2010-09-20 11:14![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
digitaldiscipline
digitaldisciplineI can see why this won a Hugo for Vernor Vinge.
The tech is clever, and presented beautifully. The characters are interesting and fairly complex and grow (mostly). The bad guys are refreshingly human (or not(?)).
On the whole, I don't know what, if anything, I was expecting, but I'm certain this wasn't it.
I admit to a preference for a bit of concrete detail to at least vaguely tether my imagination to; there was some, but it was affixed to things that did me no good, and glaringly absent from places where I desperately needed it. There are details presented as if what they signify should be obvious, but which I found to be utterly arbitrary and opaque. Most frustratingly, the denouement is so unfulfilling it makes Neal Stephenson look adept. I was left wondering, literally, "No, seriously; what the fuck happened?"
The tech is clever, and presented beautifully. The characters are interesting and fairly complex and grow (mostly). The bad guys are refreshingly human (or not(?)).
On the whole, I don't know what, if anything, I was expecting, but I'm certain this wasn't it.
I admit to a preference for a bit of concrete detail to at least vaguely tether my imagination to; there was some, but it was affixed to things that did me no good, and glaringly absent from places where I desperately needed it. There are details presented as if what they signify should be obvious, but which I found to be utterly arbitrary and opaque. Most frustratingly, the denouement is so unfulfilling it makes Neal Stephenson look adept. I was left wondering, literally, "No, seriously; what the fuck happened?"
