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allisonwonderlandreads's review
adventurous
dark
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Welcome back to the not-so-distant dystopian future, the genre that reliably offers the worst vacation destinations. In this one, corporations control everything from water and agriculture (it's terrorism to access either on your own) to the internet and healthcare. Yeah... I barely see a difference from the here and now, myself. In the supercity New Liberty, two corporations carry on an urban war between mechs and super soldiers with bystander customer-citizens suffering through all the collateral damage.
Mal is getting by on multiple jobs to afford enough water, but her dream is taking she and her best friend Jessa's streaming full time. They play BestLife in a war game that imitates reality, going so far as to include real world celebrity super soldiers as NPCs, a marketing coup for the corporation Styllaxis. Mal and Jessa are hired to gather information on these non-player characters in-game while streaming, and the whole corporate house of cards comes tumbling down (slower, but still).
Mal was a great protagonist. She's unsure of herself and antisocial but does her best to help people in need. She's aro/ace, and the book has no romantic plots to be seen. It's all about friendship and found family, those we choose to fight for and protect. The video game elements were awesome from a gamer's perspective. I'm not sure of the approachability if that's not your wheelhouse. I loved the distinction between video game and real action sequences because while the scenarios could be similar, Mal's reactions and the author's descriptions were noticeably different, as they should be.
I think this book has excellent commentary on the trajectory of capitalism and the importance of speaking up and using collective action to resist. For the first part of the book, the mystery of everything propelled me forward. At a certain point after most of the big reveals, the focus is on more of a protracted action sequence as Mal reacts to this new information and decides how to both use it and disperse it. This is when I started to drift a bit because things were more predictable once the full framework was in the open.
I also want to be upfront and say that I don't think I was in the right headspace for this book at the time I read it. Dystopian novels are rough for me in this regard because I appreciate the societal critiques even as I'm pushed under by the emotional burden of the overlaps with daily life. So basically, if you're similar to me, you're forewarned. If this is a genre that you love or the type of thinking you want to pursue more, this is a high quality read that I hope you'll enjoy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Police brutality, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse and Death of parent
booksthatburn's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
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? It's complicated
5.0
FIREBREAK is a heart-pounding story of scarcity and danger in a place controlled by warring corporations. Mal is a young streamer trying to impress her viewers enough to make it through each day and avoid ending up in the company dehydration clinics, when .
Because major parts of the plot revolve around resource control and water scarcity, there’s a lot of discussion of water-insecurity and shortage. That was stressful to read but also deepened my immersion in the story. The way Mal’s thoughts did or did not revolve around this essential resource at any given moment matters to the story. The book involves an in-universe MMORPG (multiplayer online game that most people are either playing or watching when they’re not working), and at first I thought that the plot would focus on some objective in the game world, but a little ways in it reveals that the main stakes are bigger and more important than the game, while simultaneously retaining the game’s importance to the story. I loves the shift where technically the game doesn’t matter, but what the game belies means everything.
The world-building is really good, both for the game and the real world. They mutually reinforce each other both in terms of narrative events and the actual structure of life under the Corporation. The idea and reality of resource scarcity is constant, especially early but it never goes away and is very important to the plot.
My favorite character's very description is a spoiler so I can't talk about him much, but I loved the strange rapport between him a Mal, a kind of uneasy peace from someone losing everything and everyone he trusted (which was a short list to begin with).
The ending is emotionally devastating, coming together in a strange blend of bleak and hopeful. It perfectly cements this as the kind of book where I need everyone to read it so they know what it put me through. There's a sense of finality, inevitability, which suffuses the latter part of the story. Watching everything play out and hoping it won't quite end up as bad as it looks.
Because major parts of the plot revolve around resource control and water scarcity, there’s a lot of discussion of water-insecurity and shortage. That was stressful to read but also deepened my immersion in the story. The way Mal’s thoughts did or did not revolve around this essential resource at any given moment matters to the story. The book involves an in-universe MMORPG (multiplayer online game that most people are either playing or watching when they’re not working), and at first I thought that the plot would focus on some objective in the game world, but a little ways in it reveals that the main stakes are bigger and more important than the game, while simultaneously retaining the game’s importance to the story. I loves the shift where technically the game doesn’t matter, but what the game belies means everything.
The world-building is really good, both for the game and the real world. They mutually reinforce each other both in terms of narrative events and the actual structure of life under the Corporation. The idea and reality of resource scarcity is constant, especially early but it never goes away and is very important to the plot.
My favorite character's very description is a spoiler so I can't talk about him much, but I loved the strange rapport between him a Mal, a kind of uneasy peace from someone losing everything and everyone he trusted (which was a short list to begin with).
The ending is emotionally devastating, coming together in a strange blend of bleak and hopeful. It perfectly cements this as the kind of book where I need everyone to read it so they know what it put me through. There's a sense of finality, inevitability, which suffuses the latter part of the story. Watching everything play out and hoping it won't quite end up as bad as it looks.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Medical content, Gun violence, Violence, Police brutality, Torture, and Death
Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Child abuse, and Child death
Minor: Death of parent
CW for rationing/resource scarcity.
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