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Not Free SF Reader
“Infoquake is something like the bastich child of the Stross Mancx family and the Anthony Tyrant, that grew up on a steady diet of old 2000 AD.
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-06-15.
Again, Pyr has picked a good book.
Natch is an often boy with a burning desire to grow up to be the best programmer out there. The future history this is set in is another of the 'hey, big powerful AI were a really bad idea' variety, and has been recovering from the destruction and collapse this caused.
Technology went in an organic direction, and there is a big programming market around providing upgrades for the human body, whether sensory, anti-disease, anti-waste, or something as silly as changing your nail polish colour automatically.
While doing pretty well at this rapacious computer catalogue game, he attracts the attention of someone with an amazing new technology - MultiReal - also the title of the second book. Also a technology that will upset the status quo considerably, and perhaps provoke violent conservative and anti-technology reaction. There are also community or not so profit oriented organisations around as a balance, as well as some corporate oversight and media players. There are off-planet colonies.
While there is 'black' code around, like Black Ice in Neuromancer's Sprawl, not much mention of good old public copyright infringement that is not corporate vs corporate skullduggery. Particularly given the sleep-deprived super geek bio/logic programmer ethos out there. Whether the rationale for that is that it is boring to write about, or no-one trusts the non-rated faceless masses to have no-name code adjusting their arseholes and gonads, not sure.
It ends with some extensive appendices on the background of this future history. There's also a website with excerpts, podcasts and more information mentioned.
Definitely would like to read the next book.” -
3 of 7 members found this review helpful.
Extremely disappointing
“When a book is proceeded by pages of gushing reviews, you think it has to be good, right? Not necessarily, and upon finishing this book, I came away with the feeling the authors friends patted him on the back with undeserved praise. Because of this, and although I don't normally write reviews, I felt I needed to get a more balanced opinion of this book on Amazon.
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-05-22.
While I'm sure the author's friends like it and praised this book to be nice and to help out a friend, this is a disservice to readers who go on expecting something mindblowing. It's not mindblowing at all.
It's not that the writing in the book is bad, the writing is adequate. It's more that the characters and plot are uninteresting.
Large swaths of the book are so boring, so mundane that the characters might as well be wandering about in nothingness. Mostly it's as if the author is trying too hard, he's trying to be artsy when he should just be writing.
For world construction it's as if Edelmen took cliff notes from other (better) books but then tried to twist these in non-obvious ways. The result is bizarre, boring. I wish there was a zero star option, this is a book that doesn't deserve a star rating. It's artsy for the sake of being artsy. It has no heart, no soul, no character, no plot. For this kind of book done right, read Neal Stephenson or anyone else.” -
1 of 1 members found this review helpful.
Excellent piece of writing
“This book takes place many years after the collapse of civilization. A group of sentient computers called the Autonomous Minds rebelled against mankind in the Autonomous Revolt. Now, Earth is dominated by bio/logics, the science of programming the human body.
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-05-10.
The programs have names like Eyemorph 1.0, DeMirage 24.5, Poker Face 83.4b and AntiSleepStim 124.7. The average person has thousands of such programs in their bodies, courtesy of microscopic robots placed at or before birth. Natch is a master of bio/logic programming, who has risen to the top with little more than brains and sheer determination.
For many years, Margaret Surina, ancestor of Sheldon Surina, the inventor of bio/logics, has hinted about this new technology called MultiReal. She enters into a partnership with Natch and his fiefcorp to bring it to market immediately. It can take months to understand and develop a new technology, get it approved by Dr. Plugenpatch (a set of databases that constitute the quality control system), keep it away from the competitors, and then bring it to market. Natch and his colleagues have to do it in three days. The reason for the very short time frame is to also keep MultiReal away from the Defense and Wellness Council. It's a secret and unaccountable government organization that handles all military and intelligence affairs.
This is an excellent piece of writing. Cyberpunk fans will love it. Is there such a thing as "business cyberpunk?" This is also a really good book about the mixing of business and technology. The "cyber-" part is not too technical, and this is very highly recommended.
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Great read, amazing worldbuilding
“I finished Infoquake last night. It was fantastic. It's an action-packed book, but the action isn't the sort one typically sees. Which I loved. Kudos to Edelman for writing a gripping page-turner without many of the elements that often get relied on to turn pages. Also, rare is the book where I immediately turn to read the appendices when the story is over. The worldbuilding is amazing. I'm very much looking forward to Multireal.”
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-04-04. -
1 of 1 members found this review helpful.
A great new voice in Science Fiction
“He's hooked me for as many books as he feels fit to write. I've grown bored with scifi lately and his books really kicked the genre around a little and left it crying in a defenseless heap in a bad part of town it's never been to. (I mean that in a good way.) I grew up reading Phillip K. Dick, William Gibson, Doc Smith, Isaac Asimov and Frank Herbert. (I guess that's pretty much a good cross section of the genre too) and I haven't been this impressed with anything scifi since reading those authors back in high school. I seriously can not heap enough praise upon him for his work.
An amazon user wrote this on 2008-12-23.
I recommend this to anyone who is or has at one point been a fan of science fiction. David Edelman provides a glimpse into a possible future that we we all pray doesn't happen. The author's great detail, inventive future technology and dark overtones will get you hooked and leave you wanting more. This book is a must read for fans of science fiction!”
