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I just finished this up last night and I quite enjoyed it. Thought it was more of a detective novel with some sci-fi thrown in than a sci-fi novel. That being said I quite enjoyed it, as a software engineer I found the bugs/exploited loopholes to be quite interesting.

Though it did utilize one of my least favorite writing tropes (I guess you would call it), when the author comes up with a "clever" solution and they tell everyone except the reader. To me it just seems like the author is coming out with "hey, look how clever I am," it doesn't really build any suspense for me when this is done.

Roger wrote: "Though it did utilize one of my least favorite writing tropes (I guess you would call it), when the author comes up with a "clever" solution and they tell everyone except the reader. To me it just seems like the author is coming out with "hey, look how clever I am," it doesn't really build any suspense for me when this is done. "

Yeah... that's usually considered bad writing. I'm still excited to read this, though (haven't started but will soon!).

Loved it! I actually read the book in less than 24 hours because I just couldn't put it down. The whole premise of integrator's and people that are locked in I found, on one hand, very clever, on the other very scary.

The characters of Vann and Shane reminded me very much of John and Dorian from Almost Human. Anyone else get that?

The question that I got from this book that fascinates me is: if you could be, would you become an integrator?

I don't think I could be. On one hand I would love to know that I could help someone that was locked in have a day in a human body with all the normal senses that a person has. On the other I don't think I could just be a passenger in my own body, even with an override. I think I would freak out and not be able to do it.

Lel wrote: "Loved it! I actually read the book in less than 24 hours because I just couldn't put it down. The whole premise of integrator's and people that are locked in I found, on one hand, very clever, on ..."

I'm only about a third of the way through, but Vann and Shane immediately reminded me of John and Dorian! I'm glad I'm not the only one. I loved that show, so Lock In is pretty enjoyable so far for me.

I've read this in October 2014.

There is a kind of prequel describing the time around Haden's syndrome, freely available: Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome (I didn't read that one, though).

In general, I liked the book, but didn't think it was awesome. A typical popcorn Scalzi: Very light and easy read, bringing you right into the characters, world, and action, but missing a bit deeper substance.
A good thing is that it isn't too long: I've got the Tor hardcover edition with 334 pages in a quite large font and generous spacing. In addition, it has 25 chapters ending with a page break each. A denser typesetting would bring it down to some 230 pages or so.

I loved the excursion to Navajo Indians and references to . It is always good to be remembered that you don't need computer algorithms like RSA or some other fancy algorithm to encrypt a message if you just have a couple of native indian friends.

SPOILERS BELOW
Here are two catches that I seem to have missed the first half of the book.
1. Chris Shane's gender isn't revealed. I always thought that this first person narrator is male and wondered why he would be paired with a female agent - but then I didn't care because I don't nothing about U.S. FBI practices.
I digged a bit deeper on that topic and found and about it.

2. Similar for Chris' race: Shane's father is black which is revealed on page 247 with "the image of a really big angry black man...". I probably could have guessed it with his background as a famous basketball star. But then again there is Dirk Nowitzki, right?
His mother's race on the other hand isn't clearly defined, only hinted at - old Virginian family with ties as runners for the Confederacy seems to imply white. I know there is an exception to everything but it would make a nice confusion regarding Chris :)

I really enjoyed this book. I think it may be my best read of the year so far. I loved the detail of the world building. Scalzi covered everything very well, the politics, law enforcement, medical, and technical sectors were all covered really well.

I disagree about not revealing the plot to the reader as bad writing. You might not like it, but it's a valid device.

But I thought this was a fantastic book overall.

Wayland wrote: "I really enjoyed this book. I think it may be my best read of the year so far. I loved the detail of the world building. Scalzi covered everything very well, the politics, law enforcement, medical,..."

it may be a valid plot device but I can't stand it, it really turns me off of a book

Think about it the other way, though. Would you want to see a scene where the characters lay out their plan, and then you see them do what they planned? Readers would complain it was boring and repetitive.

I would just like them to do it, not lay out that they have this clever plan and try to add suspense.

I'm about halfway through, and I'm plannning on finishing it tonight. I'm really enjoying it so far; the whole concept of integrators and how important our bodies are (or are not) to our identity is really interesting.

I accidentally stumbled upon the gender identity debate (), and I was mindblown that I'd just assumed Chris was a guy even though there was no gender pronoun or anything to indicate either way. I love that Scalzi had the audiobook narrated by both a man and a woman so readers could make up their minds.