Reviews and Comments

This book is a thrilling ride and one of the most interesting things I've read.

I've bought this a while ago from my companies professional development budget and it was rather disappointing, there are some useful architecture concepts in this book, but I don't think they are very well explained and instead the book is filled with anecdotes about computer systems that were obsolete before I was even born.

It is interesting to see how Schneier applies the term »hacking« to all systems, not just computer systems. He also frames hacking as something the wealthy and powerful perpetrate to extract value from the less wealthy and powerful and not the other way around. I personally have not learned much new, but I am well versed in these topics and I think I will recommend or gift this book to people that could benefit from this perspective on the world.

Super interesting world building and some fascinating characters, but there are some plot holes where our hero is in a dire situation that leads to certain death or permanent imprisonment and suddenly something happens that quickly resolves the situation. There is a lot of buildup to a situation that than resolves quickly. There are some really great parts to this book and I wanted it to succeed so bad, but while it might be good a setting up the trilogy, it does not work great as a standalone novel.

The story was confusing and not satisfying at all. It started slow and around the middle of the book things got a bit more interesting and I got invested, a couple of mysteries popped up, some intrigue, but then somehow all of that led nowhere. It just pestered out. Why? There were also a couple of predatory male characters in the book and the women just accepted or even liked it. Not worth reading.