Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Infoquake (The Jump 225 Trilogy #1)

by David Louis Edelman (Goodreads Author)

3.67 of 5 stars 3.67 · rating details · 708 ratings · 105 reviews

How far should you go to make a profit?

Infoquake, the debut novel by David Louis Edelman, takes speculative fiction into alien territory: the corporate boardroom of the far future. It's a stunning trip through the trenches of a technological war fought with product demos, press releases, and sales pitches.

Natch is a master of bio/logics, the programming of the human body....more

Paperback, 421 pages

Published July 5th 2006 by Pyr (first published July 1st 2006)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

Sword and Laser Sci-Fi list

120th out of 257 books — 681 voters

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester

Best SF Books that weren't Nominated for Hugo or Nebula

38th out of 109 books — 181 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 1,626)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Aug 31, 2008 Eoghann Irving rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

A remarkable work of future world building. The biotech is very convincing as is the future history that Edelman has constructed. The world may in fact be the most complex and compelling character in the book.

It's surprisingly engrossing for a novel in which (when you boil it down) relatively few things actually happen. I spent most of the time waiting for the inevitable revelation of what was really going on and I had to keep reading to find out.

Hard to avoid the feeling that the whole thing is...more

3 likes · like · see review

Jul 26, 2007 Jason Pettus rated it 4 of 5 stars

(Much longer full review can be found at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)

Regular readers of the CCLaP website know that I am a fan of science-fiction; and when it comes to what I like most about the genre, I have to admit that for me it mostly boils down to the concepts, to the grand ideas on display versus the author's writing style or other technical issues. And this of course is something else that regular readers already know, that I see the actual mechan...more (Much longer full review can be found at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)

Regular readers of the CCLaP website know that I am a fan of science-fiction; and when it comes to what I like most about the genre, I have to admit that for me it mostly boils down to the concepts, to the grand ideas on display versus the author's writing style or other technical issues. And this of course is something else that regular readers already know, that I see the actual mechanics of writing (grammar, style, plot, etc) as fairly pedestrian topics, the least important part of what makes a writer good or not; since in my opinion it's the one thing about writing that literally anyone can master given enough practice and/or education, versus things like grand concepts and compelling characters that a person is either born with an ability to conjure or not.

It's something to keep in mind while reading through Infoquake, the first novel by Washington-DC web developer David Louis Edelman, which last year became not only a surprise sleeper hit but also a surprise Campbell Award nominee; because make no mistake, some of the ideas Edelman bandies about here are insanely great enough to make your head pop right off your neck, even as he displays only a basic mastery at this point over the actual mechanics of writing a novel, a fact that will drive heavy readers of so-called "literary fiction" a little crazy. It is ultimately a very good example of something I've said here before about genre work, which is what makes genre work both loved and reviled by most; that it delivers in spades everything a lover of science-fiction wants in a great science-fiction novel, but simply never transcends that and into the world of general interest, like the absolute cream of the crop of genre work does. It's a great novel to be sure, an infinitely smart page-turner that will have your brain spinning for days afterwards; but it's obvious that Edelman is still trying to find his mature voice as a writer, something that lovers of great books need to be warned of before diving in.

In fact...(less)

5 likes · like · see review

Oct 31, 2012 Iosephus rated it 3 of 5 stars

Infoquake is set in a future where the human body is entirely programmable. Everyone has nanomachines in their bodies, and the market for human programs (called bio/logic in the novel) is immensely profitable. The story centers around Natch and his plot to take his nascent bio/logic corporation to the top of the big leagues.

Sadly, the author's narration is extremely inconsistent. Events and organizations are mentioned without much explanation, as if those reading were a part of the world, but th...more

1 like · like · see review

Jun 28, 2009 Chris rated it 2 of 5 stars

Infoquake has a few interesting ideas - "fiefcorps" as the future of entrepreneurial ventures, "bio/logics" software paired up with nanotech to help people modify or amplify their bodily functions, vestigial government entities reduced to marketing their sign-on promotions and benefits packages to attract clientele. The majority of the novel seems to be a rather long read with little actual content, however.

