We don’t usually overview books at TechCrunch, not to mention fiction, however generally a piece comes alongside that’s simply so rigorously tuned to the ecosystem we cowl that it justifies a fast put up. And so right here now we have “Exadelic,” a sci-fi novel by erstwhile TC contributor Jon Evans, who does his degree greatest to match the reference density of “Prepared Participant One” within the Bay Space tech group, however happily additionally units his sights a bit increased than that.
Now, allow us to first admit that this isn’t a comparability that’s solely complimentary. Ernest Cline’s breakout hit was wealthy in reference however poor in different methods, although maybe its greatest downside was its most ardent proponents, who couldn’t understand how narrowly the e book was tailor-made to their life expertise and the way that will render the expertise hole for others.
So if “Prepared Participant One however Silicon Valley” appears like layering horror upon horror, that’s comprehensible — and in a means it’s correct. However whereas “Exadelic” is actually liberal with its name-dropping and nostalgia effectively past the purpose of building the setting, the plot shortly outgrows its early reliance on insidery nods and winks.
On the danger of spoiling just a bit greater than you’d discover on the mud jacket, think about when you and your group of buddies discovered yourselves central to an AI-driven deep tech conspiracy that will outline the destiny of the planet. It’s not probably the most authentic premise, however imagine me after I say the scope does develop repeatedly and unexpectedly.
The early chapters play out like a potboiler techno-thriller — a tech exec has to outlive by his restricted wits after being focused by a rogue AI — and admittedly I used to be afraid it could proceed that means. Fortuitously the plot begins taking turns early and by no means actually stops, permitting Evans to exert his creativeness way more successfully.
To say way more would rob the possible reader of the pleasures of a twisty e book rooted deeply in at the moment’s technological and moral zeitgeist. Uncontrolled AI, unscrupulous VCs and questioning the character of actuality information the plot — in different phrases, the identical ideas you’d discover in any week of reporting right here at TechCrunch. There’s even a contact of the occult!
(It should be talked about that sexual assault of a sort is central to part of the e book, one thing on reflection I really feel didn’t need to be that means, even when it’s kind of an ecstatic-philosophy reference.)
And though I believe “Exadelic” is a superb e book to take with you to a flight or seaside, I believe the place it falls down is in its over-reliance on the Bay Space-tech-heyday zeitgeist. It is a benefit as effectively — it’s based mostly in Evans’s apparent familiarity with the startup, tech and funding worlds, to not point out flip of the century San Francisco, all issues that many readers will acknowledge and recognize.
However there’s a sure solipsism inherent to the method of extrapolating such an expansive story from what quantities to a single second and perspective. Like a science fiction work of the ’60s that imagines a future extrapolated from tube televisions and analog computing, the imaginative and prescient appears bounded by the know-how and attitudes of at the moment. Think about having a pc within the 12 months 3000 depend on a mouse and keyboard — it jars as being out of sync with the creativeness on show elsewhere.
In fact many traditional works of sci-fi transcend this, however “Exadelic” appears content material to be a product of its time, discovering worth in imaginatively mixing and matching these ideas to kind an authentic permutation, if not an authentic mixture. For those who can tolerate a little bit of nostalgia and a cypher of a important character (his companions are way more attention-grabbing), “Exadelic” is a enjoyable experience.