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saenz's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
First half of the book is very slow, but after that it picked up a good bit and was a lot more interesting to read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
kindra_demi's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
For fans of Black Mirror, 1984, and any other future, dystopian, and/or totalitarian story fans, read this book!!! (Caveat when you are in a good headspace because things felt like they could easily be our potential future too). As someone who loves studying the influence media has on global issues (including how it can distract from), as someone who obsessed over the quote "Ignorance is Strength" from 1984, as someone who has had some experience in social media management, I couldn't get enough of this story.
We begin in a near future India, where Flowstars (the next influencer) are the next capitalistic investment to keep the average person entertained while the world continues to fall apart and abuse around them. From here, we are immersed into a very similar world to ours, where pandemics, wars, climate change, and more are all swept away by what the latest trending Flow (similar to a live stream/reality tv show). It takes some time to learn the worldbuilding of this book as you'll go through and relearn what we already have terms for, but because we already have similar terms, it's not the most complicated world building.
My primary complaint is we spend almost the entirety of the book building up to the choice of Joey and Rudra, but then we get Rudra's choice and then just accept that he's gone mia and Joey we barely see her plans forming in the deleted scenes. As I mentioned in the beginning though, I couldn't get enough of this story!!
We begin in a near future India, where Flowstars (the next influencer) are the next capitalistic investment to keep the average person entertained while the world continues to fall apart and abuse around them. From here, we are immersed into a very similar world to ours, where pandemics, wars, climate change, and more are all swept away by what the latest trending Flow (similar to a live stream/reality tv show). It takes some time to learn the worldbuilding of this book as you'll go through and relearn what we already have terms for, but because we already have similar terms, it's not the most complicated world building.
My primary complaint is we spend almost the entirety of the book building up to the choice of Joey and Rudra, but then we get Rudra's choice and then just accept that
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence, Sexism, Classism, Racism, and Rape
booksthatburn's review against another edition
The initial worldbuilding is immersive and dizzying, a firehose of terms as if to impress indelibly the near-future-ness of the setting. Unfortunately, it was too much for me to track, too quickly, and I stopped a couple of chapters in. If the goal was to communicate the stress the characters were under, it certainly did that, but not in a way I could keep up with.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism and Xenophobia
Minor: Confinement, Blood, Sexual harassment, Police brutality, Violence, Rape, and Death
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