While I went in expecting a cyberpunk, this is definitely more on the thriller end of the spectrum and almost anti-cyberpunk. It’s set in the near future, so while some things are strange, most are familiar. The author also notes that most of the things referenced in the book are things that are either possible now or likely to be possible in the near future. The best I can explain is that it’s a scifi thriller by way of Dune, animal rights activism, and a ridiculous amount of drugs.

“Plus, you find futures for other people, that’s the job?”
“Yeah.”
“But they’ve always been other people’s futures.”
“Uh-huh.”
“This time,” says Lorenzo, “the animals, the empathy. This time you found a future that includes you.”


Lion’s an interesting character. He’s an em-tracker, which means he has expanded empathy to understand not only others feelings and future actions but that of entire subcultures. He’s generally employed by companies to figure out if certain trends have a future – basically, his job is to say either yes or no. When he’s employed by Arctic, a somewhat secretive company led by your typical quirky-but-hip billionaire, he expects it to be just like any other job, but the introduction of a murdered big game hunter makes things personal, and Lion’s left wondering exactly how deep this goes.

“Rilke used empathy as a virus-scan for truth, his way to live the questions. Lion lives bigger questions. His empathy isn’t individual; it’s cultural. He can feel how cultures collide and blend, the Darwinian mash of memes, the winners and losers and what truths remain. He’s like a lie detector for potential futures. An emotional prediction engine for how the we fractures, the us becomes them, and then back together again. And a useful skill for a certain type of company.”


While cyberpunk usually deals with the virtual, this is more focused on reality – Lion’s somehow simultaneously obsessed with digging through surface layers to find what’s real and mind altering substances. I liked the exploration of empathy and how it relates to subcultures, and found the wordbuilding fascinating, if a bit confusing at times, since it seemed very close to the present but with bits tweaked. I’m a big fan of Dune, so I liked how themes from that were introduced into the story, but I wonder if a non-familiar reader would find that confusing. I was also intrigued by how Lion seems to view em-tracking as almost an off-shoot of autism. Lion gets overwhelmed by certain sensory stimuli and basically shuts down – at points, he refers to programming himself with habit loops.

“A couple of years after Wundt’s invention, philosopher Theodor Lipps wonders why art affects us so strongly. Comes to see the act of viewing art as an act of co-creation. An artist has a primal emotion that becomes an original insight that births a work of art. Viewers tap that source code via viewing, as if the feeling that led to the original insight gets broadcast, and people with the right kind of radio can detect the signal. Tune the frequency correctly and the experience is shared experience, transmitted through an object and across time.”


While I found the premise and ideas behind the story fascinating, the execution itself was more mixed for me. I’m not a fan of the choppy thriller writing style, chockfull of sentence fragments. There’s also a weird mix of excruciating detail (what size coffee he makes every morning) and complete memory lapses (drug induced or em-tracing induced, not even Lion knows which) where chunks of time will pass and then abruptly we’re somewhere else. The combination was a bit jarring and occasionally confusing for me. Additionally, all the female characters are sex symbols, there to be explained at with chunks of info dumping, or as deus ex machina when Lion gets in too far over his head. There’s a bit of a romance, and it was eyerollingly bad from my female point of view. To be fair, though, most of the characters aren’t particularly well fleshed out, though I got a kick out of Lorenzo, Lion’s best friend who communicates with him in Apocalypse Now quotes and plays drums in a fusion band, and Shiz, the rapper who loves Banksy and Dr. Seuss.

Overall, this read was not really my thing, but it was enjoyable in a weird way. I’ve added a few of Mr. Kotler’s nonfiction works to my TBR as I think they’d be fascinating. If you’re looking for a thriller that’s an exploration of empathy, societal change, and animal rights, and don’t mind a boatload of drug use, you’ll probably enjoy this book!

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

A fun, engaging read of our near-future in the traditions of William Gibson, with heavy nods to his work, along with Blade Runner. While I found it a little too preachy on the animal rights angle, that did lend to some interesting character and plot points.

