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arindrew's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
bookishmadness's review against another edition
3.0
What I Thought: Jump was somewhat of a bit of a surprise for me. I started reading (and couldn't remember at all what the book was about) and I have to admit, it took me awhile to get into this one. It was slow-going, there was a bit of info-dumping, and yet strangely enough, I didn't want to put it down. I wanted to know all the dirty little secrets behind the D-mat and Improvement. This was enough for me to slog through the painful beginnings and get to the good stuff. Jump was totally not what I expected, and I absolutely love when this happens.
The main character, Clair, unfortunately I did not like at all. It's hard to really like a book when you can't even like the MC. Sure, she had her good moments, but all I could think of her was a cheat, a liar and a bit of dramatic teenager. Jesse was your typical estranged love interest, whom I didn't hate, but I didn't really love either. Q was the most exciting character, and Clair treated Q like crap the entire time (which didn't help my feelings toward her).
Jump did get good towards the end, and it certainly did leave me hanging on the edge of my seat. I would recommend reading Jump, if only to get to the end where you find out about Q - for me, that was worth it all. I will definitely be reading the next book in the series, Crash, if only to see if it gets better.
The Good: This book definitely had some worthy moments, a lot of twists I didn't see coming - I love that kind of uncertainty and surprise!
The Bad: I had to slog through info-dumping and horrible characters just to get to the good stuff unfortunately!
Rating: 3 stars
The main character, Clair, unfortunately I did not like at all. It's hard to really like a book when you can't even like the MC. Sure, she had her good moments, but all I could think of her was a cheat, a liar and a bit of dramatic teenager. Jesse was your typical estranged love interest, whom I didn't hate, but I didn't really love either. Q was the most exciting character, and Clair treated Q like crap the entire time (which didn't help my feelings toward her).
Jump did get good towards the end, and it certainly did leave me hanging on the edge of my seat. I would recommend reading Jump, if only to get to the end where you find out about Q - for me, that was worth it all. I will definitely be reading the next book in the series, Crash, if only to see if it gets better.
The Good: This book definitely had some worthy moments, a lot of twists I didn't see coming - I love that kind of uncertainty and surprise!
The Bad: I had to slog through info-dumping and horrible characters just to get to the good stuff unfortunately!
Rating: 3 stars
rollforlibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this read, particularly watching someone change their view but form their own position rather than flip a switch to mimic another pre-defined position.
Around the 70% mark a few things were getting on my nerves but by the end of the book that was no longer an issue.
I saw interesting echoes of GLADOS and Flemeth in some places and it made for a really interesting comparison.
Would recommend this to those of my friends who enjoy a bit of Sci Fi
Around the 70% mark a few things were getting on my nerves but by the end of the book that was no longer an issue.
I saw interesting echoes of GLADOS and Flemeth in some places and it made for a really interesting comparison.
Would recommend this to those of my friends who enjoy a bit of Sci Fi
michalice's review against another edition
3.0
When I began reading Twinmaker I fell in love the world Sean Williams has created. I thought it was fantastic to be able to travel anywhere in the world, and how easy it would be to visit friends in America. As I progressed through the book and the Abstainers (people who don't d-mat) opinions came into context I then had to think about how you are able to travel, by being broken down into tiny pieces and transported through the VIA's network to get to your destination, seriously imagine if something went wrong and you lost a piece of yourself along the travel there, would you be you. This question is one of the big questions asked, and answered within the pages of Twinmaker, along with a few other points made. As we get deeper into the story more information is revealed and we learn more about d-mat, and the people for and against it and get to see two sides to the story.
I will admit to taking forever to read Twinmaker, over a week, which is really bad for me, and to be honest I'm not 100% sure why it took so long. I enjoyed the story and the idea behind it all, I liked the characters, and the fact that I never knew what would happen next or who would appear next made me want to keep reading, but I do think parts of the story overloaded me a bit and felt like I was trying to take in too much information, Twinmaker could have either been smaller, or a short prequel before Twinmaker was published to explain what this new world was all about.
