Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: Walkaway: A Novel

Top positive review

5 people found this helpful

A fun and critical tale about the day after tomorrow.

ByNom, nom, nom de plumeon April 30, 2017

This is the kind of fiction I have come to expect from Cory Doctorow. But that is not a bad thing. It's good to read a fun adventure that's politically aware that has some elements to make almost everyone a little uncomfortable at points.

Although it makes no obvious reference to Diogenes (the Cynic), some of the actions and beliefs of the protagonists are clearly aligned with his ideas, and it does a lovely job of depicting the beauty in those ideas.

Top critical review

See all 5 critical reviews›

10 people found this helpful

A Philosophy Parable Bogged Down By Buzzwords

BySimStaron May 14, 2017

Meh.

Good points:
• It is not a dystopia. It is not a utopia. It is two, two topias in one!
• No nanites. Thank god!
• Final third of the novel
• Walkaways are a new and interesting character class
• For Doctrow fans (like me) it is fun to see him idea-check previous short stories and novels
• I got 27 new business ideas

Bad Points
• The text is primarily a delivery system for buzzwords, soon-to-be-buzzwords, and totally invented buzzwords. They come so fast, furious, and unrelenting, that the novel should be stamped with a motion sickness warning (I was frequently a little nauseous). What he lacks in quality, he makes up in quantity.
• The first 2/3 of the novel. No excitement and none of the characters wormed their way in.
• 3D printers take on some of the magical role usually reserved for nanites.
• Instead of evil military commanders with one dimension, we get evil capitalists with one dimension.

For me, Walkaway was a cross between a chat channel for Anonymous, where the cool kids invent slang to keep the noobs guessing, and a philosophy textbook. In fact, if it is any one thing, it is a philosophy parable. See the Capitalists? Bad Capitalists. Morally bankrupt Capitalists. See the people who just want to share? Good Abundance people. Morally evolved Abundance people.

For me, Walkaway was better than The Rapture of the Nerds but not as good as Makers.

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Showing 1-2 of 2 reviews(2 star, Verified Purchases). See all 28 reviews

Two Stars

ByMarshall Peaseon May 26, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

predictable.

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Test the Waters First

ByStewart F. Hoffmanon May 9, 2017

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

I got about a third of the way through this before I stopped reading. I honestly wanted to like this. I attended the LA Book Festival and listened to Cory speak about this book, and it sounded like something I would be interested in. Not so much it turns out. The first 25% builds a world I couldn’t sympathize with, and it uses its relatively few main characters to debate that worlds merits. This simply wasn’t my cup of tea.

Maybe get a Kindle sample first. This wasn't for me, but it wasn't at all badly written. If you can connect with the author's philosophical arguments, you might enjoy it.