HAPPY PUB DAY! Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for my ARC of
Last Tango in Cyberspace 🌟🌟🌟💫
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Steven Kotler's Last Tango in cyberspace was a mixed read for me. I was under the expectation that this was going to be more sci-fi with far out inventions. However, what it ended up being is just the near future (like 20 years ahead). No date that I can recall is mentioned.
•

Kotler's writing took some getting used to. His use of cinematic writing can confuse the reader at first as it did to me. It took my a while before things started to click. Once I got used to this, the reading experience was quite pleasurable. I enjoyed the elements of Jamaican history and Rastafariansim. THe whole concept of empathy was intriguing and took again some time to get used to. I will say that there is no book I've ever read that is quite like this one. You know when something is just oddly nice? The repeated drug use became a bit redundant and could have done well or equally as good without it. 
•

Overall, I would recommend this book for intermediate to expert sci-fi readers, because although it's not DUNE, it sure does help having read Dune and getting used to that style of sci-fi writing to appreciate this book. Also, lots of Dune references.

Steven Kotler returns with another unique cyberpunk sci-fi adventure set about five years into our future and explores the intersections of psychology, technology, neuroscience, and ecology with an eye toward realism and the breathless pace of a thriller. Main protagonist Lion Zorn is what makes this enjoyable and kept me reading despite the disjointed and slightly convoluted narrative. He resonated with me in particular because of his quiet, introverted nature. The plot concept is solid and original with the idea being that Zorn predicts future cultural trends through empathy.

Much of the technology featured in the book is either in use widely today, in use to some extent or rumoured to be in existence, so this is speculative fiction that isn't so, well, speculative. I know quite a few people have commented on how dense and almost heavy this is to read; I think that's due to the fact that this is a merging of the science fiction and non-fiction genres in the sense that the story is interspersed with tidbits of information on technology and advancement and warnings about it being best to move forward at a slower pace rather than taking one giant leap - it's difficult to disagree with this.

Last Tango in Cyberspace will not be for every sci-fi nut, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and will reread at a canter rather than a gallop in the not too distant future. Many thanks to St. Martin's Press for an ARC.

This book presented a bit of a challenge for me. I found a few of the characters interesting, but several times the momentum slowed to the point I put the book down. The premise of an empathy tracker was really cool. I haven't seen anyone write a book with that idea before, so well done for originality. But, the story just didn't grab me, and it felt like forever to get to the climax.

I was intrigued by the line "all technology in the book either exists in labs or is rumored to exist." Even though my interest in the description of the book excited me, the execution was lacking. I had to DNF at 19%. We are thrown into this world without much of a backstory and I am still not sure what an "em-tracker" even is. I feel like I should know more and be attached to the story almost a quarter of the way through.

Before I get into my review, I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for giving me access to a free e-ARC of this book.

*deep inhale* .... *slow exhale*

Now... where to begin?

I just could not get into this book and I feel like there are couple reasons why. Let's go one by one, in order of importance to me.

First, the characters. I'm one of those people who needs to feel a connect with at least <i>one</i> of the characters in a story to really appreciate it. I pretty much hated every single character in this book. Seriously. All of the characters were just so boring. I feel like I've read about these kinds of characters in a million other books and they just didn't click with me. The only person I found slightly interesting (at first) was Penelope, the rando-love interest, but that interest quickly died. Especially after a certain "twist" near the end. Other than that, I had couldn't have cared less what happened to Lion, our main character, or anyone else involved in this book. Meh.

Second, the writing style. It just did <i>not</i> work for me. It seemed so stilted and choppy and just... weird. There were several times were the writing style itself completely took me out of the story because it read like some robot locked in a room had written it. *beepbopboop* "Lion takes the box, the envelope, remembers to say thank you." *beepbopboop* Just... not into it.

Last, the plot. The plot was the one thing that I could actually get behind in this book. It was interesting and unique. The whole concept of em-tracking and using empathy to, in a sense, predict the future was fascinating! I liked the mystery and the intrigue, as well. A lot of the "twists" were fairly predictable, but it was still an enjoyable ride to the finish. The plot is really the only thing keeping this book at two stars instead of one. So, there's that, I guess.

All in all, I feel like this book could have done with a little more polish. Develop the characters more, flesh out the story more, and I could have probably gotten past the robotic writing style. In the end, this book just wasn't my cup of tea.

Last Tango in Cyberspace is a sort “the day after tomorrow” science fiction, taking us just enough into the future to disconcert us and put us off balance, while retaining so much that is familiar. Facebook, Google, Starbucks, Virgin Air, and many other corporations retain their power and influence in this step into the future. The most unfamiliar element of the future is the degree with which bio-hacking has become commonplace. This is not just implanting a credit card chip in your forearm, but more like hacking your brain to potentiate your natural talents.

