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babewiththepower.bsky.social · @babewiththepower.bsky.social@bridge.neodb.net

Rated Lock In 6/10

I'm not sure why I put off reading this book for so long. Somehow the name wasn't attracting me to it. The premise is an interesting mix of mystery and, I'm not sure what it would be called, maybe cyberpunk? That doesn't seem quite right. Futuristic tech misused, at least.<br/><br/>It's a what-if in more than one way. What would happen if terminally-online people were that way not by choice? One character is extreme in that they were never corporeal to begin with in their memory. Humans, of course, find new and innovative ways of hurting and killing each other with people living this way, as always due to (corporate) greed.<br/><br/>It just occurred to me that main character Chris Shane faintly reminds me of Asimov's Daneel Olivaw. Thinking about it further, I suppose the FBI vet he's partnered with, Leslie Vann, perfectly fits as his Elijah Baley. Huh. Except this "Baley" definitely swears! There's also an interesting if maybe a little too peripheral inclusion of an Indigenous Nation and I wonder how they'd feel about it considering how problematic it is for settlers to often commit crimes on their lands while too often not having the ability to deal with it themselves.<br/><br/>At least there's a happy ending involving them and the people locked in. I would be interested in another mystery with Chris or maybe a collection of short stories? Recommended for a nice easy scifi read, light on the sci.

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Published 2026-08-18 17:59 UTC · bridged from Atmosphere