What do you think?
Rate this book
$hitcoin.
Bears & Bulls make money. Pigs get slaughtered.
Three Dutch university students watch rap videos and dream of big yachts & banquets of sushi served on the naked bodies of supermodels. Could making millions of dollars be as easy as writing a few lines of computer code? How easily could they launch their own cryptocurrency?
Alicia came to China from Malaysia to make her fortune. Now she’s trapped between working at a clothes factory and a seedy karaoke bar. One of the bar’s clients got rich mining bitcoin. Can she escape after emptying his wallet?
Graham doesn’t know what cryptocurrency is but he knows it’s making people rich. That’s why the London hipster magazine he writes for sends him to Berlin to cover the crypto scene. Could it be an escape from a job he’s rapidly becoming too old for?
The lives of these and many others across the world intersect as Future Synergy Coin becomes a multi-billion dollar enterprise. Yacht parties, trashed hotel suites, drug binges with celebrities, torture, sex, mutilation, & death. This wild story takes in crypto-crazed Korean office workers, crypto-accepting Eritrean drug dealers, and crypto-thieving American teenagers.
It’s Wolf of Wall Street for the Instagram generation.
London, New York, Tokyo, Seoul, Dubai, Rwanda, Moscow, El Salvador, Chengdu, Hong Kong, Groningen, California. This is a modern tale without borders or morals. With billions of dollars to play for, who will survive the SHITCOIN’s rise?
390 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 3, 2020
8 people are currently reading
1138 people want to read
About the author
Haydn Wilks
10 books128 followersThe Welsh Irvine Welsh. The ginger Jack Kerouac.
The broke Bret Easton Ellis.
The Sartre of the South Wales Valleys.
A cynical millennial author from Wales whose immense literary talent is only outsized by his overwhelming sense of entitlement.
HAYDN WILKS’ novels include the infanticidal indictment of low-wage late capitalist UK call centers COLD CALLING, the drug-guzzling cryptocurrency-fuelled global sex crime spree of MOON BOYS (a.k.a. $HITCOIN), and the self-aggrandizing / self-loathing gonzo autofictional lockdown novel HIRAETH.
The broke Bret Easton Ellis.
The Sartre of the South Wales Valleys.
A cynical millennial author from Wales whose immense literary talent is only outsized by his overwhelming sense of entitlement.
HAYDN WILKS’ novels include the infanticidal indictment of low-wage late capitalist UK call centers COLD CALLING, the drug-guzzling cryptocurrency-fuelled global sex crime spree of MOON BOYS (a.k.a. $HITCOIN), and the self-aggrandizing / self-loathing gonzo autofictional lockdown novel HIRAETH.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews
November 28, 2020
Ridiculously entertaining.
I loved the writing style, I related to the characters, and even though the topic is something I had absolutely zero interest in prior to reading this, it was probably the most engrossed I've been in a book in a while. This is a dense book, a LOT happens per page. Everything that goes down from initial dreams to the eventual fallout is mapped out and described in detail. So take a fast pace and add in thorough descriptions of what cryptocurrency is and how it works, all in easy to understand language, with totally bonkers characters doing shit that reminded me of me and my friends in the early 1990s, minus the billions of dollars, and all in all IMO you got a fantastic book. This book was emotionally roller coasting as well. A very large cast of characters moving in and out of each others lives, usually in some bombastic way, hardly ever quietly, and by the end I was definitely happy with the way it left things. A satisfying ending with total closure.
Reading this was like an interactive experience. I was googling shit and reading articles about the stuff covered in here which just added to the enjoyment because it was like I was learnin' while reading while being entertained and my brain was having a field day and it was nice to me for a while.
The author sent me a copy of this for an honest review with that having no impact as the opinions and thoughts are wholly my own.
I loved the writing style, I related to the characters, and even though the topic is something I had absolutely zero interest in prior to reading this, it was probably the most engrossed I've been in a book in a while. This is a dense book, a LOT happens per page. Everything that goes down from initial dreams to the eventual fallout is mapped out and described in detail. So take a fast pace and add in thorough descriptions of what cryptocurrency is and how it works, all in easy to understand language, with totally bonkers characters doing shit that reminded me of me and my friends in the early 1990s, minus the billions of dollars, and all in all IMO you got a fantastic book. This book was emotionally roller coasting as well. A very large cast of characters moving in and out of each others lives, usually in some bombastic way, hardly ever quietly, and by the end I was definitely happy with the way it left things. A satisfying ending with total closure.
Reading this was like an interactive experience. I was googling shit and reading articles about the stuff covered in here which just added to the enjoyment because it was like I was learnin' while reading while being entertained and my brain was having a field day and it was nice to me for a while.
The author sent me a copy of this for an honest review with that having no impact as the opinions and thoughts are wholly my own.
March 25, 2021
I have no idea how to start this review. Full disclosure, I received a free copy of this book from the author himself in exchange for an honest review (Haydn, I'm sorry it took me almost an entire year to get done, 2020 was....... a bad time) All opinions are my own, my 3.17 average rating tells you all you need to know about whether I'm brutally honest with books or not.
I still don't know how to start so let's just ramble: I loved the book. It was incredibly ambitious and complex, following a huge cast of characters of all different ages/ genders/ ethnicities, all with different wants, needs and plotlines, in multiple different countries, on top of a very technical subject that can easily alienate uninitiated readers (I'm not going to pretend I wasn't one of them, I only knew the bare basics of crypto before this book)
But the author PULLS IT OFF. I was never confused about which character was who, who was speaking, where we were, and exactly what this character was trying to do, even when we'd last seen that character 5 chapters ago. Everyone was fleshed out, everyone felt like a real person, nobody ever gets out of character; even when someone does something unexpected, that's still in line with everything else they've shown before. Nothing was an ass pull. I don't know how the author even pulled it off with that huge cast of characters, I've read books with 3 characters that weren't half as well written as this.
Also, something very important for me: even when the book introduces a terrible character, the narration never sides with them. There are SO MANY books that have x person do/ say something terrible that never gets criticized in-book, it's just there with the usual excuse "Oh, they're there because these people really do exist, it's up to the reader to decide whether that's terrible or not!~*" like fiction exists in a vacuum. Either criticize the bullshit or leave it out entirely. Yes, I'm Very Moral (TM)
The book was also educational (again, I didn't really know shit about crypto before this besides the basics), and entertaining (it gets really wild at times) Honestly, it was just a good read. I never dreaded having to pick this up and I never thought of DNFing it.
"Why is the book getting 4 stars instead of 5 if it was sooo fantastic, then?" One reason was the length. At times, it felt like it was dragging a bit, or it was laser-focused on a single point while missing others (for example, ) The book wasn't THAT long but it sometimes felt like it was.
The second is the (sometimes) shock value.
But in the end, this will probably be one of my best reads of the year. I don't think it's for everyone but I definitely recommend it. Cheers, Haydn!
I still don't know how to start so let's just ramble: I loved the book. It was incredibly ambitious and complex, following a huge cast of characters of all different ages/ genders/ ethnicities, all with different wants, needs and plotlines, in multiple different countries, on top of a very technical subject that can easily alienate uninitiated readers (I'm not going to pretend I wasn't one of them, I only knew the bare basics of crypto before this book)
But the author PULLS IT OFF. I was never confused about which character was who, who was speaking, where we were, and exactly what this character was trying to do, even when we'd last seen that character 5 chapters ago. Everyone was fleshed out, everyone felt like a real person, nobody ever gets out of character; even when someone does something unexpected, that's still in line with everything else they've shown before. Nothing was an ass pull. I don't know how the author even pulled it off with that huge cast of characters, I've read books with 3 characters that weren't half as well written as this.
Also, something very important for me: even when the book introduces a terrible character, the narration never sides with them. There are SO MANY books that have x person do/ say something terrible that never gets criticized in-book, it's just there with the usual excuse "Oh, they're there because these people really do exist, it's up to the reader to decide whether that's terrible or not!~*" like fiction exists in a vacuum. Either criticize the bullshit or leave it out entirely. Yes, I'm Very Moral (TM)
The book was also educational (again, I didn't really know shit about crypto before this besides the basics), and entertaining (it gets really wild at times) Honestly, it was just a good read. I never dreaded having to pick this up and I never thought of DNFing it.
