I really struggled with this. On the face of it, this story covers a lot of topics I'm interested in but the way they're presented is not very approachable. 

I didn't find any of the characters particularly likeable or relatable, and I didn't really feel like any of them underwent any major character development by the end - more like the story just happened around them.

There are a lot of references throughout - to scientific, technological and philosophical concepts, and also to pop/meme culture. Some of the jokes I understood did raise a smile but a lot of the time it felt like it was trying too hard to be clever or funny. At times this approach works - when you spot something it's like finding an easter egg, but a lot of the time it's more frustrating than anything because you get words and concepts dropped in like boulders and then have to break off and figure out what they mean before you can understand what's happening in the story.

I think the underlying problem with this book is that it has aged very poorly, and the issues really kept me from feeling immersed in the world. The major problem for me is how it handled the topic of gender and identity. These topics are a huge part of this book, and the authors' handling of it is not great. Being written in 2012 and based on what I can find about their stance on gender and identity I don't in any way think this is deliberate but it doesn't come across well at all. I have found guidance from 2012 and earlier that specifically calls out certain words and issues in the text as being problematic, so it's a shame that the authors seemingly didn't do the research at the time to avoid these problems.

Based on other reviews I will still check out other works by these authors - I'm familiar with Doctorow's tech writing but haven't read any of his novels - but this is not a compelling introduction to either of them.