Customer Reviews

Looking Glass

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

James, R. Strickland and Scott Humphries have just been added to my `must read list'. Apparently this book is from a startup publisher called "Flying Pen Press". I rather like their tagline of "Giving flight to great books." I went through their web site and found that their intent is to only publish the best of the best, so if it says 'flying pen press' it has been vetted by multiple editors and found not just print worthy, but damn good. (and it WAS!)
I read it in three days flat! Great book that I could not put down. This is an excellent first publication from this press. I will certainly buy the next few books that they publish, in the hope that they are even remotely as good as this one. I found this book to be fast paced action throughout in the cyberpunk genre' and loved it. An absolutely wonderful future look at where our technology is going and what eventually will happen when the line between technology and our brains blurs.
It took me a bit to realize that the lead character was a wheelchair bound paraplegic! The author gives us snippets and bits of background to help develop his world as he tells the story, rather than the huge information dump up front of which I am familiar. (And which I detest!) I gather this is also James Strickland's first novel; and that too is hard to believe. This would be a great novel from someone who is well established in the field. I sincerely hope that these two people have more stuff in the pipe for me soon.

This is a very well-told story with plenty of action and good character interactions as well. The back and forth play between the online virtual world and the real world I found to be quite entertaining, and while I did have an inkling of what the finale was going to be by about halfway through the book, I was not at all disappointed in how it turned out and how the author brought it to a climax.

This book is easily worth reading more than once, (and I like to read a lot!) My only pause in thought through out the book was the 6 by 9 format. How are you going to get shelf space with something that is slightly larger than the normal 'pocket book' of the mass media addition?
Great read though; I am absolutely sure you're going to find this book fun.

I have been disappointed by a number of new authors who have clearly used some sort of formula to write their book. This book is not like that - it has its own style. It's absorbing reading: it draws you in effortlessly. Details appear where needed, and not as a "scene setting" first chapter. I have reread it twice now, and it gains more depth with each reading. It's going to be really hard to wait for James' next book! I highly recommend this book.

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This book is full steam ahead cyber punk goodness. I think there is a misstep at 3/4 of the way in. At that point some of the reveals felt more like tricks to me and I started to get disappointed. Before I could flip the off switch, "Looking Glass" revved back up. I really enjoyed the ending. A tough-as-nails female protagonist, secret conspiracies that make sense, and a future world that I can almost touch. Wonderful debut by James Strickland.

The story is basically about a female network administrator who fights hacking of the worst kind. If you fail, you die. And if you succeed then you wipe someone's mind away. It's a terrible case of job burn-out. Everything is going normally, burning the baddies until one day someone appears that can read their minds. At least it seems that way. Jump left, get burnt. Jump right, already waiting there for you. What do you do? And the worst part is that it's hard to tell what/who is real anymore.

It might seem like a retread of older cyberpunk novels if you're looking just on the surface, but "Looking Glass" is not. This reflection goes much deeper.

Overall one of the most satisfying reads in a long time. I really do recommend this book, even to non-techies.

So here I was, standing on the precipice of what we call cyberpunk. My history extends mostly into dark/high fantasy and more modern themes of paranormals. I avoided this genre like the plague until my loving geek friends introduced me to ShadowRun during a game session. I was hooked.

I dove head first into the cyberpunk genre with Looking Glass because (mainly) the price and the reviews.

My opinion stands that techno stats and information shouldn't be either shied from or embraced as the "only way to do business" as the detracting one or two star reviewers. In fact, one of them sounds like he has something personal against writers in general, not only Mr Strickland. But despite his insecurities, I find none of his points terribly valid.

Don't like too much techno stuff? Skip a few lines; they are never very long or complicated. I have no idea how my computer works, just that I can tell it to do things and I don't want it any more complicated that running my games. However, I pushed through and found that once I was used to it the pace of story never really faltered.

Another person complained about too much slang. I wanted to snort beer out of my nose. How does this person propose that authors create worlds if they can't muddle through something like "script kiddy"? Or the concept of l33t (leet)?

At any rate I truly enjoyed my romp through this book. Especially on my Kindle2. It sparked my interest in my 'Runner character again, he made me truly interested in how of this would play out.

Bravo, Mr Strickland. I commend you on completing the NaNoWriMo. I have yet to finish in five years :)

You've already read the details of the plot in other reviews, so mostly what I wanted to say was this: I really, truly enjoyed his book -- the pacing is dead-on, and the details are as believable as I've ever read in sci-fi. If you've been looking for authors who are carrying on the mantle of cyberpunk into the 21st century, start with Strickland.

