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nielsm's review
2.0
(Originally on http://grinningedge.com/escapology.)
Hundred pages in I thought this was heading for four stars, at three hundred pages I figured it might still make three, in the end it barely scraped two. And it's good it ended when it did; another couple hundred pages and I probably would've had to take it out back and set it on fire.
A down on his luck drug addict hacker beats himself up over his poor life choices and pines for the one time in his life when he was happy. A hired killer with commitment issues beats herself up over her poor life choices and frets about the morality of murdering people for money and cutting them up into tiny pieces to make a statement. They are swept up in a plot to do some mumbo jumbo computer shit that could allegedly end the world.
Or what's left of it anyway. Most of it was already sunk into the ocean after a series of major earthquakes. Intriguing but not exactly credible. And that's fine, in fact it's part of the cyberpunk shtick. Everything gets so complicated that no one can truly understand it all anymore. Systems interact, weird stuff happens. Blablabla. Unfortunately, there's way too much of it going on here. The internet's been replaced with a full immersion underwater sim. Companies store their valuable data in virtual underwater stations. Weird aptitude tests decide what you can and cannot do for the rest of your life. Later in the book, there are holograms flying around the city without any means to project them, and then they even start interacting with physical objects. I feel like there should have been an explanation for that one at least, but if there was, I missed it.
The protagonists start out interesting enough as well, but eventually just go broken record and whine about their predicaments. They also feel rather samey, especially considering one is a badass gang assassin and the other a transgender hacker nerd.
Writing tries for inflected, which just barely works most of the time, but then sometimes really doesn't.
Yikes! Say "every fucker else" three times fast, and a droog will materialize in a pink puff of smoke, and club you to death with a phallic piece of art. Talk about awkward.
So this really had some potential, but endlessly expressing the same sentiments is not character development and making random shit up is not worldbuilding. Its only saving grace is that it ends before it completely falls apart.
Hundred pages in I thought this was heading for four stars, at three hundred pages I figured it might still make three, in the end it barely scraped two. And it's good it ended when it did; another couple hundred pages and I probably would've had to take it out back and set it on fire.
A down on his luck drug addict hacker beats himself up over his poor life choices and pines for the one time in his life when he was happy. A hired killer with commitment issues beats herself up over her poor life choices and frets about the morality of murdering people for money and cutting them up into tiny pieces to make a statement. They are swept up in a plot to do some mumbo jumbo computer shit that could allegedly end the world.
Or what's left of it anyway. Most of it was already sunk into the ocean after a series of major earthquakes. Intriguing but not exactly credible. And that's fine, in fact it's part of the cyberpunk shtick. Everything gets so complicated that no one can truly understand it all anymore. Systems interact, weird stuff happens. Blablabla. Unfortunately, there's way too much of it going on here. The internet's been replaced with a full immersion underwater sim. Companies store their valuable data in virtual underwater stations. Weird aptitude tests decide what you can and cannot do for the rest of your life. Later in the book, there are holograms flying around the city without any means to project them, and then they even start interacting with physical objects. I feel like there should have been an explanation for that one at least, but if there was, I missed it.
The protagonists start out interesting enough as well, but eventually just go broken record and whine about their predicaments. They also feel rather samey, especially considering one is a badass gang assassin and the other a transgender hacker nerd.
Writing tries for inflected, which just barely works most of the time, but then sometimes really doesn't.
[Character goes to a goth nightclub where she used to hang out.]
Amiga was at home here once, until she Failed, and found out what the term "fair-weather-friends" really means. Not their fault they're just as enslaved to the system as every fucker else, but it still hurts.
Yikes! Say "every fucker else" three times fast, and a droog will materialize in a pink puff of smoke, and club you to death with a phallic piece of art. Talk about awkward.
So this really had some potential, but endlessly expressing the same sentiments is not character development and making random shit up is not worldbuilding. Its only saving grace is that it ends before it completely falls apart.
blodeuedd's review
3.0
I have not tried cyberpunk since uni when I read...oh that famous cyberpunk story! I can not remember the name now, but it's like super famous.
Anyway, do be warned, it is not for everyone. It is very hardcore cyberpunk. I am not even sure I understood how one thing happened, but then I went all hello, it's a book, do not think too much. It's the future.