"Why is the book getting 4 stars instead of 5 if it was sooo fantastic, then?" One reason was the length. At times, it felt like it was dragging a bit, or it was laser-focused on a single point while missing others (for example, ) The book wasn't THAT long but it sometimes felt like it was.
The second is the (sometimes) shock value.
But in the end, this will probably be one of my best reads of the year. I don't think it's for everyone but I definitely recommend it. Cheers, Haydn!
June 8, 2020
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
As someone who dipped his toe into the Crypto madness that was the 2017-2019 digital gold rush, there was a lot about this book to enjoy and relate to. It was full of deviance, plotting, backstabbing, violence, torture, but also shockingly some tenderness at parts.
I would say that having read most of Wilks’ books, this was definitely the most ambitious. Changes in layout from articles, to book excerpts and dictionary breakdowns of other languages used within made it an interesting narrative structure, and there was a depth to the characters that was previously lacking at times.
Where I struggled with this one was the pacing of the beginning and end. As I started reading, I felt inundated with new characters after every couple of pages and struggled to keep track of anyone but Guus and Nguyen. At about the 25% mark the book kicked in to high gear and suddenly everyone’s worlds started intertwining for what was truly a curious look into a world of crypto-fuckery.
The ending however seemed to drag on for a bit too long. Some new characters were introduced that didn’t really serve a purpose, and we were left waiting for the inevitable final collapse of everything. The payoff at the end was good, but could have happened a bit more succinctly.
With all that said, I do believe this was my favorite Wilks book since Danny Daggers and would recommend it highly as it is a quick and enjoyable read. Just know that once past the beginning, everything starts to go to shit, and that’s when you know a Wilks novel is getting going.
As someone who dipped his toe into the Crypto madness that was the 2017-2019 digital gold rush, there was a lot about this book to enjoy and relate to. It was full of deviance, plotting, backstabbing, violence, torture, but also shockingly some tenderness at parts.
I would say that having read most of Wilks’ books, this was definitely the most ambitious. Changes in layout from articles, to book excerpts and dictionary breakdowns of other languages used within made it an interesting narrative structure, and there was a depth to the characters that was previously lacking at times.
Where I struggled with this one was the pacing of the beginning and end. As I started reading, I felt inundated with new characters after every couple of pages and struggled to keep track of anyone but Guus and Nguyen. At about the 25% mark the book kicked in to high gear and suddenly everyone’s worlds started intertwining for what was truly a curious look into a world of crypto-fuckery.
The ending however seemed to drag on for a bit too long. Some new characters were introduced that didn’t really serve a purpose, and we were left waiting for the inevitable final collapse of everything. The payoff at the end was good, but could have happened a bit more succinctly.
With all that said, I do believe this was my favorite Wilks book since Danny Daggers and would recommend it highly as it is a quick and enjoyable read. Just know that once past the beginning, everything starts to go to shit, and that’s when you know a Wilks novel is getting going.
August 16, 2020
This is not an easy book to rate. It's certainly not for everyone. What I thought would be light satire turned rather dark pretty abruptly. I am not a squeamish person in general. In fact I consider myself as somewhat hardy when it comes to disturbing stuff, but there were two scenes in particular which actually made me uncomfortable. Truth be told, I thought those scenes were unnecessary and overly bizarre.
On the plus side, the story had many other elements that appealed to me. It gave an inside scoop of the seedy underside of the cryptocurrency world. And how a lot of it was just smoke and mirrors. I always like a good rags to riches story as well, plus seeing how it changes people. Overall, it was a blast to read and I never felt bored at any point. There is a HUGE cast of characters but the fact that I never got lost is perhaps testament to the author's writing or organisational skills. I would definitely want to try out his other works.
On the plus side, the story had many other elements that appealed to me. It gave an inside scoop of the seedy underside of the cryptocurrency world. And how a lot of it was just smoke and mirrors. I always like a good rags to riches story as well, plus seeing how it changes people. Overall, it was a blast to read and I never felt bored at any point. There is a HUGE cast of characters but the fact that I never got lost is perhaps testament to the author's writing or organisational skills. I would definitely want to try out his other works.
May 6, 2021
Wow, what a ride. The author is like a combination of Jack Kerouac, Henry Miller and the Devil.
In a world devoid of any moral compass, we travel across the globe seeing how the electronic global village has effected everyone. Billions of people struggling to fill their base needs. This is our world in 2020.
I will be reading his other books now. I do fear that the people he writes about don't read books and reflect on their sorry lives. But we can peek into their world.
In a world devoid of any moral compass, we travel across the globe seeing how the electronic global village has effected everyone. Billions of people struggling to fill their base needs. This is our world in 2020.
I will be reading his other books now. I do fear that the people he writes about don't read books and reflect on their sorry lives. But we can peek into their world.
December 31, 2020
Welcome beloved reader of this review, for you have reached us after clicking and swiping on your glowing device through connecting ethereal lines that are called the internet. The glorious internet. This random network that defines this random age.
Between an article about alien invasions and a video of a skinny Russian guy rapping about bringing the funk back, you’ve reached this review of a book by an English author who asked a Syrian stranger to review it.
But random isn’t always bad. There are great deals of amazing places on the internet where you can learn new skills, see what’s happening in the world, connect with your loved ones overseas, buy drugs over the deep web, join ISIS and so on.
And random isn’t always good. You’ve reached this review in an age where everyone is online. Every bit of information is out there. And every bit of misinformation is out there too. With the rise of social media people started to feel obligated to stretch who they really are in order to compete. And as the urge to show off grows, they tend to fabricate more and more. Internet is a big game of ego and some people are willing to dive in deeper than others.
A great example of big divers are the protagonists of this book. Three frat brothers who’ve decided that they wanted to get rich fast by creating a crypto currency and scamming people to buy into it. What starts as a scam to get rich spirals into a crazy game of ego and power. This book is a good representative of what our age might do to a person, and it might be different from what you’ve usually read. It’s not a masterpiece but it is different, fresh and unique. Highly recommended for techno geeks.
And now that the review has ended I send you back in your way to see what Justin Bieber’s mom is up to. Goodbye.
Between an article about alien invasions and a video of a skinny Russian guy rapping about bringing the funk back, you’ve reached this review of a book by an English author who asked a Syrian stranger to review it.
But random isn’t always bad. There are great deals of amazing places on the internet where you can learn new skills, see what’s happening in the world, connect with your loved ones overseas, buy drugs over the deep web, join ISIS and so on.
And random isn’t always good. You’ve reached this review in an age where everyone is online. Every bit of information is out there. And every bit of misinformation is out there too. With the rise of social media people started to feel obligated to stretch who they really are in order to compete. And as the urge to show off grows, they tend to fabricate more and more. Internet is a big game of ego and some people are willing to dive in deeper than others.
A great example of big divers are the protagonists of this book. Three frat brothers who’ve decided that they wanted to get rich fast by creating a crypto currency and scamming people to buy into it. What starts as a scam to get rich spirals into a crazy game of ego and power. This book is a good representative of what our age might do to a person, and it might be different from what you’ve usually read. It’s not a masterpiece but it is different, fresh and unique. Highly recommended for techno geeks.
And now that the review has ended I send you back in your way to see what Justin Bieber’s mom is up to. Goodbye.
June 26, 2020
I received a free copy of this book in return for an honest review.
A lot to unpack here but $hitcoin is basically about the world of crypto currency and how it affects people who invest in it or are somehow influenced by it. So, If you are interested in bitcoin or any other form of crypto this book is for you.
Wilks does an amazing job with his characters. They are almost exclusively from other countries, and I found myself enjoying their non-American point of views. Unfortunately to many of them are introduced and not all of their stories feel complete by the end.
$hitcoin has a fair amount of satire and follows a rag to riches troupe that reflects a believable Silicon Valley origin story. Now often when people become insanely rich overnight weird $@*t happens and Wilks lays this on way to much. I basically felt like I should be attending a AA or Narcotics Anonymous meeting every ten pages.
Warning to readers. Other events include sexual assault, torture and animal abuse. The author does give a warning about these passages before they occur. I didn’t feel that he Included the abuse for shock value and it did help develop the novel. But, I felt there was way more of it presented than was needed.
A lot to unpack here but $hitcoin is basically about the world of crypto currency and how it affects people who invest in it or are somehow influenced by it. So, If you are interested in bitcoin or any other form of crypto this book is for you.
Wilks does an amazing job with his characters. They are almost exclusively from other countries, and I found myself enjoying their non-American point of views. Unfortunately to many of them are introduced and not all of their stories feel complete by the end.
