In terms of its stylistic innovations, Zed is a tour de force ... works on the level of syntax, as language, grammar and meaning are compromised by the machines and their human controllers. [Kavenna] creates almost a poetics of tautology ... a nuanced, metatextual novel; an investigation into the erasure of language and agency in which the numerous literary reference ... There is a Dickensian quality to it ... There is a giddying quality to the prose, as the reader is steered through a maze of reproductions, seeking the unique ... a novel that takes our strange, hall-of-mirrors times very seriously indeed. It is a work of delirious genius.
Kavenna deserves high praise for originality as well as the energy and humour of her writing. In 367 pages she manages to paint a picture of a world terrifyingly similar to our own and provides a witty and horrifyingly relevant account of just how much technology can control the world if we let it ... provides an interesting and accurate insight into the power and problems of algorithms and asks important questions about how they impact on the value we place on humanity ... Kavenna’s book is full of dark humour and provides refreshingly frank social commentary with a distinctly Orwellian flavour. Clever, funny and incredibly readable.
... absorbing and timely ... There are hilarious moments ... Kavenna’s writing brims with manic energy, using relentless logic to show just how bizarre an algorithm can be. If the book has a fault, it’s that it presents this world as a fait accompli: it’s difficult to imagine that being imprisoned for a crime not yet committed would be met with little resistance. Zed plunges into potential extremes, and reminds us that in all our faults, we cannot be reduced to a series of 1s and 0s. At least, not yet.
... triggers an unsettling buzz inside your brain that lasts long after the last page ... Kavenna cleverly combines dark humor and Pynchonesque storytelling in this insightful, unsettling look at how technology impacts our lives. With philosophical underpinnings (determinism versus free will), she crowds this tale with imaginative real and virtual characters, offering hope against techno-tyranny ... a crazy, convoluted plot that’s riveting and relevant ... Kavenna has skillfully made our present feel like dystopian fiction.
... often humorous descriptions ... Kavenna’s cleverness doesn’t come at the expense of the book’s depth (and I was impressed at her restraint, for example, in managing to avoid the term 'Beetlemania'). Rather, her wit helps ease readers into what becomes a novel of ideas ... Definitive answers are dangerous, ZedRead Full Review >>
... a novel that takes seriously the age-old problem of free will. Not only does Kavenna pause the narrative to describe the difference between free will and determinism, she also dives deep into the theoretical waters of quantum physics and entanglement ... Kavenna’s position won’t convince a die-hard materialist who believes that free will is a farce, that biology dictates our actions, and that spontaneity is an illusion, but as someone who wrote his honours’ thesis (three decades ago) on this very topic, I geeked-out at Kavenna’s bold and modern re-framing of the problem ... If that all seems a little too airy-fairy, fear not, with a deadpan sense of humour and an eye for the absurd, Kavenna eviscerates the tech-industry’s utopian (libertarian) dream that we can code our way to a better future ... It’s easy for a satirical novel like Zed to treats its characters as caricatures rather than well-rounded people. And to an extent that’s the case with Guy Matthias, a Zuckerberg or Dorsey stripped of whatever conscience those two men still possess. However, the rest of the cast is fleshed out ... a fascinating study on the question of free will, a castigating attack on the twisted utopian vision of Silicon Valley, and a cautionary tale of what will happen if we fail to regulate these corporate monoliths.
... the novel unfolds in a searingly proximate future that is far more plausible than fantastical ... the subject that it explores most brilliantly of all is selfhood ... offers sharp observations on the silencing of the dissenting (often) female voice...This element works especially well because it sits subtly within the text. At other points, Zed can seem rather too crudely didactic, preferring to highlight its trickery, where implication would suffice. The system that Kavenna describes in vivid detail is also occasionally dizzying, with its acronyms and inventions. Nonetheless, few authors can so deftly cite Louis Althusser’s idea of interpellation or Martin Heidegger’s Dasein within a page-turning absurdist thriller. Zed sweats with wit and vitality, and reads like the work of a writer relishing her task. It also transcends its moment. For beyond its commentary on our present age – its technologies and pathologies – it can be interpreted as a cautionary tale about the havoc wrought on us by those who cannot accept that we will never be immortal, omniscient or transparent (to each other and ourselves).
... darkly comic ... biting wit and a discomfiting plausibility ... There’s a dark absurdity at the heart of Zed that is reminiscent of Kafka or Pynchon, a sense of being trapped within an unfeeling system that is itself trapped by its own crumbling omnipresence. It’s a world in which the trust people place in the powers that be is rewarded with a complete disregard for their well-being on the part of those powers. It is a bleak portrait painted here. And a hilarious one. Call it a black comedy of errors, a techno-farce in which mounting misfires on the part of the centralized technology are met with little more than cosmetic changes and brandspeak. It’s a comic look at faith in the establishment gone wrong ... Kavenna’s wit is almost as omnipresent as Beetle in this book; every page offers a wry observation or dark joke that sticks in the mind’s eye. Her prose is smart and propulsive, giving her storytelling a sense of urgency even as the techno-bureaucracy spins its wheels in mud of its own making. It’s a rendition of end-game capitalism that feels unsettlingly prescient even as it makes you laugh ... an exceptional book, a novel of ideas that embraces the thoughts that it provokes while also delivering legitimate laughs. It’s funny and frightening, an unrelenting and sly satiric look at a world that feels like somewhere we could legitimately find ourselves sooner than we think.
In terms of its stylistic innovations, Zed is a tour de force ... works on the level of syntax, as language, grammar and meaning are compromised by the machines and their human controllers. [Kavenna] creates almost a poetics of tautology ... a nuanced, metatextual novel; an investigation into the erasure of language and agency in which the numerous literary reference ... There is a Dickensian quality to it ... There is a giddying quality to the prose, as the reader is steered through a maze of reproductions, seeking the unique ... a novel that takes our strange, hall-of-mirrors times very seriously indeed. It is a work of delirious genius.
It’s chillingly believable, but Zed is also extremely funny, especially when the hitherto compliant Veeps begin to malfunction ... The novel runs out of steam at the end, as though exhausted by its own ingenuity, but nevertheless Kavenna remains one of the most brilliant and disconcerting British writers working today.
Zed is billed as 'an absurdist thriller', but 'thriller' is a bit of a stretch. The scant plot definitely takes second place to a witty exploration of freedom and oppression; narrative order and chaos; truth and fakery ...While all this is fun and erudite, it comes at the expense of character development and emotional connection. I found myself longing to feel an Atwoodian gut-wrench. Or something — anything other than remote intellectual curiosity. For readers who like to nod at clever references, the imaginative Zed will be a delight, and it will no doubt gain many admirers. Those, on the other hand, who crave novels with complex, believable characters who grow, might find it all a bit relentless.
Kavenna’s scathing indictment of the dangers of technology gone awry, tech conglomerates left unchecked, and the silencing of the free press is a smart and timely work of cautionary speculative fiction.
In the hands of a lesser writer, the novel’s convoluted plot, burgeoning cast of characters, and barbed use of Beetle brand tech-speak would leave the reader hopelessly tangled in the what of the novel before they ever got to the philosophical why. Kavenna, however, is a diligent scholar of her form, melding a massively complex plot à la Thomas Pynchon and the wicked social satire of Evelyn Waugh with a healthy dose of Gogol’s absurdist dysphoria thrown in for good measure ... Complex, funny, prescient, difficult: Kavenna's novel tackles nothing less than everything as it blurs the lines between real and virtual.
