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kamomo's review
5.0
This book is fast-paced, exciting and very thought-provoking. As someone who mostly reads non-fiction, I appreciate that this book is simultaneously a thrilling fantasy novel and a clever commentary on real life issues like data privacy and the personalization of internet content. I highly recommend it!
kathydavie's review
5.0
A fantasy thriller about the power of words as a weapon of mass destruction.
It's won one award, the ALA Alex Award (2014), and been nominated for another, the Aurealis Award Nominee for Best Fantasy Novel (2013).
My Take
WOW. This was excellent! Love, betrayal, and greed for power fuel this story, and Barry drives you mad at the start with all the confusion, and it takes most of the book before he reveals what you think is the truth. Hah. This story has more twists and turns than a handful of jacked screws! He pulls you in from the beginning, forcing you to want to know what's happening: Who is this guy? What has he done? Why are they after him?
Part of the confusion is Barry's flipping back and forth in the timeline, and it works well at keeping you confused and questioning what's happening. Yeah, it's like this throughout. You're constantly questioning. Trying to figure things out. And Barry simply turns it on you. Again and again. Normally, flipping into the past and into the future, back and forth, slipping in and out of various time periods drives me mad. But Barry makes this work—for the most part. At one point a particular someone dies, but Eliot seems to be off to Syria, after the final events in Broken Hill and this person seems to still be alive. So, yeah, I'm confused, and it's all because of this weird flip-flopping. Oh, wait. It does get explained. Phew.
Early on Emily has sociopathic tendencies that are revealed by how she treats people. She's ideal for this organization as she feels almost nothing. It's all about her and her wants. But those unexpected twists get in the way and prove a point. One that even Lowell has to admit to. The brain tumor and "seeing God" was a nasty touch. And the perfect interpretation for that megalomaniac!
You'll love Barry's use of words, the terror he inspires with the power this organization wields with its threat to the everyman. You may see them coming, but you won't know they've been.
Barry will have you lost in a maze of emotions and fears while you come to care about a very few characters. I find myself hoping there'll be a sequel!
The Story
Survival. At first, it's only about survival, then exploration with a desire to see how it works. Then love enters the picture.
It's just a word. We all have them. Certain words that can be used to trigger a fugue-like state in anyone. Almost anyone.
And Emily will do everything for love, for words.
The Characters
Emily Ruff is a runaway, surviving by scamming tourists with games. Benny is the scam artist who has taken her in under his demanding wing.
Wil Parke is being hunted by men who think nothing of cutting out an eyeball. Cecilia is his girlfriend.
Virginia Woolf is the scariest poet along with Kathleen Raine, a poet who wrote about nature, who is just one of too many wicked and relentless agents, casting fear into the hearts of all. Tom S. Eliot will come to regret his earlier aid. Sylvia Plath is one of Yeats' people.
Lee is the jerk who recruited Emily. Charlotte Brontë is in charge of the school. William Yeats is the leader of the American branch of their organization. Campbell is the cocky poet who enters Broken Hill. Isaac Rosenberg is an office mate in Neurolinguistics along with Raine. Patty Smith was one of her classmates. Masters is in control of the soldiers.
Fellow students include:
Sashona is one of Emily's few friends, and Jeremy Lattern is the one she wants as a boyfriend.
Sarah is a waitress in a diner.
In Broken Hill…
Harry Wilson is a paramedic; Cheryl makes incredible sandwiches; Mary is the owner of Tangled Threads where Emily gets a job; Maude Clovis; Jim Fowler has been a cop for 20 years; Ian Chu is a surgeon; Jess is the daughter of a schoolteacher; Beth McCartney is the town librarian; and, Derek Knochhouse.
Medic Jennifer Neiland is part of the rescue effort.
Von Goethe, al-Zahawi, Bharatendu Harishchandra, Pushkin, and De Castro are representatives of the organization from other countries. Frost is in charge of security.
Poets are good with words. You won't be able to resist. The Robert Lowell Institute of Psychological Research is the organization's public face. An outlier is a person immune to the words.
The Cover
The cover is a deep gray, a mildly gradated gray radiating outward from around the yellow title. It and the white of the author's name are superimposed on a raised background of letters and symbols that help convey the cold, analytical feel of this movement about words, this branch of knowledge, the Lexicon used to manipulate.
It's won one award, the ALA Alex Award (2014), and been nominated for another, the Aurealis Award Nominee for Best Fantasy Novel (2013).
My Take
WOW. This was excellent! Love, betrayal, and greed for power fuel this story, and Barry drives you mad at the start with all the confusion, and it takes most of the book before he reveals what you think is the truth. Hah. This story has more twists and turns than a handful of jacked screws! He pulls you in from the beginning, forcing you to want to know what's happening: Who is this guy? What has he done? Why are they after him?
Part of the confusion is Barry's flipping back and forth in the timeline, and it works well at keeping you confused and questioning what's happening. Yeah, it's like this throughout. You're constantly questioning. Trying to figure things out. And Barry simply turns it on you. Again and again. Normally, flipping into the past and into the future, back and forth, slipping in and out of various time periods drives me mad. But Barry makes this work—for the most part. At one point a particular someone dies, but Eliot seems to be off to Syria, after the final events in Broken Hill and this person seems to still be alive. So, yeah, I'm confused, and it's all because of this weird flip-flopping. Oh, wait. It does get explained. Phew.
