This book reminded me of a cross between JG Ballard and Bruce Sterling. In a future LA, nanotechnology has allowed for the resurrection of the dead. This has resulted in a huge shift in social mores - life has become cheaper, and the living are playboys, experimenting with designer drugs and thrill games, served by the dead, who are essentially human but have no legal status. However, out in space, freedead revolutionaries fight for their rights.
The story centers loosely on a group of old friends who, traditionally, meet up at the Terminal Cafe annually. However, they really don't all like each other, and each has their own thing going on... emotional ambivalence and violent trouble surround them, variously...
The book is really more a "slice of life" in McDonald's postulated future than a plot-driven novel. At times I liked it, at others, I found it a bit hard to follow and to maintain interest...
The story centers loosely on a group of old friends who, traditionally, meet up at the Terminal Cafe annually. However, they really don't all like each other, and each has their own thing going on... emotional ambivalence and violent trouble surround them, variously...
The book is really more a "slice of life" in McDonald's postulated future than a plot-driven novel. At times I liked it, at others, I found it a bit hard to follow and to maintain interest...
This book was a bit slow to get into because of it has several central characters that each get sections of the story, the language usage (a bit of cyberpunk with spanglish thrown in) and the authors ideas of nanotech. About 1/4 of the way through, it became easier to keep up with and started to flow more (to me at least). The ideas in the book are interesting and the action is well paced. A pretty unique read.
Mr. McDonald really made me work to understand this book. He has created a complex future society, different from any I have encountered in SF, and he doesn't bother to explain it. He just drops you in the deep end. I was about 160 pages into the story before I felt I knew what was going on.
However, I found the book worth the work. His world is new and absorbing, full of unexpected, but dazzling twists. I certainly have never run into a lot of these ideas before.
On the down side, I never did get all the characters straight. Maybe I am having a slow week, but only two became clear to me.
Still if you want something very different and are willing to do the work, this just might be your book.
However, I found the book worth the work. His world is new and absorbing, full of unexpected, but dazzling twists. I certainly have never run into a lot of these ideas before.
On the down side, I never did get all the characters straight. Maybe I am having a slow week, but only two became clear to me.
Still if you want something very different and are willing to do the work, this just might be your book.
