joshsharp 's review for:

The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi

4.0

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This one grew on me. Initially I disliked how the author dumped the reader into his world with little explanation, and threw around a bunch of made-up words that were impossible to guess at ("gevulot"?) but it didn't take too long for things to get explained. The writing is quite solid and assured in a way that means you never really notice it — it's just doing its job of telling the story. The story itself is pretty fun, hard-ish scifi with quite a lot of action, and explores a number of interesting ideas around privacy and identity. I was often reminded of Charlie Stross' Glasshouse. One minor quibble is that there were a few convenient points where the protagonist and his sidekick were too powerful for a supposedly dangerous situation, and so were too easily able to remove the danger. But overall an enjoyable read. I'll probably continue the series.