sonja_mueller's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Challenging in the best, very entertaining way. I have never read such fascinating world building and I loved that it did not come with a spoon to feed all the background to me. The reader hat to work here, has to have some confusion tolerance and be comfortable with irritation. I loved it for that. Because it is still a fast entertaining thriller. The book will stick with me.
revengesrose's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
andrewspink's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This book was recommended to me as being the best science fiction novel written in recent years, so I had high expectations of it. Maybe my expectations were a little too high because that meant that I was rather disappointed. I really struggled for the first third or so. I was quite bewildered about what was going on. That was caused mainly because the author introduced a lot of interesting new concepts, but for some bizarre reason chose not to explain them until much later in the book and sometimes never. For example, 'Zokus' are mentioned frequently, but even when I searched through all of the book for references to Zoku, I could not find out who they are. Some concepts, such as exomemory, are reasonably clear from the name and context, but others like Quiet are just bewildering until either you are given enough information to work it out (a few chapters after the first mention), or you look it up elsewhere.
Indeed, at a given moment, I found a fan site with a glossary (https://exomemory.fandom.com/wiki/The_Quantum_Theif_Wiki) and then I could start looking concepts up. From that point on, the book began to make more sense and I enjoyed it more. The concepts were indeed interesting, and there were also relevant reflections on issues such as privacy and the nature of what it is to be human.
Indeed, at a given moment, I found a fan site with a glossary (https://exomemory.fandom.com/wiki/The_Quantum_Theif_Wiki) and then I could start looking concepts up. From that point on, the book began to make more sense and I enjoyed it more. The concepts were indeed interesting, and there were also relevant reflections on issues such as privacy and the nature of what it is to be human.
mschlat's review against another edition
3.0
A well written book that did not connect with my tastes. There's a lot here that matches up with my appeal factors: complex science fiction, interesting takes on post-humanity, and a twisty plot. But overall, the work left me flat. I was expecting more of a caper novel (with the emphasis on thievery). Instead, it's a lyrical work with a very Continental feel (i.e., the future Mars clearly shows strong French influences).
shalot's review against another edition
4.0
2021 Reread: I remembered about 3/4 of the book and apparently the ending just phased out of my brain. The first chapter still confuses the shit out of me and then the rest settles slowly into place. This is the kind of book that requires the reader to have a handy grasp on terminology from astronomy, physics, computer science, etc. for the reading to make much sense. It doesn't pause to hand hold the reader.
snivets's review against another edition
3.0
An incredibly flashy and cool heist novel whose mix of almost surrealist scifi and zero time wasted on introductory world setup only occasionally leaves me confused.
catbooking's review against another edition
3.0
I think this book has revealed to me why I do not like Cyberpunk as a genre. I thought the genre was about using the absence of humanity to explore what it means to be human. Instead the focus seems to be edgy thrillers that try to cover up the flatness of characters with the excuse that said characters are no longer human. This was true of “Altered Carbon” it remains true with “Quantum Thief”.
Don’t get me wrong, the world building is superb! But in the end it feels like you are learning about something that you will never have use for. Like learning Elvish or Klingon. It may be fascinating for many, and there is nothing wrong with that, but it is ultimately useless outside the circle of fans. So yes, the variety of existences outlined in the book are incredibly fascinating, but shallow and fleeting because they never go beyond being stage decorations.
The other problem of dressing up a thriller in these fancy new clothes of a fantastical world is constant ex machina resolutions. Every single problem the characters find themselves in, is solved with a previously unknown something or other, that totally exists in this world but the author never mentioned it. Thus there is no excitement of figuring things out faster than the protagonist, or speculating how things will resolve, everything is brand new and previously unknown to the reader.
Before wrapping this up, I would like to say how refreshing it was to see names and terms that are not 100% of western origin. Although, knowing the original definition of the Russian terms made my brain stumble while reading, confused why the author suddenly changed languages.
Don’t get me wrong, the world building is superb! But in the end it feels like you are learning about something that you will never have use for. Like learning Elvish or Klingon. It may be fascinating for many, and there is nothing wrong with that, but it is ultimately useless outside the circle of fans. So yes, the variety of existences outlined in the book are incredibly fascinating, but shallow and fleeting because they never go beyond being stage decorations.
The other problem of dressing up a thriller in these fancy new clothes of a fantastical world is constant ex machina resolutions. Every single problem the characters find themselves in, is solved with a previously unknown something or other, that totally exists in this world but the author never mentioned it. Thus there is no excitement of figuring things out faster than the protagonist, or speculating how things will resolve, everything is brand new and previously unknown to the reader.
Before wrapping this up, I would like to say how refreshing it was to see names and terms that are not 100% of western origin. Although, knowing the original definition of the Russian terms made my brain stumble while reading, confused why the author suddenly changed languages.
tacanderson's review against another edition
5.0
If you're into speculative sci-fi I highly recommend this series. It's written by a Finnish author with a Ph.D. in Mathematical Physics. It takes the science around quantum computing and stretches it so far into the future that it almost reads like fantasy. It's probably the most inventive sci-fi I've read in decades.
dakkster's review against another edition
3.0
This book has a few interesting concepts, but way too little is explained. About halfway I had to go read the Wikipedia plot synopsis because I was completely confused. Who did what? Where? Noooo idea. After I did that things made a bit more sense but then it was fairly predictable.
alskn's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25