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My pre-ordering and reading "Neuropath" was a result of my following the hype behind it on a few book blogs and deciding to jump on early. Ever since I worked at a used bookstore (back in high school: it was my dream job at the time), I've tried to keep up with new books and new authors. Book blogs such as Fantasy Book Critic are, of course, great for this kind of thing, and once I started reading them I was hooked. It was only a matter of time before some of the mania that precedes some releases infected me.

I mention this because all of the lead-up to this book's release raised my expectations way up there--which, in turn, contributed to my less than favorable reaction to the actual story herein. You see, I went into this expecting it to mess with my head, to disturb my sense of human boundaries and capabilities--to just really fuck with me, like some bloggers said it did to them. I also looked forward to excellent prose and deep ideas, as these are both hallmarks of R. Scott Bakker's work in his fantasy repertoire ("The Prince of Nothing", etc).

This book did not rock my world; Bakker's prose did not impress me. The gadgets and tech that Bakker posits are neat, but his take on them comes across as alarmist. "They are going to read your mind, man!" The nature of this subject is sinister enough without laying it on thick. The mastermind super-villain that drives the story is your usual mix of know-how and loony, and the fact that I can't remember anything specific about his character suggests that there isn't enough there worth remembering. If someone promises a really dark and disturbing villain who has depth, then I am expecting someone like Gerald Tarrant, or Raistlin Majere, or the creepy it-girl from "Battle Royale" (the amazing book, not the silly film adaptation); in other words, there are some rich characters in my reading history, and a new one has to step it up to stand out.

I'm taking Goodread's rating scale literally and giving this the "it was ok," because that's how I felt about "Neuropath" while reading it and upon putting it down. With lower-to-no expectations, I might have enjoyed the book more. Such are the consequences of tapping in to hype.