Lion Zorn has developed his naturally empathic traits and become an em-tracker, a career as a trend spotter, but on a cultural level. He consults for various people and industries, identifying the next new thing, or more consequentially, the next new movement. He is hired by one of the world’s richest men, the CEO of Arctic Pharmaceuticals, to find someone, a quest that takes him around the globe. Along the way, he also tries to solve the bizarre murder of a big game hunter. “They are hunting the hunters,” he realizes and his past as an animal rights activist informs and fuels his search.


Steven Kotler drops us right in the story without long explication of how society has changed so the first chapter or two can be a bit disconcerting as readers acclimate, but after that, it’s an exciting thriller with plenty of intriguing characters and potential for a continuing series. Except that is not the point, the point is exploring the power of empathy and its value in saving us, as a species, if we can be saved. Much of the story is concerned obliquely with the rapid extinction of species and our role in it, encouraging greater empathy with nonhuman life on this planet we share. This is important and it’s encouraging to see it become a central theme in a sci-fi thriller.

The story is weakest when the conversation is used to educate, for example, on how humans became human, why we have values that other primates lack. It’s interesting, but the story is better showing rather than telling. Kotler tries to do this with dialogue, but it’s still telling and becomes a bit didactic, but then Zorn’s favorite book is “Dune” so what do you expect?

Last Tango in Cyberspace is thought-provoking and well-written. I found myself highlighting so much that was worthy of coming back to think about again. Because of this the reader often confronts opposing needs, wanting to stop and think about what Kotler just wrote and equally wanting to race through the propulsive plot. I generally chose the latter.

Last Tango in Cyberspace will be released on May 14th. I received an e-galley from the publisher through NetGalley.

Last Tango in Cyberspace at St. Martin’s Press | Macmillan
Steven Kotler author site

★★★★

The thing that originally drew me to this book was actually two things: the cover and title. The cover itself is very cyberpunk-y, with the silver, black, and white tones with blue tints. It's GORGEOUS! I also liked that the girl is faceless with a bar-code tattoo! The title was also extremely unusual, and unlike a lot of books, I couldn't guess what it would be about. "Last Tango in Cyberspace" could mean anything - an actual tango? Does the book take place in like a computer or other device with electrical impulses? Does AI play a large part? Could it be about an evil company/corporation, or maybe it takes place in a bleak future? So many possibilities!

Starting this book made my head spin. The language is very unusual. Short, sharp sentences. Many new words because yes, this world takes place in the future, and therefore there's a ton of new technology and ideas. For example, an "em-tracker," which doesn't exist and which I've never heard of in other books either. Because of the language and the new world, this wasn't a book I could read at my usual rapid pace. It needed to be read slowly, and I had to concentrate to really understand what the hell the author was trying to communicate.

Lion is an odd name. Ghost Trainwreck is another odd name. Em-tracker was an odd profession. So many elements about this book were odd. In some way, this uniqueness was great because there's really not a lot of originality in any media nowadays, but in other ways the uniqueness confused and distracted me from what story was trying to be told.

Overall, I just...didn't...get it.

Even now that I've finished the novel, I just don't understand what happened at all. I still am not fully aware of what being an "em-tracker" means. I don't get the whole Robert-Walker's-taxidermied-head-on-the-wall thing was about; he felt "too much empathy" and killed himself? What's up with Sietch Tabr? An autism drug that....was being used to speed up feelings of empathy? Muad'Dib was a codename for a character in this book, and yet was also a name for a character in the novel "Dune" by Frank Herbert... But I wouldn't know, because I've never read "Dune," so every single one of those references went right by me. I honestly have no idea what this book was supposed to tell me.

I never felt connected to Lion. I never liked or felt connected to Penelope. I still don't even know who Lorenzo was other than a friend to Lion [thanks, context clues!]. Balthazar? Tajik? No idea what relevance they had to the story, really. Why was Richard called "sir"? Was he knighted at some point, or is that just a "cool" name he calls himself? Rilkeans? Still no idea why they had barcode tattoos or what they....DID. Jenka was apparently the villain of this story, but again, I don't see how. Every single aspect about this book was confusing. Maybe some of these things were explained at some point, but the writing was so convoluted and weird that I couldn't extract meaning from any of it.

I think this book tried too hard. The sentences were unnecessarily complex; like, there wasn't really a reason for the sentences to be so jumbled and half-sensical when a direct sentence could do better. I get that part of the tone of the writing was to create a futuristic, cyberpunk mood for the book, but considering nothing else made sense, this failed to have meaning too.

