Daemon by Daniel Suarez
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Book Reviews of Daemon
Book Review: Great vision of the future from the perspective of MMORPGs and networks
Summary: 5 Stars
Years ago, I remember thinking about Multi User Dungeons (MUDs) and how much they affected people in the real world. I knew people who were obsessed with MUDs, the first Multi-User Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs). I was obsessed. (I think the first time I ever appeared in Wired was in 1993 when Howard Rheingold with Kevin Kelly wrote about MUDs and mentioned my obsession.) In MUDs, people got married, people got divorced, people lost their jobs, people shared ideas... The MUDs I played touched the real world through all of the people in the game.
Unlike the World of Warcraft and more like Second Life, MUDs allowed players to create rooms, monsters and objects. When you entered a MUD, it was like entering the collective intelligence of all of the people who played the game. There were quests that were designed by people using their knowledge of Real Life(tm). Playing in their worlds was like walking through their brains. These worlds merged and collided as people from everywhere collaborated in creating MUDs of various themes with various objectives.
At some point in the evolution of MMORPGs, MUDs forked and we ended up with most of the people who liked creating objects and worlds in places like Second Life where, while you CAN make games, most of what happens is world creation. The "gamers" ended up in games like World of Warcraft where the game play aspect has been honed to a fine art, but the player content creation aspect has been completely lost. (Although most of the developers are former obsessive players.)
What I envisioned back when I was playing and hacking MUDs more was that if you turned the world a bit inside out and imagined that YOU were the MUD, the people who played your game were like little pawns or interfaces for you in the real world. They inputted content and created worlds and taught you about the real world. They promoted you to their friends. They played obsessively increasing experience points and commitment to the game so that they would forever feed you and keep you alive. They would set up servers and pay for hosting just to feed their obsession and protect their investment. If you became extremely popular, a group of your players would spawn a new MUD with your DNA-code and there would be another one of you.
The hardcore players would hack your open source code and keep you evolving. The Wizards would educate and add character to each instance of your code. The players would be your footprint in Real Life(tm).
When most of the gamers moved to corporation owned closed source games designed by a team of developers, I stopped having this dream. The games were no longer "alive" in the same way I had envisioned them evolving.
After reading DAEMON, this dream is back. Leinad Zeraus depicts a world where a collosall computer daemon designed by a genius MMO designer begins to take over the world after his death. In many ways, the vision is similar to the vision I had, but the author adds a macabre twist and many many more orders of scale to make this one of the most inspiring books I've read in a long time. The author is "an independent systems consultant to Fortune 100 companies. He has designed enterprise software for the defense, finance and entertainment industries." He uses his experience to make the book extremely believable and realistic and still mind-blowing.
It was super fun to read and is a book I'd recommend to any who loves the Net and gaming. I'd also recommend it to anyone who doesn't. It's a great book to learn about the importance of understanding all of this - before it's too late.
Book Review: The future cometh
Summary: 5 Stars
The future cometh
Daniel Suarez first novel is a blockbuster. 5+ stars. I heard Mr. Suarez on a "talking heads" pundit, cable TV show and was extremely impressed with his intellect and knowledge of the future of cyberspace. He painted a rather frightening picture of the future as it pertains to computers and cyber terror. As a computer layman I was impressed enough with Mr. Suarez that I immediately obtained his book to investigate his views. I was amazed and duly impressed with not only his insights but also his fluid, crisp, tight writing style. As a computer layman, I was a little worried that this would be one of those "for geeks only" books, but again I was pleasantly surprised at how Mr. Suarez wrote in an easy to understand style that even someone like me could understand. He explained techno computerese so that it all made sense and flowed in a very logical and meaningful way. Good job Mr. Suarez.
The story line is interesting and intricate. It involves the world of computers and how they can be "harvested" for both good and evil. There is an amazing cast of characters which adds depth to the story without encumbering it. The plot centers on a legendary computer game designer, Matthew Sobol, whose premature death activates a previously dormant computer program that initiates a chain of events that unravels the hyper-efficient, interconnected computer world of today. "Things" begin to happen and soon factions are drawn up on both the "good" and "evil" side of the battle. The only trouble is what is good and what is evil? That in many ways is left up to the reader. And that makes the story all that more delicious. I was enthralled with Daemon and could not put the book down. Although intricate and complex, it is an amazing tale of what could be, and how that "could be" could happen. Again it is not a geek computer story but a well done throughout tale of futurism involving computers. It is not sci-fi but reality with a twist.
Character development was superb and meaningful. Each character grew into their own skin as Mr. Suarez took them from introduction to full blown maturity. Excellent in-depth character development.
No gratuitous sex or language. There is some cyber violence but it is germane to the story and not overly done.
Must read. One of the best books so far in 2009. It appears Mr. Suarez's follow-up novel Freedom (estimated out in 2010) will be a continuation of this story. The ending of Daemon certainly points in that direction. I certainly hope so, for if that novel is as good as this one we are in for a literary tour de force treat.
