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A review by clendorie
Mindstar by Peter F. Hamilton
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.5
Mindstar Rising was...okay. I was in the mood for some cyberpunk story, and that's exactly what I got. A straightforward techno-thriller with scheming corporations, hackers, street gangs and some psychic powers to spice it up. Except that the corporations are the good guys, fighting against the evils of a far-left party that ruined the economy trying to establish kolkhozes in the UK.
I had to check the publication date because Hamilton's worldbuilding looks like some kind of Reaganian speculative fiction with hamfisted metaphors about the greatness of unchecked capitalism. I'm supposed to believe that a far-left party used the global warming emergency to overthrow the British government, abolish private property and turn the UK in a soviet nightmare in a mere fifteen years without anyone giving a shit. Maybe if the timeline was longer but you can't squash a half-century of soviet history in a decade and expect me to say: "yeah, that sounds right to me!"
If you don't think too much about it, it's an enjoyable read. Not a great one but at least I got my cyberpunk novel.
I had to check the publication date because Hamilton's worldbuilding looks like some kind of Reaganian speculative fiction with hamfisted metaphors about the greatness of unchecked capitalism. I'm supposed to believe that a far-left party used the global warming emergency to overthrow the British government, abolish private property and turn the UK in a soviet nightmare in a mere fifteen years without anyone giving a shit. Maybe if the timeline was longer but you can't squash a half-century of soviet history in a decade and expect me to say: "yeah, that sounds right to me!"
If you don't think too much about it, it's an enjoyable read. Not a great one but at least I got my cyberpunk novel.