The main character is the largest problem for the author, as he tries to portray some so...more Infoquake has a few interesting ideas - "fiefcorps" as the future of entrepreneurial ventures, "bio/logics" software paired up with nanotech to help people modify or amplify their bodily functions, vestigial government entities reduced to marketing their sign-on promotions and benefits packages to attract clientele. The majority of the novel seems to be a rather long read with little actual content, however.

The main character is the largest problem for the author, as he tries to portray some sort of genius anti-hero and explain how he came to be such an ambitious, morally ambiguous player... however the author's biggest problem is, and continues to be, providing some sort of rationale for why the reader should care. More could have been done with the secondary characters and why they choose to hang around with and work for this emotionally immature tyrant, and this would have possibly shown him to be not necessarily more likable, but maybe worthy of being concerned for.

The plot drags until the end, being a mostly empty tale illustrating the main character's ambitions and sort of how he came to be in the position he's in. Towards the end of the novel, the action picks up and it appears as if something interesting is actually going to happen - and then the main character is dropped out of most of the end sequence with little explanation, as a teaser to further novels I suppose.

I had a hard time grasping what exactly the author was trying to say with this novel, unless maybe it was all a lead-up to the one bit of wisdom at the end that actually stuck out from the rest of the novel, perhaps because it was the clearest, truest statement of a goal or ideal in the entire book:

You see this happen every day. A business triumphs over its rivals and gets stronger. Others become jealous and resentful. Eventually, the company's enemies conspire together to bring it down, or it rots from within. It's the same thing that happens with animals...plans...trees. Why? Because there's some mystical force guiding our actions? No, because too much power concentrated in one place creates stasis. And stasis is anathema to a universe that desires constant motion and change. (379)

Overall Infoquake is well-written, but the characters, plot, and timing could use another revision.

06/14/09 CSL(less)

2 likes · like · see review

May 10, 2009 Paul rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sciencefictionfantasy

This book takes place many years after the collapse of civilization. A group of sentient computers called the Autonomous Minds rebelled against mankind in the Autonomous Revolt. Now, Earth is dominated by bio/logics, the science of programming the human body.

The programs have names like Eyemorph 1.0, DeMirage 24.5, Poker Face 83.4b and AntiSleepStim 124.7. The average person has thousands of such programs in their bodies, courtesy of microscopic robots placed at or before birth. Natch is a maste...more

like · see review

Apr 17, 2010 Chris Wilson rated it 5 of 5 stars

If you like the writings of William Gibson or Neal Stephenson, don't overlook this book! Edelman's vision of the future is so complex and rewarding that you'll feel instantly immersed.

As this is book one in a trilogy, there is not much in the way of a grand resolution at the end. But since all three books are out now, that's not much of an issue. You really need to read all three, and by the end of this book, you'll certainly want to! Multireal and Geosynchron flesh out Edelman's world in even g...more

like · see review

Jan 11, 2011 James Williams rated it 3 of 5 stars

I read this book a couple of years ago (I think I got it roughly after the paperback dropped) and have been intending to read the other two books in the Jump 225 trilogy since then, but I never got around to it. There have always been other books on my stack.

Then, a few weeks ago, I finished Stephen Baxter's Time (or is it Manifold: Time? I'm honestly not too clear l on it) which reminded me a lot of Infoquake. So I wanted to read the rest of that series. But first, I needed to re-familiarize m...more I read this book a couple of years ago (I think I got it roughly after the paperback dropped) and have been intending to read the other two books in the Jump 225 trilogy since then, but I never got around to it. There have always been other books on my stack.

Then, a few weeks ago, I finished Stephen Baxter's Time (or is it Manifold: Time? I'm honestly not too clear l on it) which reminded me a lot of Infoquake. So I wanted to read the rest of that series. But first, I needed to re-familiarize myself with the events of the first novel. Hence, this re-read.