$hitcoin has a fair amount of satire and follows a rag to riches troupe that reflects a believable Silicon Valley origin story. Now often when people become insanely rich overnight weird $@*t happens and Wilks lays this on way to much. I basically felt like I should be attending a AA or Narcotics Anonymous meeting every ten pages.
Warning to readers. Other events include sexual assault, torture and animal abuse. The author does give a warning about these passages before they occur. I didn’t feel that he Included the abuse for shock value and it did help develop the novel. But, I felt there was way more of it presented than was needed.
June 18, 2020
Having enjoyed two of Wilks’s previous novels The Death of Danny Daggers and
Cold Calling
, I was excited to get into this, although with some slight trepidation. I’m not an investment type of person, hell, I’m not even a numbers type of person, and I had only the slightest idea of how to define cryptocurrency.
Wilks clearly knew there would be lots of us crypto-dunces peppered around the reading realm, and does well to explain the mechanics of the alternative currency. It helped, but there was a lot of it. Lots of numbers, percentages, ups and downs, really detailed stuff that made my words-not-numbers brain begin to fog. I’m tempted to believe even numbers fanatics might grow tired, but perhaps it’s just me.
The parts I enjoyed much more than the mechanics of the currency, were those in which I was shown the motivations behind those who become obsessed with its rise and fall, who invest everything, or almost everything, in order to augment their fortunes, who are too frightened to cash out on the chance the rate rises yet again. People in debt, people with dreams, people who have nothing, and even people who have everything, are all in this digital gamble with differing, yet mostly devastating, consequences.
But our main focus here is the university students who create a new coin; who, far beyond anything they could ever have dreamed, become billionaires from the living room of their frat house. Quickly succumbing to the types of vice only immense wealth can allow you to splurge on, the students’ lives change immeasurably, fantastically, and disgustingly.
It was a lot to absorb. The pace felt incredibly off at times, some chapters or sections feeling much too long, with what seemed like a lot of unnecessary filler adding nothing. Other sections seemed to fly past, engagement high.
I also didn’t like that every female character here seemed to only have one of two functions; to be a mother, or to be a sex object. There’s a particularly interesting scene where three of the female students are having a deep discussion about the relationships they’re in with the guys, when one decides to leave as she has an essay due on the Bechdel test(?!)
It’s a definite slide away from Wilks’s usual work; with him, we’re more used to things being a lot more closer to home - humour, colloquialisms, call centres, grim council estates, and generally more relatable stuff than the dark recesses of cryptocurrency. With that said, you always get a wild, depraved journey with Wilks, and this was considerably more wild and depraved than his previous works, and anything else I’ve read recently.
Wilks clearly knew there would be lots of us crypto-dunces peppered around the reading realm, and does well to explain the mechanics of the alternative currency. It helped, but there was a lot of it. Lots of numbers, percentages, ups and downs, really detailed stuff that made my words-not-numbers brain begin to fog. I’m tempted to believe even numbers fanatics might grow tired, but perhaps it’s just me.
The parts I enjoyed much more than the mechanics of the currency, were those in which I was shown the motivations behind those who become obsessed with its rise and fall, who invest everything, or almost everything, in order to augment their fortunes, who are too frightened to cash out on the chance the rate rises yet again. People in debt, people with dreams, people who have nothing, and even people who have everything, are all in this digital gamble with differing, yet mostly devastating, consequences.
But our main focus here is the university students who create a new coin; who, far beyond anything they could ever have dreamed, become billionaires from the living room of their frat house. Quickly succumbing to the types of vice only immense wealth can allow you to splurge on, the students’ lives change immeasurably, fantastically, and disgustingly.
It was a lot to absorb. The pace felt incredibly off at times, some chapters or sections feeling much too long, with what seemed like a lot of unnecessary filler adding nothing. Other sections seemed to fly past, engagement high.
I also didn’t like that every female character here seemed to only have one of two functions; to be a mother, or to be a sex object. There’s a particularly interesting scene where three of the female students are having a deep discussion about the relationships they’re in with the guys, when one decides to leave as she has an essay due on the Bechdel test(?!)
It’s a definite slide away from Wilks’s usual work; with him, we’re more used to things being a lot more closer to home - humour, colloquialisms, call centres, grim council estates, and generally more relatable stuff than the dark recesses of cryptocurrency. With that said, you always get a wild, depraved journey with Wilks, and this was considerably more wild and depraved than his previous works, and anything else I’ve read recently.
November 2, 2020
$hitcoin follows the rise and roller coaster ride of cryptocurrencies told through the stories of three fictitious developers and others who intersect their lives. A disclaimer - Haydn Wilks sent me a copy of the book in return for an honest review.
Guus is Dutch university student who notices the rapid increase in value for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Monero (all real coins or tokens). He is enamored with the lifestyle enjoyed by the superrich and would like to join their ranks. So he recruits a friend, Nguyen, and a frat mate, Aart, to develop and market Future Synergy Coin (FSC). Guus develops a use case and Nguyen writes the underlying code. They now have an idea, but no product, so they need investors to to underwrite the development of the actual block-chain product. Many other have the same idea. The market is flooded with a variety of these currencies, some are just marketing hype and a few have an underlying utility.
However, Guus and Nguyen are so fascinated by the lifestyle that can be purchased with this development money they let the actual product development languish. Guus realizes that marketing hype can drive the price of FSC. He begins to study the speaking styles of a variety of leaders and visionaries and gradually refines his pitch. His speaking engagements serve to attract buyers and the price of the vaporous FSC rises.
He, and many of the other developers, are helped by all the attention this new form of money and its potential for profits is getting in the press. In addition, the non-cognoscenti are afraid to be left behind and make investments on the advice of self-proclaimed experts. Of course this bubble bursts and billions evaporate. The market is resilient and while some currencies fail entirely, some come back. Guus' uncanny marketing skill allows FSC to continue upward.
The main story of the three developers is surrounded by little stories of people who get caught up in the frenzy and make or lose money. One important minor character is the reporter Graham who offers the reader some perspective from his personal life as well as a more objective view of the market as a reporter.
With all this background of a complicated marketplace, we see how great wealth and the potential for it affects both the major and the minor characters. A multitude of drugs, alcohol, and casual sex are major themes throughout the book. The debauchery becomes increasingly depraved evolving into humiliation, theft, using date rape drugs, outright physical rape, torture and mutilation, and murder. As characters become wealthier, they become less restricted by good judgement, adherence to morals and ethics, and empathy for others.
I found the history of cryptocurrencies and their effects on people to be interesting. The lifestyles, not so much. The author has an odd writing style, but I quickly became comfortable with it and found much of the prose to be well written. There are several dull spots, especially at the end.
Guus is Dutch university student who notices the rapid increase in value for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Monero (all real coins or tokens). He is enamored with the lifestyle enjoyed by the superrich and would like to join their ranks. So he recruits a friend, Nguyen, and a frat mate, Aart, to develop and market Future Synergy Coin (FSC). Guus develops a use case and Nguyen writes the underlying code. They now have an idea, but no product, so they need investors to to underwrite the development of the actual block-chain product. Many other have the same idea. The market is flooded with a variety of these currencies, some are just marketing hype and a few have an underlying utility.
However, Guus and Nguyen are so fascinated by the lifestyle that can be purchased with this development money they let the actual product development languish. Guus realizes that marketing hype can drive the price of FSC. He begins to study the speaking styles of a variety of leaders and visionaries and gradually refines his pitch. His speaking engagements serve to attract buyers and the price of the vaporous FSC rises.
He, and many of the other developers, are helped by all the attention this new form of money and its potential for profits is getting in the press. In addition, the non-cognoscenti are afraid to be left behind and make investments on the advice of self-proclaimed experts. Of course this bubble bursts and billions evaporate. The market is resilient and while some currencies fail entirely, some come back. Guus' uncanny marketing skill allows FSC to continue upward.
The main story of the three developers is surrounded by little stories of people who get caught up in the frenzy and make or lose money. One important minor character is the reporter Graham who offers the reader some perspective from his personal life as well as a more objective view of the market as a reporter.
With all this background of a complicated marketplace, we see how great wealth and the potential for it affects both the major and the minor characters. A multitude of drugs, alcohol, and casual sex are major themes throughout the book. The debauchery becomes increasingly depraved evolving into humiliation, theft, using date rape drugs, outright physical rape, torture and mutilation, and murder. As characters become wealthier, they become less restricted by good judgement, adherence to morals and ethics, and empathy for others.
