Don’t you hate the “As You Know” trope? They are always so clunky, those paragraphs about …​insert sci-fi-y tech name here…​, they feel like quotes from some bad textbooks. I know I hate them, so I can’t join the other reviewers in the whole “you don’t understand what’s going on for 50% of the book” rant.

“The Quantum Thief” is clever, but not too clever, so there’s no point in being afraid of it. As it happens with all references, you’ll enjoy the book much more if you get them (and in this case, the references are from cryptography, for example), but you won’t die if you don’t get every single one.

The book rushes you through countless action scenes, peppering them with interludes and pieces of ideas. It would be silly to expect deep characters here, and there indeed aren’t any, but that’s fine.

I’d say this book is a good entertainment for a few hours and it leaves you with a little something to think about or discuss.

★★★☆☆

(336 pages, ISBN: 0575088877, Worldcat, Open Library)