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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
In the near future, a clandestine government agency regulates civilian manipulation of DNA. During a raid agent Logan gets blasted with DNA-modifying particles that make his intelligence upgraded. He then tries to figure out who did it and why, and ends up have to save humanity.
I didn't love or hate it; it was a d decent fast paced and entertaining sci-fi action thriller.
challenging
dark
tense
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:
Complicated
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
3.5 stars
Compared to other Blake Crouch books that I've read and LOVED, this one sucked. It was a good book, I just went in with way too high of expectations and just didn't care about the science as much. I didn't find myself wanting to talk about this, whereas I could NOT stop talking about Recursion and Dark Matter, and even the Wayward Pines trilogy.
Compared to other Blake Crouch books that I've read and LOVED, this one sucked. It was a good book, I just went in with way too high of expectations and just didn't care about the science as much. I didn't find myself wanting to talk about this, whereas I could NOT stop talking about Recursion and Dark Matter, and even the Wayward Pines trilogy.
I have always been a fan of how Blake Crouch writes enthralling stories. He makes the protagonist seems so relatable that you can't help but walk in their shoes whilst reading the story. Furthermore, Crouch makes it so easy to follow along with complex topics like gene sequencing, DNA manipulation, world politics and overall human behavior - even though one might be totally unaware behind the science of it all. After reading about such topics, I couldn't help but do my own research on topics that I have avoided until this point, but because of 'Upgrade' I am a little wiser to the aforementioned topics. Overall a thrilling book and yet another masterpiece.
wayyy more science-y than dark matter in the sense that he explained literally every thought the main character had & the reasoning behind it. felt like there was slightly less wow factor for this one but another solid sci-fi from crouch
Not sure if I'd consider this an "upgrade" from Blake Crouch's previous work. "Upgrade" has a smart and ambitious premise, but for some reason, it just didn't deliver the same thrills as "Dark Matter" and "Recursion." Not sure if I can even pin my finger exactly on why—I think I may just be getting tired of the same old "one man against the world" schtick à la Jason Bourne/Bryan Mills in Taken. I had a perfectly neutral option about Logan as the protagonist. Like most Crouch characters, he's a family man who loves his wife and kids, but fairly bland otherwise. His moral compass is relatively unyielding, despite major changes to his genome that affects his ability for compassion and human emotion. Ironically, despite his major genome changes, he doesn't really have any interesting developments as a character, aside from trying to save humanity "at any cost." I'm sure there are people who would disagree with me on that, but I just found him to be a bit blandly anti-heroic.
This is not to say that "Upgrade" is a bad book—I think I'm being a bit harsh since I'm comparing it against his previous work. I'll give him props since the scope of this book is quite immense, and the overall concept is, as usual, pretty compelling. The first half is actually pretty strong, though it starts to lag around the middle and right before the ending. Ultimately though, the story kept me interested enough to finish and have an overall positive opinion of it. I'm sure Sci-Fi fans will find something interesting to dig into here.
This is not to say that "Upgrade" is a bad book—I think I'm being a bit harsh since I'm comparing it against his previous work. I'll give him props since the scope of this book is quite immense, and the overall concept is, as usual, pretty compelling. The first half is actually pretty strong, though it starts to lag around the middle and right before the ending. Ultimately though, the story kept me interested enough to finish and have an overall positive opinion of it. I'm sure Sci-Fi fans will find something interesting to dig into here.
• ModernMrsDarcy.com 2022 Summer Reading Guide #MMDSummerReading #MMDBookClub
• Thank you to Random House/Ballantine Books and NetGalley for providing this Advance Reading Copy. Expected publication date is July 19, 2022.
It is not unusual for Blake Crouch to make me a little anxious about the future. However, this book scared the living daylights out of me. The premise is that in the future scientists will find a way to hack into a person’s genome via a virus. As with most science, the intention was to improve health and mental processes but what happens when everything goes haywire and the results are far different than what was intended? What is the cost and who is paying it? Terrifying concept.
From the Publisher:
Something has happened to Logan Ramsay’s his brain — to his body. He’s starting to see the world, and those around him—even those he loves most—in whole new ways. The truth is, Logan’s genome has been hacked. And there’s a reason he’s been targeted for this upgrade. A reason that goes back decades to the darkest part of his past, and a horrific family legacy. Worse still, what’s happening to him is just the first step in a much larger plan, one to inflict the same changes on humanity at large—at a terrifying cost.”
• Thank you to Random House/Ballantine Books and NetGalley for providing this Advance Reading Copy. Expected publication date is July 19, 2022.
It is not unusual for Blake Crouch to make me a little anxious about the future. However, this book scared the living daylights out of me. The premise is that in the future scientists will find a way to hack into a person’s genome via a virus. As with most science, the intention was to improve health and mental processes but what happens when everything goes haywire and the results are far different than what was intended? What is the cost and who is paying it? Terrifying concept.
From the Publisher:
Something has happened to Logan Ramsay’s his brain — to his body. He’s starting to see the world, and those around him—even those he loves most—in whole new ways. The truth is, Logan’s genome has been hacked. And there’s a reason he’s been targeted for this upgrade. A reason that goes back decades to the darkest part of his past, and a horrific family legacy. Worse still, what’s happening to him is just the first step in a much larger plan, one to inflict the same changes on humanity at large—at a terrifying cost.”
Put the "meta" in metahumans. Too much all powerful, ego stroking.