I did like the journey that Clair goes on to try to find a way to save Libby, not just the physical journey itself but the emotional and personal one, and I enjoyed getting to see her find herself and actually see what she is capable off when the need strikes. The friends she makes that were unexpected, and some secrets left me shocked.
The last few chapters of Twinmaker had me gripping the book so hard I was scared I was going to break it, my nerves were at a high point and the question 'what is going to happen now' was always in the front of my mind. The ending was not something I expected, in a good way, but I am disappointed at how the last page ended, I would have liked a bit more closure. However I am interested in seeing where Sean can take this world now and see how decisions that were made affect others in the next book.
I will admit to taking forever to read Twinmaker, over a week, which is really bad for me, and to be honest I'm not 100% sure why it took so long. I enjoyed the story and the idea behind it all, I liked the characters, and the fact that I never knew what would happen next or who would appear next made me want to keep reading, but I do think parts of the story overloaded me a bit and felt like I was trying to take in too much information, Twinmaker could have either been smaller, or a short prequel before Twinmaker was published to explain what this new world was all about.
I did like the journey that Clair goes on to try to find a way to save Libby, not just the physical journey itself but the emotional and personal one, and I enjoyed getting to see her find herself and actually see what she is capable off when the need strikes. The friends she makes that were unexpected, and some secrets left me shocked.
The last few chapters of Twinmaker had me gripping the book so hard I was scared I was going to break it, my nerves were at a high point and the question 'what is going to happen now' was always in the front of my mind. The ending was not something I expected, in a good way, but I am disappointed at how the last page ended, I would have liked a bit more closure. However I am interested in seeing where Sean can take this world now and see how decisions that were made affect others in the next book.
trid_for_kicks's review against another edition
3.0
What. What the heck. Okay, so this book looked vaguely interesting, and I picked it up. My interest in it waxed and waned throughout (I almost gave up three quarters of the way through, but I decided I wanted to know how it ended, so I stuck through it, just in time for the action to pick up). It's an interesting concept, and it went in some unexpected ways, which was pleasant. It was annoying that the author was trying to write what a teenage girl would think--for at least the first half of the book, the main character complained about how she hated her nose and her hair... and that's it. If she was the kind of girl to pick out things about herself that she didn't like, then it would be a lot more than that. But if not, then that's just annoying. It didn't feel real. But as the book progressed, and she forgot about her nose and hair, then she developed as a person. We were able to relate to her more. Which was good.
Okay, on to spoilers.
But let's talk about that ending. Seriously. What the heck. Clair blows herself up, then tells Q to let the system crash, ending, possibly forever, d-mat, and the lives of the people who happened to be teleporting from one place to another. Seriously, how many people died? The author clearly mapped out exactly what would happen if d-mat crashed, and showed that Clair truly believed that the world was better WITH d-mat, but then, suddenly makes her decide to destroy it all. No more fabbing. No more "fresh clothes", no more teleporting, no more food, too. Everyone who was in the system when it crashed were never brought back again. Granted, that was one option. The other option was that Q was able to reboot the system, rewriting the rules, making everything okay again--which it sounds like that's not where the author was going. So, we're supposed to believe that Clair is the biggest terrorist of all time, and the whole world is just going to have to figure out how to get along without d-mat. Seriously, it's the apocalypse. People don't know how to grow food, make medicine, make clothes, anymore. They're used to getting whatever they want, whenever they want. A lot more people are going to die, now. From starvation. From lack of life-saving medications. Some people will never get back to their families again, because there's so little of the "old world" transportation anymore. Clair said it herself: some people don't even have doors, choosing d-mat in and out of their houses. They'd be trapped.
I admit: for the beginning of a story, that's pretty bad-a. I mean, I watched the Walking Dead, Revolution, Wall-E, you name it. I love it when the whole world is devastated by removing technology like that. But, for an end of a story? That's so awful. And yet, so punk rock. Makes you kind of want a sequel, where everybody figures out how to survive. I guess the sequel is in your own imagination? I've decided to like this book.
Okay, on to spoilers.
