Omnitopia dawn

Another story partially set in an MMO. Basically a story of industrial espionage culminating in a hacker attack against the game world. I like Duane's writing and have read a lot of her books, but I'm finding her characters are becoming more and more two dimensional. The good guys are all very similar - personable, competent, inclined to breezy flippancy while they heroically do this or that, never showing the smallest character flaw. Maybe this is a byproduct of all the young adult books she's been writing, but it doesn't work so well in a non-YA book and left me feeling as if this story was a bit shallow and insubstantial. The game world itself was interesting but the descriptions of in-game events trod a very fine line between sounding more like magic than technology. A light enjoyable read but overall I felt unsatisfied.

My kind of techno thriller.

The latest from Diane Duane opens up a new world set about five years in the future and follows the technological exploits of a rich MMORPG creator, the system he has created and the people who want to tear it down.

This first installment doesn't lend itself to a concise summary and definitely feels like Duane is establishing her characters for what will hopefully be a fantastic series.

At first, I was a little put off by all the descriptions of the benefits of the rich and famous, but thankfully Duane has made the protagonist (Dev Logan) very down to earth and likable. I'm really not sure where Duane is going to take this world, but I'm going to eagerly await the second installment.