And a re-read is an interesting place to jump off from reviewing this book. Infoquake is set in a far future with some interesting technologies that have completely shaped the world. In my first read, I spent the first third of the book trying to figure out what everyone was talking about (the author helpfully includes a glossary at the back of the book, but I didn't find it until I was finished with it). That wasn't a problem this time around. I knew who the characters were. I knew what they were doing. And I mostly remembered how they were going to get there.

So this review doesn't come from a place of slow understanding like it would have if I'd written it the first time I wrote it. This time, I think I have a bit more appreciation for the plot and characters.

The author is a computer programmer. And the story revolves around an entrepreneur/programmer and the fantastical programs he and his compatriots build. As a programmer myself, that's a pretty fascinating hook. An exploration of how computer programs might shape the future written by someone who might know what he's talking about? Sold.

I think it delivers on that promise. "Hack the body, and the mind will follow." is printed on the front cover. So what happens when we've hacked the body completely as in the world of Infoquake? The author concludes that we'll be still eat and sleep make love: we'll just do it better. I can't disagree.

Story-wise, I guess you could describe this as a "techno-thriller". Or, as the author puts it on his website, "Dune meets the Wall Street Journal". It's apt. It's a fun story with lots of twists and turns which you can probably see coming, but still provide an entertaining journey.

The computer-y ideas driving the plot are more interesting than the plot itself, though. And the story-telling is rough in some places. But I think that's the sort of thing that the author will grow into as he puts more books under his belt.

As it is, though, I have no real complaints. (less)

1 like · like · see review

May 29, 2010 Betsey rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: scifi, scifi-nearfuture

I agree with other reviewers who say that this book had a lot of interesting ideas, but that they weren't explored or even necessarily explained. I remember seeing Neal Stephenson say that in every science fiction (though he may have said speculative, ugh) you get to a point where the author just does a bunch of hand waving to make the science work. The whole basis of this book, the Data Sea and OCHRE devices, are hand waved. So it's a little funky to be reading a book based entirely on hypothes...more

like · see review

Nov 29, 2008 Wendy rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, read-or-reread-in-08

I just finished Infoquake and am trying to decide how I feel about it. On the one hand, it has a very unique worldview, which is what got me interested in the first place. The book is set in a futuristic world where programmers work on code for tiny, ability-enhancing machines inside the human body. The book is filled with a ton of other ideas which were often PKD-like in their presentation - mentioned with limited explanation, very interesting in their own right, yet relegated to lesser importa...more

1 like · like · see review

Jul 31, 2010 Ryun rated it 4 of 5 stars

Movie money is creating a dark place in the science fiction publishing world. While this cash allows writers to quit their day jobs and write full time, it has also inspired a terrible rash of “cinematic” science fiction that isn’t really science fiction at all. Pyr Books has emerged as the antidote to this sickness, and the latest example of this is David Louis Edelman’s INFOQUAKE.

INFOQUAKE is a triumph of speculation. Edelman has foreseen a nanotech future of warring corporations and stock mar...more

like · see review

Apr 27, 2010 Aaron rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-in-2010

I would give this three and a half stars, if that were an option. A very well-thought out world with interesting characters. An exciting read, even though it is not an action/adventure. The story really is about a team of programers releasing revolutionary (indeed, life changing) software. The book is chock full of cool ideas, although I think I missed some of them since I am not a software programer. I can't give the book a full four stars, however, with its many "jumps" in narrative focus and...more

like · see review

Jul 15, 2012 Army of Penguins rated it 3 of 5 stars

I liked this book. No hate, but also no love.

The good: Impressive worldbuilding! The author clearly did a lot of work coming up with the history of this future society, and the tech feels believable most of the time.

The bad: The protagonist. At best, I can't relate to him and don't care about his fate. At worst, I want to punch him in the face. The secondary characters are more likable, but they unfortunately don't get a chance to really develop next to the jerk/idiot who is our protagonist.

