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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
This was a great, quick distraction. I hope John Scalzi keeps putting out stories in this series. They're fun!
adventurous
medium-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
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I had higher hopes, but found the characters more annoying than intriguing. It was not bad, but it was not a great read. I like John Scalzi's other books I have read so far, but this one fell a bit flat in my opinion.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
As is typical with most mysteries I read, I focused more on the main characters and the world that the author has built. I really liked the premise, the same as with Lock In, of the Hadens. And I also enjoyed the social commentary that Scalzi injected into this story. I just didn't care at all about the mystery. It was fine, I guess, I just stopped caring about that portion of it and sped through the last few pages where everything was wrapping up. I'll continue to read Scalzi, but this certainly wasn't one of his best novels.
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Great sequel. Loved seeing more of this world and the characters in it.
John Scalzi novels narrated by Wil Wheaton have become a sort of comfort food for me over the last few years, and that's exactly the sort of thing I needed for the final months of this year.
I enjoyed Lock In, the novel previous to this, but it wasn't my favourite of his. It caused a small stir when, shortly after it was published, he revealed in a blog post that he purposely avoided using any gendered pronouns for the protagonist as a little experiment to see which gender the reader would imagine, an experiment that didn't really work as well with an audio narrator. It did allow him to produce two versions of the audiobook, though - one narrated by Wil Wheaton and one by Amber Benson (of Buffy fame), who is also available as a narration for his.
I enjoyed Head On more than the first. The concept is an interesting one. A large number of people, referred to as Hadens, contracted a disease that left them fully conscious but unable to move their bodies. They now use robotic avatars (threeps) to live their lives outside of their bodies. The main character, a Haden, was a new detective in the first book and has now settled into the job. He (or she) and his (or her) partner investigate an unexpected death during a match of Hilketa, a sport where the players need to decapitate a threep on the opposing team and carry their head through a goal. It's obviously quite a violent sport, involving swords and hammers and...heads, but the player controlling the threep can't be injured, so what caused the death?
I found I connected to the characters much more this time around, although I can't quite put my finger on why. Maybe it was because he'd already established the foundation for the Haden concept in the first book and was able to just run with it. I wonder if he'll turn this into an ongoing series, the way detective writers love to do. I'd be interested to see where it goes.
A fun whodunnit with robotic avatars and death sports.
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I enjoyed Lock In, the novel previous to this, but it wasn't my favourite of his. It caused a small stir when, shortly after it was published, he revealed in a blog post that he purposely avoided using any gendered pronouns for the protagonist as a little experiment to see which gender the reader would imagine, an experiment that didn't really work as well with an audio narrator. It did allow him to produce two versions of the audiobook, though - one narrated by Wil Wheaton and one by Amber Benson (of Buffy fame), who is also available as a narration for his.
I enjoyed Head On more than the first. The concept is an interesting one. A large number of people, referred to as Hadens, contracted a disease that left them fully conscious but unable to move their bodies. They now use robotic avatars (threeps) to live their lives outside of their bodies. The main character, a Haden, was a new detective in the first book and has now settled into the job. He (or she) and his (or her) partner investigate an unexpected death during a match of Hilketa, a sport where the players need to decapitate a threep on the opposing team and carry their head through a goal. It's obviously quite a violent sport, involving swords and hammers and...heads, but the player controlling the threep can't be injured, so what caused the death?
I found I connected to the characters much more this time around, although I can't quite put my finger on why. Maybe it was because he'd already established the foundation for the Haden concept in the first book and was able to just run with it. I wonder if he'll turn this into an ongoing series, the way detective writers love to do. I'd be interested to see where it goes.
A fun whodunnit with robotic avatars and death sports.
Book Blog | Twitter | Instagram