I found the history of cryptocurrencies and their effects on people to be interesting. The lifestyles, not so much. The author has an odd writing style, but I quickly became comfortable with it and found much of the prose to be well written. There are several dull spots, especially at the end.
July 7, 2020
I received a free copy of the e-book before the official date of release, in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 2.5/5 stars
I was not familiar with cryptocurrencies prior to reading this book. From an inexperienced fellow's POV, I think it's bearable & I did not mind the story line at all. I could definitely see the Ryū Murakami's influence in the writing. It's a fair attempt.
However,
I have several issues:
1) Inconsistent Style of Writing - You could almost feel like there are a number of people writing separate chapters and combining them together. Few chapters deal with a quick-paced narrative that are not necessarily used by the same character. The alternative use of '&' and 'and' is quite jarring, although readable, nonetheless. There's also a chapter or two that jumps from one character to another without any separator, be it a sub-header or even a line space, whereas, some chapters do have separators. Again, inconsistent.
2) Insignificance of Certain Characters - When you already have an inconsistent style of writing, adding more-than-necessary supporting characters does not help in my reading. I had to go back a few times to know a) Who they are b) Who is narrating. At the end of the book, it left me questioning whatever happened to some characters and why some characters are even in the book when their significance in the story is so unnecessary.
3) Grammatical and Punctuation Errors - I am 50/50 on this one. Were these errors made intentionally? Or does the writer have not gone through the editing process and that this is at its rawest state.
4) Inconsistent Timeline - I have a major concern on this one. I was lost with the 'numbering' system (was it meant to show 'time' of some sort?). The years are also pretty confusing to me. This could've been executed better.
I honestly did not mind the gore, the violence, the drugs, etc. If it's meant to feel like The Wolf of Wall Streets, then so be it. Nonetheless, I managed to read through the whole book and thank you to the author for the free e-book.
Rating: 2.5/5 stars
I was not familiar with cryptocurrencies prior to reading this book. From an inexperienced fellow's POV, I think it's bearable & I did not mind the story line at all. I could definitely see the Ryū Murakami's influence in the writing. It's a fair attempt.
However,
I have several issues:
1) Inconsistent Style of Writing - You could almost feel like there are a number of people writing separate chapters and combining them together. Few chapters deal with a quick-paced narrative that are not necessarily used by the same character. The alternative use of '&' and 'and' is quite jarring, although readable, nonetheless. There's also a chapter or two that jumps from one character to another without any separator, be it a sub-header or even a line space, whereas, some chapters do have separators. Again, inconsistent.
2) Insignificance of Certain Characters - When you already have an inconsistent style of writing, adding more-than-necessary supporting characters does not help in my reading. I had to go back a few times to know a) Who they are b) Who is narrating. At the end of the book, it left me questioning whatever happened to some characters and why some characters are even in the book when their significance in the story is so unnecessary.
3) Grammatical and Punctuation Errors - I am 50/50 on this one. Were these errors made intentionally? Or does the writer have not gone through the editing process and that this is at its rawest state.
4) Inconsistent Timeline - I have a major concern on this one. I was lost with the 'numbering' system (was it meant to show 'time' of some sort?). The years are also pretty confusing to me. This could've been executed better.
I honestly did not mind the gore, the violence, the drugs, etc. If it's meant to feel like The Wolf of Wall Streets, then so be it. Nonetheless, I managed to read through the whole book and thank you to the author for the free e-book.
August 12, 2020
The most feature of a postmodernist novel is its timelessness, great works like American Psycho and Invisible Monsters will always be classics because they dissect themes which are universal under mondernism. $hitcoin is an attempt at doing the same, but sadly I didn't think it was successful.
Each chapter was disjointed from another, the lack of paragraph structure made the whole novel rather dull to read. The introduction of many characters were not only pointless but felt forced so that Mr. Wilks could create a multicultural flair, if the main protagonists could get more prominence instead of filler side characters, one could feel more relation to them instead of reproach (FYI, none of them were remotely likeable). I think the forced diversity just simply did not work, it doesn't work in real life and it will not work in fiction too.
I am not usually critical of foul language being used, but when the f word is in every second sentence, it became very tiresome; I was wondering about the depth of vocabulary because of this. As other reviewers pointed out, the sentence structure was something a person may think, but not how they would ever speak. Yes, I could see the influence of Fyodor Dostoevsky and James Joyce but nowhere near the same level as them. Yes, there was graphic violence but nothing that manifested great impact of the likes of Ellis nor Palahniuk.
I appreciate the exercise to create something shocking and $hit Coin is certainly better than 99% of the novels which won the Man Booker Prize, but there is room for improvement. I hope Mr. Wilks will find his own style and refine it into something he could claim as his own.
Each chapter was disjointed from another, the lack of paragraph structure made the whole novel rather dull to read. The introduction of many characters were not only pointless but felt forced so that Mr. Wilks could create a multicultural flair, if the main protagonists could get more prominence instead of filler side characters, one could feel more relation to them instead of reproach (FYI, none of them were remotely likeable). I think the forced diversity just simply did not work, it doesn't work in real life and it will not work in fiction too.
I am not usually critical of foul language being used, but when the f word is in every second sentence, it became very tiresome; I was wondering about the depth of vocabulary because of this. As other reviewers pointed out, the sentence structure was something a person may think, but not how they would ever speak. Yes, I could see the influence of Fyodor Dostoevsky and James Joyce but nowhere near the same level as them. Yes, there was graphic violence but nothing that manifested great impact of the likes of Ellis nor Palahniuk.
I appreciate the exercise to create something shocking and $hit Coin is certainly better than 99% of the novels which won the Man Booker Prize, but there is room for improvement. I hope Mr. Wilks will find his own style and refine it into something he could claim as his own.
January 22, 2021
Considering this is part of the genre known as "Transgressive Fiction" it is no surprise that this book is gratuitous. It is a bit much for me, in terms of everything--violence, sex, or even the description of the events in a boring part of a character's life. It kept me reading, even at times I was disgusted. It was well written and I learned a lot about cryptocurrency--now I understand it much better than I had. Not my type of book at this point in my life, I'm afraid.
Read
June 18, 2020I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest reference.
However, I read the book 1/2 way, and did not finish for personal reasons. My apologies to the author for starting something I could not finish.
However, I read the book 1/2 way, and did not finish for personal reasons. My apologies to the author for starting something I could not finish.
October 15, 2020
Not for me. Could have been worked on further prior to setting it loose in the world.
Read
December 30, 2020I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I left the rating blank because I am not going to finish it, but I figured I should still include my thoughts about why. I stopped approximately 2/3 of the way through.
At first, I thought that this book might be unorthodox but interesting. It tracks the meteoric rise of some college students and their alternative cryptocurrency, while also weaving in several different subplots featuring different characters and their experiences with cryptocurrency. I appreciate that it has helped me to understand cryptocurrency somewhat better; the author is clearly someone who is very knowledgeable about the subject. It also did an excellent job of illustrating the insanity of cryptocurrency: how people can make or lose millions in days, how easily some markets are manipulated, how susceptible the field can be to cyberattacks and how vulnerable the average investor is to people who truly understand what they're doing.
This is why I did not finish it:
I did not enjoy the style. There were many spelling and grammar errors. I don't know if they were deliberate but ultimately found them very distracting. The writing style varied wildly from paragraph to paragraph, occasionally including massive run ons and an excess of ampersands for no discernible reason. A number of other symbols were included in main body text as well, such as the "@," which I think was supposed to contribute to the digital theme but just took away from the writing. I don't understand why there were random legal disclaimers at the beginning of two chapters, if it was supposed to be a plot point or if the author genuinely chose to include a legal disclaimer right there. In chapters that took place in Korea, there was a dictionary of Korean words at the beginning. If the word was to describe something culturally specific to Korea, I understand defining and using it, but making the reader go back and look up the meaning of simple words like "yes," "go up," "fuck," etc. was another distracting inconvenience. This book takes place all over the world; why was this a feature only of the Korean chapters and none other?
I also found that there were too many background characters for me to easily follow, especially in scenes that just consisted of back and forth dialogue between members of large groups. It added to the confusion of the different subplots of each chapter.