Shock is *step back, how to explain this* Well he goes into the internet and steals stuff. But then you can do that today too, so that was easy. The internet is also dead and now there is only something ruled by a big corporation and you have to go to certain rooms to get plugged in. The days of free internet is long gone.
The world broke, continents fell into the ocean, others were lifted up way too high. And you can not even get free wifi on your phone, poor poor world.
I am making a mess of things. Let's simplify.
Shock needs to steal something. He is poor and needs cash. He is good at this.
A woman is sent to hunt him down and take him out.
Bigger things are happening.
Stuff goes done!
A cyberpunk thriller that is a whirlwind.
Anyway, do be warned, it is not for everyone. It is very hardcore cyberpunk. I am not even sure I understood how one thing happened, but then I went all hello, it's a book, do not think too much. It's the future.
Shock is *step back, how to explain this* Well he goes into the internet and steals stuff. But then you can do that today too, so that was easy. The internet is also dead and now there is only something ruled by a big corporation and you have to go to certain rooms to get plugged in. The days of free internet is long gone.
The world broke, continents fell into the ocean, others were lifted up way too high. And you can not even get free wifi on your phone, poor poor world.
I am making a mess of things. Let's simplify.
Shock needs to steal something. He is poor and needs cash. He is good at this.
A woman is sent to hunt him down and take him out.
Bigger things are happening.
Stuff goes done!
A cyberpunk thriller that is a whirlwind.
highlanderajax's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Oof. Man, I wanted to like this. I just...couldn't. It was too tough to get through, the style just not meshing and the world just not quite fleshed out enough for me to really engage. It was knocking on the edge of the cyberpunk world I really like, but it missed the details that makes that world work.
The plot is solid enough. It's a fun idea, enough twists and turns to keep things interesting. The characters are interesting and diverse twists on a known formula, and the raw ingredients felt good, with enough little sparks here and there that I really wanted to enjoy the book.
The problem comes in the actual writing. Something about the way this is written made every page a slog to get through. Reading this felt like I was walking through honey, it was that slow to actually get from one sentence to the next. The world is interesting but it's not fleshed out fully, which means that each page turns from a part of a narrative into a wall of cyberpunkian terminology, half of it explained and half of it left to the imagination to the point that it becomes irritating that apparently NOTHING in this universe has a recognizable name. I love sci-fi words as much as everyone else, but it felt like every sentence contained two or three new terms that needed explanation and didn't have it.
Warom is clearly a big fan of very vivid imagery, which I usually like, but here there's two problems that really hamper things. First, it's EVERYWHERE. Everything is described in strings of metaphors, elastic bands of venom-green putty wrapping around a reader's mental fingers like bread dough, clinging and lingering, scraps sticking to you just enough to...yeah, you get the point. Every single aspect of this world seems to be described in this way, and it bogs things down. Second, the world that Warom has written seems to blur the lines between metaphor and reality, to the point that several times I couldn't tell if I was being told what was actually happening or if I was lost in another descriptive swamp. This may be deliberate - but I still didn't like it, and it made it hard to read through this piece. Just like the missing quotation marks for IM speak. Deliberate stylistic choice? Sure. Still makes it a pain to separate virtual speech from background detail, and it's another piece of work here that I didn't need.
Look, I love cyberpunk stuff, I thought the world had some fun potential, if I could jsut figure out what the world actually IS. I thought the characters could have been interesting, but they're just wrapped up in a spider's web of overwrought metaphors, and I had to work way too hard to get too little reward.
The plot is solid enough. It's a fun idea, enough twists and turns to keep things interesting. The characters are interesting and diverse twists on a known formula, and the raw ingredients felt good, with enough little sparks here and there that I really wanted to enjoy the book.
The problem comes in the actual writing. Something about the way this is written made every page a slog to get through. Reading this felt like I was walking through honey, it was that slow to actually get from one sentence to the next. The world is interesting but it's not fleshed out fully, which means that each page turns from a part of a narrative into a wall of cyberpunkian terminology, half of it explained and half of it left to the imagination to the point that it becomes irritating that apparently NOTHING in this universe has a recognizable name. I love sci-fi words as much as everyone else, but it felt like every sentence contained two or three new terms that needed explanation and didn't have it.
