Jean Bizarre Adventure, this should be the title of the series. Let this review be an example of the author’s storytelling style; zero exposition and fast-paced. This is a short book, around five hours read because it cut every single world-building information usually contained in SFF books. Rajaniemi didn't spoonfeed his readers. He’ll push you off a cliff with his high concept, then instead of giving you a rope, he’ll shoot you with a bazooka to make sure you fall down even more. It falls down to the reader to understand what concept and terminologies he’s talking about from the narrative and the plot.
Picture: The Quantum Thief by Marc Simonetti
The characters were great and unique. The world and concept of the book were brilliant and imaginative. The story can be confusing at times because, like I said, the author didn’t bother to explain any single terminologies. The terms gevulot was very important to the story and it didn’t get explained until 70% of the book; it was in explained in two short sentences. Like. This. I really should hate this book, but I don’t know why I found myself completely immersed in it due to the theme of the book—identity, love, memories, digital uploading—and its fast-paced plot that’s written with engaging prose.
I just finished the first book and I already think that this seems like a trilogy that needs to be read at least twice to fully understand everything. I’ll continue to the next book and see how I feel about this series. Recommended for hard sci-fi readers. How about that for a review told in Hannu Rajaniemi style?