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xeyra (Portugal) (2008/04/28):
All I can say was that this was an impressive novel, astonishing in its possibility. With the advent of all these new surveillance technologies and identifying chips, our personal freedom may be on the verge of being eliminated and this novel speaks of exactly that -- of how freedom from constant surveillance is a myth because the world Hawks presents to us is of society as being controlled by the Vast Machine, by computers and powerful groups. It gave me chivers to read this novel and come across situations that are so frighteningly possible in our near future, in our society, and I had frequent bouts of frustration at the reactions -- or lack thereof -- of the people at this breech of their personal freedom!The story is one of those gripping tales that keeps us hanging onto each word, unable to put the book down (despite its considerable weight!) until we read just a bit more, just another chapter, just until this situation is resolved... The characters are three dimensional -- you come to care about them, to even cheer for them when they're trying to get away from deep trouble. You are at times frustrated at their decisions, at others completely shocked at their actions, and you come to love or hate some of them. It's not a perfect novel, of course, and one of my nit-picks concerns the way the author kept introducing particular terms of his universe like "Tabula", or "Traveler" or "Harlequin" or "Vast Machine" as "blah blah, called this" or "called that" (those who have read this novel will probably know what I'm trying to say). There are better ways of introducing certain terms in a novel than by making a side note in the sentence to say "called the Tabula" or "called the Vast Machine". It may be a bit of a stupid thing to be annoyed by but it did annoy me. Additionally, no matter that they have a deadly reputation or how good at fighting they might prove themselves to be, I cannot help but laugh internally at a group of deadly warriors that refer to themselves as "Harlequins". I'm sorry, but that's simply not a properly intimidating name!
Bonnie S. (USA: FL) (2008/06/12):
This is a very good beginning to an "another world" within our own series. I read it on one plane trip and can't wait to read the sequel when it comes out in paperback. Good light summer read.
Ben (USA: MI) (2008/06/21):
Read mostly during a trip, ironically. Light, fast-paced reading, and pretty entertaining. Frames the issue of privacy in an engaging way. The only annoying thing was the frequent and somewhat forced introduction of special vocabulary and facts ("a picture of a (noun) - a Harlequin sign..."). Once introduced, the vocabulary was pretty easily accepted, though. I think teenage girls who pretend to like girls just to get boys to like them, or who are into the wiccan thing or extreme 'all men are useless pigs' feminazi-ism would really get into this book. The heroine, Maya, seems like the sort of strong, don't-take-poop-from-no-one, my-sword-is-my-friend beautiful-but-deadly-woman-with-a-painful-childhood they would resonate with. I suppose that's my other criticism of the book - Maya is a conglomeration of all the anime-chick sterotypes I've ever seen. Aside from that, it's fun reading.
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