SOJALS rating:

Good (3/5)

I first read this on the 14th March 2008 and most recently on the 31st October 2010

In our far future, even with all the vast benefits of post-Singularity civilisation there still are wars and war crimes and all the poor humans enmeshed in the evil residue.

Reeve is one of those, He's staying in the Glasshouse, a medical institution largely dedicated to victims like him. Persuaded to be a subject of a social experiment that may speed his recovery, he finds himself trapped in a nightmare world.

Ho Ho Ho, "A Fire Upon The Deep" meets A Long Kiss Goodnight. Well perhaps that doesn't hit the mark, but technology has moved on since Vernor Vinge's masterpiece. Now it's not the Internet, it's the firewalls that form the substructure of civilisation. What did he say in the book? "one needs governments only to provide authentication and a common time service". Quite right too. Well actually, I'm not sure that is. It could be that the two things one doesn't want a government to do it provide authentication and a time service. I'll think about that if I have time, but now I've got to go and get a visa and they'll probably say I'm too late.

What's it got? Well, I forgot to mention there a love story in there. But don't let that stop you enjoying this book, there's tons of tech. There's A-gates and T-gates; there are Vorpel swords, war criminals, secret organizations, space ships, zombies, hot chicks and tough guys, murder and mayhem.