Louise Carey (2) (1992–)

This was a roller-coaster read for me.

Let me explain.

I bought this book because synopsis sounded very interesting - future, cyberpunk world (dystopia expected) and mega corporations fighting it between themselves. I was like, OK, lets go with it, cannot wait.

And then story started progressing as one of those YA novels (Hunger Games, Divergent etc) that I truly do not like to be honest (main reason being that for me they seem to be rather written by a recipe and [unfortunately] I outgrew the recipe). What I mean is following - you have two corporations and group of young and bright kids (yes, 17 years old still classifies person as a kid) living in a world without parents, living already in a long term relationships, in a sterile environments which are cross between above mentioned YA series, Westworld and Equilibrium. Yes there is kewl tech around and everyone is zooming around in ecologically friendly vehicles (slight throw up), even parts of society that live on the very edge of corporations are in pretty good shape, wont go into relationships in the book but this part is also (re)used so many times in last few years it became a cliche these days (lets say it is in time with latest social trends) - I started cooling off very very fast but said to myself, you started it me-friend, you better finish it!

And finally somewhere from the middle, novel becomes more serious. Author weaves a story about the faceless corporations (who exactly is controlling them?) that live in uneasy cohabitation between themselves. They would enjoy nothing more than to blast the opponents sky high but they do not want to lose their own gains. Conflicts are executed by groups of teens (and grown ups, there are grown ups here acting as controllers) that act as spies and shock troops and that are generally educated and [for lack of better word] grown by the corpo's themselves. I especially liked how author pointed to the differences between Cole's generation (40-ish in the novel timeline) and Tanta's (17 year olds), former knowing they are being exploited and fed corpo talk and slogans as part of the political indoctrination, latter totally loyal to their masters no matter what happens (you know those ever smiling faces saying - yeeee, hand grenade!).

Story has lots of action but accent is not on action itself. Author spent a lot of time on creating a background (world building) for what seems to be planned series of the books. Main twist is very interesting but author did not disclose who is actually behind the mayhem. Entire book has the feeling of a teaser pilot episode of thriller TV show with the message - if you like this one good enough there is more to come.

Could this book stand on its own? Definitely. I just hope that story does not get watered down to ensure 100 sequels in the future. I also hope author moves more in the way of realistic (more dirty, more gritty?) story (generally move more in the way of say Gavin Smith's Veteran, or Richard K Morgans Thirteen) than cleanly delimited corporation territories. All ingredients are in, I just wish story is more .... adult I guess.

All in all interesting read, will definitely follow how series ends up.

Recommended.… (altro)

Matriarchal society set up in a fabled Middle Eastern Kingdom after a religious coup leads to the death of a city ruler and the banishment of his harem. Led by a former assassin and one of the older wives of the deceased and aided by a seer the group become more than they ever thought possible.

A much under-used setting in Western literature is brought to life with a varied cast of characters. Told in a similar manner to the tales of Scheherazade with occasional diversions from the main tale with back-story interjections for the leading participants.… (altro)