Freedom(tm)
"Freedom(tm)" is the follow-up to "Daemon" by Daniel Suarez that I wrote about a couple of weeks ago (http://www.henryhagnas.com/daemon-11) and wow... It's all of Daemon and then some. Luckily I had the opportunity to spend my whole day reading it, along with a great spring sunshine:
I have to first of all retract my previous criticism of Daemon's ending, while I think both books as one would probably have been better it isn't as bad as I first said. Both books are divided in parts that jump in time to keep the action going (since the books span years in time) and the jump between the books is quite natural. That said, to keep yourself sane you really should order both books or you'll end sitting on pins and needles while waiting for "Freedom(tm)" to show up.
As I said, the story continues a few years down the line, the Daemon has grown in power but so have its opponents and the resistance they provide, which keeps the book interesting and exciting all the way to the very end. I won't say more about the plot because I don't want to ruin anything for future readers of either "Daemon" or "Freedom(tm)", you simply owe yourself to read both of these if the initial review of "Daemon" seemed to tickle your interest.
Daniel Suarez really does weave an excellent story out of the current modern technological, social and even economic trends, I especially enjoy the fact that I recognize a lot of the themes from popular books, articles and thoughts going around at the moment. Many other tech-people staying current will no doubt also recognize these. Even though they are more immediate and transparent future projections than what is described in say Neuromancer by William Gibson or even Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson I hope the description of their use will inspire people. I'm especially thinking about the Augmented/Virtual reality part that is basically Layar on steroids (for those who don't know, Layar is a dutch-developed Augmented Reality browser for iPhone and Android).
Do yourself a favor, order these books now.