Warom is clearly a big fan of very vivid imagery, which I usually like, but here there's two problems that really hamper things. First, it's EVERYWHERE. Everything is described in strings of metaphors, elastic bands of venom-green putty wrapping around a reader's mental fingers like bread dough, clinging and lingering, scraps sticking to you just enough to...yeah, you get the point. Every single aspect of this world seems to be described in this way, and it bogs things down. Second, the world that Warom has written seems to blur the lines between metaphor and reality, to the point that several times I couldn't tell if I was being told what was actually happening or if I was lost in another descriptive swamp. This may be deliberate - but I still didn't like it, and it made it hard to read through this piece. Just like the missing quotation marks for IM speak. Deliberate stylistic choice? Sure. Still makes it a pain to separate virtual speech from background detail, and it's another piece of work here that I didn't need.
Look, I love cyberpunk stuff, I thought the world had some fun potential, if I could jsut figure out what the world actually IS. I thought the characters could have been interesting, but they're just wrapped up in a spider's web of overwrought metaphors, and I had to work way too hard to get too little reward.
tariqah's review
3.0
Escapology is science fiction as its finest. The story is built on various perspectives who are confined to a massive computer-like program called the Slip. Crime-lord Twist Calhoun has a hand in the system but can’t control his lust for more. Shock Pao, a miserable and insecure bum and Amiga, a selfish assassin are among the few who avoid pissing him off. They’re from entirely separate parts of the virtual world but fall similarly in the same race as everyone else to get their drive in the Slip.
Shock Pao is the epitome of a failure: no job, no degree and a blood-sucking ex whom he allows to drain his sense of humanity upon request. No surprise, he’s thrown into a life-or-death maze involving his ex and Twist.
Amiga, on the other hand is an emotionally-unstable badass who can break anyone’s neck just to prove a point. She’s used to keeping within Twist’s good graces so bringing Shock to him dead or alive is nothing new. However, luck is on Shock’s side so it isn’t an easy win.
Escapology is a cyberpunk junkie’s dream. For those not used to such a genre, it will take focus and a great deal of imagination to keep up with the cyber jargon and 9-megabits-per-second pace. Consistent plot twists, gore and game-overs will keep the reader enthralled and intrigued until the end.
Shock Pao is the epitome of a failure: no job, no degree and a blood-sucking ex whom he allows to drain his sense of humanity upon request. No surprise, he’s thrown into a life-or-death maze involving his ex and Twist.
Amiga, on the other hand is an emotionally-unstable badass who can break anyone’s neck just to prove a point. She’s used to keeping within Twist’s good graces so bringing Shock to him dead or alive is nothing new. However, luck is on Shock’s side so it isn’t an easy win.
Escapology is a cyberpunk junkie’s dream. For those not used to such a genre, it will take focus and a great deal of imagination to keep up with the cyber jargon and 9-megabits-per-second pace. Consistent plot twists, gore and game-overs will keep the reader enthralled and intrigued until the end.
xoa's review
1.0
Apparently I bought this more than two years ago and completely forgot about it. Its arrival was a surprise and failed to jog any memory at all of hearing about it, looking for it, deciding I wanted to read it, or buying it. Looking at the summary on the back of the book did not help, as it sounded immediately off-putting and not at all like something I'd enjoy.
Lo and behold: I did not enjoy it. It's cliche, repetitive, trying too hard. No discernible story after a hundred pages.
I was gonna finish it anyway, but Shock's trans backstory was so embarrassing that I had to put it down. Started hormone treatment at ten and got bottom surgery at twelve?
Lo and behold: I did not enjoy it. It's cliche, repetitive, trying too hard. No discernible story after a hundred pages.
I was gonna finish it anyway, but Shock's trans backstory was so embarrassing that I had to put it down. Started hormone treatment at ten and got bottom surgery at twelve?
paracynic's review
5.0
Escapology is a vivid, unique and engrossing work of dystopian cyberpunk.
In a future where most of the lands we know have sunk, where survivors eke out an existence on "land ships' of floating islands, or the overcrowded, unforgiving city on the single remaining piece of dry land, run by either a rigid social order or vicious crime lords, dreaming of escape to the orbiting cities above, the characters try to carve out a life. The Slip, a virtual world of avatars and hacks contrasts and blends and tangles with the real world as we follow hacker Shock Pao on a seeming suicide mission to steal what may bring the whole system down, Amiga, a cleaner working for the most savage boss in the city and Petrie, officer on a land ship whose newest crewmember might just hold the key to the whole sordid situation.
