Steve ToutonghiCritiques

Weird, interesting but unfortunately ultimately unfulfilling.

Weird, interesting but unfortunately ultimately unfulfilling.

Interesting universe, good characters, fun and relevant plot.

What initially begins as a pretty interesting thought experiment about small groups of joined minds and experiences under a quantum entanglement surgery quickly becomes a lot more.

Doesn't it sound interesting when it quietly becomes a murder mystery, a philosophical discussion about immortality, including mental illness, meme propagation, obsession, and later, a myopic cautionary tale pitting the Joined against the Solos and eventually even a fascinating evolution of humanity as it reaches for the stars? Yes? :)

And that's just the surface, because we get to know some rather good characters, and plot actions, too. :)

It's an immensely readable near-future hop that gets progressively dystopian while retaining the very interesting core concept as both the center piece and the conflict, both within the other joined and with the rest of the solos in the world.

Honestly, this could have been fine as a novel that had just focused on just the smaller plot actions of the first half, but I feel quite lucky that the author decided to put a lot of extra thought and effort into the whole concept, discovering and exploiting a lot of the more interesting aspects of becoming an effective immortal by constantly changing out the "drives", or the individual people, as they wear out, and taking it much further with nearly crazy meme-sets caused by expanded join-sets.

I love SF and Fantasy that show us the rules, and then show us how to break them. This novel certainly gives us a fascinating ride. :)

I want to tell you everything about the story because I can't imagine you'll pass up the book if I do. The problem is that the Spoiler Stasi will come drag me away, never to be seen or heard from again. So here:

“The machines of the mind are more difficult to recognize than machines of iron and steam.”

That's the basic building block of the entire imaginarium Author Toutonghi creates. The story of Vin, a tech startup failure, is predicated on the principle that he will know what machinery is when he sees it. Of course, the story's existence means that there is no way he will.

What's a tech bro to do when he fails to make his wad of cash from creating a new, wild Thing That'll Change The World? Vin decides to house-sit for fabulously rich but vanished Nerdean. Her house is an amazeballs mansion on Queen Anne Hill, the beating heart of Seattle's too-rich too-young $10-coffee-drinking yuppies (as my generation sneeringly called them). Author Toutonghi, a lifelong Seattleite, made me feel the city was a character in short, deft strokes. No long paean to place, this, rather a grounded in particularity poem. I like the latter just as much as the former. My lip-curling snark at the expense of Vin's generational cohort comes with being old and poor, so YMMV as always.

Vin's obsessive nature, in fact the Asperger's he seems never to have had diagnosed, leads him to disassemble the interior of this beautiful piece of architecture. He's searching for the one-name owner, convinced she's invisibly there somewhere although not likely to be either safe or, in fact, necessarily even alive. Vin keeps going, ignoring his only friend and the remnants of his family, not heaving his less and less clean body into sunshine or showers, until he finds what he most wants: Escape.

What are these crèches in the sub-basement hideaway? There are three...why? Can Vin, who recklessly and quite necessarily climbs into one, rely on coming home from wherever it is he's about to go? Hell, who cares, what the guy's leaving behind just ain't that great so off we go! I'd do precisely the same thing. See that weird device that can't be explained in any framework I possess? Notice the craptastic life I've got? Tally-ho! Let's see what happens.

And here is where I got that half-star thump. Author Toutonghi wrote Join, which I gave a good solid review in 2016. I liked that book a great deal as well. I didn't like the major missed opportunity I saw in it, and complained a bit about in my review. That's my issue here: Major missed opportunity again. If someone comes onto the stage I want them to be somehow explained and/or justified. Not necessarily even all that thoroughly, although I'd like that better as a reader, just tied in to the subtle and complex framework of this inner-space novel. Several pieces of the puzzle of Vin's multiveral travels and lives weren't given enough shape to assume real meaning in the story. NOTABLY included here is the cruel tease of introducing the fascinating scientification of the art of cliodynamics, utterly dropped...which means not explicitly tied into the story.

