphone.) He also predicted digital assistants like Alexa in the form of AIs -- both "replicant" and ordinary -- with whom humans use natural speech to interface with the web.
I'm by no means well-versed in sci-fi, but even if you're not an aficionado of the genre, The Last Dancer is a striking portrait of what humanity is and could have been ... and could still become.
I'm by no means well-versed in sci-fi, but even if you're not an aficionado of the genre, The Last Dancer is a striking portrait of what humanity is and could have been ... and could still become.
luisvilla's review against another edition
4.0
Frustrating - I love what the author is trying to do, but just can't help but think he bit off more than he could chew. Still, a fun read.
el_entrenador_loco's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
steveab's review
3.0
Just reread this book by once promising and now little known author. "Hard" science fiction, near future, well executed preview of the emerging new web from a late 'eighties vantage point. All that with strong of off-beat anti-authoritarian anarchist politics.