Simon MacDonald

Considering this was written in 1975, Brunner's knack for prescient writing predicts the Internet, smartphones, and many of the Computing tools we now take for granted. Not much in the way of a plot, and at times, disjointed, but nonetheless awesome.

Hmmm. Well, ok.
Can't say anymore without spoilers.

3.5. Good fun. Shades of Iain M Banks in the writing.

4/5 Probably. This was a long read and at times very hard work. I struggled between periods of boredom and excitement trying to get to grips with the multiple layers, of often, very dense prose. I'm still not sure if the portrayed reality of the story is what I think.
A second read? Maybe, but not yet.

Good fun space opera tosh. Enjoyable, but no thought required!

A well written and complex story, but for some reason I found it oddly disturbing.

Given up at 25% through the book. There is nothing original or interesting about the story. A clichéd hero vs villain super hero narrative , that was so empty of any depth of character, or detail that I had to check that it wasn't targeted at pre-teens.

Excellent

Good fun stuff! However, definitely from the school of writing where ‘with one tremendous leap the hero sprang free'

Started a 4, ended a 3.5

The book was written nearly 50 years ago, with the locus of the story set around this time era. It depicts a US society divided by race, colour, and to lesser extent religion. Commercialism controls the media, and the sale of arms and weapons to the public is rampant, and controlled by a Mafia-like organisation. Civil unrest is widespread, and violence is worsening. The President is publicity seeking fool.
John Brunner must have been prescient.

An exhausting read, but worth the effort. Plots, sub plots, political shenanigans, philosophy, religion, new gods, Ancient Greek gods, super science, sex, love, and a story narrator who is self-admitedly insane. Fantastic stuff. Now I just have to wait until 2019 for the final part.

Multi-layered, frustrating, annoying, intelligent - brilliant!

A stunning novel with incredible world-building. The book positively pulses with ideas and plots. I originally thought the writing style - 18th century philosophical - would irritate me, but to my surprise I found it interesting, particularly where the narrator converses with the reader.
I did have some initial frustration with the fluid use of if gender descriptors, particularly when the narrator changes his mind about whether a particular person is a gender neutral ‘they', in one Chapter, but then refers to them later as both ‘she', and then ‘he'. I decided to just ignore this and enjoy the story. :)

Didn't do it for me.

Hmmm. A decent story, following multiple characters, in an interesting locale. However there were sections of excessive wordage in the book that I found virtually unreadable. Despite that I enjoyed the book.

Two books, definitely of the time they were written. I was OK with them, until near the end of the second book, I lost the plot, when, inexplicably, the spider aliens entered the story.

Conflicted views on this book. The majority was great; other parts, not so much. Equal feelings of enjoyment and irritation. So 3.5.

Jo Nesbo still on form. Dark, sadistic, and complex. A great read.

A depressing story. The AI nilhistic opinion of (the now extinct) human race fills me with a sense of foreboding. Very well written, but I had to work at enjoying it.

I can't decide if this is absolute rubbish or an amusing SF spoof. It has a feel of Hitchhikers, but not as well written.

An enjoyable trilogy, with great ideas. Some of the political machinations were a little tedious and overly detailed.

An older and slightly wearier Jack Reacher up to his usual stuff. So. About the size of his fists. At one point described as the size of a chicken and another the size of a small turkey, and the right fist is bigger than his left. Is the the left a chicken and the right a turkey?

I really enjoyed this book. A fast paced hard SF crime thriller. Bring on his next book!

An interesting story, but none of the characters gelled with me. I felt that there was something missing. Beautifully written, but a little superficial.