I finished this book about two days ago. It arrived on friday. That means I read it in 3 days. I rarely finish a book in under a week (it's not a matter of ability, it's a matter of how much I can read before I feel like doing something else). This book is absolutely gripping.

I have an odd habit about my books. I'm either compelled to continue reading, or I put the book down. I'm not known for finishing books with plot holes. It's clear from the outset that the author knows today's technology very well. The world he presented doesn't feel like something impossible. It definitely feels like our world, 25 years hence, as we continue down the road we're taking. And that is a rare treasure.

It's going to be a long time before I find another book of this caliber. The waves of emotion it left me with are finally starting to subside, but this book is intense. Definitely recommended for anyone interested (or thinking about becoming interested) in the cyberpunk genre. Also highly recommended for anyone who's picky about factual correctness.

I'm definitely a major fan of this author now. He has one other book out at this time, and I'm definitely going to be first in line for any more.

I'll keep this short. You don't need to spend your time reading about how much I like this book, and I really like this book. Your time would be better spent reading the book. Be sure that you don't have anything too pressing to do for the next couple of days though. Once you get started on this one, you won't want to stop till you're done. Then, if you're like me, you'll be looking for the next James Strickland novel.

The book is set in the near future; 2025, to be exact. The United States has fractured into several pieces after a war which we apparently lost. Technology, however, has marched on, and this novel is very firmly in the Cyberpunk genre, with which I'm not at all familiar, having only read one genre piece before now. One that I didn't really enjoy.

The book takes place over a four-day period (approximately; I'd check, but the book is at home and I'm not) in a combination of the cybernetic "Gestalt" and the real world, which often feels more alien--to me, at least--than the online world.

Dr. Catherine Farro--"Shroud," online--is a security expert who works for a large retail store chain based in Colorado, which is now a province of Canada. She spends most of her days floating in the hyper-saline solution in what amounts to a sensory deprivation tank, jacked directly into the network through an implanted connection in her skull. In her off-time, she is a soft, pale, 40-year old paraplegic. But online, she is respected...and perhaps feared. The world of security in this future is cutthroat and unapologetic. Script Kiddies trying to breach OmniMart's firewall security are as likely to be killed--brain-fried by Shroud and her team--as arrested. They knew the risks going in. Them's the breaks.

But one Friday, a concerted attack by an unbelievably fast, powerful intruder fries all but one of Shroud's team, literally scrambling their brains in a way she has never heard of before. And the brains of the security team of an upstream company, as well. That night, the same intruder takes out the night shifts, as well. She vows revenge and, having to immerse herself in the real world for the first time in a long while, she sets off on her quest to find and punish--permanently--the hacker who murdered her teams.

I'm not going to give any of the plot away. Suffice it to say that it is a good story, told well, and I'll not spoil anything else. What I've already said you could get from the blurb on the back cover or on the author's web site.

I enjoyed the book. It was really a page-turner. The plot pacing is well done and somewhat unrelenting, but interspersed with a necessarily sizable amount of exposition, which he does quite well. Only once or twice did I catch myself thinking about it; the exposition that was done meshed well with the storytelling and served to flesh out the world in which Shroud lives and works rather than being an infodump. That's hard to get just right, but I think Strickland does just that.

Another thing I really liked was the first-person POV. Again, this is often very difficult to get right, but he gets it just right. Shroud is an unreliable narrator, and we catch on pretty quickly that her perceptions of other people are a little off...but you're never quite sure. Maybe she's right and everyone is out to get her...or maybe she's a bit paranoid and she's imagining the whole thing. It is a true first-person narrative; the reader only knows what Shroud knows, and her perceptions color everything. You also find yourself wondering just how she got the way she is. And you're not disappointed--the author makes good on the promise of filling in the gaps as the story progresses.

The language took some getting used to. I don't mean that in a bad way; it's nothing like as hard as A Clockwork Orange, and there is a glossary of terms at the back if you get bogged down, but most of it is intuitive once you get into the story. I only had to reference the glossary three times before I got "into" the lingo and the pace and the style of narration and it didn't slow me down after that. But there is that initial few pages where you find yourself thinking, "What? Ice? Penguin? OSDeck? Gestalt? What the hell is he talking about?" But that's on purpose, I believe. The literary equivalent of jumping into the deep end of a cool swimming pool on a hot, summer day. Might as well get it over with; the sooner you immerse yourself in it, the faster you'll acclimatize. In a strange way, it also helps you sympathize with the feelings the character is experiencing at the same time.

