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Daemon #1
Daemon
When a designer of computer games dies, he leaves behind a program that unravels the Internet's interconnected world. It corrupts, kills, and runs independent of human control. It's up to Detective Peter Sebeck to wrest the world from the malevolent virtual enemy before its ultimate purpose is to dismantle society and bring about a new world order.
460 pages, ebook
First published December 1, 2006
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September 11, 2022
Virtual reality gone bad by avatar NPC characters taking their job far too seriously described by one of Jules Vernes´ most stunning inheritors and the maybe best technothriller author of all times.
Wait until it gets real, if it not even already secretly is
Some Sci-Fi has the potential to become the continuation of the 20th century (and rarely 19th century) authors predicting the future and as always, it´s more a question of if and not when, I should stop saying that so often to avoid redundancy, but meh. In contrast to Sci-Fi genres dealing with possible, but not certain or probable scenarios, this new genre of science techno thriller conspiracy cyberpunk hybrids on the shoulders of Crichton and many others, (although far better written than this possible not best example, let´s take Stephenson instead, ah much butter), is dealing with topics humankind should possibly have an eye on. You know, wise and responsible preparation and sustainable longtime future planning, especially in politics. Stop laughing!
I deem it the better Ready Player Two
Did anyone notice the parallels between this one published in 2009 and Clines 2011 published Ready Player One? I am sure that the ideas and concepts have been used several times in varying detail in Sci-Fi, especially dystopian and cyberpunk, I´ve read and forgotten or maybe even not read, especially in Cyberpunk and with the one or other machine intelligence robot alien race in massive hard science fiction space opera, etc series. Both of these masterpieces blow minds, open completely new perspectives, are unique, and open the world of game literature hybrids, jay!
Games own all other media
The future is in computer games, the perfect culmination of everything that makes art great, music, scripts, and storytelling from movies and literature, art, design, animation, etc. combined with literature franchises, just as it´s happening with Minecraft and many series I don´t know or that will come. I imagine it especially amazing for the kids and teens that both play and read, that spent hundreds and thousands of hours in their favorite series, both single player and together with friends, not to forget AR, VR, and mind computer interface implants, nanobots, and the best combination of smart and real drugs to improve performance and widen perception. It´s as if a literature universe, like King, Pratchett, Sanderson,… would have become real life for older readers, as if one could choose and switch between the possible variations of how one wants to consume, one day reading, one day playing, or switches all 1 to 3 hours. Forget reality, it´s boring.
Just too seductive
The only problem, and that´s the reason why I stopped gaming over a decade or something ago when it still looked like lol rofl facepalm ICQ, is that it´s too great and immersive, especially for entertainment addiction prone people like me. But even for the ones who can handle it, I will give the old man´s advice of gaming wisely and responsibly, because this thing can easily, just like TV and even worse, eat away months and years of one´s life. It´s healthier than passive TV consumption and improves cognitive function if consumed in the right amount of some time every day, but the, again subjective, main problem is the immense seductive allure all embracing power over people´s minds. Many won´t be finding their kicks with literature or movies anymore, not to speak of real life, and that´s one of the most important messages of these novels to think about too. Jay, cultural pessimism.
Meta leveling military industrial complex conspiracies
On the meta level, there is also this thing of prodigies warning about AI, military experts talking about cyber wars escalating, and extremists using it to kill millions by destroying infrastructure, and the question of if it could be WW3 humans vs humans or humans vs machines. Not to forget the aliens, which could lead to four fractions of robot aliens, flesh aliens, humans, and humans´ robots and AI, complicating the genociding even more.
I´ll avoid the infodump technobabble overkill but
I could talk for hours and days about AI, technology, algorithms, social networks, the internet, MMORPGs, its impact on society, and especially comparing how Sci-Fi of different decades dealt with this topic, but I am a master procrastinator, aspiring grandmaster, and want to avoid investing too much real work *shivers* in creating redundant drivel about books. Read much Sci-Fi, cough best literary genre cough, instead to generate your own assumptions and analysis.
Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
Wait until it gets real, if it not even already secretly is
Some Sci-Fi has the potential to become the continuation of the 20th century (and rarely 19th century) authors predicting the future and as always, it´s more a question of if and not when, I should stop saying that so often to avoid redundancy, but meh. In contrast to Sci-Fi genres dealing with possible, but not certain or probable scenarios, this new genre of science techno thriller conspiracy cyberpunk hybrids on the shoulders of Crichton and many others, (although far better written than this possible not best example, let´s take Stephenson instead, ah much butter), is dealing with topics humankind should possibly have an eye on. You know, wise and responsible preparation and sustainable longtime future planning, especially in politics. Stop laughing!
I deem it the better Ready Player Two
Did anyone notice the parallels between this one published in 2009 and Clines 2011 published Ready Player One? I am sure that the ideas and concepts have been used several times in varying detail in Sci-Fi, especially dystopian and cyberpunk, I´ve read and forgotten or maybe even not read, especially in Cyberpunk and with the one or other machine intelligence robot alien race in massive hard science fiction space opera, etc series. Both of these masterpieces blow minds, open completely new perspectives, are unique, and open the world of game literature hybrids, jay!
Games own all other media
The future is in computer games, the perfect culmination of everything that makes art great, music, scripts, and storytelling from movies and literature, art, design, animation, etc. combined with literature franchises, just as it´s happening with Minecraft and many series I don´t know or that will come. I imagine it especially amazing for the kids and teens that both play and read, that spent hundreds and thousands of hours in their favorite series, both single player and together with friends, not to forget AR, VR, and mind computer interface implants, nanobots, and the best combination of smart and real drugs to improve performance and widen perception. It´s as if a literature universe, like King, Pratchett, Sanderson,… would have become real life for older readers, as if one could choose and switch between the possible variations of how one wants to consume, one day reading, one day playing, or switches all 1 to 3 hours. Forget reality, it´s boring.
Just too seductive
The only problem, and that´s the reason why I stopped gaming over a decade or something ago when it still looked like lol rofl facepalm ICQ, is that it´s too great and immersive, especially for entertainment addiction prone people like me. But even for the ones who can handle it, I will give the old man´s advice of gaming wisely and responsibly, because this thing can easily, just like TV and even worse, eat away months and years of one´s life. It´s healthier than passive TV consumption and improves cognitive function if consumed in the right amount of some time every day, but the, again subjective, main problem is the immense seductive allure all embracing power over people´s minds. Many won´t be finding their kicks with literature or movies anymore, not to speak of real life, and that´s one of the most important messages of these novels to think about too. Jay, cultural pessimism.
Meta leveling military industrial complex conspiracies
On the meta level, there is also this thing of prodigies warning about AI, military experts talking about cyber wars escalating, and extremists using it to kill millions by destroying infrastructure, and the question of if it could be WW3 humans vs humans or humans vs machines. Not to forget the aliens, which could lead to four fractions of robot aliens, flesh aliens, humans, and humans´ robots and AI, complicating the genociding even more.
I´ll avoid the infodump technobabble overkill but
I could talk for hours and days about AI, technology, algorithms, social networks, the internet, MMORPGs, its impact on society, and especially comparing how Sci-Fi of different decades dealt with this topic, but I am a master procrastinator, aspiring grandmaster, and want to avoid investing too much real work *shivers* in creating redundant drivel about books. Read much Sci-Fi, cough best literary genre cough, instead to generate your own assumptions and analysis.
Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
September 12, 2009
Daniel Suarez's Daemon is an amazing story. And I'm not talking about the actual plot; for that, the word "Amazing" would not suffice. No, I am referring to the incredible series of events which are leading up to its publication and release on January 8th.
After writing Daemon back in 2004, Suarez faced the uphill battle common to many first-time authors. Unable to find a buyer, yet confident of the quality of his work, he decided to self-publish. Using print-on-demand, Suarez pumped out a few dozen copies a month, at the time sporting the pseudonym of Leinad Zeraus, his real name spelled backwards.
Eventually the book achieved an underground and vocal following. A tipping point of sorts was reached, and the right people began promoting the book in whatever way they could, people like Craig, of craigslist fame and Rick Klau, at Feedburner (now owned by Google). This network helped boost sales until the bright folks at Dutton publishing realized that a phenomenal author was going ignored.
What thrills me about the way this book came to life isn't the underdog-triumphant cliche, it is that the themes within Daemon are eerily germane to its own birthing pains. The premise of this book is that our technological interconnectedness will create as many problems as it solves. Empowering the little people with cheap processing power and an Internet which can not be regulated nor destroyed is great if you are a first time author trying to get a book out the door; it isn't so good for the rest of us if you are able to steal the identities of others, plan terrorist attacks, or abuse an infrastructure designed for efficiency, but capable of worse.
Other authors have probed these questions; Suarez goes one step further. His is an even bigger query: can our current economic and political systems evolve in a way that will handle the increase in individual power, or is a geopolitical revolution going to be required? If it sounds like heady stuff, it is. But don't worry, you'll have plenty of incentive to chew this fat as you feast on the meaty murder mystery which holds these premises together. Well, maybe "mystery" is the wrong word.
You see, Daemon starts with a gruesome death scene and a typical police procedural, but events unfold in a unique manner after just the first few pages. Very early into our story a man identifies himself to our head detective and confesses to the two murders. Here is the twist: The murderer is the famous billionaire videogame programmer Matthew Sobol; And Sobol died of cancer before these crimes took place!