The...more

like · see review

Jul 22, 2011 Jeff Horowitz rated it 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book , and in fact the entire trilogy. The world is extremely well articulated; the characters are real - they have flaws, secrets and depth. The concept is that (most) humans are literally networked and are running software in their brains & bodies for support/convenience/pleasure. The protagonist is the owner of a company that is a producer of software for this market, and the story over the trilogy is regarding the development and release of a paradigm changing softw...more

like · see review

Nov 06, 2009 Richard rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi

It was a great book into the world of computing.

The beginning of the book was kind of odd and the main character seems kind of immature... and kind of annoying. The author probably set it up that way, but it's hard to get into the story when you can't empathize with the character.

I believe that the author has a lot of ideas in the book, however, they are just alluded to and not really flushed out. Also, the idea of the "multi-real" concept seems also kind of slow in the bake.

Anyway, I'll read th...more

like · see review

Apr 29, 2012 Lupita S-O'brien rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Seamas O'Brien

Recommended to Lupita by: Chirag Shah (inderectly through ASIS&T)

Great read about the life of corporate entrepreneurial programmers. It brings in corporations and belief systems incarnate as guild type creeds. Although the the world of the fiefcorp's has technology that extends that of minority report and connects programs and code to human nervous systems, it does not extend economics. I have no idea how this world sustains itself. Of course I'm not sure how our world will sustain itself economically in the near future either, much less in the far future.

Al...more

like · see review

Mar 31, 2010 Mark rated it 4 of 5 stars

If you're looking for an excellent cyberpunk novel, try this one. I think a number of fans of that type of literature enjoy appendices (if that's possible, in a nerdy sort of way), and this book doesn't disappoint - it really helps to read them first. I'm looking forward to reading the next two parts of the trilogy. I was also surprised to find that an awful lot of the ideas are very closely related to Negroponte's "Being Digital", another book I finished recently. The difference is that one is...more

like · see review

Jan 09, 2013 Marta rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: my-bookshelf, speculative-fiction

David Louis Edelman, programista z Kalifornii, zadebiutował w 2008 roku powieścią „Infoszok”, pierwszą częścią trylogii „Skok 225”. Nie jest to książka ani do końca dobra, ani też całkowicie kiepska; z potencjałem i kilkoma ciekawie zarysowanymi koncepcjami, a zarazem niewystarczająco doszlifowana i naznaczona piętnem zarówno tomu otwierającego cykl, jak i pierwszego dokonania literackiego autora.

Zaczyna się całkiem obiecująco, najmocniejszymi punktami, jakie oferuje czytelnikom proza Edelmana....more David Louis Edelman, programista z Kalifornii, zadebiutował w 2008 roku powieścią „Infoszok”, pierwszą częścią trylogii „Skok 225”. Nie jest to książka ani do końca dobra, ani też całkowicie kiepska; z potencjałem i kilkoma ciekawie zarysowanymi koncepcjami, a zarazem niewystarczająco doszlifowana i naznaczona piętnem zarówno tomu otwierającego cykl, jak i pierwszego dokonania literackiego autora.

Zaczyna się całkiem obiecująco, najmocniejszymi punktami, jakie oferuje czytelnikom proza Edelmana. Oto świat dość odległej przyszłości, w której króluje bio/logika, nauka z pogranicza genetyki i informatyki, de facto rządząca życiem większości społeczeństwa. Każdy mieszkaniec Ziemi bądź jej kolonii jest w mniejszym lub większym stopniu zmodyfikowany dzięki całej gamie dostępnego oprogramowania, a zajmujące się tworzeniem kolejnych algorytmów feudokorporacje walczą o coraz to nowych klientów i wyższą pozycję w prestiżowym rankingu Primo.

Uniwersum kreowane przez Edelmana jest bogate, dysponuje obszerną historią i szeregiem technologicznych wynalazków. Łączy w sobie cechy dystopii i cyberpunka, a poruszana przez autora problematyka zahacza nieśmiało o kwestię człowieczeństwa zagubioną w zalewie technicznych nowinek. Intryguje także główny bohater, Natch, jeden z mistrzów coraz bardziej znaczącego feudokorpu. To dość antypatyczna postać, nieco socjopatyczna, z determinacją dążąca do wyznaczonego celu, która otaczających ją ludzi często traktuje instrumentalnie. Autorowi udało się wprowadzić do charakterystyki Natcha dwuznaczności, uzasadnić część z jego zachowań, dzięki czemu czytelnik zaczyna kibicować temu antybohaterowi. W tym momencie pojawia się jednak niewprawnie prowadzona, jednowątkowa fabuła — rozrzedzona ponad miarę i dość nijaka.

