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A review by ingo_lembcke
Brilliance by Marcus Sakey
4.0
Amazon-Prime-Lending (one book per month, this is for September 2014), so did not buy it. Read other books which interested me more, in between so I did not finish it in September and had to struggle to finish it on the last day (Halloween, October 31st).
While the book is straight forward, it reminds me of a [a:John Brunner|23113|John Brunner|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1336955014p2/23113.jpg] Novel like [b:Stand On Zanzibar|325502|Stand On Zanzibar|John Brunner|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-4845f44723bc5d3a9ac322f99b110b1d.png|2184253] or [b:The Shockwave Rider|41070|The Shockwave Rider|John Brunner|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386921650s/41070.jpg|868164] or a film by Paul Verhoeven like Robocop or Totall Recall. Like these books&films there are short fake news and short ads for fake books. But unlike Brunner, there is only one story, and with only few twists, the main one I guessed early on - what would happen to the hero and John Smith, so I do not count that as a spoiler, I will not go into details.
Around the time after 60% (train-platform / meeting Shannon) the search for John Smith began and the book started to drag for me, I had trouble to get over that point, guessing how it might play out, not in detail - that was nicely done and very well written, saved this book getting 3.5 rounded to 3 stars. In some places it gets 4.5 stars, but as a whole and for being predictable (nearly from the beginning) 4 stars it is.
Recommended to fans of a believable alternative future, where in the past 9/11 has not happened, instead, part of population was gifted.
I will certainly read at some point the next book in the series (probably all, but the third is not published yet).
While the book is straight forward, it reminds me of a [a:John Brunner|23113|John Brunner|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1336955014p2/23113.jpg] Novel like [b:Stand On Zanzibar|325502|Stand On Zanzibar|John Brunner|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-4845f44723bc5d3a9ac322f99b110b1d.png|2184253] or [b:The Shockwave Rider|41070|The Shockwave Rider|John Brunner|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386921650s/41070.jpg|868164] or a film by Paul Verhoeven like Robocop or Totall Recall. Like these books&films there are short fake news and short ads for fake books. But unlike Brunner, there is only one story, and with only few twists, the main one I guessed early on - what would happen to the hero and John Smith, so I do not count that as a spoiler, I will not go into details.
Around the time after 60% (train-platform / meeting Shannon) the search for John Smith began and the book started to drag for me, I had trouble to get over that point, guessing how it might play out, not in detail - that was nicely done and very well written, saved this book getting 3.5 rounded to 3 stars. In some places it gets 4.5 stars, but as a whole and for being predictable (nearly from the beginning) 4 stars it is.
Recommended to fans of a believable alternative future, where in the past 9/11 has not happened, instead, part of population was gifted.
I will certainly read at some point the next book in the series (probably all, but the third is not published yet).