Books: The Quantum Thief and The Fractal Prince
I recently devoured Hannu Rajaniemi's The Quantum Thief and its sequel, The Fractal Prince. If you can't tell from the verb in the preceding sentence, the very short review is: recommended!
These books are set in a future a few hundred years from now, in which human society has spread throughout the solar system (although, as far as I can tell, not beyond). It has also split into societies that live by very different rules -- one on Earth, another on Mars, another in the asteroid belt, another in man-made super-computers cum planets. Some of them share uneasy alliances, and some are in outright war.
In this future, the basis for both virtual and physical reality -- and the lines between them are very blurry -- is quantum computing. Bodies, buildings, and ships can be assembled and maintained by quantum nanotech. Memories can be stored in the cloud, and entire personalities can live as virtual beings, only embodied as necessary. The lines between the human societies are largely drawn around how much they partake of these technologies. Some people are super-human; some are demi-gods; and a handful are just plain gods.
All in all, it's the most complex and fascinating world-building that I've seen in a long time. Along with that, though, comes my only caveat: Rajaniemi does not take it easy on his readers. Terms and concepts are thrown at you rapidly, some to be explained later, and some not. If you're not familiar with SF -- and specifically cyberpunk -- ideas, then you may find the onslaught overwhelming, maybe too overwhelming. I'm very familiar with them myself, and even I had to sometimes throw up my mental hands and let the story carry me along even though I didn't fully understand what was going on.
Fortunately, the story is engaging enough to do that. It begins with a master thief being broken out of prison to help with a mysterious mission; both books are then about heists in services of this mission. I keep trying to finish this entry by writing teasers/synopses for each book and failing, so I guess you'll just have to take my word for it that they're intriguing and well-crafted. I'm eagerly awaiting the next installment!
These books are set in a future a few hundred years from now, in which human society has spread throughout the solar system (although, as far as I can tell, not beyond). It has also split into societies that live by very different rules -- one on Earth, another on Mars, another in the asteroid belt, another in man-made super-computers cum planets. Some of them share uneasy alliances, and some are in outright war.
In this future, the basis for both virtual and physical reality -- and the lines between them are very blurry -- is quantum computing. Bodies, buildings, and ships can be assembled and maintained by quantum nanotech. Memories can be stored in the cloud, and entire personalities can live as virtual beings, only embodied as necessary. The lines between the human societies are largely drawn around how much they partake of these technologies. Some people are super-human; some are demi-gods; and a handful are just plain gods.
All in all, it's the most complex and fascinating world-building that I've seen in a long time. Along with that, though, comes my only caveat: Rajaniemi does not take it easy on his readers. Terms and concepts are thrown at you rapidly, some to be explained later, and some not. If you're not familiar with SF -- and specifically cyberpunk -- ideas, then you may find the onslaught overwhelming, maybe too overwhelming. I'm very familiar with them myself, and even I had to sometimes throw up my mental hands and let the story carry me along even though I didn't fully understand what was going on.
Fortunately, the story is engaging enough to do that. It begins with a master thief being broken out of prison to help with a mysterious mission; both books are then about heists in services of this mission. I keep trying to finish this entry by writing teasers/synopses for each book and failing, so I guess you'll just have to take my word for it that they're intriguing and well-crafted. I'm eagerly awaiting the next installment!