Now, the story itself: It's not a rollicking sci-fi thriller, as the publisher's comparisons to Philip K. Dick and Blake Crouch imply. Instead it's a well-built and deeply affecting interior novel, an exploration of Vin in all his multivarious selves, and in that sense a very French sort of récit. We're always a step away from the action due to the nature of our trip down the rabbit hole with disintegrating Vin. He's lost everything, he's throwing the dregs away with both ungrateful hands, and now he's found an out. Well, well, Vin, how shocking that you'd choose to duck out, so not like a guy like you. *snort*

But that character trait (I damn near typed "flaw" but had a stern talk with myself) makes possible a thoroughly fascinating self-autopsy. Vin's travels through the multiverse are all about working through a dreadfully wasted life, assigning blame and meaning, and all without consequences...except death, insanity, and Armageddon. Y'know, little bagatelles like that.

In the end, we get to this exact moment in identity discovery, this basic building-block of reality:

"But think about this, maybe even though there are infinite versions of you, maybe every single one of them is an asshole."

Hm.½

The concept of this work is fascinating, and there's no doubt that this is what sucks readers in and pushes them forward beyond some of the beginning's confusion--because, really, there is a fair bit of a learning curve involved in jumping into this world and getting comfortable with it, to the extent that one can. But that said, the ideas and the interplay between characters is more than enough of a pay-off for that confusion, and in the end, I have to say I'm really glad to have stumbled onto this book. I think the only disappointment I have here is that the book really started to gain inertia once I got past the confusion and became more comfortable with the things worked and who the characters were, but not long after that, such levels of intrigue got introduced that, once again, it wasn't easy to try to keep track of what was going on--and really, I'm not sure I did at all times. Without doubt, this is one of those books that nearly demands a re-read.

The other caveat here is that a reader has to work a bit to follow everything--ideally, this is probably one of those books that's best read in 2-4 long sittings, rather than a few chapters per day. Though the chapters are often very short, and may give the impression at a glance that this could be read in bits and pieces, I'm not sure a reader has any chance of keeping track of the characters without reading it quickly and in large chunks.

All in all, the concept and promise of this book were well-delivered on, and I'll absolutely be looking to see what else Toutonghi puts out. I have a suspicion that this book could easily have been two books, and been a bit stronger and less confusing, so I'm hoping that his next book will be a bit less rushed. Regardless, I feel sure it will be worth the time. As to whether or not I'll re-read this one, I'm not sure. I'd like to have a firmer feel of the world and the way things played out, but without more connection to the characters, I'm not sure I'll be drawn to. Perhaps if there's a sequel?

For now, I can certainly recommend this to readers who want high-concept sci-fi. It's worth the effort.

A fascinating read, but I must say that the full premise of joining multiple people into one remained the core attraction. The plot never really got a hold on me. Also, keeping track of who is who (if you can even say so) never got natural, I kept having to consciously think back who Chance Five was again.

But the core idea is a huge one and this alone made it definitely worthwhile to read. All of the philosophical implications about life and death, personhood, society, nationhood were thought through very well and I really enjoyed following the author in his explorations.

I won a signed copy in a GOODREADS giveaway -- Ok... this story was very jumbled as it kept jumping back & forth between the different lives/drives. I freely admit I got lost several times. I will have to re-read this again later and see how I feel about it a second time around. The story premise was intriguing, it had interesting characters, and lots of mini-plots: some without resolution, like real life, I suppose.

Join has a big intriguing concept and leads you to ponder large philosophical questions. I was thoroughly drawn in and found Join very hard to put down.

TIP: If you have trouble tracking the many characters, keep going! It became much easier quickly. Or, make a list.

Join is superbly intelligent in its construction. For example, pay attention to what’s happening when the author uses the Join name (e.g. Chance) vs. the drive name (e.g. Chance One, Chance Five, etc.) I don’t believe there were any wasted words or meaningless elements to the story. I believe I will get even more out of it when I reread it – perhaps in a few months.

