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katykelly's review against another edition
4.0
Cyberbullying is at the heart of this pertinent school story.
In the aftermath of a suicide in the lunch hall a year ago, a nationwide reaction focusing on cyberlaws to protect students restricts online freedoms for everyone. The online bullying that resulted in Jordan Bishop's death has caused much underground hacker activity. Eli is approached by fellow hackers to help take revenge upon those who caused Jordan's death and begins to enjoy the power of scoring points against the bullies.
It's a classic tale of "power corrupts...", in a very contemporary context. I was reminded of Thirteen Reasons Why at times, though the victim here is a male, the bullies are widespread and none identifiable as a 'main' culprit in Jordan's demise.
Eli becomes a convincing Everyman, one who is blessed with superior coding skills, but one faced with a problem we would all struggle to choose the moral direction with. Who deserves to be punished, and who gets to decide?
There are a few red herrings and some good 'nasty' characters at school that show other sides to themselves later on, in the way they tend to. Eli has a slightly uncomfortable home life, with Dad's new (much younger) girlfriend causing yet more guilt and dilemmas. There's a love interest for Eli that is rather sweet, and the girl in question is quite a strongly rounded character too, I wanted more from her but she was, alas, not the focus.
I liked the social media angle and how it is used by the hackers and by the school community as a way of venting frustration and grievances. I did want more at the end though, more assurance of the future direction of the characters and 'what will happen next' - the sign you've grown to care.
For ages 12 and above.
In the aftermath of a suicide in the lunch hall a year ago, a nationwide reaction focusing on cyberlaws to protect students restricts online freedoms for everyone. The online bullying that resulted in Jordan Bishop's death has caused much underground hacker activity. Eli is approached by fellow hackers to help take revenge upon those who caused Jordan's death and begins to enjoy the power of scoring points against the bullies.
It's a classic tale of "power corrupts...", in a very contemporary context. I was reminded of Thirteen Reasons Why at times, though the victim here is a male, the bullies are widespread and none identifiable as a 'main' culprit in Jordan's demise.
Eli becomes a convincing Everyman, one who is blessed with superior coding skills, but one faced with a problem we would all struggle to choose the moral direction with. Who deserves to be punished, and who gets to decide?
There are a few red herrings and some good 'nasty' characters at school that show other sides to themselves later on, in the way they tend to. Eli has a slightly uncomfortable home life, with Dad's new (much younger) girlfriend causing yet more guilt and dilemmas. There's a love interest for Eli that is rather sweet, and the girl in question is quite a strongly rounded character too, I wanted more from her but she was, alas, not the focus.
I liked the social media angle and how it is used by the hackers and by the school community as a way of venting frustration and grievances. I did want more at the end though, more assurance of the future direction of the characters and 'what will happen next' - the sign you've grown to care.
For ages 12 and above.
d0nnaw0ng's review
4.0
Rating: 4.25/5
Eli, a sophomore in HS always thought he was super smart, a major computer geek who can hack into any system he want and he definitely have the ability. He once even hacked into the police department database and disclosed police officer's address! Which was brought to the attention of some gang members and they went on a shooting spree at a police officer's house!!! Luckily the police and his family wasn't home to experience the shooting!!
He didn't get into trouble at that time since nobody traced it to him. Now he's pulled into creating a website to commemorate/revenge people who hurt Joseph Bishop (a kid who committed suicide) and participate in a cybersecurity competition he thought he can was at the top of the world. However he and his teammates are not meeting eye to meeting on a lot of matters and it went downhill fast!
It has an exciting storyline and I love books and movies involving internet hacking however it didn't surprise me like the way I thought it would. I was expecting more twist and turns. More deceiving. More lies.
I do like all the characters. They all had evolved and changed so much, especially Eli and Mouse! I was completely surprised by Mouse and I really like Isabel! The innocent romance story is really cute and It was fun to read. Wish I was a teenager again after reading it!
Eli, a sophomore in HS always thought he was super smart, a major computer geek who can hack into any system he want and he definitely have the ability. He once even hacked into the police department database and disclosed police officer's address! Which was brought to the attention of some gang members and they went on a shooting spree at a police officer's house!!! Luckily the police and his family wasn't home to experience the shooting!!
He didn't get into trouble at that time since nobody traced it to him. Now he's pulled into creating a website to commemorate/revenge people who hurt Joseph Bishop (a kid who committed suicide) and participate in a cybersecurity competition he thought he can was at the top of the world. However he and his teammates are not meeting eye to meeting on a lot of matters and it went downhill fast!