Spoiler
We assume that Clair is going to end up with Zep. But then he dies. Love that plot twist (seriously). Then we meet Jesse, and that's pretty clear that he's the real love interest, but it's less contrived than some stories, which is good. Absolutely zero instalove, which I'm grateful for. I like how Clair slowly grows accustomed to life without d-mat, even though she continues to think about how much easier her life would be WITH it, which is understandable. She also becomes pretty hard core, which is very cool. As for Q, I suspected pretty much from the beginning that she was some kind of AI, but some of the time, I thought that she was one of the THE AIs, the ones maintaining the system. Apparently not.But let's talk about that ending. Seriously. What the heck. Clair blows herself up, then tells Q to let the system crash, ending, possibly forever, d-mat, and the lives of the people who happened to be teleporting from one place to another. Seriously, how many people died? The author clearly mapped out exactly what would happen if d-mat crashed, and showed that Clair truly believed that the world was better WITH d-mat, but then, suddenly makes her decide to destroy it all. No more fabbing. No more "fresh clothes", no more teleporting, no more food, too. Everyone who was in the system when it crashed were never brought back again. Granted, that was one option. The other option was that Q was able to reboot the system, rewriting the rules, making everything okay again--which it sounds like that's not where the author was going. So, we're supposed to believe that Clair is the biggest terrorist of all time, and the whole world is just going to have to figure out how to get along without d-mat. Seriously, it's the apocalypse. People don't know how to grow food, make medicine, make clothes, anymore. They're used to getting whatever they want, whenever they want. A lot more people are going to die, now. From starvation. From lack of life-saving medications. Some people will never get back to their families again, because there's so little of the "old world" transportation anymore. Clair said it herself: some people don't even have doors, choosing d-mat in and out of their houses. They'd be trapped.
I admit: for the beginning of a story, that's pretty bad-a. I mean, I watched the Walking Dead, Revolution, Wall-E, you name it. I love it when the whole world is devastated by removing technology like that. But, for an end of a story? That's so awful. And yet, so punk rock. Makes you kind of want a sequel, where everybody figures out how to survive. I guess the sequel is in your own imagination? I've decided to like this book.
beastreader's review against another edition
2.0
I have picked up this book to read it about five to six times. I only read a little at a time. I finally had to put the book down at page 134. This is a great feat in its self. I so wanted to like this book more than I did. It just jumped around too much without much explanation. It would have helped if the world that Clair and Libby were living in was described in details better. In fact, I did not realize that this story was more on the futuristic side. Not that I minded but with these types of books, you need to have a good understanding of the world to fully enjoy the story This did not happen for me. Also, I did not feel the strong friendship bond that Clair and Libby shared, so to me Libby came off as a mean girl. Again, the biggest reason I put this book down is I don't want to spend all my time trying to figure out what the story is about by sometimes re-reading sections. I just want to sit back enjoy the book and the characters. No such luck here.
diaryofthebookdragon's review against another edition
4.0
I haven’t read good technologically oriented science fiction novel lately, but Sean Williams satisfied all my geeky and tech cravings with Twinmaker. I can only say: now this is how the future should be envisioned!
- Built-in contact lenses that sound like better and improved cousin of Google Glass.
- Instant teleportation around the world with d-mat booths.
- Wireless energy transferred via satellites to all electronic devices.
- You can create anything (except humans) with fabbers – so lack of food or money are problems in distant past.
I loved all the tech stuff that Sean Williams predicts waits for us. And I liked the moral and philosophical dilemmas he implies using them will make: from the problem of do clones have souls to overflow of meaningless information.
"Buried in the Air under a mountain of irrelevant information, as all important things are. Nothing is hidden, and everything is ignored. The surveillance state doesn’t need violence to perpetrate injustice. All it needs is our indifference."
Story of Twinmaker is told from the perspective of Clair. It was very interesting reading about how young adults have fun in the future. From Lucky jump via teleportation (instead of Google’s Get Lucky button) to impromptu parties. Even ridiculous inspirational chain letters still exist in the future. You know the kind: wish very hard and forward to x number of friends (I always hated them). So imagine Clair’s surprise when it works for her friend Libby .
