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willia4's review
2.0
You know how Back to the Future is fantastic, BttF II is really good, and BttF 3 is good? Jump 255 is like that, only the first one is merely good and then it's downhill from there.
The first book had some interesting ideas: what will business and computer programming and such look like in the future? As a computer programmer myself (and one who gets paid by a business! Parallels!), I found this rather fascinating.
The second book didn't add much: but it's the middle book of a trilogy. It's not supposed to. It did an admirable job of moving the major arcs forward, I suppose.
The third book is where the trilogy traditionally wraps up. And, certainly, Edelman was trying. There were secrets galore (Margaret Suriana had a son! Fathered by Quell!) . Relationships which had been teased were finalized (as a fat programmer who's ended up with a fantastic partner, may I just give props to my man Horvil?). And we finally learn who was pulling the strings of the master plan all along...
Except it wasn't really much of a master plan. And you can't really see the master plan, but characters eventually talk about it so you know it's there. And the puppet masters are really hands-off so maybe they're not really doing anything and are just taking credit for it. And you don't really ever see the puppet masters so maybe it was just some guy taking credit for it. And there plan didn't actually work. Or maybe it did. You don't know because the book ends.
And it's a happy ending where only millions of people die instead of billions. And the protagonist ends up trapped inside his own body. Maybe. You don't really know because the book ends.
And those relationships? Maybe they're still around. Maybe they got reset. You don't really know because the book ends.
This book leaves you hanging. It's not ambiguous in the way that Donnie Darko or even The Dark Tower is ambiguous, though. It's not a big mystery left open for interpretation and discussion. The book just stops.
I very much get the feeling that the author was sick of writing in this world and had a contract to finish the trilogy by some date and so he finished it by stopping. It's good enough for an advance check, but I found it very unsatisfying.
After reading the first one, I had high hopes. The first book is flawed, but it had a tons of promise, and I had every expectation of the author improving his craft over time. Now?
I'm kind of sorry I read any of them.
The first book had some interesting ideas: what will business and computer programming and such look like in the future? As a computer programmer myself (and one who gets paid by a business! Parallels!), I found this rather fascinating.
The second book didn't add much: but it's the middle book of a trilogy. It's not supposed to. It did an admirable job of moving the major arcs forward, I suppose.
The third book is where the trilogy traditionally wraps up. And, certainly, Edelman was trying. There were secrets galore (Margaret Suriana had a son! Fathered by Quell!) . Relationships which had been teased were finalized (as a fat programmer who's ended up with a fantastic partner, may I just give props to my man Horvil?). And we finally learn who was pulling the strings of the master plan all along...
Except it wasn't really much of a master plan. And you can't really see the master plan, but characters eventually talk about it so you know it's there. And the puppet masters are really hands-off so maybe they're not really doing anything and are just taking credit for it. And you don't really ever see the puppet masters so maybe it was just some guy taking credit for it. And there plan didn't actually work. Or maybe it did. You don't know because the book ends.
And it's a happy ending where only millions of people die instead of billions. And the protagonist ends up trapped inside his own body. Maybe. You don't really know because the book ends.
And those relationships? Maybe they're still around. Maybe they got reset. You don't really know because the book ends.
This book leaves you hanging. It's not ambiguous in the way that Donnie Darko or even The Dark Tower is ambiguous, though. It's not a big mystery left open for interpretation and discussion. The book just stops.
I very much get the feeling that the author was sick of writing in this world and had a contract to finish the trilogy by some date and so he finished it by stopping. It's good enough for an advance check, but I found it very unsatisfying.
After reading the first one, I had high hopes. The first book is flawed, but it had a tons of promise, and I had every expectation of the author improving his craft over time. Now?
I'm kind of sorry I read any of them.
erichart's review
1.0
This trilogy is maddening. Somewhere deep down inside there's a really exciting single volume struggling to get out. But it's buried in pages and pages of padding and endless arguments between the characters. The first two volumes are little more than extended setups for the third one, and by then the twists and turns of the plot start to feel too contrived. It's hard to believe an editor actually went through this without asking the author to tighten it up at least by half. The story really would only have gained.
I had originally given the first two volumes three stars, expecting the conclusion would improve my view of the series. Instead, I felt I had to revise my ratings down.
I had originally given the first two volumes three stars, expecting the conclusion would improve my view of the series. Instead, I felt I had to revise my ratings down.
theartolater's review against another edition
5.0
This might be my favorite sci-fi series. I think I can say that after finishing this up – it has everything that I look for in sci-fi, and I mean everything. If you a) like sci-fi and b) haven’t read the Jump 225 trilogy, stop being shameful.
antij's review
4.0
I really enjoyed the book. I found the exploration of different type of societies interesting as well as the growth of the main character, Natch. Many of the secondary characters also got good growth. And I like that in the end the action did not overshadow the philosophy of the various characters. I also am fan of the appendixes at the end. They were all enjoyable and since there were a couple years inbetween my reading of the first two books and this one I appreciated that there was a "previously" appendix to remind me of what had happened. The afterwords was also pretty good, funny, and enlightening.
nigellicus's review
5.0
The rather surprising conclusion to the trilogy is high on moral quandary and low on all-out action or boardroom shenanigans or Natschian trickery and manipulation. Oh it's there all right. We have an all-out battle, we have Natch on a space habitat stamping out a drug just to see what happens, we have clever political maneuvers between the Unconnected, the fiiefcorp and the Committee factions, but these are all preamble to a colossal and terrible choice thrust on Natch by Margaret Surina, and even of he has made a long and arduous journey from the selfish slimebag of book one to the dispassionate saint of book three, how can he possibly know which is the correct choice to make?
A clever, moving ending to an exciting and highly readable trilogy that genuinely managed to make the stuff of high finance into the stuff of cheap thrills, and then, in the end, maybe they weren't so cheap after all.
A clever, moving ending to an exciting and highly readable trilogy that genuinely managed to make the stuff of high finance into the stuff of cheap thrills, and then, in the end, maybe they weren't so cheap after all.
lmorchard's review
4.0
I tore through this one in a cross-country plane flight and a weekend, just like the previous two in the trilogy.
The only bad thing I think I can say about this trilogy is this: There's so much there that it strains to fit in a trilogy. Even worse, the author sounds burned out on the world he built, so no more stories in the immediate future. Can't blame him, though; it sounds like he's been working on these books for long enough.
There's a lot of great worldbuilding in the first and second books, but this one works hard to tie up all the loose ends in dramatic fashion.
The selfish main character come to some unexpectedly selfless acts. Marketing is used as a tactical weapon for infiltrating the enemy base. Not all politicians are as crooked as they seem. And MultiReal, the main mystery product that could save or destroy the world, looks older and more complex and more insidious than anyone guessed.
Good stuff, solid ending. Wishing there were more.
The only bad thing I think I can say about this trilogy is this: There's so much there that it strains to fit in a trilogy. Even worse, the author sounds burned out on the world he built, so no more stories in the immediate future. Can't blame him, though; it sounds like he's been working on these books for long enough.
There's a lot of great worldbuilding in the first and second books, but this one works hard to tie up all the loose ends in dramatic fashion.
The selfish main character come to some unexpectedly selfless acts. Marketing is used as a tactical weapon for infiltrating the enemy base. Not all politicians are as crooked as they seem. And MultiReal, the main mystery product that could save or destroy the world, looks older and more complex and more insidious than anyone guessed.
Good stuff, solid ending. Wishing there were more.
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