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dsrtaoFinished: _Hammered_, Elizabeth Bear.
It's a little bit cyberpunk, a little bit dystopian, and much easier to follow than _Neuromancer_. In a lot of ways this explores many of the same ideas as Gibson's precursor, in a much less glamorous fashion. The protagonist is a Special Forces vet, has been partially cyborged, and is a former drug addict. Her allies are a cop, a gang boss, and a programmer (who spends none of the novel programming.)
There's one major suspension-of-disbelief for me here, and it's a partial spoiler, so I'll cut it.
There's an AI who is supposed to be a simulacrum of Richard Feynman. But Feynman's voice is distinctive, and I never hear it in Bear's writing. I was hoping for it, but really, there's no reason that this AI couldn't have been called Oppenheimer or Szilard or Teller. That's a disappointment to me.
It's a little bit cyberpunk, a little bit dystopian, and much easier to follow than _Neuromancer_. In a lot of ways this explores many of the same ideas as Gibson's precursor, in a much less glamorous fashion. The protagonist is a Special Forces vet, has been partially cyborged, and is a former drug addict. Her allies are a cop, a gang boss, and a programmer (who spends none of the novel programming.)
There's one major suspension-of-disbelief for me here, and it's a partial spoiler, so I'll cut it.
There's an AI who is supposed to be a simulacrum of Richard Feynman. But Feynman's voice is distinctive, and I never hear it in Bear's writing. I was hoping for it, but really, there's no reason that this AI couldn't have been called Oppenheimer or Szilard or Teller. That's a disappointment to me.
