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starrywonder's review against another edition
3.0
Love the premise of female assassins. a little disheartened by the execution. Rose was such an interesting character, however, Sarah's story overpowered hers which is sad. I was not a fan of Sarah, but once the reveal was made, she became much more interesting.
The book is a good read if you like robots and a little science fiction.
The book is a good read if you like robots and a little science fiction.
jafinc's review against another edition
3.0
more reviews on: jafink.com/blog
Rating: 🐲🐲🐲/5
I don't know what it was that attracted me, at first, about The Regional Office is Under Attack! By Manuel Gonzales. I was, at the time, trying to decide on a book for January that would fit our "I've Got the Power" theme, and knew (because, let's be real) that that theme would be taken very literally.
The title definitely played a part, and the description (super powered female assassins + travel agency which is also secretly the headquarters of these femme fatales? count me in) was perfectly intriguing as well. But what really sealed the deal for me was a review here on Goodreads which had a short but entertaining quiz to determine whether the book was right for a reader or not. Basically, if you loved Die Hard, this book was for you.
I, ladies and gentlemen, love Die Hard.
So this book and I = match made in heaven. Almost.
The Regional Office is Under Attack! is a very enjoyable, action-packed book. It alternates in perspective between Rose, a sassy teen aged assassin who is aiding in the attack of the Regional Office, and Sarah, the mechanical armed right hand (pun intended) woman who is defending the Regional Office. The novel is divided into "books" with each book ending with a chapter/interlude written like a research paper delving into the potential reasons behind the Regional Office's downfall.
The writing style/tone was (mostly) fun to me. There's a stream of consciousness feel to it, which I always enjoy as its quite realistic, especially in Rose's case (show me one teenager who has straightforward thoughts that don't jump from one thing to another), and you get to see what actually happens in the characters heads. But, adversely, it made the writing super wordy, coming off more convoluted than was intended and getting in the way of the actual plot.
The timeline of the story gets a bit confusing, as it switches between the present, as the attack is occurring, to the past, where you learn more about the events that led each of our main characters to the Regional Office, the people that shaped them, etc.
Rose and Sarah were both very fleshed out characters, driven by their own motivations to bring down or defend the Regional Office. But they're both (clearly) being used/manipulated by the people who's wing they were brought under in the first place. This fact became frustrating because we do not get enough or a lot background information, or anything really from the perspective of Oyemi or Mr. Niles or Henry (basically, the people pulling the strings on either end). There is a lot of speculation and a bit of detail given in the 'research paper' chapters, but even that is vague at best and not concrete.
I think, to a certain degree, Gonzales' decision to make these things vague and open-ended works well with the light/sarcastic tone and the subject matter at hand (the Regional Office is supposed to be secret, after all). But, as a naturally curious person, the more I think about the book the more the missing pieces bother me.
Overall, I do recommend The Regional Office is Under Attack! for anyone looking for an action-movie with awesome female leads in book form, if you don't mind a little roundabout writing and unanswered questions.
Rating: 🐲🐲🐲/5
I don't know what it was that attracted me, at first, about The Regional Office is Under Attack! By Manuel Gonzales. I was, at the time, trying to decide on a book for January that would fit our "I've Got the Power" theme, and knew (because, let's be real) that that theme would be taken very literally.
The title definitely played a part, and the description (super powered female assassins + travel agency which is also secretly the headquarters of these femme fatales? count me in) was perfectly intriguing as well. But what really sealed the deal for me was a review here on Goodreads which had a short but entertaining quiz to determine whether the book was right for a reader or not. Basically, if you loved Die Hard, this book was for you.
I, ladies and gentlemen, love Die Hard.
So this book and I = match made in heaven. Almost.
The Regional Office is Under Attack! is a very enjoyable, action-packed book. It alternates in perspective between Rose, a sassy teen aged assassin who is aiding in the attack of the Regional Office, and Sarah, the mechanical armed right hand (pun intended) woman who is defending the Regional Office. The novel is divided into "books" with each book ending with a chapter/interlude written like a research paper delving into the potential reasons behind the Regional Office's downfall.
The writing style/tone was (mostly) fun to me. There's a stream of consciousness feel to it, which I always enjoy as its quite realistic, especially in Rose's case (show me one teenager who has straightforward thoughts that don't jump from one thing to another), and you get to see what actually happens in the characters heads. But, adversely, it made the writing super wordy, coming off more convoluted than was intended and getting in the way of the actual plot.
