The Quantum Thief is a solid hard SF novel which throws new concepts at you every . . . well, it seems like every line, never mind every paragraph or page. It is set several centuries in the future, and the new technologies and the new ways in which humans (and others) interact with each other are quite different from now. Time has become a currency, solitude an enforceable privilege.

I won’t try to describe the plot, as it would take forever and I might not get in right anyway. Suffice it to say that it is complex, just as all the new ideas and new technologies are complex. The characters are well drawn, the whole thing flies along at a tremendous rate, and yet . . .

 . . .and yet I can’t get away from the fact that I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as I thought I was going to. I think this is because there were too many factions in the story, too many different groups interacting in too many different ways. I got the impression that the author, if he ever wrote himself into a corner, would simply invent another group with a different agenda from those already described, to get himself back out again.

Maybe that’s unkind, but that’s how I feel. Well written; lots and lots of great new ideas; good characters; but too many factions unnecessarily over-complicates the whole thing. If you are an SF fan, I’d recommend it despite this niggle. If you aren’t an SF fan, stay well clear!