There is no "whodunnit" in Daemon. When you think about it, 'Who?' is really an uninteresting question compared to "Why?" and 'How?'. The former is just a name, a character. There is some suspense, sure, but the 'Why' and 'How' of this book make a normal murder mystery seem blase. The 'Why' is a philosophical revolution. The 'How' is a frightening glimpse of a future managed by machines and programs. The real antagonist in "Daemon" isn't the dead Sobol, though he serves as its figurehead, the real enemy in this book is the titular Daemon, the distributed algorithm that Sobol meticulously crafted and unleashed on the world.
The power of Sobol's Daemon comes from his advances in videogame AI. Sobol created the book's version of our World of Warcraft, which they call "The Gate". This MMORPG not only provides the technical know-how for designing incredibly robust logic trees, it also provides the perfect virtual world for training and recruitment. And the rapt population is the ideal one for a cult of personality to form: Dissatisfied 20-somethings looking for a cause to celebrate, as one of his characters powerfully puts it:
This was as far from Main Street as he'd ever been. This wasn't the tattooed, pierced neo-tribal rebellious bullshit of his generation. This was a quiet demonstration of networked power. This was it.
Couple this empowerment with the addictive concept of "leveling" in real-life and you have a recruitment process that Al Qaeda can't match. Look at how XBox gamers compare their real-world "Gamerscores" and trophies, how forum denizens brandish post-counts as proof of actual superiority, or how millionaire doctors can be reduced to clawing at one another for "loot" bags at medical conventions. The mechanisms that make videogames engaging, addictive, and all-powerful do NOT work on us because of anything inherent in videogames, they succeed because of truths inherent in humanity. Especially for virile males seeking the alpha-male status of 1337ness.
Suarez's grip on this undercurrent is matched by his knowledge of today's leading-edge technology. The book reads like Engadget, Gizmodo, and Wired Magazine rolled up in some military "Janes" articles. This isn't science fiction, it is fiction based on scientific FACT. In a speech for the Long Now foundation, Suarez recently detailed how some of the advances which power the plot of his novel are in action today. From bots that scour our medical records and approve our loans, to convincing text-to-voice technology, and on to cameras which read the license plates of traffic violators with an automated process which results in an actual ticket being cursed by a real human. Soon RFID tags will interact with mesh networks that can track everything, all in the name of efficiency and profit, but hackable for more nefarious purposes.
This contemporary relevance is why some are already comparing Suarez to Michael Crichton, but I don't think the comparison is fair to Suarez. Chrichton was great at taking science to its extremes, creating worlds which seemed plausible, yet unlikely. Suarez does something better: He uses a mastery of the micro-technological to posit, with convincing force, a macro-future which seems more inevitable than fanciful. Which of these is scarier: Reading about a dinosaur chasing your imaginary hero, or putting down a terrifying thriller and seeing another Reuter's article which drags that fiction into YOUR reality? The former isn't even a close second.
For me, Suarez is the new Neal Stephenson. If Stephenson's "Diamond Age" is a glimpse of our world 200 years from now, Suarez is the more-germane prophet of a literal tomorrow. His particular fiction is as unlikely as any to ever come to pass, but the questions it wrestles with MUST be raised and dealt with by a generation alive today. Daemon's brilliance is that it combines an engrossing mystery with nerve-splitting action, and yet still raises these heady questions. This mixture creates a novel that you never want to put down, and when you are forced to do so, the implications of its philosophical underpinnings stir your imagination into a frenzy. You don't find yourself perseverating over the precarious situation you left the characters in, you instead find yourself seeing the world around you in a different light. It is as if a HUD becomes overlayed on your vision, filled with the data and info that Suarez's book illuminates, an experience not unlike that endured by his characters as they are bent to the will of his fictional mastermind, Mathew Sobol. The next time I make a flight reservation by interacting with an imaginary voice that is following a logic tree, a simplified version of the Daemon, it will be with a new, chilling awareness.
Daemon was a perfect storm for me, as a reader. I grew up on science fiction, but I now prefer a realistic thriller. I enjoy the effortless pleasure of reading make-believe, yet prefer thought provoking non-fiction. I am an avid gamer and a worshiper (albeit rarely a purchaser) of consumer electronics. This novel touched on so many passions, and sated them all. Even when the plot disappointed me at times, it was a devious sham that Suarez teased me with, then made up for it in the end. Rarely do I put down a great read like I did tonight and have the urge to call friends and family to share the experience with them, but that is how Daemon made me feel. It isn't just a great book; it is an important book.
February 10, 2017
Okay, I'm going with an unpopular opinion here. And a DNF @ 16%.
There's a scene with one of our POV characters where he goes to a rave, separates a young woman from her "peer support system" (his words), drugs her, and then convinces her to strip in front of a hundred people, after which he gets her to have sex with and/or give blowjobs to about 40 guys who are standing in line, waiting "their turn". All while he's streaming it live on the internet. Oh, and it establishes that he does this on a regular basis.
I get that Suarez is trying to get the point across that this guy is a creep but this was a long and nauseating scene and I really struggled with it. There are better ways to get the point across. This aside, the story itself was interesting and I want to read it. But I can't bring myself to pick the book back up.
Take that opinion as it is, I know that people aren't going to be happy with it. But I think some people will be glad I said something.
There's a scene with one of our POV characters where he goes to a rave, separates a young woman from her "peer support system" (his words), drugs her, and then convinces her to strip in front of a hundred people, after which he gets her to have sex with and/or give blowjobs to about 40 guys who are standing in line, waiting "their turn". All while he's streaming it live on the internet. Oh, and it establishes that he does this on a regular basis.
I get that Suarez is trying to get the point across that this guy is a creep but this was a long and nauseating scene and I really struggled with it. There are better ways to get the point across. This aside, the story itself was interesting and I want to read it. But I can't bring myself to pick the book back up.
Take that opinion as it is, I know that people aren't going to be happy with it. But I think some people will be glad I said something.
July 12, 2009
Awful. "Daemon" suffers from all the usual pitfalls of the first novel: unoriginal premise, wooden dialogue, melodramatic action, clumsy exposition, sloppy resolution, inconsequential subplotting. When the author tries to be witty, he comes off as conceited; when he tries to impress with his tech-savvy, he sounds as if he's quoting from "Popular Science" magazine. This was the worst book I've read in a while, and I'm not sure whether I want Daniel Suarez to stop writing altogether, or give him credit for having nowhere to go but up.
December 31, 2018
Very smart, very cool.
Daniel Suarez’ 2006 novel Daemon was a pistol hot cup of rhyme, a mix of Ready Player One, Age of Ultron, The Matrix and Left Behind (without the overt theology). But whereas Ernest Cline’s 2012 book was charismatic and kooky with the 80s trivia, Suarez’ work is dark and at times disturbing; it hums and growls with a dark net underground magnetism.
Matthew Sobol was a billionaire genius who had invented wildly popular and stunningly realistic online games. Poisoned by brain cancer and wasted by chemotherapy, his final days were marred by reclusiveness and mental instability. No one knew how mentally unstable until after his death when a series of bizarre events revealed his detailed and well planned machinations to change the world. A dark net, automated daemon he left behind is making dramatic and dangerous alterations to government, business and society as a whole.
Suarez has populated his narrative with an intriguing cast of well developed characters. Eschewing any one dominant protagonist, the writer moves deftly between perspectives, even following his players into death. This cacophony of omniscience serves his narrative structure well as we follow the malevolent creation of a man gone from this world physically but living on actively through his online creations. Suarez also provides sufficient and cause-and-effect backstories to reveal Sobol's pre-death planning. Unlike Left Behind’s Nicolai Carpathia, this humanist villain bears a nihilistic, philosophical rationalization for his world changing intrigues.
While this does at some times get bogged down with overly technical explanations Suarez does a better than average job of both stepping the science down for us knuckle draggers and keeping the pace moving along.
Fast moving, slick Sci-fi with horrific elements, this is a very good read. I’ll read more from Mr. Suarez.
Daniel Suarez’ 2006 novel Daemon was a pistol hot cup of rhyme, a mix of Ready Player One, Age of Ultron, The Matrix and Left Behind (without the overt theology). But whereas Ernest Cline’s 2012 book was charismatic and kooky with the 80s trivia, Suarez’ work is dark and at times disturbing; it hums and growls with a dark net underground magnetism.
Matthew Sobol was a billionaire genius who had invented wildly popular and stunningly realistic online games. Poisoned by brain cancer and wasted by chemotherapy, his final days were marred by reclusiveness and mental instability. No one knew how mentally unstable until after his death when a series of bizarre events revealed his detailed and well planned machinations to change the world. A dark net, automated daemon he left behind is making dramatic and dangerous alterations to government, business and society as a whole.
Suarez has populated his narrative with an intriguing cast of well developed characters. Eschewing any one dominant protagonist, the writer moves deftly between perspectives, even following his players into death. This cacophony of omniscience serves his narrative structure well as we follow the malevolent creation of a man gone from this world physically but living on actively through his online creations. Suarez also provides sufficient and cause-and-effect backstories to reveal Sobol's pre-death planning. Unlike Left Behind’s Nicolai Carpathia, this humanist villain bears a nihilistic, philosophical rationalization for his world changing intrigues.
