Idolon: A Novel

by Mark Budz

In a world where image is everything, where the past is more real than the present, the rich can reprogram everything—and cast themselves in the starring roles. Everyone else is nothing but an extra. . . .  As part of the supporting cast, Pelayo survives as a test subject for the latest electronic skin and philm technology, which brings past trends and famous people to vivid life on his body. His cousin Marta works at a cinematique offering cheap skincense, image grafts, and nanimatronics. That’s where she meets Nadice, an indentured worker smuggling illegal ware to escape an exclusive resort specializing in kitschy environs. But Nadice is hiding something far more a forbidden pregnancy she can’t explain but is determined to protect. When Marta tries to help, both women disappear. While Pelayo searches for his cousin, homicide detective Kasuo van Dijk investigates a mysterious death that may involve a new kind of e-skin–mass-mediated ware that will lead him to Marta, Nadice, her employer—and a diabolical plan to deliver humanity kicking and screaming into a frightening new age of information. . . .

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

464 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 25, 2006

Reviews

[Lori · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is strange. While well written it is not well plotted. It outright tells the reader the themes within the first few chapters, rendering much of the descriptions useless. The plot meanders about, especially toward the end, where it rushes to a conclusion that is both poorly thought out and poorly executed. The themes are interesting (what makes conscious life and how the individual and groups are defined by their looks and actions), but the book barely makes a dent in exploring them. The book has a similar feel to Neuromancer (Gibson) superficially, but it definitely fails to deliver any of Gibson's punch.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a lot of issues with this book. It narrowly missed 1 star only because I try to save that rating for book that I can't even finish. Idolon is based on a future where everyong wears artificial skin (called 'skin) which they use to show any set of features they would like. A person might be dark skinned and tattooed one moment and later be dressed in a suit and tie and appear only in black and white. The story deals with several people who are around the industry of making, selling, testing and counterfitting new skins.

I immediately had troubles suspending my disbelief with the 'skins concept. It didn't help that the author tried to infuse a noir feeling in the first chapter that just never really took, so much so that even he abandon the pretense. The book opens with the mystery of a dead body that becomes almost entirely irrelevant throughout the book. None of the three main protagonists of the story are at all involved in this plit thread. Later in the book things begin to happen with the 'skins that all previous explantions of how the world works don't jive with. The author attempts to explain this away with quantum coupling but does a thoroughly inadequate job of making it a workable idea.

I found myself spending about as much time complaining about the book as reading it. The dialog is annoying and doesn't help the plot progression in most cases. Instead of using the skins to differentiate and explore the population of the new world, he uses it to place the denizens in small boxes that are easy to recognize from a 20 or 21st century perspective.

I can't recommend this book to anyone.

[Xiao · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a cheap hack trying to write like William Gibson. The silly, made up "cyberpunk" lingo detracts even further from the flat, uninspiring characters. Could barely slog through this.

[Poppy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun ride. If you like cyberpunk and appreciate the more inexplicable out-there concepts, you'll like this one. I'm not entirely sure what happened in the end, but I'm happy to have arrived there. Crisp clear prose. A cast of minority, immigrant characters. Lesbians. Murder. Dirty business dealings. Cults. Pregnancy. And sentient hive mind AI. What else could you want?

[Adam Richardson · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a book that had a ton of potential. I thought the world it built was really good and had potentially interesting characters but it burdened it all down with lots of jargon and some weird plot points.

[Shara · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise: ganked from BN.com: In a world where image is everything, where the past is more real than the present, the rich can reprogram everything -- and cast themselves in the starring roles. Everyone else is nothing but an extra....

As part of the supporting cast, Pelayo survives as a test subject for the latest electronic skin and philm technology, which brings past trends and famous people to vivid life on his body. His cousin Marta works at a cinematique offering cheap skincense, image grafts, and nanimatronics. That’s where she meets Nadice, an indentured worker smuggling illegal ware to escape an exclusive resort specializing in kitschy environs. But Nadice is hiding something far more contraband: a forbidden pregnancy she can’t explain but is determined to protect. When Marta tries to help, both women disappear.