Nie da się więc ukryć, że autor zaprezentował interesujące pomysły jeśli chodzi o świat przedstawiony i postać protagonisty, ale nie do końca udało mu się je wykorzystać. Rozpoczyna mocnym wprowadzeniem, wraz z kolejnymi rozdziałami akcja jednak rozmywa się, miast przyspieszać. Co gorsza, David Louis Edelman nie zalicza się w poczet wirtuozów pióra. Jego styl jest bardzo prosty, wręcz łopatologiczny, przez co powieść czyta się szybko, ale przywodzi to na myśl pośpieszne łykane zmielonej papki. Do tego dochodzi niezbyt staranna korekta polskiego wydania.

„Infoszok” to tak naprawdę książka-wstęp. Tom nie tworzy zamkniętej całości, jest jedynie preludium trylogii, i to preludium przegadanym, jak gdyby autor na siłę rozwlekał to, co ma do zaprezentowania, by materiału wystarczyło na trzy książki. A szkoda — zarówno opowieść, jak i konstrukcja świata czy bohaterów mają w sobie potencjał, ale kuleje ich niedoszlifowana realizacja. Edelman pozostawia czytelnika swego debiutanckiego utworu z uczuciem zawodu i niedosytu — odbiorca przeczytał książkę, ale tak naprawdę niczego się z niej nie dowiedział i musi cierpliwie czekać na kontynuację, mając nadzieję, że ta do czegoś konkretnego wreszcie doprowadzi.

---
Zarówno tę recenzję, jak i wiele innych tekstów znajdziecie na moim blogu: http://oceansoul.waw.pl/ Serdecznie zapraszam!(less)

like · see review

Jul 11, 2012 Daniel Roy rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sf

Bleh. And this one had so much promise. The setting is fantastic: it's a futuristic world of cutthroat corporations, and there are some sort of nano-machines in everyone's blood that allows them to run programs on their very body. It's like a software version of cyberpunk augmentations. And there's Primo's, kind of like a futuristic app store, and there's Natch, a rebel CEO who hungers for the top spot.

Sounds pretty great, right? Unfortunately, this book is the poster child for novels not living...more

1 like · like · see review

Oct 24, 2011 Nigel rated it 4 of 5 stars

There’s nothing like a slick, smart, well-written science fiction thriller to set the mind buzzing and racing with strange new ideas and brilliant, imaginative, logical leaps into the future. The reader is plunged into a world that is utterly strange and yet oddly familiar, as the old human passions and drives and desires play their old games in this future funhouse.

The future funhouse of Infoquake, gives us a world where technology is literally built into people, turning them into walking iP...more

like · see review

Jun 14, 2010 Steve rated it 3 of 5 stars

Fairly interesting as long as you're at least something of a science fiction fan.

It's set at least five or six hundred years in the future and has a detailed backstory. So much so, in fact, that there's actually a glossary and timeline at the back of the book. On the one hand, it's cool that Edelman's built such a detailed world from the ground up. On the other hand, it makes it a little harder for the reader to relate to the characters, since the experiences of their lives are so foreign to our...more

like · see review

Jun 22, 2010 Tensy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

This is an unusual science fiction book that reads more like a Wall Street memoir. Very detailed world that describes a post-apocalyptic future where bio/logics programs run our bodies. Interesting characters which are multi-dimensional and flawed, yet you keep rooting for them to succeed. The plot resonates with issues we are now confronting about uncontrolled greed in business, politics and unchecked technological advances, and what this means for humanity as a whole. This book was written in...more

like · see review

Apr 19, 2009 Paul rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Bursting with ideas, set in an undefined medium term science fiction future, in some ways, Infoquake, a first novel by David Louis Edelman, is very much in the classic mode of science fiction. It also has strong elements of the corporate thriller, post-cyberpunk and even post-failed-singularity science fiction.