Ren Warom has built a world with echos of Gibson, or of Philip K Dick, but in prose darkly and beautifully poetic. Edgar Allen Poe writing cyberpunk with a foul mouth. This is the kind of book you don't so much read as sink into and give yourself over to.
In a future where most of the lands we know have sunk, where survivors eke out an existence on "land ships' of floating islands, or the overcrowded, unforgiving city on the single remaining piece of dry land, run by either a rigid social order or vicious crime lords, dreaming of escape to the orbiting cities above, the characters try to carve out a life. The Slip, a virtual world of avatars and hacks contrasts and blends and tangles with the real world as we follow hacker Shock Pao on a seeming suicide mission to steal what may bring the whole system down, Amiga, a cleaner working for the most savage boss in the city and Petrie, officer on a land ship whose newest crewmember might just hold the key to the whole sordid situation.
Ren Warom has built a world with echos of Gibson, or of Philip K Dick, but in prose darkly and beautifully poetic. Edgar Allen Poe writing cyberpunk with a foul mouth. This is the kind of book you don't so much read as sink into and give yourself over to.
li4rsl0ve's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
It took me so long to get thru this book i nearly DNF'd it, but something always kept me coming back to it. I'm fairly slow at reading and I think this is the reason why it took me so long. The book takes a while before it gets more interesting, but when it hits that mark, I think it's fantastic.
The voice is compelling and the characters are all very interesting in their own way. My favorites tended to be the scenes with Amiga and Petrie and the characters they interacted with. I also think the action was great. What kills this book is the lack of clarity/specificity when it comes to the technology and world itself. It felt like it needed to be fleshed out and explained more. A lot of the time I had trouble visualizing what exactly was going on, what the technology did and how it functioned. Towards the end it gets very abstract, and I think it can turn some people off. I'm still having some trouble really enjoying the ending but I appreciate on a artistic level the way it pushes the boundaries of what's possible in sci-fi.
The voice is compelling and the characters are all very interesting in their own way. My favorites tended to be the scenes with Amiga and Petrie and the characters they interacted with. I also think the action was great. What kills this book is the lack of clarity/specificity when it comes to the technology and world itself. It felt like it needed to be fleshed out and explained more. A lot of the time I had trouble visualizing what exactly was going on, what the technology did and how it functioned. Towards the end it gets very abstract, and I think it can turn some people off. I'm still having some trouble really enjoying the ending but I appreciate on a artistic level the way it pushes the boundaries of what's possible in sci-fi.
solarpunkwitch's review
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
frasersimons's review
4.0
This book is really, really good. It took a bit to get acclimated to the writing style but once I did, boy was it ever hard to put down. I'm going to go into a spoiler free breakdown of some immediate thoughts and then write a couple spoiler stuff that was fantastic.
Ren Warom has a fan now and her familiarity with cyberpunk tropes coupled with what must be some pretty in-depth personal knowledge make this book riveting.
Everything that is a veneer in this book at the beginning becomes recycled and pertinent later on. So much so that the name of the book only really becomes entirely clear in the very last paragraph of the book, wrapping a bow on the entire character arc of the main protagonist, Shock Pao.
While Shock is a Haunt, which is essentially a hacker in what's called "the slip", Amiga is a cleaner. She's an infiltration and assassination expert. If you're thinking this sounds like a pretty typical team up of protagonists, you're totally wrong. In fact most of the assumptions I had were blown away at around page 70ish out of 445.
Both of their character arcs are similar and are somewhat eluded to with the title of the book, but both are really well fleshed out and enticing. These are not likeable people (which, I like a lot!) who are thrust together by the repeated consequences of their own actions. One of the best things about this story is that the characters make this story. It is not a story in which the characters and put into, instead, they're entirely the vehicle for everything. And it works.
There's a system in place that grinds people down by way of a psych test when they come of age. Pass and you have a somewhat golden ticket, only they're looking for complacent people, dull individuals, etc. "Fails" are people that get cast aside from society. And the fails are literally outside of it, usually squatters in abandoned buildings barely getting by, but aren't ground up in the corporate gears.
Everyone has a drive that is basically just a flash drive in their heads but also allows them some measure of VR. Some tech lets them do stuff with that like most cyberpunk books, usually weaponry.
