I also tried reading Jurassic park before that but didn’t make it past 75 pages before I simply lost interest. Michael Crichton wrote that book as an impossibly boring slog. When something is actually happening and meaningful it’s super interesting and well written, and I’m excited for what’s going to happen next, but then that’s all bogged down by three pages of unnecessary technical explanations for things I don’t care about. It’s like he can’t just get to the point. It took all the fun out of what was otherwise an exremely fun read. I might pick it up again sometime and try to finish it, but I can’t see myself spending any time on it soon.
This mirrors my experience with Crichton. The Lost World and Timeline both had intriguing plots, but all the passages spent on technical details simply killed my enjoyment; I abandoned both books before I got halfway through either and haven’t picked up a Crichton novel since.
You know, I had a similar problem reading Daemon by Daniel Suarez. I loved Influx so I started reading Daemon, but the technical junk bogged down the plot too much and I quit reading it. Well, not complex technical explanations of things. […]
It just… ugh. People who are knowledgeable about a certain hobby or field don’t frequently extrapolate on the jargon. They use jargon when they’re around people who would understand, and they don’t around people who don’t. But they don’t explain the jargon if it’s not necessary to get the point across. The book Daemon kept using jargon and then explaining what it meant or a character’s opinion about it.
I ran into my old high school friend, who recommended Influx to me, and he asked me if I ever finished Daemon and Freedom™ (Freedom™ is a sequel). I told him no, and generally why, and he asked me to give Daemon a second shot.
So I am… and I still don’t like it. I’m only about a third of the way through the book, but the plot really is convoluted and the characters really do use too much unnecessary technical jargon. Unfortunately, out of respect for my friend, I’m going to finish them both anyway. =\
I’m finishing up Freedom™. In the synopsis online, it says “Here is the propulsive, shockingly plausible sequel to New York Times best seller Daemon.”
…Shockingly plausible? Really?!? Umm…no. In fact, one reason I don’t like this series is I can’t buy into the far-fetched plot. It’s supposed to take place in a modern-world very near to ours, but there are just too many things that stretch the limits of plausibility past their breaking point. Plus, too many characters use and then explain technobabbly terms when doing so is unnecessary to get the relevant point across in conversation. I, myself, already know what these words mean. They don’t need to be used when simpler language will do.
Also the series seems to be trying to sell the idea of a need to overhaul our corrupt plutocratic society, but the society it’s replaced with is bloodthirsty and vindictive. People’s lives can hinge entirely on how many upvotes or downvotes they get in the virtual space, and a mass-murdering psychopath is left unchecked for most of the story because he works for the glorified computer-logic-tree.
So no, I do not recommend.