Daniel Suarez

Damn you, Daniel Suarez! Or more appropriately: Damn you, Daniel Suarez' publisher! This book ends with almost nothing resolved. It just points to the next book, [b:Freedom (TM)|7132363|Freedom (TM) (Daemon, #2)|Daniel Suarez|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1276198151s/7132363.jpg|7394861], where (I understand from an author interview) the story really does end. Nonetheless, this is a fun thriller, comparable to a Michael Chrichton work. But like most thrillers, I would characterize it as show more "frothy": almost immediately upon finishing it, it seems insubstantial. It's like walking out of an action movie I enjoyed seeing, but knowing I won't spend a lot of time thinking about afterward. Except in Daemon's case, there are hints of an underlying sociological/philosophical viewpoint that I want to read more of. So I guess I will definitely be reading the sequel. Just not immediately. show less

Daniel Suarez takes the egalitarian utopia fantasy of the Flower Power generation and repackages it as a sadistic revolutionary wet dream in this sequel to "Daemon" which pits slackers against plutocrats while a string of computer code calls the shots. How much you enjoy this story depends on how much you're willing to swallow, so here's a little quiz: do you believe that all things blue collar working class are GOOD and all things white collar corporate are BAD? Are you willing to accept show more ludicrous narrative gimmicks like scimitar-wielding ninja motorcycles and villains so cartoonish they should be twirling their (virtual) moustaches? Do you believe "the end justifies the means" no matter what? Was chairman Mao just a poor misunderstood visionary? If you answered "yes" to any of the above then give it a shot. Personally my head still hurts from all the eye-rolling. show less

Kill Decision is a non-stop action thriller featuring advanced technology and an all too plausible near future scenario. This book drops you right in the middle of the action with a high-tech drone attack and just keeps going. The first part of the book contains a lot of information on high-tech warfare and some background science, which was as fascinating as the action sequences. Once this information is established, the action comes even faster in an almost non-stop ride to the finish.

This show more is a classic page-turner that doesn’t let you go until you’ve reached the end. Author Daniel Suarez does a great job making you feel that no one and nowhere is safe. This fuels the sense of danger and excitement. Paranoia, after all, is just smart when everyone really is out to get you.

The heroes are convincing and dedicated while the bad guys are nebulous and operate in shadow. You could nit-pick on some characterization which isn’t really all that deep, but the concepts and the action are what this novel is about and it is more than worth it. If you like high-adrenaline action that doesn’t let up paired with plausible and frightening technology development, you are going to love this book. Highly recommended. show less

This book was a little slow to get into, but once I got hooked, I really did get hooked.

There were a number of things I liked about this book:
- I like the premise. Asteroid mining, not Martian colonization, ought to be our goal. The author argues this forcefully. It's worth thinking about, anyway.
- I think the way it comes about in this story is looking increasingly plausible from a political point of view. The breakthrough doesn't come from a massive Apollo-like government effort (e.g., the show more Martian); it comes from eccentric billionaires lying and doing underhanded deals and generally working around governments instead of with them. Not surprisingly, the underhanded deals come back and bite them.
- The characters are moderately interesting, and you come to admire their heroism, determination, and loyalty.

What made this book a slow start was that it took a long time for the protagonist to get through basic training. It starts off like a lot of sci-fi thrillers in bootcamp (I guess Starship Troopers showed how to do it well, and everyone's copied it since then). It's not actually bootcamp, since this isn't a military thriller, but it sure is a lot like it. It's not a bad bootcamp story, actually, and there's a few surprises in there to keep it interesting. The main effect is that you grow to respect the protagonist and his friends more and more.

But for me the book became much more interesting when they finally got out into space. The astronauts wrestle with equipment failures and the unknowns of space, in the best tradition of hard sci fi, where by definition the drama comes because of the science; if you take away the science, you take away the story. This book remains firmly within the realm of plausibility, in the same way that The Martian remains entirely plausible without invoking ESP, mind powers, magical aliens, or any of the rest of those things that blur the line between science fiction and fantasy. I suppose it's not *entirely* hard sci fi in that there's a bit of political drama too, which I thought was equally plausible and decently well done. show less