When I picked up Infoquake, I so wanted to like the book. But as I read, it kept getting more and more mediocre, and by the end I was mentally cataloging the various things I didn’t like.

Let’s repeat the synopsis on the back of the book:

Natch is a master of bio/logics, the programming of the human body. He’s clawed and scraped his way to the top of the biol/logics market using little more than his wits. Now his sudden notoriety has brought him to the attention of Margaret Surina, the owner of a mysterious new technology call MultiReal. Only by enlisting Natch’s devious mind can Margaret keep MultiReal out of the hands of High Executive Len Borda and his ruthless armies.

To fend off the intricate net of enemies closing in around him, Natch and his apprentices must accomplish the impossible. They must understand this strange new technology, run through the product development cycle, and prepare MultiReal for release to the public — all in three days.

Meanwhile, hanging over everything is the specter of the infoquake, a lethal burst of energy that’s disrupting the bio/logic networks and threatening to send the world crashing back into the Dark Ages.

So, with that reminder of what’s going on, here’s my first issue. The story portion of the book is 380 pages long. The part of the story described by this synopsis starts around page 280. 74% of this book is back story. Part one relates the final ascent to the ratings peak by Natch, illustrating his ruthless tactics and his program manager Jara’s disgust at using the tactics. Part two is Natch’s childhood, including the Ender Wiggin-like schooling. Part three introduces the MultiReal originators, but is focused almost exclusively on some trashy politics that aren’t really clear. Part four and five are where the story in the synopsis takes place, but only partway through part four does it even happen.

The biggest problem is that there’s no real tension in Infoquake. If you like to see all the office politics behind the creation of a Powerpoint presentation, then this book is for you! Okay, I’m exaggerating a bit here. It’s actually a product demonstration of MultiReal, but that’s only a smidgen more interesting cause a product demonstration happens in front of people outside a company.

Edelman creates a nanotech/virtual reality universe, and it isn’t horrible. But it really had the feel, to me, of the Star Wars/Star Trek fan creations. It felt too created rather than grown organically.

The press I’ve read focused on this being a novel about economics. I’d love to read a really good novel, S.F. or otherwise, that is really focused on the economics of business. Particularly in S.F, where you can look at how our economic system will evolve. One of the things that gave this novel a created feel is that the economic system described is fairly rigid. You have memecorps (big business like entities that receive a lot of public funding) and fiefcorps, smaller businesses that depend highly on markets for their income. Each of them has rigid rules. For instance, people who work for fiefcorps get essentially their room and board only for four years. Then they can cash out big with stock options (or the equivalent). And the only other kind of business that’s described is a contractor/sole proprietorship.

Don’t get me wrong. This isn’t as awful as Vectors or A Wish To Kill. I was interested enough to finish the book. But despite the loose ends left for the rest of the series, I don’t think I’m interested enough to bother with the other books when they come out. I found his blog more interesting than his book.

Title: Infoquake
Author: David Louis Edelman
Series: Jump 225 Trilogy ; 1
Imprint / publisher: Pyr / Prometheus
Format: Paperback
Publication date: 2006
Length: 421 p.
ISBN-10: 1-59102-442-0
ISBN-13: 978-1-59102-442-2
Subject: Corporations — Fiction
LC classification: PS3605.D445I54 2006