While this does at some times get bogged down with overly technical explanations Suarez does a better than average job of both stepping the science down for us knuckle draggers and keeping the pace moving along.
Fast moving, slick Sci-fi with horrific elements, this is a very good read. I’ll read more from Mr. Suarez.
February 8, 2017
I've just become a huge fanboy with one book.
That's to say I was rightly blown away. :) All right. To explain. What first seems like a techno-thriller with gamers and programmers and a murderer doing all his murders after his own death by cancer then quickly turns into a social and economical exploration based on the trends we're now facing.
This is a fun and complicated story filled with many twists and turns, awesome characters, and a world-changing creation that turns us all into players in a world-wide socio-economic game based on distributed network theory and game-development strategies. You know that little military idea of Game Theory? Why not take it to an All New Level and create for ourselves a Game Of Our Lives, so pervasive a virus and lucrative for all the players that it takes over every level of government, corporation, and home? It's like having the mafia become a super genius living in every computer and taking over everything purely by social hacking. It's beautiful.
I've seen a number of somewhat similar tales grace the page, but most of those are social hacking through social media. This one is a bit more fundamental than that. This one leaves us all alone unless it has something it needs, in conjunction with so many other people-pieces, that when they're put together, create major changes without anyone knowing exactly what was up until it happened. A computer god or Microsoft Design Strategy. Whatever. It's gorgeous.
And so strange that the novel still keeps up with it's techno-thriller ride, still managing a wonderful story while also exploring the depths of an entirely plausible and scary takeover of the world. :) By AI.
I totally recommend this fantastic SF. It is both fun and important for the field. :) Solid as hell and a pure delight, even with some of the more disturbing social aspects intact. No one is innocent. That's kinda the point. We deserve to be taken over by a computer parasite. :)
That's to say I was rightly blown away. :) All right. To explain. What first seems like a techno-thriller with gamers and programmers and a murderer doing all his murders after his own death by cancer then quickly turns into a social and economical exploration based on the trends we're now facing.
This is a fun and complicated story filled with many twists and turns, awesome characters, and a world-changing creation that turns us all into players in a world-wide socio-economic game based on distributed network theory and game-development strategies. You know that little military idea of Game Theory? Why not take it to an All New Level and create for ourselves a Game Of Our Lives, so pervasive a virus and lucrative for all the players that it takes over every level of government, corporation, and home? It's like having the mafia become a super genius living in every computer and taking over everything purely by social hacking. It's beautiful.
I've seen a number of somewhat similar tales grace the page, but most of those are social hacking through social media. This one is a bit more fundamental than that. This one leaves us all alone unless it has something it needs, in conjunction with so many other people-pieces, that when they're put together, create major changes without anyone knowing exactly what was up until it happened. A computer god or Microsoft Design Strategy. Whatever. It's gorgeous.
And so strange that the novel still keeps up with it's techno-thriller ride, still managing a wonderful story while also exploring the depths of an entirely plausible and scary takeover of the world. :) By AI.
I totally recommend this fantastic SF. It is both fun and important for the field. :) Solid as hell and a pure delight, even with some of the more disturbing social aspects intact. No one is innocent. That's kinda the point. We deserve to be taken over by a computer parasite. :)
January 22, 2010
If you were someone with more computer knowledge and money than Bill Gates, and you found out you were dying, would you:
A) Give all your money to charity just in case you can buy your way into heaven.
B) Indulge in an around the world drinking, drug and sex spree until going out in a blaze of glory by crashing your private jet into an erupting volcano live on CNN.
C) Pour all your money into a cryogenics program and freeze yourself like Walt Disney in the hope that they’ll finally figure out a way to bring back the human popsicles.
D) Devise an intricate high-tech web of infrastructure and computer programs that will carry out your will and launch an Internet scheme that will kill a whole lot of people when your obituary is published.
If you chose A, B or C, then you obviously weren’t cut out to be a crazy billionaire.
I loved the premise of this book and thought the first half of it was a fun and original thriller. I was a little disappointed in the second half. The climax was exciting, but at that point, I thought the technology being introduced began to border on science fiction. Part of the hook of the book for me was the idea that this dead billionaire could rig existing computer programs to carry out a worldwide scheme, and the author made that idea very believable because of the detail he had of current networks.
And even though the tech introduced in the final act is probably on somebody's drawing boards, it took away from the realism built up in the first half. Plus, I didn't like that this is apparently the first book in a series. I wasn't aware of that until I hit the last page, and then there was an ad for the next book. I'll probably read the next one, but I thought I was getting a complete story when I read this one.
Despite my complaining, I still thought it was a very original and interesting book. One of the better thrillers I've read in recent years.
A) Give all your money to charity just in case you can buy your way into heaven.
B) Indulge in an around the world drinking, drug and sex spree until going out in a blaze of glory by crashing your private jet into an erupting volcano live on CNN.
C) Pour all your money into a cryogenics program and freeze yourself like Walt Disney in the hope that they’ll finally figure out a way to bring back the human popsicles.
D) Devise an intricate high-tech web of infrastructure and computer programs that will carry out your will and launch an Internet scheme that will kill a whole lot of people when your obituary is published.
If you chose A, B or C, then you obviously weren’t cut out to be a crazy billionaire.
I loved the premise of this book and thought the first half of it was a fun and original thriller. I was a little disappointed in the second half. The climax was exciting, but at that point, I thought the technology being introduced began to border on science fiction. Part of the hook of the book for me was the idea that this dead billionaire could rig existing computer programs to carry out a worldwide scheme, and the author made that idea very believable because of the detail he had of current networks.
And even though the tech introduced in the final act is probably on somebody's drawing boards, it took away from the realism built up in the first half. Plus, I didn't like that this is apparently the first book in a series. I wasn't aware of that until I hit the last page, and then there was an ad for the next book. I'll probably read the next one, but I thought I was getting a complete story when I read this one.
Despite my complaining, I still thought it was a very original and interesting book. One of the better thrillers I've read in recent years.
April 10, 2009
Into the third chapter of this book I had to close it for good. I was very disappointed given its good reviews. There were a few swear words but as the F-bombs started to land, the Rave parties began, drug dealers started trash talking, prostitutes hit the scene and a date rape began I had to quit, all before chapter 4. This was such a departure from the "computer program gone awry, murder mystery" premise I was totally taken off guard. I wish there was a content rating for books like there are movies. I think I will start rating my books so other readers may know what they are getting into. Please join me in doing so. RATING - R
March 31, 2024
"Successful parasites don’t kill us; they become part of us, making us perform all the work to keep them alive and help them reproduce."
What an incredible novel!! It's harder and harder for me to find fiction that really draws me in and consumes me. This book gripped me from start to finish and I really wish I didn't have a virtual stack of library books waiting to be read because it's gonna be difficult to wait to read book two.
If you like techno-thrillers, this is a must read. It blends AI with gaming and shows how quickly technology can be used to take over everything in our modern society.
It asks the questions, does democracy stand a chance against AI and what happens if the right technology gets into the wrong hands?
Such a fun and thrilling story and one I can't wait to get back into with book two!
"I suspect that democracy is not viable in a technologically advanced society. Free people wield too much ability to destroy."
What an incredible novel!! It's harder and harder for me to find fiction that really draws me in and consumes me. This book gripped me from start to finish and I really wish I didn't have a virtual stack of library books waiting to be read because it's gonna be difficult to wait to read book two.
If you like techno-thrillers, this is a must read. It blends AI with gaming and shows how quickly technology can be used to take over everything in our modern society.
It asks the questions, does democracy stand a chance against AI and what happens if the right technology gets into the wrong hands?
Such a fun and thrilling story and one I can't wait to get back into with book two!
"I suspect that democracy is not viable in a technologically advanced society. Free people wield too much ability to destroy."
November 10, 2025
4.5 stars
short review for busy readers:
Wow, what a ride! 2 thumbs up. 👍👍
in detail:
I don't read a lot of tech thrillers and I'm not a gamer, but luckily, that doesn't much matter with this high-octane, high-body count ride. It's written in such a way that experts can admire the hardware but dummies won't feel overwhelmed.
And I do love me a killer Humvee!
Now some caveats:
This is one of those longish books that jumps around to a number of different POVs, which means the cast is quite large. For readers who don't like constant POV switches or keeping track of a lot of characters, be warned!
Also be warned that it's book 1 of currently 2 and a number of threads are left dangling at the end. Even though that's majorly annoying, it also makes you want to run right out and get the 2nd volume to find out what happens!
**Warning for female readers** There is an overly long early scene meant to show how callous, manipulative and power hungry one of the major male characters is. It's hard to read if you're female, as it involves the crass sexual endangerment and public exploitation of an under-aged girl. (Not sure how men would read that scene)
However! That is the only instance and there is nothing similar in the rest of the novel. In fact, all of the female characters are done quite well. If that scene gets to be too much (and it is harsh), skim and keep going. The novel's simply too good to DNF at that early point.
short review for busy readers:
Wow, what a ride! 2 thumbs up. 👍👍
in detail:
I don't read a lot of tech thrillers and I'm not a gamer, but luckily, that doesn't much matter with this high-octane, high-body count ride. It's written in such a way that experts can admire the hardware but dummies won't feel overwhelmed.
