Overall, this book was very middle of the road. I've read Recursion (which was so good!) and Dark Matter (which was a bit of a mess). Upgrade definitely straddles the middle. I personally like characters a lot and Crouch's books have never focused too heavily on characterization, which is fine I guess. However, considering the premise of the book and it's central argument, I think more characterization was needed, since I wasn't particularly convinced by main character. Also, women aren't written particularly well in his works in general and this novel is no exception.

All that said, I did enjoy the read and it was a great quick paced book that I had some fun with. The pacing of the book was spot on and I enjoyed the world building elements.