I want more! Whether a sequel, a prequel, or even a series of short stories exploring the big questions, the different characters and Joins, and the interactions between factions. So much already explored, and still so much more potential.½

Quirky and thought-provoking, with a darkly humorous streak.

(Full disclosure: I received a free ebook for review though Edelweiss. Trigger warning for offensive language.)

"That kind of intimacy among drives is mocked by solos. Before most solo resentment hardened into religious resistance, there was a famous sketch comedy show, Howard, Howard, Howard, Howard, Howard, Howard, and Howard, that parodied the closeness. The seven Howards would stand in a circle, five men and two women, picking one another’s noses."

“'In the beginning,' Rope Three says, 'when Join was first introduced, and for a long time after, I assumed we’d all join. That we’d all become one single individual. Can you imagine that? No more other.'"

Set in a distant (?) future that's both inconceivable and all-too-familiar, Join takes the "soul mate" concept to the next level through its innovative "join" technology. Individuals - the vast majority of whom have already had their brains hacked into and connected to the biowave network via implants called "caddys" - can choose to join with one another, creating a single consciousness that lives on even after the death of a member ("drive"). Joins often start out as pairs - i.e., married couples - who later join with younger "honeymooner" couples. As the various drives work and save for additional licensing fees, the join can continue to accumulate more drives, whether they choose to merge with existing joins or court more desirable "solos."

However, twenty is the upper limit for joins; after this, the competing perspectives can cause disorders in the join, such as the rare but terrifying meme virus. Likewise, the join must be consensual throughout the procedure and recovery/integration period; if one of or more the drives changes her mind, it could cause a "flip" - a progressive and fatal disorder.

Chance is a join with five drives - the newest of which has just been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Though Javier Quispe will survive the death of his body - thanks to his join with Chance - as a recent solo, the prospect still scares him. Meanwhile, Chance's best friend Leap is exhibiting alarming symptoms: mainly, violent tics of which she seems unaware and vehemently denies after the fact. Given that Chance Two and Leap Two pilot long-haul freighter ships together, this breakdown is no small concern.

Chance and Leap's fates become inexorably intertwined after a chance (haha!) meeting with Rope, a mysterious and sullen join who seems to have more drives than allowed by the Directorate. Drives that he murders, one by one. Yet Rope might just know of a cure for Leap. The pair's journey to find it will take them far away from their home in New Denver, to an underground society of "ferals" in Arcadia.

Join is an imaginative and unusual book, with a deliciously morbid sense of humor; it falls smack dab in my wheelhouse (scifi) but still feels fresh and new. While Chance is the MC, the join technology is really the star; its many implications and possibilities are enough to keep your head spinning for days: What happens when parents join with their children? Can a single consciousness safely house both a victim and her abuser? Does Join devalue human life by rendering individuals expendable? Wouldn't Join just exacerbate inequality and poverty by allowing the rich and powerful to join with each other, thus concentrating their resources? How might the justice system penalize joins who break the law? What impact might this have on our planet, when those in power view everything as temporary and transcendent?

Because of this, I would've preferred that Toutonghi focused primarily on the tech and its personal ramifications for Chance and (especially) Leap, rather than launching into a more macro conspiracy plot involving the sinister Directorate (formed by a join of sorts between the US government and Vitalcorp, the company behind Join). Consequently, it sometimes feels as though the story's all over the place.

It's clear that Toutonghi is trying to make some Larger Points - about the nature of the self, the malleability of identity, and the necessity of mortality - but he often falls just short of the mark. He doesn't do himself any favors by writing in the present tense, and his tone sometimes feels a little cold and clinical (maybe it's all the tangents). Also, the naming scheme can make it terribly difficult to keep the myriad characters straight.

Even so, Join is still a page-turner that I'm likely to be thinking about for days and weeks to come. 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 stars where necessary.

http://www.easyvegan.info/2016/04/18/join-by-steve-toutonghi/½