While Pelayo searches for his cousin, homicide detective Kasuo van Dijk investigates a mysterious death that may involve a new kind of e-skin -- mass-mediated ware that will lead him to Marta, Nadice, her employer -- and a diabolical plan to deliver humanity kicking and screaming into a frightening new age of information....

My Rating: Worth Reading, with Reservations

I'm glad I finally got around to reading this book and I hope to read more by this author. While there's no doubt that some of the tech explanations went over my head and therefore affected my enjoyment of the book's resolution (as I spent a lot of time scratching my head and going "Wha…?" and then rolling with it), I was fascinated by the story and the characters. I was fascinated to learn what was happening and why and what the implications were for humanity. The book is a murder mystery, an SF thriller, and even a religious commentary, with a strong technological slant. It's fascinating, even if it did occasionally go over my head. Next time I read Budz's work, I'll know to slow down a bit. :)

Spoilers, yay or nay?: Nay. The book is complex enough that even after finishing, I'm not entirely sure I know what happened or why, so it's easy not to spoil this for you. The full review is in my blog, and as always, comments and discussion are most welcome.

REVIEW: Mark Budz's IDOLON

Happy Reading!

[Nicholas Whyte]

http://www.strangehorizons.com/reviews/2007/04/the_2007_philip.shtml[return][return]Our setting is Santa Cruz, California, about a hundred years from now; everyone (at least everyone we meet) has had their skin covered with a nanotechnology gimmick called "philm" which allows its wearer to look like anybody they please. Our viewpoint characters are a detective trying to solve a murder, a man who tests out experimental new philms, his cousin who has got more involved with the seedy side of the philm business than she would like, and an illegal immigrant who appears to have become impregnated by her philm. Appropriately enough for a Dick nominee, the backdrop is very reminiscent of Blade Runner, which is not to accuse Budz of unoriginality: the ideas in here fizz and pop.[return][return]They fizz and pop just enough to help you through the many neologisms (you don't "wear" philm, you "ware" it; anyone fancy a fajizza take-away? - in fairness I found this aspect of the book much less intrusive than the neologisms in Living Next Door to the God of Love or Spin Control), and to distract from the fact that several important questions in the plot are not very satisfactorily resolved - what are the virgin pregnancies all about? What are the mysterious images of fish and dragonflies generated by the expermiental philm meant to be? Is the religious cult of the Transcendental Vibrationists actually meant to be a serious statement about belief (as Budz has hinted in interviews) or just a front for unscrupulous philm developers (as it seemed to me reading the book)? And while the characters were all credible and believable, I didn't find any of them truly engaging. I finished Idolon feeling that it was a very good book, but not quite a great one.

[Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Weird. I honestly can say I have no idea what happened at the end.

When I was talking about it w/ my mom (who read it before me), she mentioned that it was kinda like a Philip K. Dick book. I can kind of see that, in the entire breakdown of reality trip that happened at the end which occurs in almost every PKD book I've read. But it was a little more technical than PKD, where he's more philosophic, and keeping up with the tech jargon was often challenging, being a scifi reader but not a science person.

I liked the character Kasuo Van Dijk, b/c he had an almost film noir feel to him, and I LOVE film noir and the detective story. However, there wasn't enough of that, in my opinion. And Nadice and Marta just annoyed me for no real reason.

[Tara · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was so good that I forgot what it was even about. Oh. Yeah. Really interesting technology and cultural impact, not interesting enough plot. I think it started off well and then just got really weird without much support. But I did love the technology and limited science in it. I'd only read if you really like post-cyberpunk fiction.

[Norman Howe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting concept: using nanotechnology for cosmetic and decorative purposes. Naturally"," someone will try to use it for more sinister ends"," which happens here. The Deus ex machina saves the day.

[Michael Schulz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than his other two, but still a hard book to read.