cephyn^.com

Review

Rating: 7

David Louis Edelman is one of, what I consider to be, the New Guard of Sci-Fi. He’s wired, he blogs, he’s young. This new cabal is basically led by Cory Doctorow, joined prominently by the likes of John Scalzi, Charles Stross, Neal Asher, Peter F. Hamilton, Eric Nylund, John C. Wright, Nick Sagan, Richard K. Morgan and to a lesser (wired, not talent) extent, China Mieville (who isn’t exactly sci-fi, not exactly fantasy, but really goddamn good). And I would be remiss if i did not mention their elder statesman, Neil Gaiman. This crew of writers is responsible for some really great stuff of late - and showing great promise for a new golden age of sci-fi. I truly believe this. But then again, they are the leading edge of my generation, so maybe I just identify with them more than I do with the older greats.

On to the point here - my review of Infoquake, DLE’s ouvre. Mr. Edelman does many things right with this novel. First and foremost, the man has a greater plan. Right there on the front it says it - Volume I of the Jump 225 Trilogy. I like this. I believe that if you are going to create characters and a universe you plan to visit often, you should have a greater plan. Babylon5 is a great example of this in the TV world - because it had a plan, it was a very tight series that never lost its way. A TV example of a lack of a plan killing everything is Lost. What in god’s name happened to that show? I digress - Infoquake.

DLE has experience in computer programming - which makes his vision of programming of the future very interesting. It is very easy to dismiss Wm. Gibson’s future as fantasy since the man had basically never seen a computer when he wrote Neuromancer. But DLE’s vision of future computing is pretty fascinating. He paints a world of freelance coders and corporations all competing feverishly to build and put out revision after revision of bio/logic programs faster than anyone else. Capitalism gone wild. And the market is extremely vicious. Programming isn’t about sitting in front of a computer typing in code - it’s more of a magical art. Programmers use special bars to manipulate pieces of code in virtual space. Each bar has its own function. Upgrading consists of more bars and bigger virtual spaces.
Infoquake is about a young and upcoming coding company. The leader is dead set on being #1. He approaches business as a war - and this is probably the best way, maybe the only way, to do business in the Infoquake world. This is a science-fiction book, yes, but it’s actually better described as futuristic corporation fiction.
This book is best viewed as the beginning of the Jump 225 trilogy. It’s an introductory novel (in more ways than one, heh). The story is really about 75% background! But that’s OK. DLE has developed quite a little world here, and there’s an extensive Appendix with historical timelines and a glossary. Even with all the setup, the Infoquake story is still a little thin on background!
With that comes my minor problems with the novel. DLE has to spend a lot of time painting the world. Some of the characters still seem a little mysterious for me. I don’t quite understand the world yet, how all the factions fit. And the real meat of the book doesn’t really start until over halfway through the story. This isn’t to say it drags, it’s just you’re learning a lot about the Infoquake world without really understanding why you want to know - the plot is very loose to begin with.
Now by the end, DLE really ramps up the pace and plot mystery. You can start to feel the current emotions of the characters instead of piecing together their past. And, as you might expect, this book ends on an unabashed cliffhanger. And once again, that’s OK because he planned it this way. He isn’t winging it, or leaving it open for a sequel if he’s lucky enough to get a book deal - it’s The Plan.
So the writing is a little rough, the characters are just a little flat, and the world is painted in watercolors instead of oils right now. It’s basically a little tentative, like DLE was afraid of laying too much on us at once. If he had fleshed everything out more and kept the big plot bang until the very last chapter, or if he had narrowed the scope and started the main sequence earlier (at the expense of world richness - the world only seems a little flat because I know more is coming), I probably would have given this an 8/10. But I felt that DLE wasn’t quite sure with the timing - and 7/10 is a definite Worthy Read. I had a great time reading it, and I’m confident that DLE is going to keep moving on with his plot hooks and further flesh out his characters and his world. And I’m looking forward to it. MultiReal is Volume II - and I’ll definitely be picking it up.