Where it's really interesting though is the digital environment. It's not a matrix or grid like system at all, in fact it's called the slip because it's an underwater realm. You literally dive into water and have avatars there for your needs. Most of the time it goes into just Shock doing hacking stuff but it's by clear design that the most freedom anyone has is in this place, and of course jacking in costs money and is regulated and what not for most individuals.
Shocks avatars are an octopus and a shark. Later on in the book the avatars become a predominate part of the fiction that end up being really interesting parts of Shocks and others personalities and identity. I really enjoyed what was done with this.
At its heart, it's about a job that Shock gets forced into doing that goes wrong and shit unravels from there. But it always has just enough going on outside of that and within the headspace of both Amiga and Shock that, it really feels like a lot more is going on.
It gets personal, it's gritty, its unapologetic in its depiction of bad people doing what they do as a reflection of their reality. It's crass only when it feels warranted and the punk elements really sing through with a lot of British speak mixed with some cyberpunk terminology. Fails ride metro lines apart from society, specifically Amiga, a lot. They are often depicted as the most humane compared to people in power. Not a new thing, but the world itself is a faaaairly big drift from typical cyberpunk stuff and it's also super enticing. Bits and scrapes of stuff get thrown out and the writing is in such a way that she puts a lot of faith in the reader to fill in the blanks after giving the larger chunks of world building. This coupled with how unique the slip was makes me really excited for the second book coming in June.
Read this book!
Also, some spoiler stuff I loved about this book below:
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
1) Right away I felt like Shock had a chip on his shoulder and typically this is normal for cyberpunk. They are punks afterall! But slowly learning how Shock completed a transition while walking into the heart of Korea town on page 70 (I think?) was amazing. It mentally clicked everything into place for me. I was elated to read a book with a main character grappling respectfully with the fallout of that decision. But coupled with the absolute assuredly that he'd always been a man. It was just a really great read that wasn't an info dump. You slowly learn about it over time and it becomes a pertinent thing that drives Shock and fuels his every reaction. So. Good.
2) Amiga is the embodiment of the cyberpunk trope "technology is going to make us resemble itself and not humanity", and by having an actual protagonist completely roll with that POV, and making it a character arc as well, was just so satisfying for me. One because it's eventually subverted only because of the interactions between Shock and her. Two because it's pretty deftly done. When she realizes it, so do you. Or I didn't pickup on the trope or took it for granted until it was so blatantly brought to the forefront at a pivotal part in her story. Either way, awesome.
3) Shock's avatars being brought into the story was not something i expected at all. But was teased earlier on by some hints as to what he feels when he's driving the avatar and how he thinks and feels, was super interesting. The shark, a reflection of all the emotions he never ever expresses, most predominately his anger, was really neat. And to have his other avatar, which was assigned at birth, identify as female and have him grapple with those implications until the very last page. Again, extremely satisfying.
4) Having the entire story be a consequence of choice, bringing forward the case study on escapism and addiction, was just genius for me. Shock continually asks himself why he does the things he does and knows bad things will happen but instead gets high and continues to do it as though it's not a choice. Because it's not right? It's his addiction and it's also a major plot device for the entire book that makes it very organic. Never was there a line where I was like " Aw, fuck why'd you do that, Shock!?" It always made sense because that overriding urge that drove him was spelled out from the beginning. It's never in question and always has its hooks in him and because of that the normal system of control takes a back seat to a much more human one. A timeless one that won't ever stop being relevant and that's what makes a lot of this book so good.
Ren Warom has a fan now and her familiarity with cyberpunk tropes coupled with what must be some pretty in-depth personal knowledge make this book riveting.
Everything that is a veneer in this book at the beginning becomes recycled and pertinent later on. So much so that the name of the book only really becomes entirely clear in the very last paragraph of the book, wrapping a bow on the entire character arc of the main protagonist, Shock Pao.
While Shock is a Haunt, which is essentially a hacker in what's called "the slip", Amiga is a cleaner. She's an infiltration and assassination expert. If you're thinking this sounds like a pretty typical team up of protagonists, you're totally wrong. In fact most of the assumptions I had were blown away at around page 70ish out of 445.
Both of their character arcs are similar and are somewhat eluded to with the title of the book, but both are really well fleshed out and enticing. These are not likeable people (which, I like a lot!) who are thrust together by the repeated consequences of their own actions. One of the best things about this story is that the characters make this story. It is not a story in which the characters and put into, instead, they're entirely the vehicle for everything. And it works.