And I do love me a killer Humvee!
Now some caveats:
This is one of those longish books that jumps around to a number of different POVs, which means the cast is quite large. For readers who don't like constant POV switches or keeping track of a lot of characters, be warned!
Also be warned that it's book 1 of currently 2 and a number of threads are left dangling at the end. Even though that's majorly annoying, it also makes you want to run right out and get the 2nd volume to find out what happens!
**Warning for female readers** There is an overly long early scene meant to show how callous, manipulative and power hungry one of the major male characters is. It's hard to read if you're female, as it involves the crass sexual endangerment and public exploitation of an under-aged girl. (Not sure how men would read that scene)
However! That is the only instance and there is nothing similar in the rest of the novel. In fact, all of the female characters are done quite well. If that scene gets to be too much (and it is harsh), skim and keep going. The novel's simply too good to DNF at that early point.
June 7, 2011
Apparently this is first of a series. MMO and videogame magnate dies, but somehow works his will through outlandish technological means to implement some plan of collapsing/remaking society. People try with absolutely no success to stop him.
The problem with this book is that all the cards are held by the villains, to the point of absurdity. Literal absurdity, once they start pulling the Razorbacks in. The heroes exist only to be struck down, and while this might be good as a set-up, an entire book of it grows wearying. It's not a bad premise, and there's an especially nice scene where the bad guys are directed almost by a virtual GPS to do a step-by-step process, receiving "experience points" for completion. The idea of factions as well, and the gamification of real life are interesting ideas that beg for exploration.
Yet he wastes time on pointless elaborate deathtrap scenes, and introducing more evil characters than good ones. The daemon has ridiculous power and foresight for a game A.I. reacting with no visible control. It's a tremendous disappointment to me because the theme needs more than just a typical thriller. It could be an incredible book if it explored the ideas in it. But now it's just an over-long set up for books two and probably three.
The problem with this book is that all the cards are held by the villains, to the point of absurdity. Literal absurdity, once they start pulling the Razorbacks in. The heroes exist only to be struck down, and while this might be good as a set-up, an entire book of it grows wearying. It's not a bad premise, and there's an especially nice scene where the bad guys are directed almost by a virtual GPS to do a step-by-step process, receiving "experience points" for completion. The idea of factions as well, and the gamification of real life are interesting ideas that beg for exploration.
Yet he wastes time on pointless elaborate deathtrap scenes, and introducing more evil characters than good ones. The daemon has ridiculous power and foresight for a game A.I. reacting with no visible control. It's a tremendous disappointment to me because the theme needs more than just a typical thriller. It could be an incredible book if it explored the ideas in it. But now it's just an over-long set up for books two and probably three.
November 16, 2021
Me, several months ago, to various websites: What science fiction mysteries are good? I have a hankering.
All of those websites: Daemon, by Daniel Suarez! You will love it! It is the BEST and SHINIEST.
Those websites were wrong in every particular. This is not a mystery; it's a thriller. (You know who committed the crimes by 10%, but also you know if you read the summary.) I did not love it. And it is not good, never mind best.
I will say, though, that it is in some ways clever. It was written a decade and a half ago and doesn't feel hugely dated yet, which is an impressive feat, given that it is about computer technology and set in its own present. And it is absolutely paced correctly; Suarez definitely does know how to write at the thriller pace, and he knows how to recount a plot.
Unfortunately, that is absolutely all he's doing here; he's reporting on a plot he thought up. The characters in this cast of thousands are almost all interchangeable, the interactions between them are either nonexistent or shallow, and almost every single character is an asshole (and the rest are mostly psychopaths). That last part isn't all bad, though; most of the characters die, and even though those deaths are generally very graphically described (this is THE book to read if you want lots of details of blood spatter), I never once felt sad or even mildly distressed about it. I was too busy trying to remember which Stoic Man this was, or which Miscellaneous Tech Bro I could mentally knock off the character list. (This is what happens when you have many, many characters, most of whom have no personalities; no one gives a shit about them.) I was, however, a little bit sad when one of the characters turned out not to be dead; I had been glad to see him go, and then he came BACK, which I guess I should have expected. The villains never die the first time, and virtually every character in this on both sides is a villain.
But, hey, better to be a Dead Miscellaneous Tech Bro Villain in this book than any woman at all. There's a scene of graphically, happily described gang rape of a woman who gets no name beyond "Jennifer," apparently included just for funsies. There's the public humiliation of one of the two actual female characters (this one's stereotype is Spoiled Bitch, but I'm not complaining about the one-note stereotype characterization, since most of the characters don't have anything else). And there's the blinding of the other female character. Suarez doesn't really give speaking parts to the rest of the countable-on-the-fingers-of-one-hand women in this cast of thousands, but he does make sure we know they're all super hot! Like. Every woman is just SUPER hot. Which makes sense, because they're largely there as objects of male desire, so if they weren't super hot, what would be the point of even having them be women? (No, no assessment is made about hotness of the men, but then, they have actual plot functions, and literally no human is ever attracted to a man anyway, right?)
I realize I'm making this sound gross, but it's actually much grosser when you read it.
I also wonder if any of this book makes sense, because when it hit up against something I knew, I was like, uh, that is actually incorrect? That is not how that works at all? And I guess I just lost a lot of faith in Suarez's realism (and his factcheckers, if any) when he had a dude hooked up to an IV and bound to a bed for 46 hours *without a catheter* and it was not a problem in any way.
Fun additional bonus: if you do read this book, enjoy the not-ending! Because it literally doesn't have one. It resolves exactly zero of its plot threads and leaves most of them in Big Action Moments. Suarez wrote THE END at the end because he knew otherwise all of his readers would call the publisher to complain that they got shorted some chapters in their copy.
Ugh. I love science fiction mysteries. But they have to be BETTER THAN THIS SHIT.
All of those websites: Daemon, by Daniel Suarez! You will love it! It is the BEST and SHINIEST.
Those websites were wrong in every particular. This is not a mystery; it's a thriller. (You know who committed the crimes by 10%, but also you know if you read the summary.) I did not love it. And it is not good, never mind best.
I will say, though, that it is in some ways clever. It was written a decade and a half ago and doesn't feel hugely dated yet, which is an impressive feat, given that it is about computer technology and set in its own present. And it is absolutely paced correctly; Suarez definitely does know how to write at the thriller pace, and he knows how to recount a plot.
Unfortunately, that is absolutely all he's doing here; he's reporting on a plot he thought up. The characters in this cast of thousands are almost all interchangeable, the interactions between them are either nonexistent or shallow, and almost every single character is an asshole (and the rest are mostly psychopaths). That last part isn't all bad, though; most of the characters die, and even though those deaths are generally very graphically described (this is THE book to read if you want lots of details of blood spatter), I never once felt sad or even mildly distressed about it. I was too busy trying to remember which Stoic Man this was, or which Miscellaneous Tech Bro I could mentally knock off the character list. (This is what happens when you have many, many characters, most of whom have no personalities; no one gives a shit about them.) I was, however, a little bit sad when one of the characters turned out not to be dead; I had been glad to see him go, and then he came BACK, which I guess I should have expected. The villains never die the first time, and virtually every character in this on both sides is a villain.
But, hey, better to be a Dead Miscellaneous Tech Bro Villain in this book than any woman at all. There's a scene of graphically, happily described gang rape of a woman who gets no name beyond "Jennifer," apparently included just for funsies. There's the public humiliation of one of the two actual female characters (this one's stereotype is Spoiled Bitch, but I'm not complaining about the one-note stereotype characterization, since most of the characters don't have anything else). And there's the blinding of the other female character. Suarez doesn't really give speaking parts to the rest of the countable-on-the-fingers-of-one-hand women in this cast of thousands, but he does make sure we know they're all super hot! Like. Every woman is just SUPER hot. Which makes sense, because they're largely there as objects of male desire, so if they weren't super hot, what would be the point of even having them be women? (No, no assessment is made about hotness of the men, but then, they have actual plot functions, and literally no human is ever attracted to a man anyway, right?)
I realize I'm making this sound gross, but it's actually much grosser when you read it.
I also wonder if any of this book makes sense, because when it hit up against something I knew, I was like, uh, that is actually incorrect? That is not how that works at all? And I guess I just lost a lot of faith in Suarez's realism (and his factcheckers, if any) when he had a dude hooked up to an IV and bound to a bed for 46 hours *without a catheter* and it was not a problem in any way.
Fun additional bonus: if you do read this book, enjoy the not-ending! Because it literally doesn't have one. It resolves exactly zero of its plot threads and leaves most of them in Big Action Moments. Suarez wrote THE END at the end because he knew otherwise all of his readers would call the publisher to complain that they got shorted some chapters in their copy.
Ugh. I love science fiction mysteries. But they have to be BETTER THAN THIS SHIT.
December 16, 2009
Wonderful, wonderful read. I'm taking off one star because I found the ending to be very... well, not to my liking. I thought it was too abrupt, and I didn't feel like anything was resolved. Maybe it was supposed to be, but I tend to like closure.