My biggest issue was this book's treatment of women. I understand that it is supposed to be "dark" and "satire" and show how the power of their wealth corrupted the main college guys and allowed them to act out their darkest inclinations, but I personally thought it went to an unnecessary extent. There is maybe one main female character (Alicia) in the whole book, despite the fact that it suffers from an excess of characters and storylines. Although she was included in the blurb, her story is only just beginning to emerge and take relevance at the point where I stopped, about 2/3 of the way through. Virtually every other female character in this book seems to only exist as a sexual object (). They are constantly described as whores and throwing themselves at the bitcoin-rich characters. When they are described, it is in regard to their beauty and sexual attributes, unlike the men. It glorifies a billionaire having a teenage girlfriend who came of age one week ago. There are multiple instances of . There are disturbingly graphic scenes of date rape and sexual assault (which are preceded with a warning). It became exhausting and ultimately creepy to read. This part specifically seems to have been included to show the moral decline of the main characters but I found it unnecessary. There are pages and pages and pages of Guus's coke-induced ramblings and "rutting" that make their point over and over and over again.
I think that a lot of the book is redundant and could have been cut down. It also would benefit from being cleaned up a little bit with regards to the inconsistency of stylistic choices. Ultimately, if it were streamlined, it would probably be a more engaging read. Like I said, it did do a good job of illustrating the insanity of cryptocurrency, I just think it went a little bit overboard. I appreciate that the author reaches out to people for their opinion, and I'm sorry that this probably isn't what you wanted to hear. There are definitely people who would enjoy this book for the satirical commentary that it is, but they are not me.
At first, I thought that this book might be unorthodox but interesting. It tracks the meteoric rise of some college students and their alternative cryptocurrency, while also weaving in several different subplots featuring different characters and their experiences with cryptocurrency. I appreciate that it has helped me to understand cryptocurrency somewhat better; the author is clearly someone who is very knowledgeable about the subject. It also did an excellent job of illustrating the insanity of cryptocurrency: how people can make or lose millions in days, how easily some markets are manipulated, how susceptible the field can be to cyberattacks and how vulnerable the average investor is to people who truly understand what they're doing.
This is why I did not finish it:
I did not enjoy the style. There were many spelling and grammar errors. I don't know if they were deliberate but ultimately found them very distracting. The writing style varied wildly from paragraph to paragraph, occasionally including massive run ons and an excess of ampersands for no discernible reason. A number of other symbols were included in main body text as well, such as the "@," which I think was supposed to contribute to the digital theme but just took away from the writing. I don't understand why there were random legal disclaimers at the beginning of two chapters, if it was supposed to be a plot point or if the author genuinely chose to include a legal disclaimer right there. In chapters that took place in Korea, there was a dictionary of Korean words at the beginning. If the word was to describe something culturally specific to Korea, I understand defining and using it, but making the reader go back and look up the meaning of simple words like "yes," "go up," "fuck," etc. was another distracting inconvenience. This book takes place all over the world; why was this a feature only of the Korean chapters and none other?
I also found that there were too many background characters for me to easily follow, especially in scenes that just consisted of back and forth dialogue between members of large groups. It added to the confusion of the different subplots of each chapter.
My biggest issue was this book's treatment of women. I understand that it is supposed to be "dark" and "satire" and show how the power of their wealth corrupted the main college guys and allowed them to act out their darkest inclinations, but I personally thought it went to an unnecessary extent. There is maybe one main female character (Alicia) in the whole book, despite the fact that it suffers from an excess of characters and storylines. Although she was included in the blurb, her story is only just beginning to emerge and take relevance at the point where I stopped, about 2/3 of the way through. Virtually every other female character in this book seems to only exist as a sexual object (). They are constantly described as whores and throwing themselves at the bitcoin-rich characters. When they are described, it is in regard to their beauty and sexual attributes, unlike the men. It glorifies a billionaire having a teenage girlfriend who came of age one week ago. There are multiple instances of . There are disturbingly graphic scenes of date rape and sexual assault (which are preceded with a warning). It became exhausting and ultimately creepy to read. This part specifically seems to have been included to show the moral decline of the main characters but I found it unnecessary. There are pages and pages and pages of Guus's coke-induced ramblings and "rutting" that make their point over and over and over again.
I think that a lot of the book is redundant and could have been cut down. It also would benefit from being cleaned up a little bit with regards to the inconsistency of stylistic choices. Ultimately, if it were streamlined, it would probably be a more engaging read. Like I said, it did do a good job of illustrating the insanity of cryptocurrency, I just think it went a little bit overboard. I appreciate that the author reaches out to people for their opinion, and I'm sorry that this probably isn't what you wanted to hear. There are definitely people who would enjoy this book for the satirical commentary that it is, but they are not me.
July 3, 2020
I received a copy of the e-book before the official date of release in exchange for a review.
Summary: The plot brings together several independent stories, each with its own narrative and emotional arcs, in an extended high-action dénouement. Cryptocurrency is central to the setting and the book is thick with real-life references (oblique and direct). I enjoyed the unconventional narrative structure and style. Much as in an action film, the narration often focuses on excitement and titillation at the expense of concision and plot momentum.
Detail:
Summary: The plot brings together several independent stories, each with its own narrative and emotional arcs, in an extended high-action dénouement. Cryptocurrency is central to the setting and the book is thick with real-life references (oblique and direct). I enjoyed the unconventional narrative structure and style. Much as in an action film, the narration often focuses on excitement and titillation at the expense of concision and plot momentum.
Detail:
Read
September 2, 2023Thank you to everyone who read & reviewed $hitcoin! Whether you loved it, hated it, or felt an overwhelming sense of indifference towards it, your feedback has been much appreciated and incorporated into MOON BOYS - $hitcoin v1.1: a faster, wilder, and more concentrated dose of cryptocurrency debauchery.
If you've read the original and would like a free review copy of the 2023 $hitcoin remix, leave a comment below :)
If you've read the original and would like a free review copy of the 2023 $hitcoin remix, leave a comment below :)
October 4, 2020
The style and topic of $hitcoin strongly reminded me of William Gibson and his flow of thought, jumping between separate snippets of development which are later seen as components of a whole story. And this is a good thing.
The topic is also interesting, cryptocurrencies being still sufficiently misunderstood and slightly mystic in their potential to create benefits for society and riches for lucky investors.
On the other hand, the cast of characters is missing a clear good guy/girl or even a bad guy with sufficient charisma with which a reader could bond and empathize. At least in the first half / third of the book. Also, there's a slight overindulgence in describing scenes which are not in themselves important for the story or characterization, seemingly for shock value - while at the same time managing to keep those same debaucheries feeling relatively bland and cold. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of 18+ content, it’s just that it all feels somehow unreal and sterile, happening to characters for whom it’s hard to care and many of whom do not receive the full arch of the story.
As a whole, it’s still a gripping read, pages flashing before your eyes as you wait for the crescendo and leaving you with the feeling of disconnectedness and loneliness in a big and complex world of which you just saw a side you didn't encounter before. Although it has its faults, the book manages to make you feel the rush and excitement, and might induce you to buy cryptocurrency. Be warned.
Disclosure: I received this book from the author for the purpose of writing a review.
The topic is also interesting, cryptocurrencies being still sufficiently misunderstood and slightly mystic in their potential to create benefits for society and riches for lucky investors.
On the other hand, the cast of characters is missing a clear good guy/girl or even a bad guy with sufficient charisma with which a reader could bond and empathize. At least in the first half / third of the book. Also, there's a slight overindulgence in describing scenes which are not in themselves important for the story or characterization, seemingly for shock value - while at the same time managing to keep those same debaucheries feeling relatively bland and cold. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of 18+ content, it’s just that it all feels somehow unreal and sterile, happening to characters for whom it’s hard to care and many of whom do not receive the full arch of the story.
As a whole, it’s still a gripping read, pages flashing before your eyes as you wait for the crescendo and leaving you with the feeling of disconnectedness and loneliness in a big and complex world of which you just saw a side you didn't encounter before. Although it has its faults, the book manages to make you feel the rush and excitement, and might induce you to buy cryptocurrency. Be warned.
Disclosure: I received this book from the author for the purpose of writing a review.
September 1, 2020
Full disclosure; I was given a free copy of the e-book in exchange for an honest review, so here it is.
$hitcoin. is a story of three college friends in the Netherlands who create a crypto currency in the hopes of making a vast fortune during the digital currency boom of recent years (2017-2019).
