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matt_bitonti's Reviews (227)
Some might say that it's too similar to ready player one. I say that the author is working to his strengths. It is an exciting action packed story. It doesn't exactly ask too many tough questions, or force any growth in the characters or the reader, but it is fun and entertaining. Probably will make a great movie.
What is it about destroying New York City that is so satisfying? It happens in books (and movies) of all types. People seem to love it. Need a place for aliens to blow up? It's almost always New York City. 9-11 gave society a decade or so where that was in bad taste, but some things never change.
There certainly is a lot of destruction in this cli-fi book. But the deeper point KSR seems to make is that New York City is drowned in this near future and should be dead, yet people still flock to it. No matter how many times it gets destroyed. The forces of financial inertia, tradition, who knows, somehow keeps the city going. The rebuilding effort is always double what it could have been to just move someplace else, but people love to push that boulder up a hill and will do so forever.
I was born in New York, but not the city; the suburbs of Long Island. Growing up, my peers and I all idolized the city and wanted to live there. It was so close but so far. As teens we'd drive over that last exit on the L.I.E. before the Midtown tunnel, and the glittering skyline at night was enough to take our breath away.
But as time went on, the up close details replaced the far away dreams. Opinion shifts. Now I could never imagine myself there again.
If we are being honest, New York isn't currently drowned but (outside of Central Park) it is completely ruined, especially compared to the natural splendor that it once contained. It's inconvenient and super expensive and a logistical nightmare. That's the spirit the city: an improbable, ruined, sometimes smelly place where people will pay above and beyond to live. People flock there, in 2017 or in 2140 (or in 2312 or in 3000) and a reason why is the idea of opportunity. NYC is the human struggle writ large.
This book has some flaws. The Wall St stuff is dense and that's coming from a person who worked in the industry for a decade. The characters in this book are sometimes on the thin side and maybe that's because the main character is actually the City of New York. It's a heck of a bay. And invincible apparently. No matter how much it gets screwed up and chopped it always comes back for more. Maybe it always will.
There certainly is a lot of destruction in this cli-fi book. But the deeper point KSR seems to make is that New York City is drowned in this near future and should be dead, yet people still flock to it. No matter how many times it gets destroyed. The forces of financial inertia, tradition, who knows, somehow keeps the city going. The rebuilding effort is always double what it could have been to just move someplace else, but people love to push that boulder up a hill and will do so forever.
I was born in New York, but not the city; the suburbs of Long Island. Growing up, my peers and I all idolized the city and wanted to live there. It was so close but so far. As teens we'd drive over that last exit on the L.I.E. before the Midtown tunnel, and the glittering skyline at night was enough to take our breath away.
But as time went on, the up close details replaced the far away dreams. Opinion shifts. Now I could never imagine myself there again.
If we are being honest, New York isn't currently drowned but (outside of Central Park) it is completely ruined, especially compared to the natural splendor that it once contained. It's inconvenient and super expensive and a logistical nightmare. That's the spirit the city: an improbable, ruined, sometimes smelly place where people will pay above and beyond to live. People flock there, in 2017 or in 2140 (or in 2312 or in 3000) and a reason why is the idea of opportunity. NYC is the human struggle writ large.
This book has some flaws. The Wall St stuff is dense and that's coming from a person who worked in the industry for a decade. The characters in this book are sometimes on the thin side and maybe that's because the main character is actually the City of New York. It's a heck of a bay. And invincible apparently. No matter how much it gets screwed up and chopped it always comes back for more. Maybe it always will.
