Renato Lond Cerqueira reviewed Daemon by Daniel Suarez
An interesting idea with terrible execution
2 stars
Content warning Spoilers: Discussion of plot
I found Daemon in a list of best sci-fi and the idea itself got my attention. It sounded like a mix of ready player one and Neuromancer.
The book unfortunately does not deliver.
It starts as a very "tech-intensive" book, with details of how some characters are doing hacks, penetrating into systems. And then those details fade away as the story progresses (which is not bad, but it feels weird to have such a difference in between).
I found it to also be of terrible taste when it describes a date rape for no good reason. I imagine the reason is to show how psychopathic the Loki character is, but that is well-established as he sends a partner to death, says he always felt an alliance with the nazis and so on. The date rape scene is bad and has no place.
As I kept advancing and the percentage in my Kindle kept going up, I kept wondering how the author was going to be able to close the several ends they opened, because there wasn't a lot of left. Well, they didn't. The book ends pretty much out of the blue and even has a "the end" because otherwise how could you even know?
I can't give one star because the story interested me and I wanted to know more, but not a good book, unfortunately.