February 23, 2009
Billionaire computer software mogul Matthew Sobol has died and he wants to make sure he leaves behind a legacy. That legacy comes in the form of a daemon, or a computer programing running in the background of every system that has installed his massively popular on-line, multi-player video game. When news of Sobol's death hits the Internet, the daemon becomes active, creating havoc across the world as it exploits vulnerabilities in computer networks and uses them for its own purposes.
Daniel Suarez's first novel "Daemon" is a fascinating, compelling and, at times, downright scary story of just how open to attack and manipulation many of our computer networks are. It may be one thing to think about hackers taking advantage gaps in the security to get free wi-fi Internet access, but it's entirely another to see a home security system run amok, intent on killing anyone who tries to approach Sobol's home and to disable it. Or seeing how easily the system can manipulate multiple networks to reduce the sentence of a hardened criminal from maximum security prison to a low-security facility and eventually set free in order to facilitate the next step in the daemon's plan.
The story of how Suarez's novel went from a self-published story to a major book contract and potential movie deal is one that will give hope to every aspiring writer out there. Suarez got his book into the hands of a target audience and created a buzz for himself that it was impossible for a conventional publisher to ignore. But the thing is--if "Daemon" weren't a good book, no one would be talking about it. And "Daemon" is that good.
This is not a book to pick up at bedtime and think you're going to read a few pages before you head to sleep. "Daemon" is the kind of book that you find yourself lulled into, thinking you're only reading a few pages and spending a few minutes caught up in this high-tech, scary and all to close to real world, only to find you've read half the book, its 2 a.m. and you've got to be at work in a few hours. And you still find yourself regretting having to put the book aside. "Daemon" is smart, fresh and reminded me a lot of the early intensity of Tom Clancy novels. Suarez clearly knows and understands his technology but is able to translate that into the story without it feeling like he's bringing the plotline to a halt for an infodump.
The only negative thing I can say about this book is that it was over too soon and left me wanting more. Suarez has promised a sequel and the book comes to a conclusion that effectively wraps up the story for this book but leaves open a lot of doors for a sequel. It's a sequel that I will be waiting impatiently for at my local bookstore.
Daniel Suarez's first novel "Daemon" is a fascinating, compelling and, at times, downright scary story of just how open to attack and manipulation many of our computer networks are. It may be one thing to think about hackers taking advantage gaps in the security to get free wi-fi Internet access, but it's entirely another to see a home security system run amok, intent on killing anyone who tries to approach Sobol's home and to disable it. Or seeing how easily the system can manipulate multiple networks to reduce the sentence of a hardened criminal from maximum security prison to a low-security facility and eventually set free in order to facilitate the next step in the daemon's plan.
The story of how Suarez's novel went from a self-published story to a major book contract and potential movie deal is one that will give hope to every aspiring writer out there. Suarez got his book into the hands of a target audience and created a buzz for himself that it was impossible for a conventional publisher to ignore. But the thing is--if "Daemon" weren't a good book, no one would be talking about it. And "Daemon" is that good.
This is not a book to pick up at bedtime and think you're going to read a few pages before you head to sleep. "Daemon" is the kind of book that you find yourself lulled into, thinking you're only reading a few pages and spending a few minutes caught up in this high-tech, scary and all to close to real world, only to find you've read half the book, its 2 a.m. and you've got to be at work in a few hours. And you still find yourself regretting having to put the book aside. "Daemon" is smart, fresh and reminded me a lot of the early intensity of Tom Clancy novels. Suarez clearly knows and understands his technology but is able to translate that into the story without it feeling like he's bringing the plotline to a halt for an infodump.
The only negative thing I can say about this book is that it was over too soon and left me wanting more. Suarez has promised a sequel and the book comes to a conclusion that effectively wraps up the story for this book but leaves open a lot of doors for a sequel. It's a sequel that I will be waiting impatiently for at my local bookstore.
March 29, 2023
It doesn't work.
February 19, 2017
A 3.5 for me. A crazy individual who happens to be a millionaire genius somehow hacks the Internet and after his death his ideology runs havoc within law enforcement, the military, America's judicial system, the public sector, etc.... It was a well written book with a good story line, I just wish I could have connected with the characters more, there were too many and none very likable. Computer gamers would probably enjoy this book very much. It is the first of two books but I probably won't read the next one unless it shows up as a Daily Deal.
August 11, 2015
Originally reviewed in May 2014. Just had to repair a couple of typos.
By the way if find more typos I missed...sorry.
#%*&@#%.....grrrrrrr.....I hate this book!!!!!!
It ended in a cliff hanger! I hate cliff hangers!!!!! I have now downloaded the next book so I can start it immediately. For 2 days I laid all other books aside and whenever I could was reading this one. I finished it today...and there's only one other book.
In my experience nobody finishes a "new" series in TWO books anymore! I suspect I have fallen prey to another series I will soon find myself caught up in and waiting for more books!
Is this so? I don't know but I plan to start the next bookFreedom™ sometime this evening.
Okay, so this is an exceptionally well written book with a story that doesn't fall into all the stereotypical traps it could fall into. The characters are good and their stories have some twists and turns that while not totally unpredictably come off well and don't lose the interest. You'll like some, hate others, see some of their actions coming a mile off but know it's because "you've met them in real life". Others will surprise you and it will keep you reading. The plot while not ground breaking is very well handled. No boring worn-out cliche's here.
I have read thousands of books. Sometimes this is a problem as I can find myself losing interest in books that really aren't bad but leave me with a "been there, done that, got the T-shirt" feeling. That never happens here. I picked this book up a few weeks ago and barely got started but had to send it back to the library. I'd only read the first few paragraphs...but when I restarted the book i fell right back into the story, even though I hadn't really gotten into it. Within a few pages I was hooked and I NEVER LOST INTEREST throughout the entire novel.
Many of you will have read Robopocalypse. Others have probably read enough of the Dune series to know how Mentats came about....and there are others. Let me suggest that maybe you'd like to go old school and consider finding a copy of Colossus by Dennis Feltham Jones. It's a book with a similar idea behind it...but from 1966 before our computer controlled world "could" even be imagined.
Okay...so I like the book, even though I HATE that I may be getting involved in ANOTHER series I'll have to live long enough to finish!
Okay...five stars...highly recommended....enjoy....
If you can knowing it ends in a cliffhanger.
Colossus
By the way if find more typos I missed...sorry.
#%*&@#%.....grrrrrrr.....I hate this book!!!!!!
It ended in a cliff hanger! I hate cliff hangers!!!!! I have now downloaded the next book so I can start it immediately. For 2 days I laid all other books aside and whenever I could was reading this one. I finished it today...and there's only one other book.
In my experience nobody finishes a "new" series in TWO books anymore! I suspect I have fallen prey to another series I will soon find myself caught up in and waiting for more books!
Is this so? I don't know but I plan to start the next bookFreedom™ sometime this evening.
Okay, so this is an exceptionally well written book with a story that doesn't fall into all the stereotypical traps it could fall into. The characters are good and their stories have some twists and turns that while not totally unpredictably come off well and don't lose the interest. You'll like some, hate others, see some of their actions coming a mile off but know it's because "you've met them in real life". Others will surprise you and it will keep you reading. The plot while not ground breaking is very well handled. No boring worn-out cliche's here.
I have read thousands of books. Sometimes this is a problem as I can find myself losing interest in books that really aren't bad but leave me with a "been there, done that, got the T-shirt" feeling. That never happens here. I picked this book up a few weeks ago and barely got started but had to send it back to the library. I'd only read the first few paragraphs...but when I restarted the book i fell right back into the story, even though I hadn't really gotten into it. Within a few pages I was hooked and I NEVER LOST INTEREST throughout the entire novel.
Many of you will have read Robopocalypse. Others have probably read enough of the Dune series to know how Mentats came about....and there are others. Let me suggest that maybe you'd like to go old school and consider finding a copy of Colossus by Dennis Feltham Jones. It's a book with a similar idea behind it...but from 1966 before our computer controlled world "could" even be imagined.
Okay...so I like the book, even though I HATE that I may be getting involved in ANOTHER series I'll have to live long enough to finish!
Okay...five stars...highly recommended....enjoy....
If you can knowing it ends in a cliffhanger.
Colossus
August 21, 2008
"The DaVinci Code" for Wired readers. Some mindless fun for when the mood strikes.
Read it soon though, since the "modern high tech" or 2006 has already started to expire.
Read it soon though, since the "modern high tech" or 2006 has already started to expire.
December 17, 2012
Someone should give this man a pat on the back. He got every tech detail accurate as far as I could discern, which is a welcome change to the current Hollywoodification of tech thrillers (Skyfall anyone? - yuck)
I flew through this book and loved every minute of it. I could have done without the brutal mistreatment of a woman at the beginning of the the book, but it did server to vilify one of the main antagonists. After this opening scene, you are thrown into a world of action, and mystery. I loved trying to guess what would happen next, and being pleasantly surprised at the realistic ways in which the characters dealt with the situations. Sobol's deamon was terrifying, but completely possible. I think that if such a program were to exist, the public and the private sectors would react in essentially the same way.
I haven't been this engrossed in a book since my last Crichton read. I highly recommend this book, and I would love to hear about any others that are similar.
