Interface

Written 25 years ago, this political thriller also predicted some of the future pretty well. Locations are beautifully described, and ideas are usually introduced with characters (though perhaps one too many). For me, it is a book which was tough to put down, and as fun to read as it was in the 90s.

The book is a collaboration between Neal Stephenson and his uncle, which wasn't well known when first published. Having read a lot of the former, I think I can identify some passages, but overall it flows in a smooth narrative. On this reread, it is also fun to look at some of those future predictions. GODS is quite similar to Amazon, for instance. It is also interesting to read between the lines, interpreting what the candidate says and connecting to the source - and from there back to the author (pro or con). The Strong character quite resembles our current president.

I could have done without the last character introduced (on page 526). His purpose is to show the aspect of negative campaigns, and a score of pages later he is mostly out of the story - which would have been fine without him. The appearance of all the other characters is perfect, making this anomaly that much more glaring. For me, this costs the novel half a star, but it is still highly recommended. 4½ out of 5 stars.