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Influx – Daniel Suarez
I loved this novel, book #4 from one of my favourite authors.
A really imaginative, technology and science drenched, dread inducing thrill ride. The scenes within Hibernity are mind blowing. Sure there is stuff in here that is silly. But it is such great fun that you’re willing to overlook some of the implausibilities. Just a superb blend of action thriller and scientific speculation.
I wish Hollywood would use his books/ideas for sci-fi movie plots rather than the predictable parallel universe/time travel/alien invasion scenarios that seem to crop up again and again.
Kill Decision – Daniel Suarez
Didn’t like it quite as much as his first two books (which I loved), but I still liked this a lot. Scared the hell out of me though. It explores the concept (not a fanciful science fiction conceit) of applying swarm intelligence (think ants) into drones. Drones I find fascinating, and I admit that I don’t lose sleep over the US whacking fundamentalist scum in Pakistan with them. Compared to WW2 when hundreds of bombers would be flown against a target, suffering terrible losses, with incredible collateral damage, a targeted strike is preferrable.
At one time drones were the purview of major world powers. They cost a staggering amount to develop and operate. But now, non-nation players like Hezbollah have drones. Not nearly as sophisticated as what Israel has, but if your intent is to spy on your enemies, it will suffice. Drones are within the reach of almost anyone. For a few hundred dollars, you can have a remote controlled helicopter or plane, mount a camera on it, and you have a functional observation drone.
But the book delves into something chilling, and it is not a sci-fi fantasy. Namely, autonomous drones. Drones that aren’t controlled by a human, but that make their own decisions. The reason given is that sophisticated powers (Russia, China, Iran, etc.) can jam the signals that control the drone. So, in order to avoid that, the idea is to have a drone that can navigate, distinguish targets and fire on them, without a human saying yay or nay.
And I concur with the accolades that he seems to be becoming the inheritor of the Creighton techno-thriller mantle.
I read a LOT of books, lots of thrillers, and it’s rare for me to find one that I don’t enjoy.
But these two books I LOVED!
I tore through Daemon and then Freedom in two successive nights. I can’t recall a novel or novels in recent memory which gripped me that much, where I found the characters that engrossing, where I was both filled with utter dread and then a growing sense of wishing that this could happen for real.
Great stuff! Some of the high end computer stuff went over my head, but at no point did it bog down into techno jargon. It helped build up the story, but the plot and characters drove it all the way.
First time I’ve ever felt compelled to write an author and tell him how much I enjoyed their work.
http://www.thedaemon.com/
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