It has an exciting storyline and I love books and movies involving internet hacking however it didn't surprise me like the way I thought it would. I was expecting more twist and turns. More deceiving. More lies.
I do like all the characters. They all had evolved and changed so much, especially Eli and Mouse! I was completely surprised by Mouse and I really like Isabel! The innocent romance story is really cute and It was fun to read. Wish I was a teenager again after reading it!
shemyshines98's review
5.0
I love everything about this book. The story and the relation to coding, cyber-snooping and anything and everything hacking and coding. I'm a beginner to this hacking and coding world and every day it intrigues me, so to find a fictional book that not only has a great message but also entertaining and knows what it's talking about, it's everything that I could ever want in a book. I loved the ending as it felt realistic. It didn't have a happy ever after in my opinion, and honestly, if there was, I wouldn't be happy. It ended perfectly. I felt that Eli being so honest to the point where his future may be either behind bars or in the job/school of his dreams, was so brave. I never would admit what he admitted, TBH. That takes balls honestly. I'm glad I got the chance to read this book, it will definitely be in my personal library!
veskumelooni's review against another edition
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
2.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, and Bullying
helhas3letters's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Classism, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Bullying, Child death, Child abuse, Death, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Sexism, Vomit, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Grief
Minor: Gun violence, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Mass/school shootings
shannon821's review
5.0
Finished reading on a snowy day while the kids were home from school. This book was one of my favorites I have read yet this year. I really liked the characters and the story. With how important social media and computers are to us now this book really opened my eyes to how easy bullying is. Also how someone can get so caught up into it. Great book for teens, middle school and high school aged.
madeleinecella's review against another edition
Sister borrowed my Kindle to read this – I have not read it. She enjoyed it though
familiar_diversions's review
4.0
Like a lot of kids at Haver High, Eli will never forget the day Jordan Bishop walked into the cafeteria, soaked in gasoline, and lit himself on fire. Cyberbullying was widely cited as the cause of Jordan's suicide, and lots of internet restrictions, particularly ones focused on teens, popped up after his death.
A year after Jordan's death, Eli is just focused on his goal of being the best coder he can be, with the hope of maybe striking it rich with some kind of app after he gets out of high school. He had no intention of going to college. He didn't really know Jordan and sees the way his high school focuses on Jordan's death as some kind of tragedy porn.
Then one day he gets a message that leads him to two other kids at his school, Mouse and Seth. They want him to be part of their American Cybersecurity Competition team - to take the spot that Jordan, their friend, would have filled. The catch is that their real world project is going to be kind of illegal: an unregistered website designed to mock all of the internet restrictions that were supposedly inspired by Jordan's death but that Mouse and Seth know he would have hated. However, it isn't long before the website begins to morph into something meaner and more dangerous than Eli originally intended to be involved in.
This is another one of the books in my old conference ARCs backlog. I didn't know anything about it, going in, although it was immediately clear that it was an "issues" book that could potentially become really dark. I was a little worried that it would veer into "school shooting" territory near the end, which I really didn't want to deal with (I already loathe workplace active shooter trainings that involve watching real or simulated active shooter footage).
Anyway, Seth, Mouse, and Eli's site rapidly shifted from justice to revenge. Initially, Eli didn't see a problem with it - the people they were posting embarrassing/compromising video clips of had all been horrible to other people, and embarrassment couldn't kill a person, right? Except that people's lives were being affected, and Eli was repeatedly brought up against the fact that, as horrible as some of these people were to Jordan and others, they were also still people who could be harmed by his actions. And once the whole thing got started, backing out wasn't easy. For one thing, Seth and Mouse had blackmail material on him, and the smaller stuff they knew could easily lead to the bigger stuff that Eli had never told anyone.
In between all of that mess was Eli's worries about flunking Spanish and his crush on Isabel, as well as his annoyance with his father's relationship with Misty (Eli's mom died of cancer when he was very little, and Misty was apparently Eli's dad's first serious girlfriend since then). All the more normal worries balanced out the website stuff a bit, although Eli's reaction to Misty was tough to take sometimes. Misty was a good bit younger than Eli's dad and supposedly previously worked at a strip club (I realized after a while that we'd only ever heard this from Eli, who I decided was not a trustworthy source of information where Misty was concerned), and Eli had a tendency to be rude and dismissive towards her. On the plus side, he was aware that his behavior was unwarranted and occasionally crossed the line, so I was willing to be sympathetic - he also felt a little like Misty was taking his dad away from him.