The timeline of the story gets a bit confusing, as it switches between the present, as the attack is occurring, to the past, where you learn more about the events that led each of our main characters to the Regional Office, the people that shaped them, etc.
Rose and Sarah were both very fleshed out characters, driven by their own motivations to bring down or defend the Regional Office. But they're both (clearly) being used/manipulated by the people who's wing they were brought under in the first place. This fact became frustrating because we do not get enough or a lot background information, or anything really from the perspective of Oyemi or Mr. Niles or Henry (basically, the people pulling the strings on either end). There is a lot of speculation and a bit of detail given in the 'research paper' chapters, but even that is vague at best and not concrete.
I think, to a certain degree, Gonzales' decision to make these things vague and open-ended works well with the light/sarcastic tone and the subject matter at hand (the Regional Office is supposed to be secret, after all). But, as a naturally curious person, the more I think about the book the more the missing pieces bother me.
Overall, I do recommend The Regional Office is Under Attack! for anyone looking for an action-movie with awesome female leads in book form, if you don't mind a little roundabout writing and unanswered questions.
rockymthorrorshow's review against another edition
5.0
A varied and interesting mostly-female cast, a pleasantly tangled plot setup, and all the fantastic craziness of a superhero universe with the normal office-ness I love to see in secret agent-based plots. A great, relatively low-impact read.
robotswithpersonality's review against another edition
Bummer. Admittedly, I had a different idea of what this would be when I picked it up. But even having adjusted to the tone and focus, it just felt like too much and not enough at the same time. Kind of derivative of a number of things - not helped by the pop culture references in inner monologues - without really narrowing in on one of them enough to make for an engaging story.
Or maybe my lack of engagement has to do with the choppy structure, on a plot (multiple interrupted timelines/multiple POVs) and sentence level (the commas, the rephrased sentences, the backpedaled action plans).
It didn't help that the book made multiple references to what might be covered under regular operations of the regional office, which all sounded a lot more interesting than where the plot went.
I think Sarah and her arm was the most compelling component for me - but I didn't really need the mother backstory to find that interesting even if it did form the origin of her circumstances.
I'm really not sure what the point of Rose's narrative was aside from making me uncomfortable in myriad ways.
I'm not sold on the plausibility of the 'report' angle given where the story ended.
Similar to the vague references to more interesting fantastical elements, the book also suffered from going in depth on people whose ends the reader already knows. An argument can be made that it's about the how or the why when the who and what have already been revealed, but if the reader hasn't really been presented with enough reason to care about the who and the what, waiting around for the how and why fall flat.
Strong possibility I just wasn't the right audience, but I can't in good conscience recommend it either. 🤷🏼♂️
⚠️animal death, ableism, fatphobia, self harm, mental health concerns, suicide, body horror
Or maybe my lack of engagement has to do with the choppy structure, on a plot (multiple interrupted timelines/multiple POVs) and sentence level (the commas, the rephrased sentences, the backpedaled action plans).
It didn't help that the book made multiple references to what might be covered under regular operations of the regional office, which all sounded a lot more interesting than where the plot went.
I think Sarah and her arm was the most compelling component for me - but I didn't really need the mother backstory to find that interesting even if it did form the origin of her circumstances.
I'm really not sure what the point of Rose's narrative was aside from making me uncomfortable in myriad ways.
I'm not sold on the plausibility of the 'report' angle given where the story ended.
Similar to the vague references to more interesting fantastical elements, the book also suffered from going in depth on people whose ends the reader already knows. An argument can be made that it's about the how or the why when the who and what have already been revealed, but if the reader hasn't really been presented with enough reason to care about the who and the what, waiting around for the how and why fall flat.
Strong possibility I just wasn't the right audience, but I can't in good conscience recommend it either. 🤷🏼♂️
⚠️animal death, ableism, fatphobia, self harm, mental health concerns, suicide, body horror
riskeytaker's review against another edition
The writer thought they were way more clever than they actually were.
lauraschhh's review against another edition
3.0
I don’t quite know what happened in this book, but it was an amazing ride.
alexscholls's review against another edition
5.0
This book was fabulous. If I could give it more than five stars, I would! High-octane, strange but intriguing, and overall wonderful.