June Books 24) Nexus, by Ramez Naam
How did this happen? I was almost all caught up with bookblogging, and then slacked off for a week or so; and I'm still half a dozen books behind for June. I guess last week's fairly frenzied attempts to meet with new and returning MEPs didn't help. This coming week is a Strasbourg week which will give me a bit more slack.
Anyway, diligent blogging is the answer. (Also the fact that it's now 13 July and I've only read three bloggable books so far this month will also help.)
Nexus is a rather interesting update of a classic cyberpunk theme, the upgrade to humanity which is being developed and helped by our heroes and blocked by The Man. It reminded me a lot of Neal Stephenson, except much shorter and with rather more rounded characters. I was particularly impressed by the in-your-face portrayal of the EU/USA as the bad guys in terms of constraining the new technology, though perhaps a little less convinced by the relatively benign portrayal of the Chinese government in that regard.
I had heard of Nexus because it was nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award this year, and scored rather well on Goodreads, with almost as many readers and a higher average rating than this year's star novel, Ancillary Justice. (It did less well, but still decently enough, on LibraryThing.) I found it good though not quite as good as Ancillary Justice; from the four nominees for this year's Clarke that I have read, I feel that the judges got it right.
Anyway, diligent blogging is the answer. (Also the fact that it's now 13 July and I've only read three bloggable books so far this month will also help.)
Nexus is a rather interesting update of a classic cyberpunk theme, the upgrade to humanity which is being developed and helped by our heroes and blocked by The Man. It reminded me a lot of Neal Stephenson, except much shorter and with rather more rounded characters. I was particularly impressed by the in-your-face portrayal of the EU/USA as the bad guys in terms of constraining the new technology, though perhaps a little less convinced by the relatively benign portrayal of the Chinese government in that regard.
I had heard of Nexus because it was nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award this year, and scored rather well on Goodreads, with almost as many readers and a higher average rating than this year's star novel, Ancillary Justice. (It did less well, but still decently enough, on LibraryThing.) I found it good though not quite as good as Ancillary Justice; from the four nominees for this year's Clarke that I have read, I feel that the judges got it right.