Comment

Nov 03, 2012
A library patron recommended "Daemon" to me and I owe him a thanks: it was a blast to read, and I likely wouldn't have found it otherwise. I think I enjoyed this book the way some enjoyed Ernest Cline's "Ready Player One" (which was full of insurmountable holes for me--though I see from other reviews on GoodReads that some had the same feeling about "Daemon"). Similarly to "Ready Player One", "Daemon" starts with the death of a programming and game-writing titan who's devised a little surprise for humankind. But instead of a contest, Matthew Sobol's left behind a daemon--a program that, once set in motion, needs no human interference to keep running. Sobol's daemon is designed to expose and exploit all the weaknesses of society as we know it--perhaps to "prove" that democracy is outmoded in a time when a free individual has access to enough technology and computer power to wreak huge havoc. It was a fun, fast-paced read with lots of things I usually don't go for (at least not at the movies): explosions, automated vehicles, etc--and it was also smart and full of psychological insights that worked, at least, for me. While it might not be quite as brainy as "Snow Crash" or "Neuromancer", my enjoyment of it felt similar to my enjoyment of those. And it was much, much brainier and more well-thought-out than "Ready Player One".