Customer Reviews

Neurolink

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It's the 23rd century, and the world is a wasteland caused by pollution and global warming. Exposure to the unfiltered air or water leads rapidly to cancer or other nasty conditions. Giant corporations, now known as Coms, dominate the world, and their privileged executive class as well as many of their protected employees, or "protes", live in domed cities. The Coms are in a more or less constant struggle with the Orgs, especially the biggest, baddest Org of them all, the WTO. (It's worth mentioning that a significant, and possibly dominant, part of the WTO are its AIs.) The Coms are not the good guys.

This doesn't seem like a promising set-up, and I have many complaints about the details. Despite that, I found myself enjoyng the book.

Dominc Jedes has wealth and position beyond the dreams of avarice. He's the (cloned) son of the president of ZahlenBank, one of the most powerful of the Coms. If he's lately been having some disagreements with his father, finding some of his decisions affecting protes to be a little too ruthlessly pragmatic, he nevertheless believes in the system and loves his father. His father's approaching death is an added source of tension between them, as the elder Jedes has chosen to forego what aggressive medical care could do for him, in favor of creating a neural profile that will live on in the computer network after his physi cal death.

On what proves to be the last day of his father's physical life, Dominic unwisely makes a joke in a board meeting about dealing with the problem of an unprofitable mining sub that ZahlenBank got in a foreclosure by freeing the protes and giving them the sub. This unfortunately strikes his father and the board as a wonderfully clever idea--no costs for continuing to support these now-useless workers! Then Dear Old Dad promptly dies, the freed protes start broadcasting to the world for more discont ented protes to join them, and ZahlenBank is suddenly in deep, deep trouble. The WTO steps in with an offer to arrange negotiations, if Dominic will meet with the protes alone, accompanied only by a WTO agent. He reluctantly agrees, and unhappily finds th at he is accompanied also by the hated neural profile of his dead father. (The NP insists it's the real thing; Dominic does not agree. Dominic also believes it lacks the humanity and honor his father had; I think the evidence is that he had an overly-rosy view of his father.) In short order, Dominic is getting a very exciting look at how the other 90% lives.

As I said, I have a lot of specific complaints. The background feels as if it was insufficiently thought out. Europe seems to be about all that sort of survived the collapse. If the ice caps completely melted, why didn't all that cold, fresh water running into the Atlantic do bad things to the Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic Drift? If Europe is the last economy standing, why is the basic currency the deutchdollar rather than the euro? And if giant multinational corporations are the bad guys, how can the WTO be the good guys? And Dominc seems quite improbaby naïve. What Dominic isn't, though, is either stupid, or improbably virtuous. He's a basically likable guy who's a product of his society and upbringing. He has believably human and reactions to the individuals he meets, for both good and ill, and alters his assumptions about how the world really works only with a plausible amount of resistance and mental pain. All in all, this is an enjoyable light read.

This is an entertaining novel with a fast-moving plot. Banker Dominic Jedes must deal with the computer-generated replica of his domineering dead father--just at the moment that he must go quell a worker rebellion in a submarine. The characters are well-drawn--and boy, do they have relationship and boundary issues! The conflict with the workers turns out to be much more complex than the financial data that Dominic is accustomed to handling at his office. Very enjoyable. I couldn't put it down, and then I hated for it to end!

I loved this book! NEUROLINK is both suspenseful and thought provoking. The action is fast and unpredictable. The descriptions are mesmerizing, and the characters really come alive -- especially Dominic, the main character, plus the weird nano-computer that's living inside his eye. Very fresh ideas. This book kept me turning the pages right through to the end. I liked this every bit as much as Buckner's first book, HYPERTHOUGHT, which was also a great read.

There's really nothing out of the ordinary about this book, the plot progresses exactly as one would expect with no real surprises, but the story is told in an entertaining way and the characters are quite relatable. If you're a fan of the genre you've probably read stories very like this one before, but you'll probably enjoy this one as well. If you're not familiar with the genre, this would make a reasonable introduction. But if you're looking for something new or unique, this is not it.

Two hundred years from now, Earth has become a toxic wasteland. Everyone lives in domes. Global warming has pushed the temperate climates farther north, rendering the area around the equator uninhabitable. Corporations called coms have takien over, ruling billions of protes, or "protected persons" (actually, little better than slaves).

