Lock In: A Novel of the Near Future

Scalzi monta una buena historia aquí a partir de la premisa de que hay millones de personas "encerradas" en su cabeza y que viven y trabajan a través de robots. Le da una vuelta de tuerca a mitad del libro (sin entrar en destripes) y se lee como el que ve una película de acción palomitera.

Seguiré leyendo cosas suyas que tengo en la biblioteca más adelante.

(edito que no sé por qué le di cinco estrellas, con tres va bien 😅)

Svizna knizecka. Naka akcicka. Na pozadi nenasytna korporace. Vse v kulisach celosvetove nevylecitelny choroby. Programovaci jazyk "Chomsky" pro interakci s mozkem lidi jako tresnicka na dortu. V poho lepsi oddychovka, klasickej Scalzi.

PS - Kdo vymyslel slovo "třipík" at si liskne ... aspon dvakrat ;-P

It's a bit eerie reading this story—published in 2014 and set in the "near future" about "a new, highly contagious virus"—during the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Lock In is billed as science fiction and mystery. It's markedly different in tone from Scalzi's other books (i.e. no humor or silliness, which is generally what I seek when I turn to Scalzi). The mystery is not at all challenging. [Mystery has long been my favorite genre, so this is mildly disappointing.]

As I mention often, character- and relationship-development figure prominently in my ratings. This has enough of both that I'll read the sequel. [It doesn't hurt that I already own both books.]

Spoiler alert:
Don't read this before you've read the book:
http://whatever.scalzi.com/2014/09/22/in-which-tor-com-reveals-a-thing-i-did-with-lock-in-lock-in-spoiler-thread/
Don't!


extra: www.tor.com/stories/2014/05/unlocked-an-oral-history-of-hadens-syndrome-john-scalzi

Had trouble deciding between a 3 and a 4. The concept is awesome, but I've had my fill of crime and mystery stories. Still, engaging and interesting.

A modern day whodunnit with a dash of technothriller thrown in for good measure.

Interesting characters and a well crafted mystery tied in to the issues surrounding the Haden's Syndrome sufferers.

I liked it. The protagonist's FBI partner was especially interesting and added an important tone to the narrative. I would have liked to see some of the presented upper-level sci-fi ideas explored more deeply, as it felt like we only got a taste of the Angora or what's different about life with a threep. Still, this was a solid start to what could potentially become a great series.

Though enjoyable enough, this lacked something for me. I really didn't click with Shane, I must confess, bit of a Chris Longknife thing going on there and that properly put me off. A shame, as I was expecting to really, really dig this one.

This novel very definitely has a "big idea", and doesn't let you forget it. It's probably a shame that I read this closely after re-reading Redshirts, simply because the former completely absorbed me despite the big ideas, whereas the Big Idea of the Lock In was so front and center here. That said, Scalzi is a masterful storyteller, so while I didn't find this to be his best book, it was still a damn fine one.