Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Random book that I'm glad i came across, January 17, 2012
I originally got this book as one of those "Buy 5 books for .99 cents" deals when I chose the books I did want to get; I was left with one book left to get. I chose this book because it seemed interesting, but I expected it to be bad. I was wrong. The book takes place in a unified world under one government that came to power many decades before the book. Even though this book takes place in the near future, the world hasn't changed for the better. Many cities have become black ash ridden, with pitch black goo running in place instead of river water. New York is one of the last cities that are in semi "normal" shape with the rich population in the north, and the poorer people living below the rich area. New York is where the story starts out with the protagonist Avery Cate's, a crime legend where he lives, with over 30 cops being killed by him, along with many other crime members. His luck takes a turn for the worse and he is captured by people in masks with their voices suppressed by mechanical devices and they have captured him for a reason, which is explained later in the story. This book has a ton of violence, cussing, and detailed gory scenes. It's a great book for dystopian lovers and it has many great twists. It has a good amount of pages, and it kept me wanting to read more after the book ended. The story has many diverse, interesting characters that you can tell change through-out the story. Overall, it's a must buy if you like dystopia's, violence, and great story telling. It does remind me of the book The Plague, but it's different enough to keep you interested if you have already read that book. It is worth every penny. ~ Written: 2009 Positives
* Great story
* Lots of violence
* Many twists
* A page turner
Negatives
* A slow start at first, but picks up
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Urban Sci-Fi Noire, not quite "cyberpunk.", May 16, 2011
This is Jeff Somers' second outing to the future, and a bleak future it is. All of the world's nations were "unified" approximately 20 years before the opening of his prior Avery Cates novel - The Electric Church - which seems to have started a death spiral down the toilet.
Putting together the clues from this and the prior novel, it seems that some cities, including Paris and Newark, have been entirely abandoned, while others - such as New York City - which is the stomping ground of Avery Cates, the anti-hero of "The Digital Plague" and "The Electric Church - appears to have become radically divided between 10% haves - who have all kinds of wonderful technologies - and the 90% have-nots - who can't find a job and are part of a grisly underground economy where life is nasty, brutal and short, and where Cates at age 36 is long past his expiration date. In such a brutal world, order is tenuously maintained by the System Police, aka "System Pigs," who brutal when they are not corrupt.
In the prior novel, we saw Cates claw his way to the top of the garbage heap and become something of a player in affairs when he was commissioned to take out the mastermind of the "Electric Monks" - cyborged religious fanatics who just may refashion the world in their image. As a result of his prior mission, Cates achieves a few years on the top of the heap prior to the opening of this novel. Unfortunately for him, his mission against the Electric Monks left a few loose ends.
As a result of one of those loose ends, Cates becomes infected with a "digital plague" - an artificially created nano-technological virus - that threatens to put paid to the human race. Although Cates is "patient zero," he and anyone standing within 50 feet of him are immune - thus far - to the effects of the nano-virus. This give Cates the opportunity and incentive to investigate, while hampering him with a series of ad hoc partners who do not want to lose sight of him.
The story resolves itself satisfactorily and logically. Cates seems to mature during the story, becoming more concerned with the fate of other people and humanity itself during the storyline than we thought was part of his character in "The Electric Church, although he retains the stock "screw you world" attitude that is typical of this and the "urban fantasy" genres, which tends to make for unsympathetic lead characters.
It seems that Somers is working on a deeper themes and a more intricate puzzle than appeared to be the case in the opening book. Clues are introduced in "The Digital Plague" that the world is in worse shape than we imagined. On the one hand, electronic entities - "droids" - are doing the work that humans once did, thereby reducing humans to a choice between joing the police to oppress the unemployed or becoming part of the unemployed, but, on the other hand, it is beginning to look like some of the really key players may look at bodies as a convenience.
Because I thought that Somers' imagined future became denser, thicker and more interesting, and that he is hinting at puzzles he will explore in future instalments, I am giving this five stars, albeit I would back it off by a half star if given that opportunity.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
I loved the 1st book, this seemed a little weak however., May 25, 2010
I did really love the 1st book, it was interesting and I couldn't put it down. I did like this one as well, but it did feel a little weak compared to the 1st, it also took me much longer time to read this one, and it was harder to get absorbed into it.
It seemed like certain events went on too long, and when the antagonist is revealed, it seemed like it should have been a little more impacting than it was.
It did seem like an important link for the storyline, and would have been awkward to skip it to the 3rd book.
And I'm actually planning to read the 3rd, as this one does leave you with a painful cliffhanger :[
I would suggest this if you want to read more of the series, and your planning to read all the books.
But if you haven't read the 1st book I would suggest so, it was a fun read c:
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