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A review by richardleis
Nexus by Ramez Naam
4.0
I'm beginning to notice similar patterns in the science fiction novels written by transhumanist authors: technology is improving at an exponential rate, scientists and entrepreneurs are generally heroes, government is evil, and mind uploading will soon lead to a post-human. Nexus follows these patterns, but Ramez Naam offers what seems to be a more sophisticated understanding of computing systems than other authors. A chapter about the struggle between information dissemination and technology trying to censor this information is, for example, full of technical detail but told in a quick, vivid and exciting way. Technical details don't feel like exposition dumps, which is a good thing.
Nexus gets better and better, and its last third is especially action-packed and full of consequence. It took me about half the book to get into the swing of things, not because it is difficult to read but because I didn't have a good idea until the second half what this book was about and who the protagonists and antagonists were. Another pattern in science fiction novels by transhumanists: the heroes are often depicted as criminals at first, and it only becomes clear later that they are criminal simply because the evil government labels them so.
The book ends on the brink of great change, and I've read that the two sequels are even better than Nexus. I'm definitely eager to read them soon, but I'm beginning to wonder if all transhumanist authors see the future the same way, and if reality will really play out like it does in Nexus, Zoltan Istvan's The Transhumanist Wager or PJ Manney's (R)evolution?
Nexus gets better and better, and its last third is especially action-packed and full of consequence. It took me about half the book to get into the swing of things, not because it is difficult to read but because I didn't have a good idea until the second half what this book was about and who the protagonists and antagonists were. Another pattern in science fiction novels by transhumanists: the heroes are often depicted as criminals at first, and it only becomes clear later that they are criminal simply because the evil government labels them so.
The book ends on the brink of great change, and I've read that the two sequels are even better than Nexus. I'm definitely eager to read them soon, but I'm beginning to wonder if all transhumanist authors see the future the same way, and if reality will really play out like it does in Nexus, Zoltan Istvan's The Transhumanist Wager or PJ Manney's (R)evolution?