There's a system in place that grinds people down by way of a psych test when they come of age. Pass and you have a somewhat golden ticket, only they're looking for complacent people, dull individuals, etc. "Fails" are people that get cast aside from society. And the fails are literally outside of it, usually squatters in abandoned buildings barely getting by, but aren't ground up in the corporate gears.
Everyone has a drive that is basically just a flash drive in their heads but also allows them some measure of VR. Some tech lets them do stuff with that like most cyberpunk books, usually weaponry.
Where it's really interesting though is the digital environment. It's not a matrix or grid like system at all, in fact it's called the slip because it's an underwater realm. You literally dive into water and have avatars there for your needs. Most of the time it goes into just Shock doing hacking stuff but it's by clear design that the most freedom anyone has is in this place, and of course jacking in costs money and is regulated and what not for most individuals.
Shocks avatars are an octopus and a shark. Later on in the book the avatars become a predominate part of the fiction that end up being really interesting parts of Shocks and others personalities and identity. I really enjoyed what was done with this.
At its heart, it's about a job that Shock gets forced into doing that goes wrong and shit unravels from there. But it always has just enough going on outside of that and within the headspace of both Amiga and Shock that, it really feels like a lot more is going on.
It gets personal, it's gritty, its unapologetic in its depiction of bad people doing what they do as a reflection of their reality. It's crass only when it feels warranted and the punk elements really sing through with a lot of British speak mixed with some cyberpunk terminology. Fails ride metro lines apart from society, specifically Amiga, a lot. They are often depicted as the most humane compared to people in power. Not a new thing, but the world itself is a faaaairly big drift from typical cyberpunk stuff and it's also super enticing. Bits and scrapes of stuff get thrown out and the writing is in such a way that she puts a lot of faith in the reader to fill in the blanks after giving the larger chunks of world building. This coupled with how unique the slip was makes me really excited for the second book coming in June.
Read this book!
Also, some spoiler stuff I loved about this book below:
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
1) Right away I felt like Shock had a chip on his shoulder and typically this is normal for cyberpunk. They are punks afterall! But slowly learning how Shock completed a transition while walking into the heart of Korea town on page 70 (I think?) was amazing. It mentally clicked everything into place for me. I was elated to read a book with a main character grappling respectfully with the fallout of that decision. But coupled with the absolute assuredly that he'd always been a man. It was just a really great read that wasn't an info dump. You slowly learn about it over time and it becomes a pertinent thing that drives Shock and fuels his every reaction. So. Good.
2) Amiga is the embodiment of the cyberpunk trope "technology is going to make us resemble itself and not humanity", and by having an actual protagonist completely roll with that POV, and making it a character arc as well, was just so satisfying for me. One because it's eventually subverted only because of the interactions between Shock and her. Two because it's pretty deftly done. When she realizes it, so do you. Or I didn't pickup on the trope or took it for granted until it was so blatantly brought to the forefront at a pivotal part in her story. Either way, awesome.
3) Shock's avatars being brought into the story was not something i expected at all. But was teased earlier on by some hints as to what he feels when he's driving the avatar and how he thinks and feels, was super interesting. The shark, a reflection of all the emotions he never ever expresses, most predominately his anger, was really neat. And to have his other avatar, which was assigned at birth, identify as female and have him grapple with those implications until the very last page. Again, extremely satisfying.
4) Having the entire story be a consequence of choice, bringing forward the case study on escapism and addiction, was just genius for me. Shock continually asks himself why he does the things he does and knows bad things will happen but instead gets high and continues to do it as though it's not a choice. Because it's not right? It's his addiction and it's also a major plot device for the entire book that makes it very organic. Never was there a line where I was like " Aw, fuck why'd you do that, Shock!?" It always made sense because that overriding urge that drove him was spelled out from the beginning. It's never in question and always has its hooks in him and because of that the normal system of control takes a back seat to a much more human one. A timeless one that won't ever stop being relevant and that's what makes a lot of this book so good.
meghan_is_reading's review
felt kinda like snowcrash in term of pace and cyberpunk, only without the mytho-linguistic stuff. Also ppls feelings felt like they change to fit plot needs but maybe I have no faith in the goodness of humanity?