A review by iffer
Crux by Ramez Naam
2.0
Crux is supposed to be a "technothriller." Unfortunately, it doesn't thrill, and the use of technology in this second installment of the series reads more like fantasy than tech. I don't think that I've ever said this before, but I'm really wishing that the movie based on this series were out already (since I wouldn't be surprised if it were already optioned).
It suffers not only from the fact that it's a weak middle book to a trilogy, but from the fact that Naam already touched on all of his interesting ideas in the first book, Nexus, so it feels like he's beating them to death and just stringing readers along because everything, especially sci-fi, has to be a trilogy or multi-book series. The writing is mediocre, which would be fine if there were rollicking action, but even that is humdrum. The middling writing makes it so that 1) I don't have emotional attachment toward any of the the characters, even though I had a whole entire previous book to sympathize with them, and 2) the "messages" become redundant, and worse, redundantly preachy. I wouldn't consider myself a conservative by any means, but I felt like Naam was hitting me over the head with a sledgehammer of his liberal ideas in a way that could easily be felt as condescending. ><
It suffers not only from the fact that it's a weak middle book to a trilogy, but from the fact that Naam already touched on all of his interesting ideas in the first book, Nexus, so it feels like he's beating them to death and just stringing readers along because everything, especially sci-fi, has to be a trilogy or multi-book series. The writing is mediocre, which would be fine if there were rollicking action, but even that is humdrum. The middling writing makes it so that 1) I don't have emotional attachment toward any of the the characters, even though I had a whole entire previous book to sympathize with them, and 2) the "messages" become redundant, and worse, redundantly preachy. I wouldn't consider myself a conservative by any means, but I felt like Naam was hitting me over the head with a sledgehammer of his liberal ideas in a way that could easily be felt as condescending. ><