I'll be the first to say it: THERE WAS WAY TOO MUCH POT SMOKING IN THIS BOOK. Was the weed relevant? No. But did it contribute to the story? Also no. Why did the characters smoke so much weed? I don't have a clue. Was this an advertisement for Ghost Trainwreck? Maybe. Honestly, the amount of cigarette- and pot-smoking just made me dislike Lion and his associates more. Like, we get it already - you're "above all this" and "very smart" or something.

The entire tone of the book seemed a bit pretentious to me. I didn't enjoy reading it, I didn't understand the whole "mystery" of Robert Walker's head, I didn't get the "climax," and I really didn't like any of the characters. Lion Zorn was in his mid- to late-thirties, I believe, and yet I had to constantly remind myself he wasn't 22 or something because he sure as hell acted that young.

This book took me 3 weeks to read. 3 WEEKS!!! For a book of this length, that's unheard of. I would normally finish a book like this in about a week. But I had no interest in the story [or understanding of what was going on at any point], so I had no interest in reading it. Yet I finished, and when I did I almost felt like throwing a party! Finally, to be DONE with it!

As an animal lover, I wish there was a way to make humans care about all creatures as much as me. Since this book is about empathy and love for animals, it touched close to my heart and my soul and it made me think in which side I would be if this happened in real life. I did find it a little hard to read because of its hard sci-fi premise. The world in which it is set is still recognizable, and it’s amazing to read that almost all the technology described in the plot exists in real life. There are a lot of philosophical discussions that may slow down the action for people who don’t share an unreasonable love for animals, but there is also a murder, traveling and suspense. What I liked the most, however, are the small cultural differences that make this world different from ours. The parts in which the author talks about extinction and cruelty to animals were the hardest to get through. The most enjoyable: the tidbits about animal behavior and empathy. And how can you not love a book dedicated to our canine family?
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/St. Martin's Press!

I enjoyed the idea of it. I have read very few space thrillers, and this seemed like a really cool idea, but I had a hard time connecting to the story plot, and it was really hard to get into the book. I feel like this would come off better as an audiobook, so I might listen to it once the book has been released. A cool idea, but it was hard for me to focus on the story and stay interested. I'm also not sure if I am a cyberpunk fan. I dunno, I'll give the audiobook a try I have notice that some books are too slow-moving for me, and they come across better via another form.

I read Steven Kotler’s 2019 near-future thriller “Last Tango in Cyberspace” in trade paperback, which I received as an Advance Reader Copy in the mail, from St. Martin's Press, in a goodreads giveaway. I also received an ebook copy from them through netgalley, in exchange for publishing an honest review on social media platforms (goodreads, bookcrossing, etc.) and on my book review blog. The novel's publication date is expected to be 14 May 2019. It is not part of any form of series, but there are numerous references to Frank Herbert’s Dune, which I recommend readers to have previously read, or at least be familiar with. Really, if you haven’t read Dune, you ought to, regardless of this.

Steven Kotler is an American writer, the author of a number of non-fiction books – futurism, human potential, culture, health – as well as articles in well-respected magazines. This is actually his second novel, the first to be categorized as science fiction. As a reviewer of primarily science and science fiction, I have to report that almost none of the concepts in this book are speculation. Only the synthesized drug known as Sietch Tabor, an extreme empathy enhancer, is total creation. The cover blurbs and even the title imply that this novel is of the cyberpunk subgenre of science fiction, but I think that is misleading. The setting is not even partially in a cybernetic virtual reality, but rather fully in a real reality - albeit one where a lot of psychedelic drugs are used. Thematically, it may even be anti-cyberpunk. What the novel is, is a very stylistic thriller.

There are aspects of the writing style which I personally find irritating. Numerous sentences and paragraphs which are not actually even sentences. Like this one. Contemporary product and cultural references which surely are transitory and will be obsolete in 5 years. Hits the drugs, sex, and punk rock scene pretty hard. Rasta talk. Take those stylistic trappings away, and what we have is private investigator Lion Zorn chasing down rival conspiracies surrounding a newly designed drug. One of those conspiracies, and the more obvious one, is motivated by the immense profit potential of the drug, and lavish amounts of cash are expended to leverage Lion’s empathy skills to track its formulation down. The other conspiracy is from a unique and innovative perspective, which I will not discuss further to protect from spoilers.

