Reviews

Red Team Blues by Cory Doctorow

tkolekas's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

paprikasix's review against another edition

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mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Doctorow is known for his science fiction but this is not that. Modern mystery about tech and white collar crime - super refreshing and a nice change of pace from the genre's typical mode of violent crimes. 

michellerdrgzz's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? No

2.0

aligorical's review against another edition

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2.0

I feel like nothing really happened in this book. I'm all for dunking on the crypto people, but idk what was even the issue here. It seems like all of a sudden his problems just magically vanished? Also, what was up with almost every woman in this book being determined to sleep with the guy? He sounded like just an average dude, yet he had a woman half his age interested. I won't be reading the second book in this series.

tresat's review against another edition

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2.0

This was a terrible mystery. Hench is well realized, the observations on crypto and surveillance are (as expected) on the nose and the day to day mechanics of homelessness in SF are interesting enough. But I thought this was supposed to be a mystery, and the mystery part is only minimally present.

1a2b3c's review against another edition

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3.0

a short thriller about cryptography and blockchain based financial crime. felt a little like a modern dan brown knock off - a 67 y/o semi-retired forensic accountant taking on the us government, a cartel and an azeri banking mafia… a little too fantastical at times. felt the writing glossed over the actual crime and was a bit politically preachy.

adamargyle's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

aismith's review against another edition

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adventurous tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

rotespferd's review against another edition

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adventurous relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

venneh's review against another edition

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5.0

It's fun to see Cory Doctorow demonstrating exactly why and how cryptocurrency can be used in Crime (besides all the scams already being carried out), I can't imagine the amount of cyrptobros this pissed off. It's fun to see the noir genre taken into this ever so slightly into the future way but still based in cybersecurity principles. There's also a little bit of wish fulfillment here, but man, part of that wish fulfillment is "being able to help the homeless in SFO", it's hard to knock him for that. It looks like this might be a new series, and honestly, I'm here for it. Just an excellent ride.