Reviews

Deep State by Walter Jon Williams

lorune's review

2.0

Was ok, but it almost completely deviated from the orginal ARG story line stuff, and well the main person going all guerilla style into a foreign country was pretty over the top :S

jmoses's review against another edition

4.0

This was pretty similar to the first book, enough that I didn't enjoy it as much. I mean, of course you want a sequel to be similar, but you still want it to be surprising. There were some surprises in this book, and the characters and writing were as good as the first, but the story was, I felt, a little *too* similar to the first. Still enjoyable, but not to the same extent as [b:This Is Not a Game|3535568|This Is Not a Game (Dagmar, #1)|Walter Jon Williams|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1344265367s/3535568.jpg|3577531]

jrobles76's review against another edition

4.0

A revolution in a middle eastern country helped by the Internet. You know, science fiction. Love the character of Dagmar, and how she was affected by the events of the first book. Too often authors leave their characters with little to no emotional baggage. As if the deaths of friends, and their own near death experiences, leave them untouched. Most authors would include a line or two about missing their friends, but Walter Jon Williams gives Dagmar PTSD. Every decision she makes in this book is colored by the decisions she made in the previous book. It makes the book more realistic, and Dagmar more human.

There were only one or two spots where I thought it dragged, but those moments still added to the realism. I was reading Richard Clarke's book on cyber war at the same time so the scenarios made a lot of sense and were very plausible. I don't remember which came first, this book or the actual Arab Spring, but the only part that didn't seem realistic was someone using MySpace. :) A very fun read.

wayfaring_witch's review against another edition

3.0

Another step into ARG creator Dagmar's life, this time with her orchestrating a foreign revoltuion. Loved seeing how the internet can be used to manipulate and inspire. There was a lot going on in terms of politics which at points was hard to keep track of, but overall enjoyed following the plot.

mjfmjfmjf's review against another edition

4.0

A good read but nowhere as good as the first book. Still, lots of good ideas here. And how often do you get to see DOS and ATDT modem commands in a modern book anyway. I do appreciate a damaged character acting damaged (poor Dagmar). 4.5 of 5.

And a very slow re-read. And the first half of the book is definitely not as good. But the latter half of the book basically makes up for it. Though definitely not as good on a re-read.

dancarey_404's review

4.0

If I had started reading this book the same week the uprisings started in Egypt, I would have had a hard time distinguishing between the news and this novel. Mr. Williams should be glad this was published prior to the spreading unrest, lest he be charged with mere conspiracy mongering.

I am not one who especially likes series with a recurring hero/heroine, but Dagmar Shaw is pleasantly believable: flawed without being overwrought and angst-ridden, capable without being a Mary Sue, concerned about the ethics of her job without getting preachy. Williams also does a nice job of sketching out the various locations in which the narrative occurs, providing enough detail to help the mind's eye without getting bogged down in florid detail.

Your perception of this book is almost certain to be improved if you have read its predecessor, [b:This Is Not a Game|3535568|This Is Not a Game (Dagmar, #1)|Walter Jon Williams|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1256044569s/3535568.jpg|3577531]. This book can be read as a stand-alone, but Dagmar's character will be richer if you have read the other book first.

lushr's review

4.0

Yup, another good one, can't wait to get into the next! It's rare to find a good intelligent sci if series with a female protagonist, it doesn't scream about it, it doesn't squish in pointless sex scenes, Dagmar is cool, Dagmar is a woman.

vtslothy's review

1.0

Despite liking the first book in this series, I just couldn't get into this one. I just didn't care about the setup, couldn't get into the storyline.

tome15's review

4.0

This one reminds me of latter-day William Gibson. It is good, but I prefer his Angel Station or his Hardwired series.

avidan's review

DNF