Cory Doctorow

Ambitious and entertaining, this sprawling story is set in a near future where massive, networked, multi-player games have become nation-sized economies. Doctorow speculates on what that future may look like, and hones in on the people who try to make a living there - as opposed to simply playing for entertainment - and what might happen if they tried to organise into unions. The story - like the games - is globe-spanning (and the locales felt very convincing), with a vast array of characters.

This book could have been amazing if it had been firing on all cylindars, but unfortunately most of them seemed to misfire. The ecnomics stuff was interesting, but wasn't explained quite well enough; the story was a bit too convoluted and started to feel repetitive; the characters weren't quite well-defined enough; the book a bit too long; and the ending didn't deliver like I'd hoped it would.

So enjoyable, original and ambitious - and that's not bad.… (mer)

I should say I am a big fan of Cory's work and follow a lot of other climate authors (Kim Stanley Robinson, newest Neal Stephenson) so was very interested in Cory's take, especially compared to Walkaway which I really loved.

[spoilers]

I think the complexity and gray area with which Doctorow can articulate each sides foibles and strengths (GND, MAGA, bitcoin) is often very pointed and nuanced, sometimes really hits you over the head (one character is all on with bitcoin, until one flotilla speaker is very on the nose and then she goes back to GND. Right after the main character thinks about the fear of the MAGA crowd, not as just stereotypes, they hold everyone at gunpoint).

I also admit, I am a little tired of (this sounds meaner than I quite mean it), Cory's prototypical awkward nerd who meets his manic pixie dream girl (but street smart, highly political, and extremely forward with intimacy). I feel like I'm rereading Pirate Cinema and Makers again and could almost swear similar language was used in Pirate Cinema.

To finish off the complaints, like Pirate Cinema, there's again the young barely-adult guy who loses his entire support system (leaves home, or everyone dies) and then finds a new found family in political organizing. It starts to feel like he just needs someone to hug, has nothing to lose, and is just bouncing around trying to feel cool, less insecure, and loved. It's amazing that the people take him in, and it doesn't come across as insincere, but in the space of a few chapters he keeps getting pummeled, almost killed, and there's very little reflection - just goes to sleep, the chapter ends, and the main plot continues until another heart wrenching change. Under the background of (teenage) moral certainty there's also just a quiet desperation to not be alone which was hard to read sometimes. I would have loved a slice-of-life part of doing the work, but maybe it's not good for a popular book.

I kinda of missed some of the novella's in Unauthorized bread which had a definite scope, here it waffled between one town and large scale consequences.

But overall I enjoyed it and read it a few sittings. I was extremely unprepared for the part about his parents dieing in the same bed and 8 year old him being unable to even get them out of bed. And it makes me want to voluenteer - there's so much to do… (mer)

Doctorow spends too much time on boing boing self promoting his books. At the same time too much of his books are devoted to wacky gizmos that we've read about the year before on boing boing. His last novel Little Brother was a powerhouse of post 9/11 paranoia and at the time very current. Many of his concepts seem almost too current, and quickly outdated the year past their publishing. So is the case with Makers.

Every other paragraph is devoted to highlighting the funky gadgets the Maker Duo come up with. Which has left little in the way of character or plot. Instead it reads like...dialogue dialogue dialogue....funky device or idea...mention of a real life researcher who came up with a funky device...dialogue dialogue...another funky device. Huge spans of time are skipped over which "sum-up" all the cool stuff you'd want to read about.

I've spent my fair share of time tinkering with gizmo's and cannibalizing spare parts to make something new. It's exciting and I love it. But Makers takes away that joy by giving you too much information and not enough heart to connect to any of it.… (mer)