In the end, while I enjoyed some aspects of the novel, I felt it is probably written for a more cinematic and pop culture audience than myself. More the edgy stepchild of Philip K. Dick, than a William Gibson or Neal Stephenson.

E-arc provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

OMG! THIS BOOK!
I requested it solely for that stunning cover which I want to eat up (I didn't, don't fret) :P
The Plot was something so original in interesting who kept my focus on the book until the very end.
This is the first book I read in one sit and I really advise people to give it a go.
Characters were very well developed and I remember them all.
I keep thinking about this book even after a week that I've finished it!
L O V E D I T!

Last Tango in Cyberspace was an unfortunate let down for me. I do like sci fi but not hard sci fi, so this story felt overwhelming and heavy. I was confused and bogged down in the plot. The characters failed to capture my intrest. And, I was bothered and surprised by the frequent drug use. It's a good story for the right reader, but it's not for me. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Good cyberpunk is hard to write- I'm sympathetic to that. Unfortunately, this book was still a DNF for me, and I feel guilty about that. NetGalley was kind enough to give me a review copy in return for an unbiased review, but I still feel bad when I don't like something. That said, something about this book was simply trying too hard, as if they could hit all the stereotypical cyberpunk marks and thus score some points on the 'cool' scale. Instead of coming off as effortless, it felt labored, and ultimately almost made me feel awkward to read.

“Last Tango in Cyberspace” is an intriguing sci-fi novel, which follows an alternate timeline from now which is laden with technology. Lion Zorn is an empathy-tracker or em-tracker, who has a heightened ability to empathize which leads to cultural prognostication. He can get a sense for cultural trends and see where they are going before they have gotten there. This does not work on individuals but only on groups. He was a reporter, but now he works with companies to pay the bills by helping them em-track.

Arctic Pharmaceuticals is trying to hire him with some gruesome pictures of a man whose head is mounted on the wall along with the big game he has hunted. Lion Zorn has a particularly empathy for animals and thus has a hard time examining the scene. His gut tells him this is not a case for an em-tracker, but the company is hard to turn down. As he explores the potential case, we explore this world and its new cultures, touching on issues of animal rights and environmental concerns.

The pacing and style of writing were difficult for me to get into at first. I felt like I could be reading a movie script (and this would make a totally fascinating movie also). Soon, I was completely engulfed in the story. Through Lion, we understand everyone and the many concerns/problems our cultures face. I would highly recommend for fans of movies like Total Recall, Oblivion, and Blade Runner. While this does not take place in the future, it has a similar feel.

There is a lot of drug use in the book- almost every chapter has one drug or another (most commonly is marijuana). This surprised me, but it certainly impacts the feel of the book and the way things are perceived.

This was a really intriguing book, and I found the technology and science to be extremely well researched and very fascinating to read about. Notably, in the author’s note at the end, the technology in the book are from things that actually exist or are rumored to exist in labs somewhere. This is probably what made all of it seem much more plausible in terms of realism. The historical and ecological context of the book is also extremely intriguing and gives the story some extra oomph.

Overall, this is a great new sci-fi book, and I recommend for people who love futuristic stories, mysteries, science, and hints of thrillers. Please note that I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC which I received from the publisher through netgalley. All opinions are my own.

“THIS REVOLUTION IS FOR DISPLAY PURPOSES ONLY.”

Last Tango in Cyberspace makes culture a character to be explored in equal measure as the main character. Lion, an empathy-tracker, or em-tracker for short—uses his unique talent to consume curated content provided by clients and extrapolate a future; not at an individual level, mind you, rather as a glimpse at the cultural significance regarding the content in the future. It’s an amalgamation of genetic drifts which hardwires an em-trackers’ pattern recognition. Hacking their intuition to do a sort of cultural prognostication.

“A small robot standing on a busy city street corner, looking around. I SEE HUMANS BUT NO HUMANITY.”

Em-trackers methods vary with the person and there are very few known trackers, at least in so far as ones operating in the same capacity of Lion, doing this very niche work for a living. A very good living at that.

Lion, in particular, is rigged to make these deductions from words and logos, though it’s gestured that each tracker would be completely different. He processes the content he’s given, reacts, and tells the client if he sees a future or not. It’s usually a binary answer; a “yes” or a “no.”

