There is a lot about this book that is cool. It is cool that the protagonist/narrator is a powerful young, woman of color (see note * below). And it is cool that her powers are attributed to her mathematical ability. And, I suppose it is cool that it is never quite clear if our "heroes" are ethically superior to the "bad guys" they are fighting (although that is such a common theme in superhero fiction these days that it is becoming an annoying cliche).

That's probably why it has received praise from authors whose works appear on this site such as Ken Liu who said "The smartest and thrillingest book you'll read all year" and Yoon Ha Lee who said "Intense, vivid, and insanely clever, with a great heroine - I couldn't put it down. If only more authors with math degrees used them like this!"

I also enjoyed reading the book, but I'm afraid I cannot be quite so positive about it. To me, the conclusion of a novel is very important and this one was unsatisfying (as if often the case when the authors care more about setting up a sequel than they do about wrapping up any of the loose threads they created). But, that is not my main complaint.

My main complaint about the book is that mathematical terminology is tossed around without any explanation or even very much thought. Of course, it is plausible that someone good at math could figure out the best way to punch someone or quickly decipher computer code, but we're not given any details as to how that would work in any of the situations. As a result, it is little more than the sort of "techno-babble" explanation one gets in science fiction where a reference to anti-matter or higher dimensions justifies whatever it is the author wanted to include.

I guess what I'm saying is that the math seemed gratuitous. Perhaps it is nice that an author thought math was interesting enough to be included in a work of fiction in the same way sex and violence sometimes are, and even nicer that a publisher agreed. However, I would have preferred it had the math and violence been used more sparingly but also more deeply. (Perhaps I'm misremembering, but I don't think there was any sex in the book. Is that right?)

BTW Despite the title of the book, there really isn't any game theory in it. The only place that "zero sum games" come up in the book is when one of her partners suggests that their battle against Pithica is a zero sum game, a claim that Cas quickly rejects.

Thanks to Allan Goldberg for bringing this book to my attention.