I flew through this book and loved every minute of it. I could have done without the brutal mistreatment of a woman at the beginning of the the book, but it did server to vilify one of the main antagonists. After this opening scene, you are thrown into a world of action, and mystery. I loved trying to guess what would happen next, and being pleasantly surprised at the realistic ways in which the characters dealt with the situations. Sobol's deamon was terrifying, but completely possible. I think that if such a program were to exist, the public and the private sectors would react in essentially the same way.
I haven't been this engrossed in a book since my last Crichton read. I highly recommend this book, and I would love to hear about any others that are similar.
October 3, 2011
In the Eighties, I read and loved the genre called "cyberpunk," and was disappointed to see it vanish as the fantasy Net was replaced with the very real Web, imagined microcommunicators were replaced with Bluetooth headsets, and anyone anywhere with a bit of knowledge and equipment became able--for real--to dive into government databases, corporate financial records, and anything else on the web. Cyberpunk-era virtual reality bore a strong resemblance to Second Life, but as the reality became manifest my much-loved fiction became relegated to the history piles.
Fortunately, much of that spirit, that wonderful blend of pure optimism in the midst of dystopia, can be found in what is now called "tech fiction" ... IF the author can pull it off. Daniel Suarez can, and he does so far better than most.
Other people have already posted synopses, so I'm not recapping the plot here. But if there are others of my generation out there wishing for a bit of the edgy future we once envisioned and feel certain ought now to exist ... pick Daemon up at your public library. You won't regret it.
Fortunately, much of that spirit, that wonderful blend of pure optimism in the midst of dystopia, can be found in what is now called "tech fiction" ... IF the author can pull it off. Daniel Suarez can, and he does so far better than most.
Other people have already posted synopses, so I'm not recapping the plot here. But if there are others of my generation out there wishing for a bit of the edgy future we once envisioned and feel certain ought now to exist ... pick Daemon up at your public library. You won't regret it.
October 7, 2018
Rating - 9/10(Extraordinary) -Gory Legacy of the Dead
Warning - This novel is totally R rated
I got to know about this novel after google searching "Novels like Ready Player One" . The list ranged from some lighter novels to really dark and disturbing novels. I was more interested in the disturbing ones. One among them was Daemon by Daniel Suarez. The blurb of the novel was interesting and captivating. After reading this novel, I was elated by the ground work that the author had laid for this novel and the plot was more thrilling by every page.
This novel is about an artificial entity called Daemon which got triggered after the founder by the name Matthew Sobol was dead. The ramifications of the so called entity on the today's society was the whole point of this book with interesting twists and turns. The novel explored some cool subjects in computer science like Distributed systems/networks, Artificial Intelligence, voice recognition and much more. The author did justice in portraying the Daemon as being one step ahead and the other characters of the novel. The riveting long action sequences along with all the gory stuff were of top notch quality and made me wish this as a live action movie or TV series. The storytelling was also fantastic and the way in which the story really branched out was very unique, gripping and not coincidental at all.
The only thing I didn't like was the pacing. Some chapters took more time than the others with all the mundane details. There was only one sequence I felt really uncomfortable: the rave party sequence, I think the author overdid that one.
Other than this, the Daemon was a good action movie with great plot, characters and technobabble suitable for the techies. Really hoping that the next novel improves upon this :)
Warning - This novel is totally R rated
I got to know about this novel after google searching "Novels like Ready Player One" . The list ranged from some lighter novels to really dark and disturbing novels. I was more interested in the disturbing ones. One among them was Daemon by Daniel Suarez. The blurb of the novel was interesting and captivating. After reading this novel, I was elated by the ground work that the author had laid for this novel and the plot was more thrilling by every page.
This novel is about an artificial entity called Daemon which got triggered after the founder by the name Matthew Sobol was dead. The ramifications of the so called entity on the today's society was the whole point of this book with interesting twists and turns. The novel explored some cool subjects in computer science like Distributed systems/networks, Artificial Intelligence, voice recognition and much more. The author did justice in portraying the Daemon as being one step ahead and the other characters of the novel. The riveting long action sequences along with all the gory stuff were of top notch quality and made me wish this as a live action movie or TV series. The storytelling was also fantastic and the way in which the story really branched out was very unique, gripping and not coincidental at all.
The only thing I didn't like was the pacing. Some chapters took more time than the others with all the mundane details. There was only one sequence I felt really uncomfortable: the rave party sequence, I think the author overdid that one.
Other than this, the Daemon was a good action movie with great plot, characters and technobabble suitable for the techies. Really hoping that the next novel improves upon this :)
February 19, 2021
The kind of fast sci-fi thriller that I usually love, but this was one that I only just 'liked'. The story-line was intriguing enough, but the writer choose to introduce a plethora of characters (is that something you can have?), which meant lots of different threads to the story, which further meant you might get through 6 or 7 chapters before a character returned to the story. The width meant that the story progressed more slowly than it might have, and I became slightly irritated when the fourth or fifth person asked the question of how the computer program knew their name. Having said all that, the idea was good and the ending was unusual in a pleasing way, so maybe it wasn’t that bad after all. Should my three stars be four?
May 14, 2017
Reviewing and rating this book is really easy. First, I’d mention that I did this book as an audio book, and it really worked well. Just like in Kill Decision, Jeff Gurner did a really great job narrating the book. All I have to do now is just explain how great this “a genius trying to take over the world” techno-thriller is.
When I was 10% through I was fully immersed in the book, and I had to know how the things would evolve, what’s really happening that we don’t know? What Sobol really wants to achieve? Who would win this “mind” game? I just HAD to keep on reading (listening, of course :) ).
The great pacing, tons of action, good writing, the great structure this book has, and a lot of well-conceived plot-twists are exactly what kept me on the edge the whole way, making it in essence a true page-turner.
The characterization in this book is far better than in Kill Decision or other thrillers. While in Kill Decision and other thrillers there’s an emphasize on portraying the main character well, but other characters might feel somewhat flat, that’s not the case here. The supporting characters were really well-drawn and character development was evident.
All in all, it’s a superb techno-thriller/SF that had surpassed my high expectations. There’s no resolution in the end, but I had no problem with that.
Daemon is highly recommended to everyone. But people who’re looking for a smart techno-thriller/SF and have an affinity to technology and Artificial-Intelligence might find it even more appealing.
5/5
When I was 10% through I was fully immersed in the book, and I had to know how the things would evolve, what’s really happening that we don’t know? What Sobol really wants to achieve? Who would win this “mind” game? I just HAD to keep on reading (listening, of course :) ).
The great pacing, tons of action, good writing, the great structure this book has, and a lot of well-conceived plot-twists are exactly what kept me on the edge the whole way, making it in essence a true page-turner.
The characterization in this book is far better than in Kill Decision or other thrillers. While in Kill Decision and other thrillers there’s an emphasize on portraying the main character well, but other characters might feel somewhat flat, that’s not the case here. The supporting characters were really well-drawn and character development was evident.
All in all, it’s a superb techno-thriller/SF that had surpassed my high expectations. There’s no resolution in the end, but I had no problem with that.
Daemon is highly recommended to everyone. But people who’re looking for a smart techno-thriller/SF and have an affinity to technology and Artificial-Intelligence might find it even more appealing.
5/5
April 28, 2021
'Daemon' by Daniel Suarez is stunning! I give it ten stars. if you've previously taken a programming class so that you understand programming concepts, you'll want to discuss this book's plot madly with everyone! Unfortunately, those folks of the Earth without much computer knowledge probably won't understand how farseeing this book is. The plot could REALLY be true somewhere sometime.
I adore two of the characters, Peter Sebeck, Detective, totally computer illiterate, and Jon Ross, computer genius. But they are only a part of those trying to stop a conspiracy launched by a dead billionaire, who for unknown reasons is controlling all the economies of the world by linked computers through an entity called Daemon.
The programming/hacking/hardware parts of the thriller plot are accurate but not at all boring. The facts are knit into the plot so deftly with quick descriptions one barely notices except for the scary realization this could happen. This series is a must read. I've got the next installment, 'Freedom', on my list.
I adore two of the characters, Peter Sebeck, Detective, totally computer illiterate, and Jon Ross, computer genius. But they are only a part of those trying to stop a conspiracy launched by a dead billionaire, who for unknown reasons is controlling all the economies of the world by linked computers through an entity called Daemon.
The programming/hacking/hardware parts of the thriller plot are accurate but not at all boring. The facts are knit into the plot so deftly with quick descriptions one barely notices except for the scary realization this could happen. This series is a must read. I've got the next installment, 'Freedom', on my list.
May 11, 2009
To properly understand Daemon, ask a biologist about Michael Crichton. Then get some opinions of ER from some doctors and Law and Order from people with Esq. after their names. If you're particularly brave ask a theologian about Dan Brown. (If you're suicidal ask a physicist).
Once your hearing recovers and your bones have knit consider that in all likelihood you've based decisions and impressions of the real world on models informed by said fiction. How many times have you eavluated a trivial legal quandary based on what Jack McCoy would do? Or bloviated at length on what that swelling might be because it's like that one episode of House?
Daemon closely fits all these stereotypes with one minor exception: it's not full of shit. If you value this as I do this book will appeal to you, though perhaps not quite as strongly if you're not conversant in the nuances yourself.
