In this sequel to Daemon, Suarez continues where the last one left off. Matthew Sobol’s darknet has taken off with the populous . The darknet is a virtual plane only visible through sunglass Heads up Displays or HUDS. People are building sustainable communities in the darknet and those who are a switched on are basically rebuilding life. At the end of Daemon we had the character of Loki Stormbringer, a miscreant in real life, who becomes very powerful in the darknet who can summon automated attack vehicles and razorbacks (autonomous motorcycles with sharp rotating swords to dismember enemies) in order to defend the darknet. He is in an all out war with the Major, who is against the darknet, who commandeers a corporatized army to take out the daemon and the darknet with it. He can spin the news saying that armed gangs are killing everybody in the Midwest United States when really it is his army that is taking out the darknet one faction and one city at a time. While Loki represents pure evil and has a low reputation score on the darknet side to prove it, The Major represents evil on the civilian or non-connected world side of things.

Working to set things right are the heros of the story, Pete Sebeck (AKA The Unnamed One which is his computer world call out)and Laney (Chunky Monkey), his partner in the darknet are on a quest initiated by the avatar of Matthew Sobol to find the Cloud Gate. Not only does Sebeck have to go on this quest, he also undergoes a character arc from being very resistant to Sobol and the darknet to actually embracing it as a good thing. Another good guy in this story is Jon Ross (AKA Rahk) who wants to bring down Loki and The Major and make the darknet a community everyone can live and work in. He is still in love with Dr. Natalie Phillips who refuses to join the darknet but works for the National Security Agency trying to end the Daemon.

One of the other interesting side plots in this story is the character of Hank Fossen. He is a farmer in Greeley, Iowa. While out on his tractor he sees some black SUVs on his land. All the farmers in the area have been planting genetically altered corn from this company. Apparently this company wants to take his land and he’s not having it. They are going to sue him for this land he’s on. Meanwhile Hank’s daughter has joined the darknet and though the power of the Daemon manage to get this suit dropped. The daughter gets Hank to join the darknet and teaches him how using this virtual infrastructure he can change his land into farming food that is organic and edible. It’s an interesting commentary on the corporatization of farming and making it difficult for the small farmer to survive growing seed that is not owned by some company or is genetically altered.

I believe I said this in the Daemon review, but if you like computers, video games or technology in general and how it is changing or affecting society you will get a big kick out of these books. They are very fun to read and are real page turners as well. I also heard that Suarez may be releasing a new book in this series called Darknet which I can’t wait to check out.