Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
dark
emotional
mysterious
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:
Complicated
A little too much style over substance, and an attempt to force a meme on the world. I don't like it when marketing, especially an attempt at viral marketing, is built into the book.
I wanted to like it more, I just couldn't quite do it.
I wanted to like it more, I just couldn't quite do it.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The corporate line shushes through the tunnels on a skin of seawater, overflow from the tide drives put to practical use in the clanking watery bowels of Cape Town- like all the effluent in the city. Like me. Art school dropout reinvented as shiny brand ambassador. Sponsor baby. Ghost girl.
It starts with nothing. A shot. An injectable. This nausea inducing dystopian begins with nothing more than an experiment, it ends just shy of disaster. In Moxyland, Beukes presents a fearful, addictive, slow burning novel, a panic-stricken story, a tale that feels far too possible, way too familiar. Highly stylistic writing makes up the bulk of this novel, making it a totally mystifying story to experience.
The beauty of this book is in its slowness. From the very first page, the reader is made aware that everything is beyond fucked, but the horrendous and frightful reality of this world serves more as an unpleasant, vile backdrop to the richly vivid characters we're introduced to. Messed up wasters, ailing addicts, propaganda fueled revolutionaries, these are the people we spend our time with in Moxyland, they're what elevate this story from a mere dystopian into something rather magical.
It starts with nothing. A shot. An injectable. This nausea inducing dystopian begins with nothing more than an experiment, it ends just shy of disaster. In Moxyland, Beukes presents a fearful, addictive, slow burning novel, a panic-stricken story, a tale that feels far too possible, way too familiar. Highly stylistic writing makes up the bulk of this novel, making it a totally mystifying story to experience.
The beauty of this book is in its slowness. From the very first page, the reader is made aware that everything is beyond fucked, but the horrendous and frightful reality of this world serves more as an unpleasant, vile backdrop to the richly vivid characters we're introduced to. Messed up wasters, ailing addicts, propaganda fueled revolutionaries, these are the people we spend our time with in Moxyland, they're what elevate this story from a mere dystopian into something rather magical.
When do I finally tweak what's happening? Not when he snatches my wrist, so tight I can feel it bruise. Not when he starts shaking violently or when his eyes roll back or his jaw clamps and he starts making hideous sounds through his teeth, wet, viscous shrieks.
Moxyland is a devastatingly bleak tale, a nihilism fueled fever-dream. It serves as a fantastic cyberpunk-esque dystopian for sure, never once is it overwhelmingly technical, it doesn't get bogged down with jargon, it simply stays an overly oppressive reading experience. This was a massive step outside of my typical reading comfort zone, one that I'm extremely glad I've taken.
The world tilts to the right, and then everything swarms up to meet me in a surge of claustrophobia. Suddenly I'm scared. I struggle up through the tightening darkness, sealing in one me, like the crush of water.
Closer to 3.5-3.75 stars if I could rate it that way.
This SF novel is set in Cape Town (where I live at the moment) and I was taken on a fantastical virtual ride through the city which I enjoyed thoroughly.
The mixing of narrative styles was great but the plot was not my favorite kind
The mixing of narrative styles was great but the plot was not my favorite kind
Dystopian cyberpunk set in South Africa? What more need I say. Beukes is a great writer and this is an excellent read that I couldn't put down and plowed through in just a few days.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
Dystopian sci-fi at its best. A harrowing look into corporate corruption that felt a little too plausible. I really enjoyed the writing style and the fact that we got first person narration from four of the characters, slowly figuring out how they were all connected and watching with horror as things went terribly wrong. Beukes created a world that didn’t feel entirely unrealistic which is perhaps what made it impossible to put down.