The Quantum Thief

Oh, this book was frustrating.

It's in a sub-genre of scifi that I don't get on very well with in the first place: that sort of in-between "hard" and "soft" that tries to blind the reader with buzzwords and technology but hasn't done the work that goes into hard scifi of actually figuring out what all these things will actually be and how they'll work. I almost dropped it after the first few chapters, between fatigue at "smart" this and "q-" that, and a deep discomfort at the ways it uses Jewish culture. In the author's defence it came out well before the last few years' surge of anti-semitism, but at best the use of "gevulot" and "tzaddikim" feels appropriative, and reading it this winter it just felt creepy.

So why did I keep reading? I did enjoy the wild inventiveness of the book. Not the casually name-dropped technology (WTF does a "smart wheel" do, Mr. Rajaniemi?), but the layering and interweaving of the plot itself. And I enjoyed the appreciation of craft, be it the thief's, the detective's, the watchmaker's, and so on.

But in the end the plot felt like a con at the reader's expense, and all the other characters just felt like foils for the insufferably smug thief, and random violence just happened to rip the sexy warrior lady's toga at least one time too many, and there are so many better books out there.

Oh, this book was frustrating.

It's in a sub-genre of scifi that I don't get on very well with in the first place: that sort of in-between "hard" and "soft" that tries to blind the reader with buzzwords and technology but hasn't done the work that goes into hard scifi of actually figuring out what all these things will actually be and how they'll work. I almost dropped it after the first few chapters, between fatigue at "smart" this and "q-" that, and a deep discomfort at the ways it uses Jewish culture. In the author's defence it came out well before the last few years' surge of anti-semitism, but at best the use of "gevulot" and "tzaddikim" feels appropriative, and reading it this winter it just felt creepy.

So why did I keep reading? I did enjoy the wild inventiveness of the book. Not the casually name-dropped technology (WTF does a "smart wheel" do, Mr. Rajaniemi?), but the layering and interweaving of the plot itself. And I enjoyed the appreciation of craft, be it the thief's, the detective's, the watchmaker's, and so on.

But in the end the plot felt like a con at the reader's expense, and all the other characters just felt like foils for the insufferably smug thief, and random violence just happened to rip the sexy warrior lady's toga at least one time too many, and there are so many better books out there.

What do you get when you cross an epic space opera, high end maths, realities, Sherlock Holmes, game theory, Inception, and a bunch of other viral memes? The Quantum Thief.

This was recommended to me after [b:Ninefox Gambit|26118426|Ninefox Gambit (The Machineries of Empire, #1)|Yoon Ha Lee|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1446557461s/26118426.jpg|46065520]. A comparative study in far-flung futures with concepts one can barely comprehend. Thanks Brad! I enjoyed this.

In Ninefox you have an unforgiving author who does not care if you know what he's talking about. Sink or swim, and you drown for a while before thinking you understand the meta. Even then, you may not know the meta. C'est la vie. It's a fun ride, regardless.



The Quantum Thief, however, has a more traditional approach. Yes, there is a lot of technology and far far out there notions but they have a certain descriptor or meta tags within the work that allow anyone with some technophysicsacuity to grapple. I'm not saying I got it all, but my little Sapien brain found more toeholds than not.

Alright alright, that's all structural stuff. This is a fun story with a lot of good references embedded in the work. If you want a good mystery, some good twists, some pretty rich characters that while not fully fleshed out here have tendrils towards potential completions later on, you should enjoy this.

This story is partially episodal; you have a pretty well-defined beginning and end of a piece of a puzzle. A teaser for the larger arc manifests only at the beginning and the end. Meaning you can leave it for a while or continue on--I think I'll continue on.

To be consistent with other rankings this should be a 5/5.

I have just re-read this book, having mostly forgotten what it is about, and really really enjoyed it.

At the science level, humanity is still confined to the solar system (if one calls the Oort cloud part of the solar system). Some humans are wildly augmented, but most are still DNA based biological forms as nearly as I can tell. Most of the story takes place on Mars. The book is heavy on mathematics and physics: prisoner's dilemma, quantum entanglement, and cryptography all add to the plot.

At the political level, there are multiple factions, one of which may or may not be responsible for the disappearance of Jupiter. Mars is a reasonably closed world, unwelcoming to foreigners, although there is a colony of zoku, political refugees from inter-planetary war, descended from a colony of gamers.

At the personal level, Mieli is a native of Oort, extorted into rescuing Jean le Flambeur from prison. Jean himself is a legendary thief and once resident of Mars. To earn his freedom, he has to help Mieli find something that he has hidden from himself, for reasons that he has forgotten. Meanwhile on Mars, Isadore helps the Gentleman solve a murder involving the taste of chocolate. Little do any of them expect to become entangled with each other, and with conspiracies that extend throughout Martian society and possibly even beyond.