The style of the language is another thing that I rather enjoyed. I thought it was a good approximation of what it's like to be in someone's head, listening to them interact with the world around them. Short, choppy sentences. Half-finished thoughts. Arguments with her inner self. Shut up! Why should I? Random passages from literary works interspersed with her subconscious repeating things others have said to her that resonated. I'm not doing a very good job of describing it; I'm making it sound messy, and it's not. It's very easy to follow because it's sort of how my own mind works. YMMV, of course.

So I guess what I'm saying is that I highly recommend the book. I enjoyed it, and it makes me want to re-try the cyberpunk genre. It can be done well.

And the cover art is magnificent.

When I first started reading Looking Glass, I was immediately reminded of cyberpunk classics by William Gibson and Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson. Similar settings: our near future gone totally tech crazy, new lingo, new lifestyles, corporations run amuck and the United States split up into multiple smaller, meaner countries. But Strickland manages something other cyberpunk authors haven't, in my experience.

We are introduced to Dr. Catherine Farro, screen name Shroud, a woman who thinks she's past her prime, stuck in the corporate world playing guard dog for OmniMart's internal communications network. Relatively easy work for someone with her elite computer skills, but it's the best she can get. The corporate grind is slowly wearing her down day by day, sapping her vitality and life, giving her excuses not to stretch herself any more, but she's trapped in the life. That is, until some unknown but very powerful hacker cracks their network and kills her team of guard dog colleagues, including the woman she loves.

Thus begins the rebirth of Shroud, as she hunts down the people responsible for her friends' deaths and her own exile from the company she has served well for eight years. As each lead is followed, and Shroud takes more and more dangerous risks to track down the killer, we are shown a world of technology, software, and hacker culture that most of us will never understand. She must fight against her own inner bitterness and physical limitations as well as the outside forces trying to stop her investigation.

The thing that Strickland does so well that other authors in the genre have failed at, is heart. Shroud is a complex woman of middle years, with many quirks and foibles that come off as natural and endear the character to the reader. Her relationships are as fraught with uncertainty and misunderstandings as those of the people reading along, and it's very easy to root for her and understand her need for vengeance.

This is a woman that many of us could easily meet and know in real life, with her own imperfections and personality flaws. She's more of an anti-hero than a super-hero. Another plus: the main love interest of Shroud throughout the book is Latino, although the book does suffer from an overabundance of nerdy white guys.

The two things that caught my attention quickly, beyond the likability of the character, were her physical ability, and her bisexuality. Shroud does all her work from the confines of a wheelchair, were she's been bound since birth. She's also very casual about her sexual preferences, although not negatively. She strikes me as very evenly bisexual, with equal desire for men and women. The scenes in the book with women are tasteful and well done, as are those with men. Strickland also doesn't shy away from her paralysis, either, incorporating it into Shroud's physical awareness freely and naturally. The problems with access that Shroud runs into in her world will translate very easily to those readers who deal with the same difficulties in their everyday lives.

Another aspect I liked very much was the easy-to-read story. Oftentimes when dealing with cyberpunk books, the author relies heavily on metaphors and the surrealism of working in a digital world, making the story hard to follow and the storyline difficult to grasp. Strickland incorporates all the elements of cyberpunk without losing his audience in a tangle of electrical descriptions and overdone jargon.

The story isn't perfect, there are some of Shroud's quirks that quickly got on my nerves, such as her endless literary quotes, although both Strickland and Shroud have an English background so I can see where that comes from. There is also a moment towards the very end of the story that struck me as very much a deus ex machina, no pun intended, and I feel like that scene was rushed just to get to the end of the book. I also think it detracted from the character of Shroud, as one of her big weaknesses was "magically fixed". These minor hangups definitely didn't kill the story for me, though, and I think as Strickland grows as a writer we'll continue to see more and better work such as Looking Glass.

I'd highly recommend this book to any cyberpunk fans, and to any speculative fiction fans in general. The easy flow of the story makes for a great introduction to the cyberpunk genre for those who might otherwise be put off, and is a quick and fun read for those already indoctrinated. Pick up a copy from Flying Pen Press or your local independent bookstore, or from Amazon. The Kindle version is selling for 99 cents right now. You'll come away wondering which of your memories are real and which are merely false data.

A must read for fans of both classic and current cyber-punk, tech sci-fi. The characters are well developed. The cutting edge tech is enjoyable although I didn't understand several networking situations. If you like the works of Chris Moriarty, William Gibson, and/or Richard Morgan you'll like this novel.
I'm doing my second read on this and enjoying it thoroughly! The cover art is great.