Oh, and it all takes in a hypercapitalist future.

Some several hundred years after some very bad history for humanity, the world of Infoquake is at once very familiar, with its undeniably...more Bursting with ideas, set in an undefined medium term science fiction future, in some ways, Infoquake, a first novel by David Louis Edelman, is very much in the classic mode of science fiction. It also has strong elements of the corporate thriller, post-cyberpunk and even post-failed-singularity science fiction.

Oh, and it all takes in a hypercapitalist future.

Some several hundred years after some very bad history for humanity, the world of Infoquake is at once very familiar, with its undeniably human characters, and at the same time, has that alien future feeling that allows a SF reader to dive in and explore a futuristic world. The action centers around Natch. He runs a corporation which develops bio/logics, programs that can hack the human body, ones perceptions, abilities, strengths.

Flashbacks in the novel allow us to see how this ruthless and indefatigable competitor was molded into the character we see. Events bring Natch into contact with Margaret Surina, whose family and ancestors are very much responsible for the re-welding together of society after that bad history several centuries back. Margaret has some more and new revolutionary technology, but in this hypercapitalist cutthroat world, she turns to Natch as one of the few people she can trust to deploy and use this technology: Multireal.

And thus hangs a tale.

This world of human-altering software infuses and changes the nature of society, with Edelman following through the implications of how this sort of technology would alter society. We get to see several different types of technology at play here, as well, including a method of virtual porting to other places which makes Second Life look like a primitive toy.

There is a lot going on in this world, and its clear that Edelman had a lot of fun writing this book. There are the titular Infoquakes themselves, for example, the ultimate and deadly crash of the world's equivalent of the Internet, which complicate the plans Natch has set in motion. The novel leaves for sequels what these Infoquakes might actually be and what they mean. The corporate and economic politics in this world are timely. Like the best science fiction, it holds up a mirror to the present by showing an extreme version in the future.

It's difficult to sum up this complex world, but perhaps if I describe it as "Wall Street (the movie) meets Vernor Vinge", I can come close to capturing what the characters and the world is like.

I am surprised that this is Edelman's first novel. It's clear to me that he's been thinking about and working out this universe for quite some time (there are extensive appendices in the back of the novel).

This is definitely not a first novel for those who have never read SF before. Like an old tagline for a collection of Greg Egan's stories, Infoquake is "science fiction for science fiction fans." In a climate where fantasy seems ascendant over SF, and every other book in the F/SF section of the bookstore is yet another new first novel about werewolves/vampires/faeries/demons/ghosts/wendigos in the modern world, Infoquake is unabashedly straight up 200 proof science fiction.

I look forward to reading the second and third volumes of the trilogy. If anything, like when I read Charles Stross' Singularity Sky, I suspect that this first volume is really a novel that Edelman wrote so that he could get himself, and the reader, ready to read the *real* story that he wants to tell.(less)

like · see review

Sep 25, 2010 Ben Babcock rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: via-io9, 2010-read, posthuman, science-fiction, owned

Imagine, if you will, that your body was home to thousands of nanotechnological devices. These devices are the hardware platform for software that controls anything from your heartbeat to your eye colour—the miraculous field known as bio/logics. With the right programming, you can enhance your senses, expand your memory, or cripple your body.

What if Apple decided which bio/logics programs you could run in your body?

That's the question I couldn't get out of my mind as I read Infoquake. David Loui...more

like · see review

Jun 29, 2012 Dennis Fischman rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

My favorite movie reviewers at the Video Hound have a system. They rate movies not in some absolute terms--how would you compare Blade Runner, The Lion in Winter, and Young Frankenstein?--but against others of the same type or genre.

