Slanted Jack

Slanted Jack - my Mark L. Van Name - is an old purchase. It sat on my cell phone for a couple of years until I got around to reading it.

I'm glad I found it, however - while not great, it was quite fun. The story passes on a galactic (human) civilization that has found jump gates - the very common magical device that allows FTL travel. These are a little more convenient than usual - they only exist on systems with planets that support human life.

The main character - Jon Moore -  is an ex-bodyguard with an interesting past - he's the survivor of a planet where mutation caused humans to get "powers". He also got infected by experimental nanotech, and can heal fast, doesn't age, and can unleash deadly nanotech clouds and talk to machines (the whole thing reminds me a bit of Jake 2.0)

The machines all have embedded AIs, down to panes of glass. That does cause the addition of a number of silly dialogue between them, as they seem to chat all the time.

The bulk of the story is a con run by Jon and Slanted Jack - so called because nothing is straight with him - to save the boy and themselves from dangerous enemies.

Overall, quite fun. I will definitely be buying the previous book in the series - One Jump Ahead.

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