Charlie
I really enjoyed the first 85% of this book. The writing was short and clipped, which created a sense of ever-present stress. Considering that this is the way the people in this book live, it was a smart way to write. The story was engaging and believable. I mean, a world driven by consumerist demands in which people lose all sense of worth (not to mention jobs) because of the take over of AI? Throw in constant worries about climate, air quality, and over-use of the Internet and you've got a speculative fiction book that's on target for today.
Sadly, the end of the book was a dud. It just stopped. Things were left unanswered and issues were resolved without any clarity as to how. They just were. I read some of the interview with the author in the back of the book and she thinks she does that in all her books to work with her audience. If all her books end like this though, she's not working with us, she's giving up. It's like she felt bored with the resolution so just skipped building that part. It's unfortunate. You can leave things unclear and up to readers' imaginations and that can work really well. But you gotta put effort in to that.
Still, good world building and engaging writing till that last 15%. And it's short, so it didn't feel like I was wasting time.
I really enjoyed the first 85% of this book. The writing was short and clipped, which created a sense of ever-present stress. Considering that this is the way the people in this book live, it was a smart way to write. The story was engaging and believable. I mean, a world driven by consumerist demands in which people lose all sense of worth (not to mention jobs) because of the take over of AI? Throw in constant worries about climate, air quality, and over-use of the Internet and you've got a speculative fiction book that's on target for today.
Sadly, the end of the book was a dud. It just stopped. Things were left unanswered and issues were resolved without any clarity as to how. They just were. I read some of the interview with the author in the back of the book and she thinks she does that in all her books to work with her audience. If all her books end like this though, she's not working with us, she's giving up. It's like she felt bored with the resolution so just skipped building that part. It's unfortunate. You can leave things unclear and up to readers' imaginations and that can work really well. But you gotta put effort in to that.
Still, good world building and engaging writing till that last 15%. And it's short, so it didn't feel like I was wasting time.