Clair’s inquisitive mind and worry for Libby force her to investigate the issue and the more her search lasts the deeper problems it reveals until the very foundations of the society are shaken. The chase was very intense in the beginning, but there was a time near the end when it went a little bit boring for me, maybe because the book is pretty long.
With the surprising finish everything became captivating again. There is no big cliffhanger but with a lot of secrets out I am intrigued to find out which direction will society and government choose. And we have a sequel coming up in 2014 to answer those question. :)
IN THE END…
Twinmaker will be a treat for all gadget fans who love to read about moral dilemmas created by depending on technology too much. Or if you liked the fighting against the government in Cory Doctorow’s [b:Little Brother|954674|Little Brother (Little Brother, #1)|Cory Doctorow|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1349673129s/954674.jpg|939584], then you should definitely check out Twinmaker.
My rating: 4 stars
Disclaimer: I was given a free eBook by the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for a honest review. This text is also posted on my blog Bookworm Dreams in a little bit more styled edition.
- Built-in contact lenses that sound like better and improved cousin of Google Glass.
- Instant teleportation around the world with d-mat booths.
- Wireless energy transferred via satellites to all electronic devices.
- You can create anything (except humans) with fabbers – so lack of food or money are problems in distant past.
I loved all the tech stuff that Sean Williams predicts waits for us. And I liked the moral and philosophical dilemmas he implies using them will make: from the problem of do clones have souls to overflow of meaningless information.
"Buried in the Air under a mountain of irrelevant information, as all important things are. Nothing is hidden, and everything is ignored. The surveillance state doesn’t need violence to perpetrate injustice. All it needs is our indifference."
Story of Twinmaker is told from the perspective of Clair. It was very interesting reading about how young adults have fun in the future. From Lucky jump via teleportation (instead of Google’s Get Lucky button) to impromptu parties. Even ridiculous inspirational chain letters still exist in the future. You know the kind: wish very hard and forward to x number of friends (I always hated them). So imagine Clair’s surprise when it works for her friend Libby .
Clair’s inquisitive mind and worry for Libby force her to investigate the issue and the more her search lasts the deeper problems it reveals until the very foundations of the society are shaken. The chase was very intense in the beginning, but there was a time near the end when it went a little bit boring for me, maybe because the book is pretty long.
With the surprising finish everything became captivating again. There is no big cliffhanger but with a lot of secrets out I am intrigued to find out which direction will society and government choose. And we have a sequel coming up in 2014 to answer those question. :)
IN THE END…
Twinmaker will be a treat for all gadget fans who love to read about moral dilemmas created by depending on technology too much. Or if you liked the fighting against the government in Cory Doctorow’s [b:Little Brother|954674|Little Brother (Little Brother, #1)|Cory Doctorow|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1349673129s/954674.jpg|939584], then you should definitely check out Twinmaker.
My rating: 4 stars
Disclaimer: I was given a free eBook by the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for a honest review. This text is also posted on my blog Bookworm Dreams in a little bit more styled edition.
lawbooks600's review against another edition
3.0
Trigger warnings: Loss of limb, explosions
5/10, this was honestly another underwhelming science fiction novel and despite its low rating I was hoping to enjoy this novel but I did not. The worldbuilding was at best vague and at worst incomprehensible since there was an integral aspect of it known as d-mat but I don't know how they made it and whatever the Water Wars were but it might be some allusion to climate change; I don't know. This bothered me throughout the whole book as the main character Clair keeps using this teleportation system but I still have no idea how it works and I don't get the message of the story but it might be about the dangers of over-relying on technology and/or the government but the execution didn't work out and it felt kind of preachy and inorganic. The characters weren't much better either, as Clair wasn't even a strong protagonist rather she was just there to move the story along alongside some of the sacrificial characters whose names I forgot and d-mat/Improvement killed them, but I didn't care for them since they weren't developed and didn't have much time on the pages. The pacing was sluggish, with a few faster-paced scenes interspersed, but that wasn't enough to save this book from becoming a slog, I'm surprised that I got through it all without giving it a DNF, and the action was about blowing up an airship and teleporting to space however there was a duplicate Clary there, and they couldn't coexist so she asked her friend Q to crash the entire d-mat system, and it just ended in a cliffhanger which was a huge letdown however I would like to read the next two books in the series, but I doubt the library would get them considering this book is ten years old now. If you like science fiction books read this book however, there are better ones, like The Aurora Cycle by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff that you can read.