Early on Emily has sociopathic tendencies that are revealed by how she treats people. She's ideal for this organization as she feels almost nothing. It's all about her and her wants. But those unexpected twists get in the way and prove a point. One that even Lowell has to admit to. The brain tumor and "seeing God" was a nasty touch. And the perfect interpretation for that megalomaniac!
You'll love Barry's use of words, the terror he inspires with the power this organization wields with its threat to the everyman. You may see them coming, but you won't know they've been.
Barry will have you lost in a maze of emotions and fears while you come to care about a very few characters. I find myself hoping there'll be a sequel!
The Story
Survival. At first, it's only about survival, then exploration with a desire to see how it works. Then love enters the picture.
It's just a word. We all have them. Certain words that can be used to trigger a fugue-like state in anyone. Almost anyone.
And Emily will do everything for love, for words.
The Characters
Emily Ruff is a runaway, surviving by scamming tourists with games. Benny is the scam artist who has taken her in under his demanding wing.
Wil Parke is being hunted by men who think nothing of cutting out an eyeball. Cecilia is his girlfriend.
Virginia Woolf is the scariest poet along with Kathleen Raine, a poet who wrote about nature, who is just one of too many wicked and relentless agents, casting fear into the hearts of all. Tom S. Eliot will come to regret his earlier aid. Sylvia Plath is one of Yeats' people.
Lee is the jerk who recruited Emily. Charlotte Brontë is in charge of the school. William Yeats is the leader of the American branch of their organization. Campbell is the cocky poet who enters Broken Hill. Isaac Rosenberg is an office mate in Neurolinguistics along with Raine. Patty Smith was one of her classmates. Masters is in control of the soldiers.
Fellow students include:
Sashona is one of Emily's few friends, and Jeremy Lattern is the one she wants as a boyfriend.
Sarah is a waitress in a diner.
In Broken Hill…
Harry Wilson is a paramedic; Cheryl makes incredible sandwiches; Mary is the owner of Tangled Threads where Emily gets a job; Maude Clovis; Jim Fowler has been a cop for 20 years; Ian Chu is a surgeon; Jess is the daughter of a schoolteacher; Beth McCartney is the town librarian; and, Derek Knochhouse.
Medic Jennifer Neiland is part of the rescue effort.
Von Goethe, al-Zahawi, Bharatendu Harishchandra, Pushkin, and De Castro are representatives of the organization from other countries. Frost is in charge of security.
Poets are good with words. You won't be able to resist. The Robert Lowell Institute of Psychological Research is the organization's public face. An outlier is a person immune to the words.
The Cover
The cover is a deep gray, a mildly gradated gray radiating outward from around the yellow title. It and the white of the author's name are superimposed on a raised background of letters and symbols that help convey the cold, analytical feel of this movement about words, this branch of knowledge, the Lexicon used to manipulate.
gallinula's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Rape, and Sexual assault
jamesarosen's review
3.0
The good: creative premise, good pacing, good use of multiple timelines
The bad: the characters are essentially completely static with transparent motives; the sex scenes stand out awkwardly.
The bad: the characters are essentially completely static with transparent motives; the sex scenes stand out awkwardly.
midnightskye's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
There was a lot of rubberbanding but enjoyed the perspective regardless.
bookph1le's review
4.0
What a great book. Action-packed, but with a smart plot and lots of beautifully developed characters. As much as this is a sci-fi action thriller, it's also a thought-provoking meditation on the nature of humanity, and how we value (or fail to, as the case may be) privacy. It's precisely the kind of book I love to read.
So why four stars instead of five? My major gripe is the book is a little hard to follow at times because the narrative isn't linear. This is only a problem because it sometimes took me a while to figure out where in time some chapters were taking place, which interrupted the flow for me. I don't mind a non-linear structure, but I would have liked better cues so that I could have remained immersed in the narrative.
Still, I highly recommend this book if you enjoy briskly-paced novels that keep things moving along without sacrificing characterization or plot nuances and complexities. I'll definitely be reading more of Max Barry's works.
So why four stars instead of five? My major gripe is the book is a little hard to follow at times because the narrative isn't linear. This is only a problem because it sometimes took me a while to figure out where in time some chapters were taking place, which interrupted the flow for me. I don't mind a non-linear structure, but I would have liked better cues so that I could have remained immersed in the narrative.
Still, I highly recommend this book if you enjoy briskly-paced novels that keep things moving along without sacrificing characterization or plot nuances and complexities. I'll definitely be reading more of Max Barry's works.
starrymynx's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
guppyur's review
3.0
I really liked this. I don't want to get too deep into the plot; I was advised to go in blind and I make the same recommendation to you. I'll just say that it's a modern-day thriller premised on the idea that persuasion on the level of magic is a skill that can be taught.
Occasionally heavy-handed, mostly a great read. I generally like it when books explore the mechanics of the systems they create; I got a lot of that here, and it was great, but I would have liked even more of it. The ending hurts the book for a few reasons.
Occasionally heavy-handed, mostly a great read. I generally like it when books explore the mechanics of the systems they create; I got a lot of that here, and it was great, but I would have liked even more of it. The ending hurts the book for a few reasons.
andst's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
sharon_1963's review against another edition
medium-paced
3.0
This was an interesting read. Albeit a scary one, as it shows just how powerful the human mind can be and in the hands of the corrupt, just how dangerous it can be. A thriller with a sci-fi twist. Didn't hate it, but didn't love it either.