Book Review: stunningly creative
Summary: 5 Stars
You don't have to be a computer geek to enjoy this book--but it certainly helps if you're familiar with some of the jargon. So if you know some of the terms such as (you can find them on Wikipedia) SNMP, VOIP, IP, DNS, DHCP,TCP, etc, it will help. Knowing a bit about worms, trojans, viruses, bots, distributed systems, and ports also helps. I teach computer science at a large state university, but I'm too old to be a geek. The first thing to know is what a "daemon" (not "demon") is. To be confusing, the term tends to be associated with UNIX/LINUX, whereas Microsoft Windows likes the term TSR (terminate and Stay Resident). The classic daemon is a background process that basically hibernates and waits to be called. SMPT (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), for example, is linked to TCP port 25, FTP (File Transfer Protocol)is linked to TCP ports 20 and 21, SSH to port 22, etc. On your PC, you can download TCPView, which tracks Internet connections, and control-alt-delete will show you active processes/daemons/etc.
The book starts with the death of a brilliant (220 IQ) young gaming software tycoon from brain cancer. Matthew Sobol has left quite a legacy: hibernating daemons on huge numbers of computers throughout the world. Some of these are doing things like scanning cnn.com for news of Sobol's death, and when they find this news, they fully wake up and trigger series of actions--such as waking hidden daemons on other computers. Sobol was also the master at creating MMORPGs--massively multiplayer online roleplaying games, and his games feature some of the most sophisticated AI (artificial intelligence) ever. So Sobol has left behind powerful AI tools. There are ways to kill people, generate computer phone messages (VOIP), take over companies, and more. This isn't science fiction: there have been viruses, for example, that were quiescent until a certain date--such as Valentine's Day, when they could trash your hard drive. The level of sophistication is, thankfully, way beyond what most people might be capable of.
The story centers on a number of people after Sobol's death: Peter Sebeck, a California detective, Jon Ross, an enigmatic software specialist, Dr Natalie Philips with NSA, and "bad" guys recruited by Sobol's AI after his death. The FBI, CIA, NSA, DoD, and other government agencies get involved. You'll get tours of MMORPGs, hacking, backdoors, distributed systems, denial-of-service attacks: there's a lot here. The writing is solid, it's not a cyberpunk book for geeks, and it's fast-paced. And, by and large, feasible--that's perhaps the scariest part. Thoroughly entertaining!
Book Review: Chilling Look at a Possible Future
Summary: 5 Stars
I finished this book, which was recommended to me, a little while ago, and I have a feeling it will be with me for days, or weeks, as I continue to replay the story in my mind.
Daniel Suarez' novel, Daemon, opens with an obituary (several key words and phrases are highlighted) and launches into a murder investigation. A key developer at CyberStorm Entertainment, the company that created two of the most popular games on the internet, has been found dead. That death is followed quickly by another, where an important employee of CyberStorm is electrocuted in spectacular fashion. Detective Sebeck, with the assistance of Jon Ross, a computer security expert, determines that the killer used the internet for both of the deaths. But the trail keeps pointing to a dead man, Matthew Sobol, whose obituary starts the novel, as the one responsible. Could he have created a daemon, a computer program that lies dormant until a specified condition occurs, that is now active on the internet? Further, what is the purpose of the daemon? Detective Sebeck's beliefs are tested, as he is not a gamer nor very technical, while he investigates and attempts to stop the daemon before there are serious global implications.
Suarez has written a thrilling and technically accurate novel that will appeal to people inside and outside of computer circles. If you are a fan of MMORPG, then there is a lot in this book that will interest you. Be patient as you read, as the first several chapters setup the characters and you will be introduced to quite a few. But then the story really picks up the pace, the characters become more familiar, and the story pulls you in. If you are worried that you won't understand the computer jargon, Detective Sebeck is in the same boat and the characters will explain the technical aspects to both Sebeck and you. This technique really adds to the book, as you realize that even veteran computer professionals aren't versed in all aspects of information technology. Daemon is Suarez' first novel, but it doesn't feel that way. Fast paced action, excellent premise, well developed characters, and believable dialog add up to an exceptional read. This is an excellent debut, one that deserves your time and attention. He weaves a tale that is based on fact, and may even motivate you to double check your wireless access points and the security on your workstations, While 2009 is only a month old, this book has made my list of Best Books for the year.
Book Review: Daemon
Summary: 5 Stars
DAEMON BY DANIEL SUAREZ: Daniel Suarez has designed and developed enterprise software for the defense, finance, and entertainment industries, as well as being an independent systems consultant; he's also an avid gamer. So it's no surprise that in Daemon he has created a world and plot that involves all these facets, resulting in a fast-paced, riveting, exciting novel that is a combination of classic Michael Crichton and The Matrix.
Daemon begins with Matthew Sobol, a renowned computer programmer and video game designer, dead from cancer. It is upon his death, when the obituary is posted online, that the dormant daemon is unleashed upon the world. In this world - just like our own - everything is automated and computerized: banking, transportation, defense, government, patient records; there are few things remaining "off the grid." The daemon works fast and incredibly efficient, beginning a systematic takedown of technology and world systems, causing deaths and the collapse of companies, and a financial meltdown that is scarily similar to the current economic climate.
It's up to Detective Sebeck and computer genius Jon Ross to try and stop the daemon somehow from destroying everything. Then there is The Grid, the Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game - in the style of World of Warcraft and Lord of the Rings Online - created by Sobol, where the daemon secretly begins recruiting the disaffected but brilliant youth who play the game as part of its efforts to bring down technology and society.
Whether you're a gamer, a computer person, a network specialist, an Internet aficionado, or just someone who likes books about technology and possibly the end of the civilized world, Daemon is the book for you. Expertly written by Daniel Suarez, who knows exactly what he's talking about, Daemon is a book that will have you on the edge of your seat from page one to the very end, and waiting for the sequel, Freedom, due out in 2010.