[SKRIVA] Rec av Rajaniemies The Quantum Thief

From: Ahrvid Engholm <ahrvid@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <skriva@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2011 14:08:30 +0200
Hannu Rajaniemi, som en del av oss mött på Åcon i Mariehamn, har ju kommit med 
en rätt omtalad skiffy-roman, The Quantum Thief (ute i the UK, kommer i USA 
snart). Här en recension som röjer en tämligen komplicerad, men påhittig, 
intrig:
 
http://io9.com/#!5787834/in-the-quantum-thief-posthuman-gamers-and-privacy-absolutists-fight-to-survive-on-mars
 
" The solar system has been colonized by humans who have control of matter to 
the point that they can program their bodies and environments almost as easily 
as they can program computers. Rarefied "Zeusbrains," superpowerful AI-like 
entities, exercise a mysterious control over everyone's bodies and minds. And 
humans have divided themselves into enclaves like the zoku, devoted to a life 
of pure gaming, and the Oubliette, a mobile city (yes it's on legs) on Mars 
whose citizens are so fanatical about privacy that they edit other people's 
memories of them to safeguard personal information. Though we spend most of our 
time among these groups on Mars, we also see hints of other, stranger groups 
who will no doubt become important in the two forthcoming sequels to The 
Quantum Thief.

The novel begins with the nearly-superhuman thief Jean le Flambeur breaking out 
of a "Dilemma Prison," a jail where people are forced to act out the prisoner's 
dilemma over and over again with thousands of versions of themselves. He's 
rescued by Mieli, a ninja from the Oort Cloud who is on her own ambiguous 
mission - a mission only a master thief like Jean could help her complete. 
Since Mieli has basically built Jean a body and consciousness to her 
specifications, he has no choice but to be her servant on a strange job that 
takes him back to his former home in the Oubliette - where he'll figure out 
who, exactly, he used to be, and why his ex-girlfriend is seriously pissed at 
him.
Because everybody in the Oubliette has a mind that's been heavily edited for 
privacy reasons, character development is literally about data retrieval. And 
so is the novel's plot structure. The book's other main character, Isadore, is 
a detective trying to solve what seems at first like a routine murder case - 
but winds up involving Jean's pre-prison life, an impossibly rich eccentric, 
and a discovery that could destroy the privacy of everyone in the Oubliette. As 
Isadore uncovers conspiracies within conspiracies, we learn about a group of 
radical superhuman vigilantes who dispense justice in the Oubliette. We also 
visit the bizarre world of the zoku, a closed community at the edge of the 
Oubliette where the descendents of a former MMO guild spend all their time 
playing games in a simulated space that's half-virtual, half-real and all 
programmed. Isadore's girlfriend Pixil hails from the zoku, and their culture 
clash is one of the more appealing parts of the book."
 
Onekligen blir det en del problem i t ex personskildring och intrig om 
personerna kan förändra och sudda i varandras minnen...
  En annan sak är att jag tror att den sådan här bok måste skrivas ganska 
tydligt, en gel del tell, för att man som läsare inte skall bli helt förvirra.
 
--Ahrvid

--
ahrvid@xxxxxxxxxxx / Gå med i SKRIVA - för författande, sf, fantasy, kultur 
(skriva-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, subj: subscribe) YXSKAFTBUD, GE VÅR WCZONMÖ 
IQ-HJÄLP! (DN NoN 00.02.07)
Om Ahrvids novellsamling Mord på månen: http://www.zenzat.se/zzfaktasi.html C 
Fuglesang: "stor förnöjelse...jättebra historier i mycket sannolik 
framtidsmiljö"!

                                          
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[SKRIVA] Rec av Rajaniemies The Quantum Thief

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