This is an easy read (it's written at the YA level) but not an easy read. It involves some tough topics and inspires some pretty heavy thinking. Shortest summary possible: Near-future sci-fi in which a 17-year-old high school kid gets on the bad side of the Department of Homeland Securities.
What's really in it?
Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles...
That about sums it up. Maybe not so much the fencing or the giants. Replace those with hacking and massive political machines. Everything else... check. Also, pirates, video games, and LARPing.
It's well-written. The kid is exceptionally clever and well-educated for a 17-year-old, but not unbelievably so. It's terrifying in its plausibility. It makes you really think about where you think the boundary should be that divides safety from freedom, and what could change the location of that boundary.
It's well-researched. The history, the social science, the technology, the methodologies, all ring true, even the ones that are extrapolated into the future.
And it's free; just download it off the website and you're good to go.
Two thumbs up, five out of five stars, a must-read for anyone over the age of about thirteen who plans to live or do business in the U.S. for the next decade.
2 comments:
I'm so glad that you've moved somewhere that allows comments! I've been reading you forever but I never email when I think about it cause my work blocks all personal email sites, and I usually check your site over lunch.
So anyway, congrats on the new baby a few months too late!
Dumbchick! So happy to hear from you! I was just thinking about you the other day when I was cleaning out some really REALLY old email boxes... :-D
I'm seriously starting to feel like a total dork for not going blog sooner.
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