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Books by Cory Doctorow
Little Brother
by Cory Doctorow
· published 2008 · read 2013-05-01
★★★☆☆
Cory is always preaching. I don't like preachy books (look at all my Narnia hate). Even when I like the message, as I do here, I'd like to be taken more seriously as a reader.
Red Team Blues
by Cory Doctorow
· published 2023 · read 2024-01-31
★★☆☆☆
James Bond, if he were 67, and very annoying and performative and prone to info-dumps about tech. The entire book is so weird – painfully inoffensive, not pushing a topic (except maybe “non-bullshit blockchains are possible”?), flat, unevenly paced, awkward … I felt so odd reading it. Was this a fanfic about his friends? Why does this book exist? Who is this written for? (nobody at book club had an answer). It's not for the nerds, we know this stuff already. It's not for anybody else, because nobody else cares. Also, there are so many infodumps. There is so much privilege. The protagonist's character arc starts at "I live in an 800k tour bus and am happy" to "I made 300 million dollars and get to fuck the hot girls". There's max privilege everywhere, and while there is the occasional uncomfortable lip-service to seeing systemic issues, there is … none of that? Martin Hench rides off into the sunset. That's it. idk man, it's kinda a nerd power fantasy, but even for those, it's super weird and aimless. I should be into any and all books about forensic accountants, especially when written by people who remember what UUCP and the alt hierarchy are and who know how to be properly tech paranoid, but this wasn't it. I kinda want this book but written by Charles Stross, in pre-Brexit times, before everything conspired to escalate slightly ahead of his publishing schedule. A forensic accountant in early Laundry days? Yup yup yup. (At least he put “Thank you to Steve Brust and Bruce Schneier for your early encouragement on this one.” in the end, not on the cover, or I'd have been even more disappointed.)