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A review by trid_for_kicks
Twinmaker by Sean Williams
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.