Daniel Verastiqui

The premise of this book - the idea behind the city-state of Easton - was pretty cool. I feel like this is the kind of book I'd have loved reading when I was about fourteen. It has a cool science-fantasy theme going, good-for-nothing government agents, and more. As an adult I appreciated the way it depicted the complete irrationality and melodrama of teenage love (I don't know if it was trying to or not, though). I have to say that some of the characters were better than others, and I was really disappointed with the trotting out of the "predatory lesbian" trope. Aside from that I think the teenage characters were very thoroughly teenage, to such an extent that I couldn't help but feel second-hand embarrassment for some of them (ahem, Rosalia).

I'm also not totally sure who the intended audience was. When I first opened it on my Kindle, the blurb had a section that went along the lines of "THIS IS AN ADULT BOOK WITH ADULT THEMES FOR ADULTS," but thematically it was a pretty typical coming-of-age YA kind of a book, with very teenage characters who were not at all "mature beyond their years". It just had lots of sex scenes in it. And really, what problem is there with teens reading that? The fanfiction they put out suggests they're pretty well acquainted with the idea. So, I would recommend the book to teens ahead of adults. The setting is really cool and deserves to be experienced, but I feel like the plot would appeal more to people younger than me.… (meer)

This book surprised me by being much better than I thought at first. The personality portraits are rather basic, and it seems to start slowly, but after a good while I realized that this is a novel of ideas - all about the concept of veneer, what it means, what it could mean in augmented reality, what people would be like if they could augment reality - particularly the look of their own faces & bodies - what lies behind the veneer - all taken to an extreme slowly and by degrees. By the end, I was rather impressed, and I really enjoyed myself along the way. And by the end, I understood that the slow start was completely necessary for readers to understand later how completely everybody had been played.… (meer)

I received a free copy of this book through Goodreads: First Reads.

I really enjoyed Veneer quite a bit. It was very original and Daniel Verastiqui has created a realistic and very futuristic setting for the story. The characters really came alive due to Verastiqui's eloquent writing and apparent insight into the minds of teenagers.

The book isn't a casual read but it's well worth learning the lingo used in the book because it's a very compelling story. As a cautionary tale for what might come in our future, it's chilling---but also hopeful since having the Veneer technology would be really wonderful--and dangerous in the wrong hands. Technology often presents a double edged sword.

There's violence in this book and it's a testament to Verastiqui's skills that you feel so bad for the victims. The violent scenes are used to demonstrate the dangers of this future world and it works. You really wonder whether it's better to buy-in or scram and go back to nature.

This is an incredible book, and the paperback version has an amazing cover. I love the graphic design. It's a true work of art.… (meer)