Version Zero

David Yoon

O.R.S.

Max, disillusioned Silicon Valley coder, and his coder friends, Shane and Akiko, try to take down the techno-industrial complex with the help of a rogue internet mogul and learn the unintended consequences of revolution, a la Fight Club. Kind of a mash-up of Cory Doctorow’s pick-your-EFF-favourite and The Circle meets Douglas Coupland and Po Bronson tone–with a tiny bit more hacker-lite feeling. Told through multiple third person perspectives.

How much did you like it overall?

Hacker books are almost always fun for me, so I really enjoyed the opening. The tone too, was easy to digest–a sort of quippy, self-aware, confessional evolved male voice that I associate with Douglas Coupland’s Gen X. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite feel like this was the author’s natural voice (a la Coupland)–rather, as the book went on, the quips came less often, were less keenly depicted, which made it feel like the author trying at bon mots. Once that happens, the illusion sort of falls apart, like an actor trying on an accent, which then makes the whole thing a little more wobbly.

What did you like most?

Max’s blunt internal monologue about race, access, and hierarchy in Silicon Valley were surprising to read in the opening chapters of the book. They felt very real, perhaps things that occurred to the author himself. Also, some of the caricatures of the suits Max encounters–very Silicon Valley, the HBO show, not real at all, but who doesn’t like a few cartoon strawmen to laugh at?

What did you not like about it?

The caricatures wore thin after a while–there were too many familiar beats without surprises–like Max, the loner coder’s affection for his BFF Shane’s gf, Akiko–also, the mustache twirling nature of the bankrolling mogul that Max and his friends pair up with. The plot to frame the other internet moguls also became increasingly predictable–and the denouement felt like Yoon perhaps wasn’t sure where things should go, so it ended with SPOILER ALERT*************** the literal Version Zero reboot of the connected society. Even that wasn’t handled all that well, as the epilogue showed a pretty happy society post-internet collapse, vs. the dystopian hellhole it would probably become.

Any favorite moments?

The opening few chapters where we learn about Max, his thoughts, and the fun of setting up the first hacks were all enjoyable–and if the book could keep up the bluntness and stayed more with the inherent contradictions of all the characters, made them more than caricatures, I think this could’ve gone a much more interesting way.

Where do I put it on The Shelf?

Bottom – it’s fun, the opening had such great promise–but it just didn’t hold together.

Any closing thoughts?

Very much hope that Yoon writes more–and that he trusts his voice and pushes harder and further in confronting some of these entrenched issues and let the characters go.

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