5/10, this was honestly another underwhelming science fiction novel and despite its low rating I was hoping to enjoy this novel but I did not. The worldbuilding was at best vague and at worst incomprehensible since there was an integral aspect of it known as d-mat but I don't know how they made it and whatever the Water Wars were but it might be some allusion to climate change; I don't know. This bothered me throughout the whole book as the main character Clair keeps using this teleportation system but I still have no idea how it works and I don't get the message of the story but it might be about the dangers of over-relying on technology and/or the government but the execution didn't work out and it felt kind of preachy and inorganic. The characters weren't much better either, as Clair wasn't even a strong protagonist rather she was just there to move the story along alongside some of the sacrificial characters whose names I forgot and d-mat/Improvement killed them, but I didn't care for them since they weren't developed and didn't have much time on the pages. The pacing was sluggish, with a few faster-paced scenes interspersed, but that wasn't enough to save this book from becoming a slog, I'm surprised that I got through it all without giving it a DNF, and the action was about blowing up an airship and teleporting to space however there was a duplicate Clary there, and they couldn't coexist so she asked her friend Q to crash the entire d-mat system, and it just ended in a cliffhanger which was a huge letdown however I would like to read the next two books in the series, but I doubt the library would get them considering this book is ten years old now. If you like science fiction books read this book however, there are better ones, like The Aurora Cycle by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff that you can read.
jm_donellan's review against another edition
5.0
Finally got around to reading one of Williams' books after having the pleasure of meeting him at supanova last year. I really enjoyed this one, the concepts of the dangers of teleportation and the transference of molecular data reminded me of one of my favourite Asimov stories, although stylistically it was of course very different. Definitely kept me on the edge of my seat with some excellent twists and turns, I'm sort of stunned this hasn't been made into a film yet. Highly recommended.
roxanamalinachirila's review against another edition
2.0
Welcome to a world in which social media Is Very Relevant, in which teleportation has solved every issue humanity has and in which tech works so well that it takes human greed to make it become very, very wrong.
Unfortunately, the story is, as somebody else put it, action, action, action, with little care given to characters. It's basically a cross-country run with very modern tech which is "old" in the given futuristic setting (omg, they travel by nuclear submarine rather than teleporting instantly! What larks!). It's trying to be very exciting, but if you keep a plot at 100% excitement 80% of the time, you'll have a pretty bland experience, especially if you don't delve into anything deeper or slower.
I guess you could say that "Twinmaker" does have its mysteries and small reveals, but they weren't particularly surprising or insightful, so it doesn't exactly hook you and drag you into its world.
It isn't a *terrible* book, though. It's readable, in the same way in which most action movies are watchable, but it has a sense of wasted potential - some world building which could be cool, but doesn't quite manage to be, some interesting moral issues which might be insightful, except they aren't treated as such.
I think that the best thing about "Twinmaker" is its title, which is kind of fascinating, but which unfortunately leads to expectations the book doesn't fulfill.
Unfortunately, the story is, as somebody else put it, action, action, action, with little care given to characters. It's basically a cross-country run with very modern tech which is "old" in the given futuristic setting (omg, they travel by nuclear submarine rather than teleporting instantly! What larks!). It's trying to be very exciting, but if you keep a plot at 100% excitement 80% of the time, you'll have a pretty bland experience, especially if you don't delve into anything deeper or slower.
I guess you could say that "Twinmaker" does have its mysteries and small reveals, but they weren't particularly surprising or insightful, so it doesn't exactly hook you and drag you into its world.
It isn't a *terrible* book, though. It's readable, in the same way in which most action movies are watchable, but it has a sense of wasted potential - some world building which could be cool, but doesn't quite manage to be, some interesting moral issues which might be insightful, except they aren't treated as such.
I think that the best thing about "Twinmaker" is its title, which is kind of fascinating, but which unfortunately leads to expectations the book doesn't fulfill.