It’s about this tough, foul-mouthed whiz kid named Samuil Petrovich. In these kinds of literature, world-building comes first, characterization second, at least that’s what I think. Petrovich isn’t that likeable a character, but he fits in the world he moves in. He is a survivor. Not only does he struggle with the outside world, he also has some major health problems. In this future world, a Great Calamity of the nuclear variety has occurred decades before, and humanity and society has had to adapt to it. Given that, there did occur technological progress, but as the cyberpunk cliché goes, it’s ‘high-tech and low-life.’ The low-lives are the main characters of the book. Even the supposed harbinger of law and order, the police detective Chain is a bit shady. The whole plot is put into motion when Petrovich, out of some compulsion to do something good, rescues the daughter of a yakuza boss from a kidnapping. From there, things move fast. This is a short, fast-paced novel set in a dystopic city. ( )

I am SO close to finishing this, but what's the point? I've never been so unimpacted by a book in years. Great swaths of story pass me by and I just... don't... care. Something about a genius, and a fighter who helps crack the Unified Field Theory because he's read a lot.

I'll say that again. He's... read. A lot.

He saves someone. He falls in with a fightin' nun. There's people out to get him. For reasons.

Apparently there was an apocalyptic event. He mentions it a fair amount. In a world that really hasn't changed. Electric, computer controlled cars. Similar tech to today. Hell, they have time to work on that pesky Unified Field Theory. So, more an excuse to change the landscape of London than anything.

Whatever.

I just can't. What a damn mess.

No rating. DNF. I'm out.

10 word review: Samuil's 1 lucky dude; an interesting future; an okay story ( )

There's a lot of good things I can say about this novel. It has good plot, good pacing, and it does the whole subgenre of techno-thriller justice.

I enjoyed the main character, Petrovich, for his almost unbelievable mash up of personality traits. I mean, who else except in a techno-triller will be a hardened survivor of an apocalypse, a computer geek, an untrained but very well read and brilliant mathematician, and a self-serving asshole with combat skills? Oh. Wait... something like this does happen fairly often, or at least close variations on the theme.

I'm not complaining. It's entertaining for what it is.

It's a very easy read compared to a lot of the books I've read recently, and it passed very smoothly down my gullet, like vodka and sake. (But not at the same time!)

It is kinda funny, though, that I'd be reading no less than a half-dozen novels this year with AIs. Hell, earlier this month, I just read [b:The Hive Construct|18395027|The Hive Construct|Alexander Maskill|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1399483375s/18395027.jpg|26019759], which was almost the very twin to this novel, at least in broad plot and action. It's almost as if a one page synopsis was shared between publishers or the underlying zeitgeist of throwing yourself at crazy AI's is so firmly embedded in our collective psyche (Thank you, 2001 Space Odyssey) that we've just got to rehash the same theme a million times, and preferably in cities where we can have the most collateral damage.

Though, to be fair, I much preferred the writing and the characters in this novel over the other one I just mentioned. It's also worth mentioning this one came out years before, as well. I'll soon get into this one's sequels. I liked it. It's a popcorn SF adventure, done all modern-like.

And who knows, maybe I'll get a taste of how the world will be after the GUT starts getting some applications. :) I'd love to see some speculation up here! ;) ( )

When I summarise what's in "Equations Of Life", I realise I should be raving about how good this book is.

How can I resist a story about a Russian street punk turned physics genius, living under a false identity in a post-apocalyptic Britain where only London has survived, who, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, gives in to impulse and rescues a young Japanese woman from kidnappers, almost gets himself killed, gets rescued by an gun-toting, armour-wearing nun, suffers heart failure and on being revived, discovered that the father of the woman he rescued runs the London Yakuza?

"Equations Of Life" has smart physicists, a young Japanese girl who wields a Katana, a psychopathic, schizophrenic AI, a very tall, very fit, very dangerous, nineteen year old nun, and an ex-criminal hero whose conscience my just get him killed - again.

And yet, I'm hesitating to buy the second book in the trilogy. Somehow, I never really connected with our hero or his plight. I felt as if I were in a video game. It was novel and often exciting but it never truly felt real. ( )