Several in the middle seem to go nowhere. One consequence of the novel's unusual structure is that few of the stories achieve significant depth - Lulu The Spy, 2032 is a startling exception - and nearly none reach a resolution. "It was only a matter of time before someone made them pay for what they thought they were getting for free. "Never trust a candy house," warn the daughters of a record producer brought low by streaming services. The title refers to the witch's trap in the fairy tale Hansel And Gretel. Often alluded to is the schism between the uploaded faithful and the eluders, who opt out of online existence and go to great lengths to erase their digital footprint. She is also fascinated by matters of privacy and surveillance. What Egan is creating here is a network novel, driven not by the progression of a plot, but by the links among its characters.
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