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Mar 14, 2017airyen rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Robert Gu, formerly a star poet, had succumbed to Alzheimer's in the early 2000’s. However, modern medicine has been able to restore him to coherent life. He struggles to adjust to life in a world where everyone's clothes and contacts connect to holograph nodes implanted everywhere. Learning to “wear” is a struggle for him, although his granddaughter, who is attending classes at the same school he is, has learned to do it from childhood and easily accomplishes connectivity without detection. While he is adjusting to live in the new ecosystem of connectivity, he is drawn into an international conspiracy involving biotech, an internet presence known only as “Mr. Rabbit,” now-aged friends from his days as a professor at UCSD, his granddaughter and her friends, and his Department of Homeland Security son and daughter-in-law. The setting was compelling and fascinating, from the holograph nodes to the “net boards” like today's forums to the concept of contact lens overlays that made environments look completely different. It integrates well with the plot, harkens “back” to today's San Diego, and lets the reader imagine stories continuing well beyond the plot. The book switches perspective while always remaining in third person: at times, its focus is on international magnates, Robert Gu, his granddaughter Miri, or artificial intelligences. At times, this made the book confusing, especially as exposition is limited and readers find out identities only by implications.