The ending was somehow both a bit much and not enough. I think part of the issue was that there wasn't enough time to really develop the new facets of Jordan, Mouse, and Seth that were revealed near the end, before all the dramatic stuff started happening. I'm also not sure how well some of the discussion about Jordan's suicide would go over with some readers - I'd hesitate to recommend this book to anyone who has ever seriously considered suicide, although it might be helpful for those dealing with survivor guilt after someone else's suicide (I'm saying this as someone who is not a mental health professional, so take it with a grain of salt).
This was a quick read that I enjoyed more than I expected I would, although I'm still not sure how I feel about the ending. In addition to the Jordan, Mouse, and Seth stuff, the way Eli's big secret was resolved felt a little off, too.
(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
A year after Jordan's death, Eli is just focused on his goal of being the best coder he can be, with the hope of maybe striking it rich with some kind of app after he gets out of high school. He had no intention of going to college. He didn't really know Jordan and sees the way his high school focuses on Jordan's death as some kind of tragedy porn.
Then one day he gets a message that leads him to two other kids at his school, Mouse and Seth. They want him to be part of their American Cybersecurity Competition team - to take the spot that Jordan, their friend, would have filled. The catch is that their real world project is going to be kind of illegal: an unregistered website designed to mock all of the internet restrictions that were supposedly inspired by Jordan's death but that Mouse and Seth know he would have hated. However, it isn't long before the website begins to morph into something meaner and more dangerous than Eli originally intended to be involved in.
This is another one of the books in my old conference ARCs backlog. I didn't know anything about it, going in, although it was immediately clear that it was an "issues" book that could potentially become really dark. I was a little worried that it would veer into "school shooting" territory near the end, which I really didn't want to deal with (I already loathe workplace active shooter trainings that involve watching real or simulated active shooter footage).
Spoiler
It didn't, but there were hints that it could have.Anyway, Seth, Mouse, and Eli's site rapidly shifted from justice to revenge. Initially, Eli didn't see a problem with it - the people they were posting embarrassing/compromising video clips of had all been horrible to other people, and embarrassment couldn't kill a person, right? Except that people's lives were being affected, and Eli was repeatedly brought up against the fact that, as horrible as some of these people were to Jordan and others, they were also still people who could be harmed by his actions. And once the whole thing got started, backing out wasn't easy. For one thing, Seth and Mouse had blackmail material on him, and the smaller stuff they knew could easily lead to the bigger stuff that Eli had never told anyone.
In between all of that mess was Eli's worries about flunking Spanish and his crush on Isabel, as well as his annoyance with his father's relationship with Misty (Eli's mom died of cancer when he was very little, and Misty was apparently Eli's dad's first serious girlfriend since then). All the more normal worries balanced out the website stuff a bit, although Eli's reaction to Misty was tough to take sometimes. Misty was a good bit younger than Eli's dad and supposedly previously worked at a strip club (I realized after a while that we'd only ever heard this from Eli, who I decided was not a trustworthy source of information where Misty was concerned), and Eli had a tendency to be rude and dismissive towards her. On the plus side, he was aware that his behavior was unwarranted and occasionally crossed the line, so I was willing to be sympathetic - he also felt a little like Misty was taking his dad away from him.
The ending was somehow both a bit much and not enough. I think part of the issue was that there wasn't enough time to really develop the new facets of Jordan, Mouse, and Seth that were revealed near the end, before all the dramatic stuff started happening. I'm also not sure how well some of the discussion about Jordan's suicide would go over with some readers - I'd hesitate to recommend this book to anyone who has ever seriously considered suicide, although it might be helpful for those dealing with survivor guilt after someone else's suicide (I'm saying this as someone who is not a mental health professional, so take it with a grain of salt).
This was a quick read that I enjoyed more than I expected I would, although I'm still not sure how I feel about the ending. In addition to the Jordan, Mouse, and Seth stuff, the way Eli's big secret was resolved felt a little off, too.
(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
booksargram's review
4.0
wowza. definitely her best book since butter. heart pounding and emotional and important. really, just what i’ve been looking for for months.
bookwyrmbella's review
4.0
This was a very interesting story. I quite enjoyed the relationship between the different characters as well as the tech aspects. I did feel like there were times the main character was more of a jerk to his stop-mom than he needed to be. It did deal with important topics, like bullying and suicide. The things it showed about internet and social media culture is very relevant to what we are currently going through.
I received an eARC via Netgalley and the publisher. All opinions are my own.
I received an eARC via Netgalley and the publisher. All opinions are my own.