Maker Space (Rachel Peng Book 2)

There are at least twice as many edit errors and typos in this book as in the first one, which was not error-free. I miss the days of careful editing.I see other reviewers were unimpressed with the plot. It kind of worked for me, but that's because I often miss a point or two. I assume it's me. Apparently this time it's the plot. But that matters less to me because I like the characters, and the underlying theme of yes people are stupid but also people are good. That matches my observations over six decades of life on Earth (I was not all that observant before I turned 5): as a whole, human behavior has trended toward better, despite major setbacks.Maker Space did its job; I'll read the next in the series.

Maker Space picks up pretty quickly in the universe of `A Girl and Her Fed' as well as Digital Divide. Digital Divide is the first of Spangler's books in the series and takes care of the majority of world building necessary to understand the intricacies of her universe. Allow me to sum up:Essentially the United States Government decided to input chips in to people's heads that allowed them to interact with machines. ANY machine that uses electronic processing -from cell phones to power stations to laptops - can interact with this chip. It's an amazing piece of technology and the Government wanted to use it as a sort of secret weapon. Instead the users who didn't go insane banded together and outed the effort forming OACET - the Office of Adaptive and Complementary Enhancement Technologies - without asking permission. Things go steadily interesting from there.Rachel Peng is one of these OACET agents and she seems to get stuck with all of the `fun' jobs. This time she is investigating a bombing that occurred in our nation's capitol - an investigation that seems to be pointing at our own military as being responsible. Throughout the book we follow Rachel's investigation as well as her thoughts and interactions with the community. Spangler does an excellent job of conveying the different personalities and interactions that people have with their `new' cyborg brethren.The novel is an interesting one and Peng is an interesting protagonist. While Digital Divide offered an interesting premise, I would argue that many of the characters involved, including Peng herself, were a bit on the flat side and, occasionally, repetitive. This has been fixed tremendously in Maker Space. Now that Spangler has established the universe, she gets to play with the characters and their morals.That play is where the majority of the novel takes place. Yes, it's a procedural story, but the characters and their interactions are at the heart of it and those interactions are fascinating. You have Peng as our filter to see the world through and the irony of her being blind is not lost on the reader. We're only seeing what she can see, and what she can see is, in many ways, more intimate than what a sighted person can - even though many organizations would not see it that way.We also meet a number of her colleagues in the police department (she's a liason between OACET and the DC police) and Spangler does a good job of differentiating the different officers and agents that Peng interacts with. Of special interest is Peng's partner in the police. He is one of the few people that Rachel has trusted with her secret of being blind and also one of the few that she listens to an has direct admiration for. He's also a maker, a term I haven't heard before but appears to be based on actual spaces spread around the country. That Spangler has found this community and woven it in to the story. It is done with a great deal of respect, but not fawing - a delicate balance for a creator to reach and make feel authentic. Spangler's authenticity comes through quite well. It helps to have a charming person like Santino to experience the community with and through.There are also a number of `extras' that pop in and out throughout the investigation. It's the usual group of suspects, informants, and plot developers and each is interesting in their own ways. They don't get the full on development that Santino and Peng get, but they each have their motives and personalities. They aren't supposed to be as well developed as Santino and Peng, but they can be just as entertaining and interesting as the pair.(A few of the `cameos' from her webcomic are slighted slightly in development, but that makes sense - they are supposed to be cameos and their development is left to Spangler's webcomic.)On the whole, this is an excellent book and is a fascinating read for fans of `A Girl and Her Fed' and an even more exciting read for those that are not. It stands excellently on its own and is a great investigation novel. I enjoyed it tremendously and look forward to the next installment.Writing: 5/5Characterization: 5/5Plot: 4.5/5Flow: 4/5Value: 5/5Total rating: 4.85/5

I bought this series during a trip out to Europe and have been enjoying it quite a bit. The characters are great, the story is fun and it does a fantastic job of presenting the quandaries of a world evolving faster than people can cope with. Like the previous book, I still believe that the flow of the novel would move better if the chapters were segmented a little better. Especially in cases where setting changes, I think these points should be sectioned into new chapters as to help the reader follow the progression. My one issue with the book is I felt it would have benefited by being another fifty to a hundred pages. The end of the book comes on too quickly and I don't think it really gave enough chance to conclude the loose ends well. That said, the end was still great and really gave a feeling of no one really "winning". Considering the context of the piece, this was marvelous.As a person who spent time in Afghanistan, I felt certain sections of the book were extremely well researched. There is a point in the novel where peng recalls taking showers with boots on as to avoid electrical arcs from out of spec buildings thrown together during the soviet occupation. While I never personally experienced this in showers as these instances we often built our own, I did take a jolt on more than enough occasions due to crap wiring. It was little touches like that that are really making me fall in love with spangler's writing style. Probably the kind of person I'd love to have coffee with over a game of chess.Loved the book. Peng becomes more and more interesting with each book. Looking forward to the last one.

Finished Digital Divide, then came straight here. The genre is SF cum Forensics cum Mystery Adventure, all held together by a very personable, engaging set of characters. From an ignorant person's perspective, I was impressed with the apparent level of detail the author knows about the subjects she writes about, military and forensics in particular. The SF element is very believable too. A complex storyline, well written, very enjoyable.

These books make me immensely happy. I can't recommend them enough. They are incredibly clever, always surprising and the universe is so well developed you can absolutely believe in it.

I started reading "A Girl & Her Fed" on a whim one afternoon and couldn't stop, read all through the archives twice over, and now with her second full length novel set in the same universe I couldn't be happier unless I was the proverbial pig! Great characters, love her world building. Really enjoying it. Gutted I missed out on the KS though. Keep up the good work Ms. S.

Whether you are a fan of modern criminal serials or of suspense thrillers this book should be on your "to read" list, an imaginative take on the modern world and its rapidly changing technological and political climates. Incorporating criminal investigations and cunning artificers.

Sequel to digital divide and within the AGAHF universe, this is exactly what you want from a book. So read it. And the first one. And the webcomic.