“His journalism days are behind him. No longer does he get paid for the plot. Now, he’s paid for saying yes or no—the sum total of his contractual obligations. His work in the world reduced to one-word responses. When, he wonders, did his life get so small?”

Superficially, this book is about Lion being contracted by a major corporate entity to take a look at a crime scene and apply his talents… but this is a very unorthodox application of his gifts and one which ends up taking him down a rabbit hole. Ostensibly it’s a murder mystery wrapped up in noir trappings, something people might expect from cyberpunk. This is where the clear iterations from the sub-culture come into play, however. Within the tropes of a pleasurable whodunit, there’s much more to be consumed.

“You can’t scrub everything,” says Lorenzo. “Information gets what it wants, and it wants to be free.”

A specific trope that follows noir elements in cyberpunk, the investigator in over their head, is a unique vernacular used. There is typically a colloquial dialect that is foreign to the reader and makes them feel a fish out of water. The reader interprets what these cultural elements are in the future with the remix of certain words or the use of completely fictional words, from time to time. Interestingly, the dialect used in this novel is pop culture itself. Not in the very limited sense of Ready Player One, where games, gamers, and gaming is the language—but in landmark moments in cinema and literature that is reasonably absorbed into the general intellect of society. The most common being the novel Dune. Lion carries it with him all the time and is the cornerstone for the explanation of Lion’s gifts and poly-tribalism, a central component to the way Lion looks at culture in the story. People are intersectional beings with complex identities. Tracing the identity back to its origin is possible with technology these days. Appealing to particular facets of the identity can be a predictor for if something is to be successful and thrive or be consumed by another identity that dominates it.

'“Shifting culture requires a confluence of inciting incidents. Something directional that leads to a tribal fracturing and reknitting. Often shows up in language first. In music. Fashion. It can feel a little like hope.” He points at the images. “This doesn’t feel like hope.”

I think this approach both hinders and helps Last Tango in Cyberspace. For one, it’s an interesting use of the trope which proved satisfying to read for me, personally. I had never read Dune but it is explained as needed. I never felt lost. However, I could see some people who had read the book and disagree with the cultural impacts asserted in the text having a problem with most of the book, as it draws from it heavily at a personal level for Lion, as well as a fundamental shorthand for what is happening in the plot; ingrained in the theme and a permanent fixture.

“Words are just bits of information, but language is the full code. It’s wired into every stage of meaning-making, from basic emotions all the way up to abstract thought. Once you can speak a language, you can feel in that language. It’s automatic. It creates empathy.”

The frenetic pacing that accompanies cyberpunk literature is replaced with a sort of artificial acceleration with the structure of the book. Lots of very short chapters, in other words. This allows for expounding on the cultural aspects that are conveyed during the text. You notice what Lion notices. These details becoming foundational to the extrapolations he draws on later. What this means though, is the pacing is somewhat sacrificed in order to get the reader to do the same types of pattern recognition Lion does during the book. It’s clever, but a slow burn.

”Hybridization, he figures, is destined to become one of the ways this generation out-rebels the last generation. How we went from long-haired hippie freaks to pierced punk rockers to transsexual teenagers taking hormones.”

For me, the slower pace made it feel reminiscent of Takeshi Kovach in Altered Carbon. Envoys in that novel “soak up” culture in order to fit in and navigate foreign cultures. Lion’s talent feels like it takes that idea and explores it more thoroughly, engaging with it more, and this method allows you to soak up the information as well. If it were frenetic some of the details would be lost, I feel.

“Lion glances back at the pigeons. Sees a flicker he didn’t notice before. Remembers that the de-extinction program was a failed effort, realizes he’s looking at a light-vert. An AR projection of an almost. The bad dreams of a society disguised as a good time.”

A concept continually being reiterated in the novel is “living the questions.” Something that also subverts first wave cyberpunk, the characters of which are generally on the spectrum somewhere, unlikeable and/or anti-social, and live on the fringes of society in a sub-culture of some kind.

Lion, however, is an embodiment of empathy. He is in stark contrast to those protagonists, relating to most everyone and so can assume their point of view. To the extent, in fact, he resolves to not use his talents on other people.

“We ache for this feeling, but it’s everywhere. Booze, drugs, sex, sport, art, prayer, music, meditation, virtual reality. Kids, hyperventilating, spinning in circles, feel oneness. Why William James called it the basic lesson of expanded consciousness—just tweak a few knobs and levers in the brain and bam. So the drop, the comedown, it’s not that we miss oneness once it’s gone; it’s that we suddenly can’t feel what we actually know is there. Phantom limb syndrome for the soul.”

