Like other reviewers, my feeling as I read this book was that it was not science fiction--more of a cutting-edge thriller with technologies that seem very possible today. This is how Cory Doctorow usually writes--the technology is from the descriptions of alpha- and beta-version tools in the best technical journals and blogs (like Boing Boing).
For about 80% of the book I felt sad at the state of play that Doctorow describes. There's just no real hope of retaining your privacy if you have the nerve to stand out and get a powerful actor's attention. For the last 20%, the hope faded to cynicism. The setup was so bleak that it really did not leave much room for a turnaround beyond Masha's "waking" moment. It made me think about Hong Kong, where the protesters had the latest versions of all this technical and social engineering thrown at them. The protesters lost in the end. And they knew it was going to happen. I do have to give props to Doctorow's complex ending. Even a turnaround that stretches hope to the edges leaves the situation at status quo ante.We live in historic times. This book is not going to make you feel better about them. Sorry.
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