Running alongside are various side plots, the main ones featuring the likes of; Graham Jones, a struggling Liverpool journalist / Steven, an American incel kid who is ripping off his own uncle to build his own portfolio / Alicia, a Chinese-Malaysian girl trying to get a better life for herself no matter the cost / Wei, a Chinese man hellbent on revenge against Alicia for stealing his father's money in a crypto scam.
The story is huge in scale and incredibly ambitious; I honestly can't praise Haydn's imagination highly enough however, the novel is not without it's problems:
1. One of the main characters' name is spelled incorrectly on the first page - I don't judge typos too harshly as it's in a section that's meant to be an extract of a book so I don't know if it's intentional as it doesn't happen again (that I noticed).
2. Ampersands. So many ampersands. From a technical stand point it's not correct to use '&' instead of 'and' in prose, it's quite distracting to read. I haven't read any of Haydn's other novels so I don't know if this is a style exclusive to this novel or not but I don't like it.
3. Some of the sentence structures and dialogue are quite odd and I found myself having to re-read on a few occasions.
4. There's a lot of cursing throughout the novel. It's not something that offends me personally but when every third word is a four letter expletive it completely loses all impact.
5. Quite often there is more telling than showing.
6. One of the minor characters, Olly Tulip, is referred to as Olly Amsterdam several times - again I can't tell if this is intentional or not.
7. There is a few sections set in Korea and China where a glossary of translated words is provided; some people won't mind this but not everyone will want to have to learn new words in order to advance further in a book.
In all honesty I think most of the issues listed above could be fixed with a round or two of editing and the benefit of an independent proof-reader. I enjoyed the story and there was some truly memorable scenes and despicable characters. I'd definitely read more from the author and I think as he hones his craft further he could go very far. 2.5/5
$hitcoin. is a story of three college friends in the Netherlands who create a crypto currency in the hopes of making a vast fortune during the digital currency boom of recent years (2017-2019).
Running alongside are various side plots, the main ones featuring the likes of; Graham Jones, a struggling Liverpool journalist / Steven, an American incel kid who is ripping off his own uncle to build his own portfolio / Alicia, a Chinese-Malaysian girl trying to get a better life for herself no matter the cost / Wei, a Chinese man hellbent on revenge against Alicia for stealing his father's money in a crypto scam.
The story is huge in scale and incredibly ambitious; I honestly can't praise Haydn's imagination highly enough however, the novel is not without it's problems:
1. One of the main characters' name is spelled incorrectly on the first page - I don't judge typos too harshly as it's in a section that's meant to be an extract of a book so I don't know if it's intentional as it doesn't happen again (that I noticed).
2. Ampersands. So many ampersands. From a technical stand point it's not correct to use '&' instead of 'and' in prose, it's quite distracting to read. I haven't read any of Haydn's other novels so I don't know if this is a style exclusive to this novel or not but I don't like it.
3. Some of the sentence structures and dialogue are quite odd and I found myself having to re-read on a few occasions.
4. There's a lot of cursing throughout the novel. It's not something that offends me personally but when every third word is a four letter expletive it completely loses all impact.
5. Quite often there is more telling than showing.
6. One of the minor characters, Olly Tulip, is referred to as Olly Amsterdam several times - again I can't tell if this is intentional or not.
7. There is a few sections set in Korea and China where a glossary of translated words is provided; some people won't mind this but not everyone will want to have to learn new words in order to advance further in a book.
In all honesty I think most of the issues listed above could be fixed with a round or two of editing and the benefit of an independent proof-reader. I enjoyed the story and there was some truly memorable scenes and despicable characters. I'd definitely read more from the author and I think as he hones his craft further he could go very far. 2.5/5
August 8, 2020
Received a copy of in exchange for an honest review.
As the blurb says, it's kind of like "The Wolf of Wall Street" for the Instagram generation in the sense that it follows a group of not-that-scrupulous people as they abuse the system to chase riches, and the bunch of insane crap that happens because of it.
At times it was a bit reminiscent to me in tone of stuff written by Irvine Welsh (minus the Scottish vernacular and brogue) with some of William Gibson's novels that are set in contemporary time thrown in, like "Pattern Recognition" and "Spook Country."
I was surprised to see that the book very early on references the current global COVID pandemic, because paired with the cryptocurrency theme, it made it feel exceedingly new and current, but I'm worried that this might eventually date it too much, though of course I may be wrong and it might turn out to give it historical grounding and context, so to speak.
The cast is interesting because it strays from your typical USA-centric p.o.v., which was something I appreciated and found engaging, though their antics sometimes border on the cartoonish as some other reviewers have implied, though I didn't think this detracted from the story because the subject is so surreal to most people that I feel it ended up working a bit like the stuff you see in Bret Easton Ellis' novels or in Tom Wolfe's "Glamorama," serving to underscore the absurdity of life in specific social circles, especially when an excess of money is involved.
I also enjoyed that it doesn't shy away from discussing cryptocurrencies and blockchains in more than layman terms, but does so in an approachable manner that is not alienating to those new to this subject. As someone who's been somewhat involved with BTC for the last few years, it was also interesting to see the characters go through what we all went through in real life back in 2017 and have pretty much the same conversations we all had, or heard others have.
All in all, it was an interesting novel. If you like any of the other works I mentioned above, or have an interest in cryptocurrencies, I think you'd enjoy it.
As the blurb says, it's kind of like "The Wolf of Wall Street" for the Instagram generation in the sense that it follows a group of not-that-scrupulous people as they abuse the system to chase riches, and the bunch of insane crap that happens because of it.
At times it was a bit reminiscent to me in tone of stuff written by Irvine Welsh (minus the Scottish vernacular and brogue) with some of William Gibson's novels that are set in contemporary time thrown in, like "Pattern Recognition" and "Spook Country."
I was surprised to see that the book very early on references the current global COVID pandemic, because paired with the cryptocurrency theme, it made it feel exceedingly new and current, but I'm worried that this might eventually date it too much, though of course I may be wrong and it might turn out to give it historical grounding and context, so to speak.
The cast is interesting because it strays from your typical USA-centric p.o.v., which was something I appreciated and found engaging, though their antics sometimes border on the cartoonish as some other reviewers have implied, though I didn't think this detracted from the story because the subject is so surreal to most people that I feel it ended up working a bit like the stuff you see in Bret Easton Ellis' novels or in Tom Wolfe's "Glamorama," serving to underscore the absurdity of life in specific social circles, especially when an excess of money is involved.
I also enjoyed that it doesn't shy away from discussing cryptocurrencies and blockchains in more than layman terms, but does so in an approachable manner that is not alienating to those new to this subject. As someone who's been somewhat involved with BTC for the last few years, it was also interesting to see the characters go through what we all went through in real life back in 2017 and have pretty much the same conversations we all had, or heard others have.
All in all, it was an interesting novel. If you like any of the other works I mentioned above, or have an interest in cryptocurrencies, I think you'd enjoy it.
June 14, 2020
Wide-ranging in subject matter and location, with an equally wide range of characters, this is an exhilarating ride through the murky world of cryptocurrencies. Now this is a world completely outside my knowledge and competence and I wouldn’t have expected to find it so riveting, but the author’s grasp of his subject plus the verve and skill with which he writes hooked me from the start and kept me absorbed right through to the end. It’s a tempestuous ride, for sure, centring as it does on three young men who see their way to fame and fortune through inventing and investing in cryptocurrencies. Following them on their quest we travel all over the world, from the Netherlands to El Salvador, China to Columbia and many other countries en route, becoming acquainted with all sorts of unsavoury characters as well as some decent ones. We watch with horrified fascination as Guus, one of the three, descends every deeper into obsession and madness as this sudden influx of untold wealth corrupts him. “Laws become suggestions when you have enough money” says the author and this is amply and quite shockingly demonstrated. The world of excess and lack of moral compass is offset with the introduction of some more ordinary characters, such as Graham, a journalist, and his family, a welcome relief after the wild caperings of the other protagonists. It’s a very well written book indeed, well-paced insightful, original and intelligent. I especially enjoyed the postmodern touches the author includes – some legal disclaimers, trigger warnings and a newspaper article that stops suddenly telling the reader to subscribe in order to continue. Things we’re all familiar with. The occasional literary reference also amused me – a riff on Ginsburg’s Howl certainly raised a smile. And thank goodness there is the occasional smile because overall this is a grim book. “Gritty” doesn’t really cover it. For me the explicit sex and violence went too far on occasion, but this is really my only quibble. Overall this is an excellent work of contemporary fiction by a very talented writer and I heartily recommend it.
