Head On

This is my favorite of Scalzi's books so far, and I enjoyed it more than Lock In. Head On is sharp, witty, and fast-paced, with a gripping plot and lots of unexpected turns. I laughed out loud often, especially at Chris and Agent Vann's banter. And I am now madly in love with Agent Vann, who is an amazing and abrasive badass at every moment. If she ever changes her mind about living in suburbia, I'm available!

So, we don't know Chris's gender, which I love, but I also appreciate the fact that gender seems incidental in this world. The only differences between people that are important are wealth and Haden status. There's very little traditionally gendered behavior at all; pretty much any of the characters could be any gender. This is slightly relevant to the plot, in that one Haden character's perception of his own gender probably contributed to his marital problems.

There's a decent amount of character exploration - not a lot, but more than I expect from a plot-driven book. I feel like I know all the characters better than I did at the end of Lock In, especially Chris, Vann, and Chris's flatmates. We also see several characters' personal spaces within the Agora, and how those spaces influence Chris's perceptions of social class, which is interesting.

The mystery is very good. It's a fairly cynical vision of human nature, in that there's quite a lot of murder and exploitation for profit going on, but the actual heroes are definitely ethical themselves. I might not have enjoyed it as much a couple of years ago, but recent political events have made me somewhat more cynical than I used to be.

Overall, I recommend these two books highly, and I hope that there will be more books in this series. I wish the book were twice as long; the story was completely wrapped up, but I didn't want my time in this world and with these characters to come to an end.