You know? This book _should_ be extremely interesting, but it's not. It's definitely not uninteresting, but it doesn't get to an extreme level for me. My problem with it is that it circles around realism half-heartedly, and for someone like me who knows quite a bit about computers, hackers, etc., it fails to cross over to the extreme entertainment side.
I would've preferred more realistic (and detailed) view on things, with maybe just a little bit of unrealism added to it. Failing that, I wouldn't have minded completely outrageous pseudo-science, either. Being in the middle of nowhere prevents readers like me from really getting into the story. And I'm not just talking about the technical stuff. Do elementary school kids really have such keen sense of world view? Am I just underestimating kids these days? Or are we to assume elementary school kids of the future will actually be that shrewd? I guess maybe that is not impossible for Japan, although highly doubtful. U.S.? Not a chance. The strange part is, I don't see why the characters had to be elementary school kids. I don't think it would have made much difference if they were Jr. High grade level.
Hackers do what they do because they like what they do. No other reason is required, nor desired. It's the most basic requirement for being a hacker. In the book, everyone has different reasons for wanting to be hackers. To me, that is the biggest flaw of this book. To me, none of the characters so far qualify as a hacker. Maybe that's fine and I should just think of them as a bunch of somewhat geeky kids.
Of all the strange things that are happening, the most entertaining part to me is the very simple. And that is the relationship between Daichi and Fumie. It's completely obvious, yet we can't tell where it's headed. Now that's interesting.
Oh, and the author started being more specific on who's currently narrating. It definitely helps, but it feels awkward for the narrator to state their name each time.
