cyberpunk, mystery, thriller ( )

My God, Tom Sweterlitsch, where have you been all my life?

So this is the second novel I've read, after completely falling in love with The Gone World.

Sweterlitsch challenges you as a reader. His stories, at their base, are murder mysteries. But they are so much more than that. They are intelligent science fiction, they are heartbreaking character studies, and in this case, it's also a reflection on the madness and beauty of memory, and whether holding on makes you stronger or weaker.

I won't give anything away, as this is a full story that needs to be experienced. But it's absolutely incredible. ( )

Was this a good book? It depends.

Were the characters compelling? Yes.
Was the story interesting? Yes.
Did it keep my attention? Yes.
Was it well written? Very much so.

Did I enjoy it? Hell no. This book was very difficult to get through, and I didn't enjoy it at all. I would never read this book a second time, even if I was paid to. That being said, Mr. Sweterlitsch wrote a very good book and his world building is fascinating. I'd say this is a much harder to read version of William Gibson. ( )

I had such a hard time trying to unravel the main focus of this book, was it dystopic, was it a love story, was it a mystery, was it just badly written? The author seemed to throw every seed of an idea he'd ever had into these pages, and I kept hoping somewhere along the line one of them would start multiplying and grow into something cohesive, but that unfortunately never happened.

Instead I was left feeling like I wasted a great deal of time on a book that never really explained itself. Now who's fault is that? Mine of course, but I still can't help feeling annoyed that I did that, and I guess my review reflects that!! ( )

It took me a few times to get through the rough start of this book, and to piece together where the story was going. While the setting and the action appealed to me (a librarian), I felt the overwhelming sadness of an obsessed character searching through the corpse of the past. Sadly, I ended up not finishing the book after several attempts.