November 27, 2020
This is just a partial review, as I choose not to finish the book. After struggling through the first 50 pages, and then skimming through another 50, I chose to cut my losses. If you've ever had someone try to explain cryptocurrency to you and you were uninterested, you will want to avoid this book. Which is perfectly fine, not every book is for every person. You should consider whether a piece may work for you, and if you find yourself frustrated, set it aside.
The problems with this are that the author wants a fast-paced, multi-character, and multi-story line complex novel, but is missing the critical pieces to make that work. It lacks a narrator, which can work if each POV is disciplined and focused on moving the story forward, but no luck here. Dialogue is like a chess match, just one turn after another, often with no purpose, simply edgy characters trying to say edgy things to offend you. Oooh, that guy said pussy... This guy likes sex... this one is a garbage male... There is endless dialogue that simply feels like the bro version of 50 Shades of Grey. An entire chapter introducing a senator and his questionably underage whore. Pages of a journalist trying to convince his editor he has principles and wants to write something meaningful. Over 100 pages I skimmed through could be cut down to 5-7 good lines of dialogue.
I got the sense all the dialogue existed to shock the reader about how horrible the characters were... unnecessary, if you try to offend, you’ll fail. We need to be shocked, not told to be disgusted.
It was likely only 2-3 times, but felt like a dozen times that a character mansplains crypto to another character. What could have been a comic device in film comes across as murder in print. It never needed to be explained even once. Then I believe it was the third chapter which began with a Korean slang glossary so the reader could understand the coming dialogue. By the time a book requires you to take notes to keep up, its time to give up. The story doesn't move forward, it requires the reader to put in too much effort. Look, I've read The Silmarillion and felt like that took less effort.
The problems with this are that the author wants a fast-paced, multi-character, and multi-story line complex novel, but is missing the critical pieces to make that work. It lacks a narrator, which can work if each POV is disciplined and focused on moving the story forward, but no luck here. Dialogue is like a chess match, just one turn after another, often with no purpose, simply edgy characters trying to say edgy things to offend you. Oooh, that guy said pussy... This guy likes sex... this one is a garbage male... There is endless dialogue that simply feels like the bro version of 50 Shades of Grey. An entire chapter introducing a senator and his questionably underage whore. Pages of a journalist trying to convince his editor he has principles and wants to write something meaningful. Over 100 pages I skimmed through could be cut down to 5-7 good lines of dialogue.
I got the sense all the dialogue existed to shock the reader about how horrible the characters were... unnecessary, if you try to offend, you’ll fail. We need to be shocked, not told to be disgusted.
It was likely only 2-3 times, but felt like a dozen times that a character mansplains crypto to another character. What could have been a comic device in film comes across as murder in print. It never needed to be explained even once. Then I believe it was the third chapter which began with a Korean slang glossary so the reader could understand the coming dialogue. By the time a book requires you to take notes to keep up, its time to give up. The story doesn't move forward, it requires the reader to put in too much effort. Look, I've read The Silmarillion and felt like that took less effort.
June 28, 2020
I got a free copy of this in exchange for an honest review.
A pretty full on story of what happens when a bunch of young guys get enough money to live out their fantasies, plus an interesting look at how various not so young guys get mixed up in (and generally ruined by) something they know nothing about.
I didn't have much of an idea what crypto-currency is, apart from the spam mails and popups that show up from time to time telling me how rich I can become. The book explains a lot. However this is done as part of the story, rather than through intrusive info-dumps, which means the story doesn't get bogged down. One of my favorite characters is Graham, a struggling writer who manages to bluff his way into becoming by the end of the book.
There are some fairly gross goings on at times, but the worst of them are fairly spaced out, so it's not like reading American Psycho. I could have lived without reading what a certain anti-virus magnate not related to any real person does in his bedroom in El Salvador, but I think I'll eventually get over that bit.
A pretty full on story of what happens when a bunch of young guys get enough money to live out their fantasies, plus an interesting look at how various not so young guys get mixed up in (and generally ruined by) something they know nothing about.
I didn't have much of an idea what crypto-currency is, apart from the spam mails and popups that show up from time to time telling me how rich I can become. The book explains a lot. However this is done as part of the story, rather than through intrusive info-dumps, which means the story doesn't get bogged down. One of my favorite characters is Graham, a struggling writer who manages to bluff his way into becoming by the end of the book.
There are some fairly gross goings on at times, but the worst of them are fairly spaced out, so it's not like reading American Psycho. I could have lived without reading what a certain anti-virus magnate not related to any real person does in his bedroom in El Salvador, but I think I'll eventually get over that bit.
June 30, 2020
I was given a copy of this book from the author for an honest review.
I tried to like it. I tried to even read it. But I just couldn't finish it. For me it was just that bad. The previous work I had read by this author was only 60 pages, and this is much longer.
Paragraphs start with &. There are way too many characters. Scenes change without a space between the paragraphs. And that is just the writing style.
The content is gross. There are sections where the author expects you to learn foreign words that he is going to use later on in the chapter. There is a lot of drugs, drunkenness, violence and non consensual sex. I got about 40 percent through the book and noticed I was avoiding not only reading it but reading other books because I felt I should be reading this one. This was not for me.
If however you like non linear writing and lots of characters and learning lots of jargon about cryptocurrency and you don't mind people using everyone than you will probably enjoy this story. It just wasn't for me.
I tried to like it. I tried to even read it. But I just couldn't finish it. For me it was just that bad. The previous work I had read by this author was only 60 pages, and this is much longer.
Paragraphs start with &. There are way too many characters. Scenes change without a space between the paragraphs. And that is just the writing style.
The content is gross. There are sections where the author expects you to learn foreign words that he is going to use later on in the chapter. There is a lot of drugs, drunkenness, violence and non consensual sex. I got about 40 percent through the book and noticed I was avoiding not only reading it but reading other books because I felt I should be reading this one. This was not for me.
If however you like non linear writing and lots of characters and learning lots of jargon about cryptocurrency and you don't mind people using everyone than you will probably enjoy this story. It just wasn't for me.
July 8, 2020
I found $hitcoin a bit hot and cold and as such it took me a while to finish it. In some chapters I was really engaged and wanted to know what was happening, but others I found long and boring and I felt they didn't add to the story. In the beginning there were lots of characters that seemed unrelated to each other and I found it hard to keep track of them all. It took a while for them to connect to each other.
I liked how cryptocurrency was explained and I feel like I know a little about the topic now and I liked the idea that one coin impacted so many people. I think there could have been less characters and still had the same impact. I still struggled at the end to work out the point of some of them and how they fitted in.
I found the writing a bit odd - foreign words to be learned, no spacing between paragraphs and lots of & (even at the beginning of sentences). Overall not really the book for me but I was determined to get to the end.
I liked how cryptocurrency was explained and I feel like I know a little about the topic now and I liked the idea that one coin impacted so many people. I think there could have been less characters and still had the same impact. I still struggled at the end to work out the point of some of them and how they fitted in.
I found the writing a bit odd - foreign words to be learned, no spacing between paragraphs and lots of & (even at the beginning of sentences). Overall not really the book for me but I was determined to get to the end.
July 9, 2020
A tale of Guus,
and his collaterals about us,
living in digital age zeitgeist,
data & life under&overpriced.
Whore screwed
fake prude;
Drugs fuel,
Monies rule.
An audacious fictional account with many pressing familiarities, caters to readers’ guilty pleasure, voyeurs’ thrill seeking, and demand to know where we are from&going. Numerous characters (around the globe) are caricatures well serving the plot of a complicated story tree.
I admire author’s comprehensive research on the subject (readers who know nothing about Ethereum have little barrier here), polyglot endeavor (akin to ethnography, though we are coming similar with globalization) to get into all major corners of the world.
A grotesque satire with a few original viewpoints, except for (main) narrator Graham, all spiels, laments, rant, cuss pushed me through the volume, feeling bees crawling under skin, zinging in my ears... yet taste honey made out of it.
and his collaterals about us,
living in digital age zeitgeist,
data & life under&overpriced.
Whore screwed
fake prude;
Drugs fuel,
Monies rule.
An audacious fictional account with many pressing familiarities, caters to readers’ guilty pleasure, voyeurs’ thrill seeking, and demand to know where we are from&going. Numerous characters (around the globe) are caricatures well serving the plot of a complicated story tree.