Dominic Jedes is about to become president of ZahlenBank, the only institution more powerful than the coms. He isn't just the son of Richter Jedes, the bank's founder, he is an exact genetic copy of his father. He directs the bank to give two thousand protes their freedom, trapping them in a rusting, malfunctioning submarine at the bottom of the ocean. They are supposed to die, but they don't. They broadcast an untraceable and continuous message over the Net, encouraging others to join them. The free protes get thousands of takers.

Every minute that the message is broadcast, ZahlenBank's financial condition is damaged. Dominic is forced to go to the sub, and somehow shut off that message. For someone who has spent his life in filtered air, and with the finest in designer medicines in his bloodstream, when Dominic enters the sub, he feels like he has descended into hell. It's hot, stinking, packed with people, and the oxygen-generating system is on the verge of collapse. People are constantly putting up walls everywhere, so any attempt to reach the bridge quickly becomes impossible. Within minutes, Dominic feels like he has contracted some major disease. When he first reaches the sub, Dominic wants to reach the bridge, expose the sub's location, have everyone arrested, and get back to cleanliness as soon as possible. The longer he remains on the sub, the more sympathy he has for these people, and the more he wants to help them, instead of turning them in.

This is a strong, well done piece of writing. It has good characters, good society building, and an interesting story. The reader will not go wrong with this novel.

M.M. Buckner has brought cyberpunk back to the fore. This novel is fast paced, exciting, and makes you think about what we are doing to the planet. She and a few authors like her are taking science fiction to its next stage. Her writing is fresh.

Enjoy!

Dessention between the working class and exec's is growing. When the embodiment of the executive class sets free a shipload of working class, he is enlisted to renegotiate their return. But upon visiting the working class world, becomse a sympathiser and helps them to maintain their freedom.

This is a fast paced romp through a dismal future setting. Lots of action, not to technical and great characters make this an excellent and quick read.

I really like this sort of science fiction. It's a story that could really happen(well...). It's fun, fast-pace, techy, with no fantasy.

It's a balanced story of a rich executive made to open his eyes to the poor of this future wasted earth she invented.

The book was a nice improvement over Buckler's first book HyperThought.

Out of the 30 odd sci-fi books I have read, this is the first to compel me to write a review.

Thank you M. M. Buckner for writing such a cool book.

Neurolink is an intriguing vision into the future, when cloning and artificial intelligence will be commonplace. Characters become real as this fast-paced story grabs the reader and takes him on a great adventure. Dominic Jedes is conflicted and stressed and his love-hate relationship with his father rings true. The fiery Major Qi, a real punk chic, is as cunning and strong as she is beautiful. The underwater scenes are vividly described and the action dramatic. Neurolink will establish Buckner as one of our best science fiction writers. This story is an intricate and intriguing weave of science and survival. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good story.

The book feels like a short story which was written for non-science fiction fans and then expanded into a novel, or perhaps is the novelization of one of the bad computer adventure games that came out in the early 90s. The setting is entirely too simplistic and not explained believably. The world is essentially run by one bank, which has one rival organization - the WTO. It isn't explained well how this situation evolved or why the citizens have gone along with it for decades. Nor is it presented as an interesting study in cultural evolution, a la 1984 or Brave New World - it is just a cheap generic framework in which to throw a story.

That could be forgiven if someone interesting were done within that framework. Unfortunately, the characters are one dimensional, their actions make little to no sense, and there isn't a lot else going on in the novel. There is really only one vaguely fleshed out character - the main one - and his coming-into-his-own story arc is painfully obvious from the start. Despite a few glimmers of background and motivation, there really aren't any other characters with personalities in the entire book. The protagonist stumbles through a series of encounters, learns a few lessons, and then gets to make the big decision about what happens to the world he lives in.

So perhaps the story could be redeemed by some gripping action sequences or imagery. No such luck - it isn't even told well. During the week and a half or so during which the novel is set, the main character eats 2 or 3 meals, sleeps 3 or 4 times and goes to the bathroom maybe twice, but we get the details of all of these encounters. There are almost no interesting (or believable) conflicts and the ending (which is visible from a mile away) still manages to feel arbitrary. The fairly random decisions made by the rest of the cast will leave you scratching your head, and ultimately you will be left wondering how so little managed to happen over the course of so many pages.

Take my advice and read a collection of sci-fi short stories instead!