Infoquake tells the tale of an interesting future. Edelman does a good job of providing a futuristic book that’s heavy on the intrigue and relies heavily on corporate rivalries and political maneuvering for its conflict. That’s cool (low key subtle conflict is hard), but it also feels like warmup. That’s reinforced by the fact that this is book one of a trilogy… but it reads like this is the first third of one large book, without a decisive conclusion at the book’s end.
The novel’s protagonist is Natch, a guy I wouldn’t want to have drinks with. He’s a ruthless, somewhat shallow souled leader of a feifcorp. The secondary characters are good; Jara’s particularly complex, while Horvil is a pretty stock background, self-effacing engineer. The minor characters are typically solid, with enough depth for their role. Several are cloaked in mystery, which helps keep them intriguing.
The worldbuilding is excellent and feels like a valid future; it suffered disasters and has twitches as a result. Government is a quirky evolution from today’s– I suspect the second novel with deal with those interactions more closely. The technology is far enough ahead (and the path twisted enough) that I accepted it with the handwaving the author had done.