“Maybe sci-fi fans will dig this more than I did. I liked Zahler’s western stuff better.
I think sci-fi is a little boring to me because it sort of feels like “Let’s get fucking stoned as fuck and just imagine stuff that would make life better and sort of like a big Apple commercial.” So you get doors made out of re-healing whatever, gels that act as seatbelts, foamish cars that bump into each other with no problem.
I think you’re supposed to be like, “Wouldn’t it be awesome if this stuff existed?”
And I’m like…no.
Why would a door, which is semi-permeable and healed after you walk through by nanobots, be better than a regular-ass door? I guess you don’t have to actually open it, so if your hands are full, that’s a plus. But other than that, it seems like a very complicated solution to a problem we’ve already solved with a plank of wood and some hinges. Sci-fi often ends up feeling like that story about the U.S. spending tons of money to invent a pen that works in space where Russia used a pencil. Yeah, dummies. Is space pen cooler? Totally. Is it a realistic solution? Hell no.
The book shines more in the spots that are less oriented towards the future and technology. The sort of polite war between different floors in an apartment building was great. The part where a garbageman has to deal with being a garbageman was fun. The overall premise was good too. I just don’t get as into sci-fi. I guess flying cars just don’t pop me any boners. “