A review by theunwelcometagalongs
CyberStorm by Matthew Mather
3.0
So I read The Dreaming Tree and it was so awful I *had* to know what Mather's bestseller was. It is considerably better than Dreaming Tree, but definitely not a book that I liked.
1. Mather has dots of sexism against women in his novels. He has passed away so there is no real way to make him aware of it and I don't know if this criticism has ever been brought up to him. This novel does attempt to force Mike to confront these biases a little bit, so I will give Mather was making attempts even if it didnt exactly land.
2. The Dreaming Tree and CyberStorm have the same ACT III "gotcha!"plot twist, and I wonder if all of his novels include a similar twist at the end. It was less believable in CyberStorm because it came way out of nowhere, and it feels entrenched in racism without having a meaningful commentary about that entrenchment, which just makes it all feel uncomfortable. I would argue that the commentary about racism was intentional, but Mike makes no real attempts to change himself or even apologize to the Chinese couple. So we're at step one of "wow I was acting a little racist" but never got to step two of "I should do something about that"
3. The themes are hammered in. Sometimes characters monologue about a philosophical concept and it feels like Mather trying to bang into us what he wants to say. Like, we get it, cyber attacks are bad and the cities are unprepared.
4. Backup generators and other utilities needing the internet to run was the only thing I didn't buy. Internet isnt a utility and is literally known for its instability even with an ethernet cable.
5. The lockdown was cool. Watching everyone go at each other was cool. Damon and the mesh net were cool. Sarah at the end was super cool. I love supporting women's wrongs.
6. The Boradines? The Russian neighbors were the best part of the novel. They deserved more screen time. Would have loved to see them take control and really help the apt complex survive with their experience of being jewish in leningrad during the cold war era.
All in all, a mediocre novel with attempts at commentary that just fell short of being meaningful commentary for me. I can see how people would love this novel enough to make it a best seller, because it is inarguably better than Mather's other books.
1. Mather has dots of sexism against women in his novels. He has passed away so there is no real way to make him aware of it and I don't know if this criticism has ever been brought up to him. This novel does attempt to force Mike to confront these biases a little bit, so I will give Mather was making attempts even if it didnt exactly land.
2. The Dreaming Tree and CyberStorm have the same ACT III "gotcha!"plot twist, and I wonder if all of his novels include a similar twist at the end. It was less believable in CyberStorm because it came way out of nowhere, and it feels entrenched in racism without having a meaningful commentary about that entrenchment, which just makes it all feel uncomfortable. I would argue that the commentary about racism was intentional, but Mike makes no real attempts to change himself or even apologize to the Chinese couple. So we're at step one of "wow I was acting a little racist" but never got to step two of "I should do something about that"
3. The themes are hammered in. Sometimes characters monologue about a philosophical concept and it feels like Mather trying to bang into us what he wants to say. Like, we get it, cyber attacks are bad and the cities are unprepared.
4. Backup generators and other utilities needing the internet to run was the only thing I didn't buy. Internet isnt a utility and is literally known for its instability even with an ethernet cable.
5. The lockdown was cool. Watching everyone go at each other was cool. Damon and the mesh net were cool. Sarah at the end was super cool. I love supporting women's wrongs.
6. The Boradines? The Russian neighbors were the best part of the novel. They deserved more screen time. Would have loved to see them take control and really help the apt complex survive with their experience of being jewish in leningrad during the cold war era.
All in all, a mediocre novel with attempts at commentary that just fell short of being meaningful commentary for me. I can see how people would love this novel enough to make it a best seller, because it is inarguably better than Mather's other books.