If, however, you aren't bothered by egregious chicanery and hence delighted by its absence this book will likely not rise above its defects. Like Stephenson, Suarez doesn't so much end his stories as simply stop writing and some of the plot points are a bit contrived.
I loved it anyhow.
Once your hearing recovers and your bones have knit consider that in all likelihood you've based decisions and impressions of the real world on models informed by said fiction. How many times have you eavluated a trivial legal quandary based on what Jack McCoy would do? Or bloviated at length on what that swelling might be because it's like that one episode of House?
Daemon closely fits all these stereotypes with one minor exception: it's not full of shit. If you value this as I do this book will appeal to you, though perhaps not quite as strongly if you're not conversant in the nuances yourself.
If, however, you aren't bothered by egregious chicanery and hence delighted by its absence this book will likely not rise above its defects. Like Stephenson, Suarez doesn't so much end his stories as simply stop writing and some of the plot points are a bit contrived.
I loved it anyhow.
February 28, 2010
*** Spoiler Alert ***
The premise is intriguing. A genius game designer dies and when his obituary is published it triggers all sorts of mayhem through the Internet and his code recruits disaffected gamers as helpers to satisfy his Blofeldish scheme.
Suarez definitely knows his technology. But I grew weary of the technical jargon, the thin characters, the generic writing. There are explosive action sequences you'd expect to find in a Michael Bay movie. And paragraphs like this:
"Gragg opened the NetStumbler logs and checked each entry. The new AP was running Wi-Fi Protected Access--WPA--a form of wireless encryption. Damn. He was hoping it would be WEP-encrypted. That would take only seconds to defeat. WPA had no structural flaws. It was as strong as its passphrase. But that would be the test, then, wouldn't it? Hopefully, the phrase wasn't more than eight or nine characters. Gragg would need to sniff the key exchange messages between the adapter and the access point, then crack the key off-line with a PSK dictionary (which he had on his laptop). He could use Air-Jack to force the key exchange by broadcasting a disassociate message. Gragg slumped in his seat. Hopefully there would be some client exchanges to monitor. But if this was a test, then that was the only correct answer."
Here's the kicker: this novel does not have a resolution--it just ends--apparently the first in a series. After more than 600 pages, that is very frustrating.
The premise is intriguing. A genius game designer dies and when his obituary is published it triggers all sorts of mayhem through the Internet and his code recruits disaffected gamers as helpers to satisfy his Blofeldish scheme.
Suarez definitely knows his technology. But I grew weary of the technical jargon, the thin characters, the generic writing. There are explosive action sequences you'd expect to find in a Michael Bay movie. And paragraphs like this:
"Gragg opened the NetStumbler logs and checked each entry. The new AP was running Wi-Fi Protected Access--WPA--a form of wireless encryption. Damn. He was hoping it would be WEP-encrypted. That would take only seconds to defeat. WPA had no structural flaws. It was as strong as its passphrase. But that would be the test, then, wouldn't it? Hopefully, the phrase wasn't more than eight or nine characters. Gragg would need to sniff the key exchange messages between the adapter and the access point, then crack the key off-line with a PSK dictionary (which he had on his laptop). He could use Air-Jack to force the key exchange by broadcasting a disassociate message. Gragg slumped in his seat. Hopefully there would be some client exchanges to monitor. But if this was a test, then that was the only correct answer."
Here's the kicker: this novel does not have a resolution--it just ends--apparently the first in a series. After more than 600 pages, that is very frustrating.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 5, 2018
Buckle up kids, we're about to dive right into this dumpster fire of a book. Just as a caveat, I did have to read this for a class, so if at various points you go "Anna, why didn't you just put this book down?" IT'S BECAUSE I COULDN'T. And yes, I am bitter. With that said, let's get started.
Characters
Ahh, character tropes. What would we do without them? A better question: what would Daniel Suarez do without them? One of my main gripes with the book was that every character was a one-dimensional shell, conforming to a pattern of behavior that has been done hundreds of times before in literature, TV, and movies. You have Detective Pete Sebeck, the main character who is morally flawed enough to be moody and adulterous, but not enough so that that it compromises his mission. There's Natalie Philips (the only "strong" woman character in the book, but I'll get to that later), the working stiff who has sacrificed personal relationships for her job. Anji Anderson, the ambitious and bitchy woman who acts as a slight inconvenience to the main character. Brian Gragg, the solitarily genius, if not sociopathic, hacker whose "true potential" is realized by the antagonist. Finally there's Agent Roy "Tripwire" Merrill, the dedicated and brave government operative who speeds after the villain when no one else will. There are so many more tropes a better critic than I could point out, but you get the jist. I really didn't care about any of them. Example A:
Me when Sebeck "died"
Me when he was actually alive:
I want to talk about the depiction of women in this book really quick as well. If Suarez's casual misogyny was a one-time thing, I might let it go... but it wasn't, so let's rip it apart! In lieu of any better options, I'll just list off a bunch of female character descriptions/interactions that readers were privy to. Keep in mind I only started noting these instances about 200 pages in, so who knows how many I missed.
Sebeck on a phone call with his mistress
"'You're in Chicago?' He knew better than to ask too much.
'No, Westwood.'
'At the company suite?'
'You'll come meet me.'
'Oh God, baby.' Sebeck sighed. 'This is a really bad time. This Daemon thing is–'
'You survived, Pete. I'll make you remember why you want to be alive.'
That she would. Sebeck was quiet for a moment. Cheryl Lanthrop was the most beautiful woman he had ever been with. Her predatory sexuality made it even harder to resist. It was unfair that he should be expected to resist a woman like her. He had convinced himself that even his wife would understand."
The readers are introduced to Natalie Philips
"Ross and Sebeck spun around to regard a young black woman sitting in the first pew. She was neither beautiful nor unattractive."
Random receptionist lady is described in a weird amount of detail
"The receptionist was a creamy-skinned blonde in her twenties who had either been born gorgeous or been modified to be that way. Didn't matter to Mosely. She was the prettiest woman he'd seen in years."
Natalie Philips plays an MMO, her character avatar is described
"The screen view changed as Philips' character turned this way and that, checking out the shoppers in the market. Then the POV moved toward a Nubian female 3-D character wearing a black leather corset with a plunging neckline. Something resembling a French-cut steel thong wrapped her shapely hips. She was a hentai cover girl."
Anji Anderson, bitchy reporter, is described
"The screen resolved on Anderson, sitting erect and alert in medium close-up. She looked businesslike yet sexy in a dark Chanel suit."
A trade off between Daemon agents
"In a few moments he and a young woman locked on to each other. She was big-boned, dressed like a businessperson. Utterly invisible to most men."
So you see, it got kind of tiring to read all of this shit. These descriptions just jumped off the page with how utterly UNNECESSARY they were; Suarez could've used some of them, like Philips' avatar, to make a comment on how women are represented in video games and technology, but instead he perpetuates these stereotypes by describing the women in a creepily-sexual way. I haven't even talked about one of the earlier scenes when a woman is drugged in a club and coerced into giving oral sex to a dozen men. I won't even quote that scene here, because it's uncomfortable and disgusting, but take my word for it-I understand the need for character development and description through action (the scene was following the man who drugged the woman) but this felt more like authorial voyeurism than anything else. What's more is that said scene was completely unneeded; the drugger's personality is better revealed through other interactions. A lot of authors use violence to build a world (George R.R. Martin comes to mind), but this scene was used for neither world building nor quality character development.
Plot and Structure
The initial plot wasn't terrible, I'll give that to Suarez. Dead guy makes a computer program that takes over the world, what's not to like? Turns out, many things! Even if the story was intriguing at first, it soon turned into a mess of contrived and unbelievable events. I know we don't read thrillers for the realism, but the computer program taking over the global economy? The entire thing? Really? That's just one example, other reviewers have probably gotten into that better than I can. Then there was the constant technological jargon; here's the scene that was the last straw for me (page 229/617):
"'Don't be frightened by my voice. Its appearance in midair is accomplished through a HyperSonic Sound system. This technology is commercially available. Would you like to hear a technical explanation?'"
NO, I REALLY DON'T. Of course, another character says "yes," so then there's a boring technical explanation that I couldn't care less about. Again, if this was a one-time thing I might ignore it, but it happens WAY too often.
Speaking of dialogue, maybe you saw how stilted it is from the conversation between Sebeck and Cheryl Lanthrop. It's just terrible. That's all I can say. Just terrible.
So in conclusion, just not for me. You know what the worst part of this book was? It ends on a goddamn cliffhanger, so I wasn't even granted the dignity of finishing this awful story with any kind of closure. Curse you, Daniel Suarez, and your dumb Daemon.