If Goodreads had a similar system, I'd give Infoquake 4-5 stars in the "hard science fiction" category. Imagine that the planet had got so dependent on artificially intelligent machines that they started to rule our lives. Then people revolted and reacted so hard aga...more

like · see review

Aug 04, 2008 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sf

A relatively fast-paced far-future science fiction tale that some are going to feel the need to pigeon-hole into a genre with the suffix "-punk."

Edelman does several things right here: his technology is original and flavorful (though I found its capabilities and limitations somewhat disbelief-stretching), his story moves quickly, and his characters are involved in trying to sell a product on a fast-paced market, rather than descending to gunplay to keep the excitement up.

On the other hand, the w...more

like · see review

Jun 08, 2010 Agrimorfee rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Neal Stephenson readers, Technology business wonks

Interesting scifi about what our civilization will be like post-Internet, hundreds of years from now: a society where nanotechnology handles most human needs for well-being, where most social interactions are accomplished via virtual reality, and the business of computer technology takes on astronomically wieghty proportions. It's in the vein of Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash" and "Diamond Age", but nowhere nearly as funny. This is Part 1 of a proposed trilogy, so be forewarned that the plot mach...more

like · see review

Apr 10, 2010 David rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own

A fresh and exciting branch on the cyberpunk tree.

Edelman draws the reader into the world of Natch, Jara, Horvil and his many enemies with such ease that it is easy to imagine the wonders of a Bio/Logic, the Multi Network and even the exquisite creation of MultiReal, a collaborative technology that allows one person to create the reality that the desire while the rest of the world subconsciously agrees to it.

The protagonist, Natch, is not a nice guy. He will do anything it takes to get ahead, ta...more

like · see review

Apr 11, 2011 James rated it 3 of 5 stars

It was all right - far future cyber thriller, the moving buildings really kept throwing me out of the narrative - I mean, why would you ever build a structure that changes it's shape based on the activity of it's inhabitants, if you went through the effort of building a balcony - what possible purpose would having it extend and retract as people went out on it? If two building next to each other both wanted to expand into the same space you'd have building collisions, or someone would get squish...more

like · see review

Oct 10, 2010 Isk rated it 3 of 5 stars

Summary:
In a future after robot uprisings where bio/logics rule (biological programs to modify yourself, e.g., to enhance your night vision), Natch will do anything for his bio/logic-programming startup to succeed.

What I liked:
* The entrepreneurial spirit and startup descriptions. Edelman sounds like he knows the startup world.

What I didn't like:
* Multireal sounds really stupid and unreal.
* Juvenile prose.
* Random intermediate chapters that do nothing.
* The characters are pretty bleah.

like · see review

Sep 07, 2008 Diane rated it 3 of 5 stars

The lead character is interesting, if sometimes unlikeable. This is the story of a group [fiefcorp] trying to market a new kind of program in a world of cyber-realities where everyone lives in the Data Sea. Natch (the head) may be a borderline psycho, but his two dubordinates, Jara and Horvil, carry our sympathy.

Edelman keeps up a fast pace as they try to program the new creation, which seems mighty abstract. Still, he makes it fun, and interweaves Natch's life in the data-flow, though it's a w...more

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 54 55 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (5)

More editions...

Genres

Science Fiction

76 users

Science Fiction > Cyberpunk

13 users

Fantasy

6 users

Literature > American

5 users

Science > Technology

4 users

Science Fiction Fantasy

3 users

Speculative Fiction

2 users

Novels

2 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About David Louis Edelman

David Louis Edelman's first novel Infoquake was called "the love child of Donald Trump and Vernor Vinge" by Barnes & Noble Explorations and later named their Top SF Novel of 2006. Infoquake was also nominated for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Novel, and he has been nominated for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2008.

His second novel, MultiReal (the sequel to Inf...more

More about David Louis Edelman...

Books by David Louis Edelman

The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume Two

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Infoquake

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

title link	preview: Infoquake
avg rating	preview: Infoquake Goodreads rating: 3.67 (708 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/959166.Infoquake?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1365462929l/959166.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/959166.Infoquake?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Infoquake by David Louis Edelman[/url]

Infoquake (The Jump 225 Trilogy #1)

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website