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frasersimons's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
It’s nice to finally get to a post-cyberpunk staple. Though, the “post” gets a lot of confusion for this sub genre particularly. There are works that are a reaction to cyberpunk, being post in the literary sense, and then there are people who mean post as in simply after cyberpunk because it “died”. I don’t think genre can die. People contribute to it, so it’s alive. This is decidedly just after the main movement, and in a technological age where the technology that was supposition has been fleshed out by virtue of time and advancement.
This also reads as something decidedly different, but keeps the high tech low life aspects. It is technical heavy, bordering on hard scifi. Personally, I think of hard scifi as having the technology and plot be something plausible and possible. I suppose you could say post singularity humanity Could end up here, but it is Snow Crashian in its bombastic wildness that it doesn’t seem so, to me. Sentient crustaceans being the kicker, the characters and plot beats are more fun than anything. A theme comes together throughout too, but it all feels beside the point, really, with the main goal shoving in the ideas to a workable plot that barely engages (Neal Stephenson, that you? {especially Anathem}).
I tend to like scifi that interrogates the human condition in a relatable way I can ruminate, possibly internalize. This is not that either. It’s a wild romp that had me questioning the purpose of what was happening more often than thinking about the ramifications of upgrading pets (or their agency), and when it was all done, I just sort of shrugged and said to myself, well that happened.
This also reads as something decidedly different, but keeps the high tech low life aspects. It is technical heavy, bordering on hard scifi. Personally, I think of hard scifi as having the technology and plot be something plausible and possible. I suppose you could say post singularity humanity Could end up here, but it is Snow Crashian in its bombastic wildness that it doesn’t seem so, to me. Sentient crustaceans being the kicker, the characters and plot beats are more fun than anything. A theme comes together throughout too, but it all feels beside the point, really, with the main goal shoving in the ideas to a workable plot that barely engages (Neal Stephenson, that you? {especially Anathem}).
I tend to like scifi that interrogates the human condition in a relatable way I can ruminate, possibly internalize. This is not that either. It’s a wild romp that had me questioning the purpose of what was happening more often than thinking about the ramifications of upgrading pets (or their agency), and when it was all done, I just sort of shrugged and said to myself, well that happened.
dualmon's review against another edition
5.0
Comedic, irreverent romp through a recognizable post-human future
julcoh's review
4.0
A far flung vision of post singularity human civilization, fascinating and complex, equal parts exciting and frightening. Always-on exocortical network connections allow you to spawn "ghosts" into the web to do research, live separate lives at accelerated speed, and merge back into your mind. The conversion of planetary mass into computing power. Economics 2.0. Nearly omnipotent artificial intelligences.
At what point do we become more machine than human, and would anyone care? Will we steel our species against technological evolution, or dive headfirst into the black hole of asymptotic innovation? Stross paints an interesting history between Ray Kurzweil's Singularity moment, and the expansion of humanity throughout the stars, a la The Culture series by Ian M. Banks.
Stross' writing is information dense, sometimes hard to read, and rarely explains itself twice (if at all). I read more slowly and particularly than I usually do, and this is not a bad thing. I found myself enjoying the software and hardware descriptions as much as the characters-- it's a good story, but it pales against the backdrop of the arc of human civilization over a century.
I didn't love the ending, but I get that it was supposed to be a very human experience in the face of so much technology.
At what point do we become more machine than human, and would anyone care? Will we steel our species against technological evolution, or dive headfirst into the black hole of asymptotic innovation? Stross paints an interesting history between Ray Kurzweil's Singularity moment, and the expansion of humanity throughout the stars, a la The Culture series by Ian M. Banks.
Stross' writing is information dense, sometimes hard to read, and rarely explains itself twice (if at all). I read more slowly and particularly than I usually do, and this is not a bad thing. I found myself enjoying the software and hardware descriptions as much as the characters-- it's a good story, but it pales against the backdrop of the arc of human civilization over a century.
I didn't love the ending, but I get that it was supposed to be a very human experience in the face of so much technology.
mgouker's review
4.0
I'll return here after I've thought some more. I'm between 3 and 4 stars. I like the ideas (uploading consciousness is one of my favorite personal rabbit holes), but not the story or characters as much.
bookcaseofdoom's review
This book realy wanted to be Neuromancer, and failed. Unfortunately I no longer want to waste my time on it :(
dale_in_va's review against another edition
2.0
Just couldn't get into it. Dropped it after trying to listen to the audio book for several hours and having trouble following and keeping my attention.
timvdalen's review
4.0
While all the ideas presented in this book are thoroughly interesting to me, I still found that I had trouble actually picking this up to continue reading.
jrathburn's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
paulphicles's review
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75