Edelman has created a fully detailed world that's both as imaginative as Dune and as real as today's Wall Street Journal in this stunning trip thro...
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Aug 31, 2008
Eoghann
rated it: 
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 More...
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 More...
Jul 26, 2007
Jason
rated it:
(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 a More...
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 a More...
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Jun 28, 2009
Chris
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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 More...
The main character is the largest problem for the author More...
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May 10, 2009
Paul
rated it:
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. Natc More...
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. Natc More...
Apr 17, 2010
Chris
rated it: 
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 More...
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 More...
Jan 11, 2011
James
rated it: 
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-fam More...
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-fam More...
May 29, 2010
Betsey
rated it:
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 hypo
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Nov 29, 2008
Wendy
rated it:
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
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Jul 31, 2010
Ryun
rated it:
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 a More...
INFOQUAKE is a triumph of speculation. Edelman has foreseen a nanotech future of warring corporations a More...
Apr 27, 2010
Aaron
rated it:
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 narra
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Jul 22, 2011
Jeff
rated it:
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 softwa
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Nov 06, 2009
Richard
rated it:
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 s More...
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 s More...
Mar 31, 2010
Mark
rated it:
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 i
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Oct 24, 2011
Nigel
rated it:
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 int More...
The future funhouse of Infoquake, gives us a world where technology is literally built into people, turning them int More...
Jun 15, 2010
Steve
rated it:
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 fo More...
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 fo More...
Jun 22, 2010
Tensy
rated it:
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
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Apr 19, 2009
Paul
rated it:
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 fami More...
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 fami More...
Apr 02, 2011
Ben
rated it:
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 More...
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 More...
Aug 04, 2008
Michael
rated it:
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.
More...
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.
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Jun 08, 2010
Agrimorfee
rated it:
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 forewarne
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Apr 10, 2010
David
rated it:
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 i More...
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 i More...
Apr 11, 2011
James
rated it:
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
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Oct 10, 2010
Isk
rated it:
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 More...
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 More...
Sep 07, 2008
Diane
rated it:
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, More...
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, More...
Jul 26, 2010
Patrick
rated it:
This book was pretty great. I don't think the concept of bio/logics impressed me as much as it should have due to my familiarity with Karl Schroeder's work (esp. Permanence and Lady of Mazes) with the nanites and tech locks, which is a similar concept, but much farther in the future. In spite of that, Edelman creates a window to the boardroom of the future, with complex amoral characters and shady business (and political!) tactics, to make for an excellent and interesting debut.
Nov 09, 2008
Rachel
rated it:
I'm really not sure how to rate this--anything between 3 and 5 would be reasonable. It's a very ambitious, hyper drive into a world of megacorporations and connectivity. On the plus side, the main characters are interesting and worth reading about, and the world is well thought out (for the most part) and plausible, and different enough from ours to be exciting. On the minus side, the writing is a bit inconsistent and uneven, with characters having attributes assigned to them that they never
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Dec 24, 2009
Andrew
rated it:
A strong start, but this book suffers from not telling a complete story. I don't mind that it leaves plot threads open for a sequel, but there is a major event in the book that is totally unresolved, leading to a "Mary Sue" moment for the main character that didn't need to be.
The world building is competent and compelling, although I thought it had a little too much of modern feel to be set quite as far in the future as it is.
The world building is competent and compelling, although I thought it had a little too much of modern feel to be set quite as far in the future as it is.
Nov 21, 2010
Jeanne
rated it:
I read this book twice in a row to make sure I got everything out of it before going to book 2. I really enjoyed it. Edelman created a rich world. He invented some words, but it was clear what they meant. And a reference was provided in the back in case you wanted more clarification.
I enjoyed both the story and the world/characters. I can't wait to read book 2. There are so many possibilities.
I enjoyed both the story and the world/characters. I can't wait to read book 2. There are so many possibilities.
Nov 06, 2010
Keith
rated it:
I liked the world that Me. Edelman created. But not so sure the characters were much more than 1 dimensional. Certainly none of them went through any kind of character development or arc. They are they way they are and they didn't change. The lead character was an alpha male, and I really hate reading about alpha males, unless they get their come-uppance. And that didn't happen in this book, but because it is a trilogy, it may. However, from reading Mr. Edelman's bio, it sounds like Natch
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Oct 21, 2009
Milele
rated it:
This book is a little blatant in its presentation of cool ideas and cool scenarios, like the description of how programmers manipulate 3D programs with their control bars, or how government might run if taken over by political action groups. Some plot ends aren't entirely tied up. But if you can enjoy the ideas as loosely tied together by a wild plot, then it's a fun read.
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