Echopraxia

I think I'm going to have to read this one again to get the most out of it, just like its predecessor, Blindsight. Definitely worth a read if you're interested in philosophy of mind or neurobiology (and you enjoy your science sometimes turned into fiction).

Two comments, from the first read:
1. Like some other books I love, I wish the author would actually tease out fewer concepts in more depth. This thing has vampires and zombies, god-as-a-virus, mind-control from light-years away, various kinds of hacked brains/consciousness(es), and more–any of which could have been the kernel of a great book.

2. I hope Watts has read Daniel Dennett's “Elbow Room: The Varieties of Free Will Worth Wanting”, because it contains myriad answers to some of the questions he raises regarding free will (especially those in the back matter).

I loved Blindsight so much I think of it as a top 3 scifi favorite ever for me and even wrote the author to say how much I loved it (he answered, is a great guy and with a great sense of humor, so military I am surprised he is not one of us, the military). I compared it in its review somewhat to Reynolds, but said Watts was better by being focused.
Well, in this one he goes full Reynolds,meaning a lot of extremely imaginative hard sf background, carried forward by a creaking, overburdened narrative chassis. It starts great and then just stalls for half the book. When it picks up again, I was already bored and not invested in the story any more.
So. Probably a 5/5 for hard scifi fans, and for engineers. More of a 3/5 for those looking for a more intense and mission-focused story, like myself.
PS. It is not Blindsight 2. It happens in parallel. Good to know, because to many that came as a disappointing surprise.

Some truly provocative ideas about consciousness, identity and the future. The execution however was lacking and could not possibly compare to the intellectual masterpiece that was [b: Blindsight 48484 Blindsight (Firefall, #1) Peter Watts https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386924412s/48484.jpg 47428] . At times it felt like I was reading a work of fan fiction of the first book, however it was still worth it.Now I'm off to drown my existential dread with alcohol.