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A review by hank
Crux by Ramez Naam
4.0
Reading Crux was like looking at a stained glass window slowly moving away from you. At first there were all these pretty colors and shapes, simple, interesting yet fractured and confusing. As the window moves away, some of the shapes start forming patterns and your brain takes note. Once the window is a sufficient distance away the whole beautiful pattern emerges.
Ok the reading experience was sort of like that. It is tough to call this book beautiful but it was suspenseful and exciting. The first half was a bit of a tedious mess for me and I wasn't really engaged. Too many story lines that I didn't see the potential in. The second half really delivered on the first's setup. I was fully engaged with everyone. I felt some sympathy for Holzman, I was rooting for all of the kids, I felt Sam's pain many times over. Most of all however, I wanted to repeatedly slap Kade in the head. I get the fact that he is essentially a kid like Rangan but seriously... some of his decisions killed me.
Solid 4 stars, there is one huge plot hole that kept bugging me throughout the entire book and detracted from the great story and vastly improved writing
Great book, I was on the edge of my seat for the last 100 pages.
Ok the reading experience was sort of like that. It is tough to call this book beautiful but it was suspenseful and exciting. The first half was a bit of a tedious mess for me and I wasn't really engaged. Too many story lines that I didn't see the potential in. The second half really delivered on the first's setup. I was fully engaged with everyone. I felt some sympathy for Holzman, I was rooting for all of the kids, I felt Sam's pain many times over. Most of all however, I wanted to repeatedly slap Kade in the head. I get the fact that he is essentially a kid like Rangan but seriously... some of his decisions killed me.
Solid 4 stars, there is one huge plot hole that kept bugging me throughout the entire book and detracted from the great story and vastly improved writing
Spoiler
If you have code to close a back door in software that is actually running inside your own head, what is the first thing you are going to do with it? This is such an obvious move, Naam deserves some serious criticism for not having Kade do it. Patch yourself so the bad guys can't take you over. I would have even believed that the act of patching the hole would prevent Kade from hacking into everyone else but Naam didn't even throw me that bone. Bad plot holeGreat book, I was on the edge of my seat for the last 100 pages.