Characters
Ahh, character tropes. What would we do without them? A better question: what would Daniel Suarez do without them? One of my main gripes with the book was that every character was a one-dimensional shell, conforming to a pattern of behavior that has been done hundreds of times before in literature, TV, and movies. You have Detective Pete Sebeck, the main character who is morally flawed enough to be moody and adulterous, but not enough so that that it compromises his mission. There's Natalie Philips (the only "strong" woman character in the book, but I'll get to that later), the working stiff who has sacrificed personal relationships for her job. Anji Anderson, the ambitious and bitchy woman who acts as a slight inconvenience to the main character. Brian Gragg, the solitarily genius, if not sociopathic, hacker whose "true potential" is realized by the antagonist. Finally there's Agent Roy "Tripwire" Merrill, the dedicated and brave government operative who speeds after the villain when no one else will. There are so many more tropes a better critic than I could point out, but you get the jist. I really didn't care about any of them. Example A:
Me when Sebeck "died"
Me when he was actually alive:
I want to talk about the depiction of women in this book really quick as well. If Suarez's casual misogyny was a one-time thing, I might let it go... but it wasn't, so let's rip it apart! In lieu of any better options, I'll just list off a bunch of female character descriptions/interactions that readers were privy to. Keep in mind I only started noting these instances about 200 pages in, so who knows how many I missed.
Sebeck on a phone call with his mistress
"'You're in Chicago?' He knew better than to ask too much.
'No, Westwood.'
'At the company suite?'
'You'll come meet me.'
'Oh God, baby.' Sebeck sighed. 'This is a really bad time. This Daemon thing is–'
'You survived, Pete. I'll make you remember why you want to be alive.'
That she would. Sebeck was quiet for a moment. Cheryl Lanthrop was the most beautiful woman he had ever been with. Her predatory sexuality made it even harder to resist. It was unfair that he should be expected to resist a woman like her. He had convinced himself that even his wife would understand."
The readers are introduced to Natalie Philips
"Ross and Sebeck spun around to regard a young black woman sitting in the first pew. She was neither beautiful nor unattractive."
Random receptionist lady is described in a weird amount of detail
"The receptionist was a creamy-skinned blonde in her twenties who had either been born gorgeous or been modified to be that way. Didn't matter to Mosely. She was the prettiest woman he'd seen in years."
Natalie Philips plays an MMO, her character avatar is described
"The screen view changed as Philips' character turned this way and that, checking out the shoppers in the market. Then the POV moved toward a Nubian female 3-D character wearing a black leather corset with a plunging neckline. Something resembling a French-cut steel thong wrapped her shapely hips. She was a hentai cover girl."
Anji Anderson, bitchy reporter, is described
"The screen resolved on Anderson, sitting erect and alert in medium close-up. She looked businesslike yet sexy in a dark Chanel suit."
A trade off between Daemon agents
"In a few moments he and a young woman locked on to each other. She was big-boned, dressed like a businessperson. Utterly invisible to most men."
So you see, it got kind of tiring to read all of this shit. These descriptions just jumped off the page with how utterly UNNECESSARY they were; Suarez could've used some of them, like Philips' avatar, to make a comment on how women are represented in video games and technology, but instead he perpetuates these stereotypes by describing the women in a creepily-sexual way. I haven't even talked about one of the earlier scenes when a woman is drugged in a club and coerced into giving oral sex to a dozen men. I won't even quote that scene here, because it's uncomfortable and disgusting, but take my word for it-I understand the need for character development and description through action (the scene was following the man who drugged the woman) but this felt more like authorial voyeurism than anything else. What's more is that said scene was completely unneeded; the drugger's personality is better revealed through other interactions. A lot of authors use violence to build a world (George R.R. Martin comes to mind), but this scene was used for neither world building nor quality character development.
Plot and Structure
The initial plot wasn't terrible, I'll give that to Suarez. Dead guy makes a computer program that takes over the world, what's not to like? Turns out, many things! Even if the story was intriguing at first, it soon turned into a mess of contrived and unbelievable events. I know we don't read thrillers for the realism, but the computer program taking over the global economy? The entire thing? Really? That's just one example, other reviewers have probably gotten into that better than I can. Then there was the constant technological jargon; here's the scene that was the last straw for me (page 229/617):
"'Don't be frightened by my voice. Its appearance in midair is accomplished through a HyperSonic Sound system. This technology is commercially available. Would you like to hear a technical explanation?'"
NO, I REALLY DON'T. Of course, another character says "yes," so then there's a boring technical explanation that I couldn't care less about. Again, if this was a one-time thing I might ignore it, but it happens WAY too often.
Speaking of dialogue, maybe you saw how stilted it is from the conversation between Sebeck and Cheryl Lanthrop. It's just terrible. That's all I can say. Just terrible.
So in conclusion, just not for me. You know what the worst part of this book was? It ends on a goddamn cliffhanger, so I wasn't even granted the dignity of finishing this awful story with any kind of closure. Curse you, Daniel Suarez, and your dumb Daemon.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 26, 2013
This is the first of a couple of first books by authors that write technology related fiction that I finally acquiesced to engage with after enduring relentless promotion within the technology community. Yes, I am deeply enmeshed, submerged or whatever, but no matter how deeply I dive into IT, I still have that BA in English. I am not so much a stickler that I can't abide some deviation from the rules of grammar. I am a techie, after all. But really, you should at least know the rules before you break them, if you expect to make your living via Microsoft Word. After all, it does have a grammar checker.
Mr. Suarez apparently self published this, his first work. This book is an argument for editors if there ever was one. Perhaps he didn't know what those squiggly blue lines were.
If you aren't a techie, you should know that a daemon is a kind of control or utility program that can perform certain tasks on its own, based upon some type of event that it can monitor. It is usually pronounced the same as the evil demigod homonym. The premise here is that a software genius dies of cancer and unleashed a series of daemons that make it appear that he lives after death. They do this mainly by monitoring the news and killing people with computer systems based upon some kind of bizarre decision tree, I guess.
The narrative quickly runs out of control and it isn't helped one bit by the fact that this guy can't write. Perhaps that is why those crazy publishers just couldn't see the value of his work. This guy has written a couple more books... Is it OK to laugh at unintentional comedy if nobody gets hurt?
Mr. Suarez apparently self published this, his first work. This book is an argument for editors if there ever was one. Perhaps he didn't know what those squiggly blue lines were.
If you aren't a techie, you should know that a daemon is a kind of control or utility program that can perform certain tasks on its own, based upon some type of event that it can monitor. It is usually pronounced the same as the evil demigod homonym. The premise here is that a software genius dies of cancer and unleashed a series of daemons that make it appear that he lives after death. They do this mainly by monitoring the news and killing people with computer systems based upon some kind of bizarre decision tree, I guess.
The narrative quickly runs out of control and it isn't helped one bit by the fact that this guy can't write. Perhaps that is why those crazy publishers just couldn't see the value of his work. This guy has written a couple more books... Is it OK to laugh at unintentional comedy if nobody gets hurt?
September 16, 2012
3.5 stars. A unique fictional take on the world of MMORPGs and video game AI. I liked this because in some ways it was very "Michael Crichton-y" in its combination of action and thriller with science and technology, though I suspect that folks with extensive knowledge of programming and computer network systems will find some of the explanations and details in Daemon overly simplistic or flat out nonsensical.
The book doesn't really paint a very positive or flattering picture of gamers either, but I thought it was a fun read nonetheless, especially the first part of the book. Admittedly, the second half loses its steam somewhat, but then the novel had to go and end in an infuriating yet nail-bitingly intriguing cliffhanger, and so of course now I *have* to read the sequel.
In some ways, this book reminds me of Ready Player One, but it is much darker and more violent. Both novels involve filthy rich, reclusive, and renowned game developers who leave behind a legacy for their fans after their deaths. In RPO, James Halliday challenges the denizens of the OASIS to find the ultimate Easter egg by hiding a series of hidden clues and puzzles in the vastness of his virtual world. Fun! On the other hand, Matthew Sobol in Daemon is a psychopath who uses technology to kill people, relying on the news of his premature demise from a long battle with brain cancer to trigger a virus thst infects the internet, as well as using his games to recruit a secret army to cause chaos and anarchy to the world's economy and society. Diabolical!
The book doesn't really paint a very positive or flattering picture of gamers either, but I thought it was a fun read nonetheless, especially the first part of the book. Admittedly, the second half loses its steam somewhat, but then the novel had to go and end in an infuriating yet nail-bitingly intriguing cliffhanger, and so of course now I *have* to read the sequel.
In some ways, this book reminds me of Ready Player One, but it is much darker and more violent. Both novels involve filthy rich, reclusive, and renowned game developers who leave behind a legacy for their fans after their deaths. In RPO, James Halliday challenges the denizens of the OASIS to find the ultimate Easter egg by hiding a series of hidden clues and puzzles in the vastness of his virtual world. Fun! On the other hand, Matthew Sobol in Daemon is a psychopath who uses technology to kill people, relying on the news of his premature demise from a long battle with brain cancer to trigger a virus thst infects the internet, as well as using his games to recruit a secret army to cause chaos and anarchy to the world's economy and society. Diabolical!
January 9, 2009
This is definitely one of the best books I've read in a year. The premise was fascinating. It's a great thrill ride. Can someone program computers with backdoor programs to read the newswires and make other things happen? Can a computer drive a car and kill people? Are there people so involved in the gaming world that they would do things in the real world just because a game told them to or just to earn more points in their gaming world? This book is extremely fast paced and never boring. Don't worry about knowing a lot about computers or the gaming world. It will explain it in simple terms. It's both scary and exciting in the concepts that are in this book. It makes you wonder could this happen. Could a computer programmer destroy financial institutions and the banking system? I don't know if this is Mr. Suarez's debut, but I will definitely be looking for his books in the future. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a great read.
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