Last Tango in Cyberspace feels like a love letter to cyberpunk while updating it. In Neuromancer, for example, Gibson’s Rastafarians were a source of major critique. They are also featured in this novel but the author instead traces the cultural aspects and importance of Rastafarian influences on western mainstream culture. It felt as though it was making a point to correct the caricature found in the original source material. Whether or not it succeeds I leave up to someone who’s more educated on that and can speak to it—but the intent is clear.

“the failure of language.” “It’s a creative destruction. Out of that failure comes culture. Out of culture comes desire. Out of desire come products.”

This led me to the only thing I didn’t like about the novel and a personal pet peeve of mine: authors phonetically using foreign language in dialogue. It’s usually done as a form of cultural appreciation and authenticity, I’m sure… but it results in the author needing to clarify what is being said regardless and it just feels uncomfortable. It’s pretty much always from a Western perspective on a minority culture and usually is the default assumption of what the culture sounds like. Lion is able to converse with them for plausible reasons, often not the case when this is encountered, but it’s always left me feeling squeamish. Just tell me they have an accent, placing them in whatever area if that is relevant.

“…what is genuine emotion and what is business strategy. The modern condition.”

As Lion navigates the mystery and ping-pongs about the globe consuming the clues surrounding the mysterious death the reader, too, is engaging in this meta-language. Both in terms of how it subverts or remixes cyberpunk tropes, as well as the cultural context and information Lion imparts as his process. All of which is given weight. Hooking the plot into these details down the line as it comes together.

Most interestingly of all perhaps, the author goes out of their way to state that all of the technology exists in the world today, or is in a lab somewhere being worked on, at the very least.

“The car sees emotions. Signals have been pre-programmed, down to the basement level, below Ekman’s micro-expressions, getting to the core biophysical: heart rate variability, blood oxygen levels. And all from pointing a laser at a tiny vein in the human forehead. The car sees emotions, yet feels nothing. So morality too has to be pre-scripted into the code. Aim for garbage cans and not pedestrians; aim for solitary pedestrians rather than large groups. Empathy programmer, he’s heard it called, someone’s job now.”

This makes the future we are presented with prescient in the same way Neuromancer did with the advent of the Internet and the rise of technology in the ’90s. But where technophobia is firmly rooted in first wave cyberpunk. Last Tango in Cyberspace is making a virtue of humanities peculiarities, some of which we barely grasp. While the Internet is not something we may understand, so too are we learning the same of our own minds. Empathy, after all, is not something we gained from modernity.

“Rilke knew what was up. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will gradually, without noticing it, one distant day, live right into the answer. What’s truer than that?”

And empathy seems to be the thing we desperately need right now, rather than the consensual hallucination that allows us to connect to others while, at the same time, enabling us to dehumanize each other.

“Last tango in cyberspace…the end of something radically new. Copy that.”

“Pitch black again. Like someone extinguished an angel.”

Another disappointment for me. I struggled through this. It was a disjointed, fragmented turbulent read. I found myself more confused than anything else.

I really liked this one! (How's that for an honest opening?) It pulled me in right away and I read the whole thing as fast as I could, pausing only for things like work and sleep. It's not great literature but it's a fun, meaningful story about empathy, where it comes from, and how to spread it. Lots of reference to Philip K. Dick, of course, with an implied nod to DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP despite all the overt references being to BLADE RUNNER. And what to make of a book where the Tyrell Corporation is real and BLADE RUNNER is a movie? And Voigt-Kampf is real but is from the movie?

If you like your stories packed with references, we also have lots of APOCALYPSE NOW as well as lesser-knowns like the German author Rilke. And, of course, the reference in the title, which I still don't understand despite it being pointed out in the text.

Anyway, it's a great read that I wish there was a 4.5 for. I'm following the author on Amazon now and I downloaded a sample of his only other fiction. It's not SF but that's OK.

DNF at 20%
This book is not my jam.
I do read some science fiction a la James A. Corey, Sylvain Neuvel and I've read Altered Carbon as well, but this book is confusing and for me it feels very impersonal. The dialogue feels very abrupt and it doesn't read very fluidly. I didn't care for any of the characters or the story itself and can't get into the writing style.

Maybe this book is for you, if you like hard Sci-Fi. It just wasn't right for me.