I admire author’s comprehensive research on the subject (readers who know nothing about Ethereum have little barrier here), polyglot endeavor (akin to ethnography, though we are coming similar with globalization) to get into all major corners of the world.
A grotesque satire with a few original viewpoints, except for (main) narrator Graham, all spiels, laments, rant, cuss pushed me through the volume, feeling bees crawling under skin, zinging in my ears... yet taste honey made out of it.
October 30, 2020
I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The world of blockchain and cryptocurrency was foreign to me before reading this book, and I'd like it to stay that way. While I was impressed with the writing of Haydn Wilks, his knowledge of the workings of the tech world and his use of languages and character from around the globe, I just could not bring myself to enjoy this book. The first part of the story got way too bogged down in the details of the price of the various bitcoins. I was learning to skim over those sections, and started to understand the relationships between the characters but then the book took a deep, dark turn into drugs and rape and deviant sexual behavior. I didn't find a single one of the characters likable or relatable and, frankly, couldn't really understand the point of the story. I'm giving it 2 stars because I do appreciate the author's writing talent and the scope of this undertaking. It just was not for me.
March 31, 2021
A very modern story. I don't know much much about electronic currency but the author explains it in a way that was easy to understand. I must admit that part of the story did not appeal to me (that's on me, not the author. It just doesn't interest me in real life or in fiction), however what kept me coming back were the true to life chatacters and their interactions with each other. They seemed so real I had to remind myself this was fiction.
August 7, 2020
(I was given a copy of this for a honest review)
It's a good try to capture the nastier part of the blockchain-related currencies, but tries too hard, and makes itself hard to read at some points (by having very long stream-of-consciousness parts and overuse of "&").
On the other hand, if you're into very graphic descriptions of drug use, sex and violence, this might be the book for you :)
It's a good try to capture the nastier part of the blockchain-related currencies, but tries too hard, and makes itself hard to read at some points (by having very long stream-of-consciousness parts and overuse of "&").
On the other hand, if you're into very graphic descriptions of drug use, sex and violence, this might be the book for you :)
September 18, 2020
The author offered me a copy of this book for an honest review.
There are some spoilers below. I won't spoil the story.
Haydn Wilks wrote quite a good story here, although with less of an arc and more of a muddy winding path through dozens of characters. The story was interesting and had me reading it essentially straight through with no breaks for other novels. I genuinely wanted to know what happened, though I had the feeling the entire time that most characters were just short pit-stops, used as vehicles for some additional content rather than meat of the actual story. This for the most part is fine, except for some of the dialogue that seemed dated to me, even reading the book in the year it was written.
References to near-history are all fine, but current slang and a seeming obsession with rambling characters who swear every second word get draining quickly. The section in South Korea is particularly egregious and the dialogue was tough to get through. It may very well be that I live in South Korea, know all the words he referenced, and can firsthand tell you it's nicely put together and generally accurate, but the dialogue interspersed with Korean words is unhelpful and gives nothing to the reader. To me, it was cringey. To the reader with no Korean knowledge, the info dump he provides is useless to the actual story. A section of a book with a glossary of new words at the beginning better be with good reason. Instead we have a short section of story with some new characters that didn't need to say 'daebak' because they could easily just say 'awesome' and move on. The reader doesn't need this information. Maybe I'm harping too hard on this, but it's easy to pick out dated dialogue when you're right up in it. Teenage boys have not said daebak so constantly in quite a long while now.
This brings me to another point. The author is definitely well traveled. The places and cultures in this book are all very well researched and to my mind could only be done by someone who went to all these places and is really putting a lot of effort into drawing the scenes properly. It may also be that he crowdsourced a lot of local information about each place and sort of drew in his own details, which from discussing the KR section with some Koreans, we're pretty sure he interviewed a middle-aged Korean man and threw everything he got from it into the book.
The section about the 4chan reading kid who takes his uncle for a ride and is seemingly apathetic about everything in existence (as a good teenaged character should be) is an even more satirical farfetched character. As a work of parody, he's great. As a comment on actual Americans in 2020 I don't think there's too many of his type in existence. Maybe Haydn researched everything very well and wrote about Thailand, California, Seoul, London, Groningen, and so many other locations with real knowledge, just enough to get a few things to feel off to people who really know them.
I believe the author asked me to review this book because I'm a fan of Tao Lin and all the other Muumuu house affiliated indie writers as lots of his style can feel like that at times. Other reviewers seem to have a problem with Haydn doing 2 full pages of a rambling stream of consciousness in all lower-case linked together with dozens of ampersands. I have no problem with that at all, I quite like it. But the book has a lot of different feels to it from chapter to chapter, and feels like you can actually see different parts of the writing process he went through where it seems disjointed and badly fit together. This, along with a lot of typographical problems and some missing words or letters here and there, could easily be fixed by a good editor.
Rather than Tao Lin, I actually started to get the feeling of another author I quite like in this book and caught a Bret Easton Ellis sort of vibe midway through. The story gets very dark, the continuous drug use ends up giving the narrators a very sloped and nonsensical narrative, and you can't trust whether everything happens or not. He leans into a lot of the most unbelievable parts of the story and keeps shoving. It's enjoyable, it's meta, it's fresh. It needs a good edit.
There are some spoilers below. I won't spoil the story.
Haydn Wilks wrote quite a good story here, although with less of an arc and more of a muddy winding path through dozens of characters. The story was interesting and had me reading it essentially straight through with no breaks for other novels. I genuinely wanted to know what happened, though I had the feeling the entire time that most characters were just short pit-stops, used as vehicles for some additional content rather than meat of the actual story. This for the most part is fine, except for some of the dialogue that seemed dated to me, even reading the book in the year it was written.
References to near-history are all fine, but current slang and a seeming obsession with rambling characters who swear every second word get draining quickly. The section in South Korea is particularly egregious and the dialogue was tough to get through. It may very well be that I live in South Korea, know all the words he referenced, and can firsthand tell you it's nicely put together and generally accurate, but the dialogue interspersed with Korean words is unhelpful and gives nothing to the reader. To me, it was cringey. To the reader with no Korean knowledge, the info dump he provides is useless to the actual story. A section of a book with a glossary of new words at the beginning better be with good reason. Instead we have a short section of story with some new characters that didn't need to say 'daebak' because they could easily just say 'awesome' and move on. The reader doesn't need this information. Maybe I'm harping too hard on this, but it's easy to pick out dated dialogue when you're right up in it. Teenage boys have not said daebak so constantly in quite a long while now.
This brings me to another point. The author is definitely well traveled. The places and cultures in this book are all very well researched and to my mind could only be done by someone who went to all these places and is really putting a lot of effort into drawing the scenes properly. It may also be that he crowdsourced a lot of local information about each place and sort of drew in his own details, which from discussing the KR section with some Koreans, we're pretty sure he interviewed a middle-aged Korean man and threw everything he got from it into the book.
The section about the 4chan reading kid who takes his uncle for a ride and is seemingly apathetic about everything in existence (as a good teenaged character should be) is an even more satirical farfetched character. As a work of parody, he's great. As a comment on actual Americans in 2020 I don't think there's too many of his type in existence. Maybe Haydn researched everything very well and wrote about Thailand, California, Seoul, London, Groningen, and so many other locations with real knowledge, just enough to get a few things to feel off to people who really know them.
I believe the author asked me to review this book because I'm a fan of Tao Lin and all the other Muumuu house affiliated indie writers as lots of his style can feel like that at times. Other reviewers seem to have a problem with Haydn doing 2 full pages of a rambling stream of consciousness in all lower-case linked together with dozens of ampersands. I have no problem with that at all, I quite like it. But the book has a lot of different feels to it from chapter to chapter, and feels like you can actually see different parts of the writing process he went through where it seems disjointed and badly fit together. This, along with a lot of typographical problems and some missing words or letters here and there, could easily be fixed by a good editor.
Rather than Tao Lin, I actually started to get the feeling of another author I quite like in this book and caught a Bret Easton Ellis sort of vibe midway through. The story gets very dark, the continuous drug use ends up giving the narrators a very sloped and nonsensical narrative, and you can't trust whether everything happens or not. He leans into a lot of the most unbelievable parts of the story and keeps shoving. It's enjoyable, it's meta, it's fresh. It needs a good edit.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews