Apex

Executive Summary: This series has been a fortuitous discovery, and Mr. Naam does an excellent job bringing it to a satisfying conclusion.

Full Review
This series is yet another reason I'm glad I found Goodreads. I might never have discovered it otherwise.

The fact that I read this book, rather than waiting for the audio book to come out should be a good indication as to how I excited I was for it. My reading time is precious and my reading speed poor. I made sure to clear my schedule so I'd be able to jump right into this on release day.

The book starts with a bang. Literally. It pulls you right in and your off and running. Unfortunately I found it got a bit bogged down in the middle due to many additional POVs and sub plots. I struggled a bit, and my reading pace slowed down. This wasn't helped by a weekend trip, which is often when I do most of my reading.

Thankfully Mr. Naam does a good job tying all of these stories together in a meaningful way. The last 20% or so was impossible to put down and I devoured it at a record pace.

Apart from the pacing issues in the middle, my main complaint remains the same as for the previous books. I feel like the side effects of Nexus are completely neglected. This isn't “hard” sci-fi by any means, but Mr. Naam does a great job of keeping things in the realm of plausibility.

I was excited to see some mention that the long term effects of the drug were going to be studied, but then nothing else was mentioned, and the concept was never explored. I struggle with the idea that apart from the variance during the initial “calibration” phase there is no difference from person to person and the drug and Operating System just seems to work flawlessly for everyone.

Is this due to the Operating System being able to handle difference in brain chemistry? We see differences in capabilities of people who were exposed to the drug while their brains are still developing. Young children do better than adults, but are still not as adapt as those children exposed in the womb.

Too much detail would have likely bogged the story down, but I hope if Mr. Naam revisits this world in a future novel these ideas are explored in greater detail.

That said, much like the other books in this series, this book is a lot of fun that leaves you thinking about it long after you put it down. I wasn't really sure how things would end up, but I think it was done in such a way that I'd be content if this was the last book about Nexus Mr. Naam wrote.

The characters are excellent as in the previous novels. Mr. Naam offers a variety of ideas and opinions through a diverse and interesting cast of characters, where even the minor characters feel well developed.

Rangan's story ended up being the one I was most interested in. This was followed closely by Yuguo. I guess because they were the closest to the various protests going on, this put them on the “front lines” so to speak.

Sadly, much like the last novel, I found Sam to be a bit underutilized. This is likely a result of all the new POVs added. That isn't to say this book is hurting for female characters however. I especially enjoyed the addition of Carolyn Pryce, who plays a prominent role throughout the novel.

And of course, Feng continues to be a favorite, adding some great humor into what is often a dark story.

After reading this series, I will definitely be on the lookout for Mr. Naam's next book. If you're looking for something new and different, you should really give this series a look.