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zee's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.25
Company Town is a dark and gritty novel following a socially-awkward but strong bodyguard associated with the United Sex Workers of Canada, set on a city-sized autonomous oil rig with futuristic tech off the coast of Newfoundland. The strengths were definitely the strong world building and dystopian future envisioned by Ashby. The weak points are choppy plot, characters suddenly introduced and then not mentioned again for hundreds of pages, and a VERY rushed (and sloppy?) ending. If the book had another 50 pages to properly wrap things up I would've rated it higher, but unfortunately the ending really soured this book for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Body shaming, Mass/school shootings, and Death
Moderate: Gore
micheala's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
3.75
This is a really interesting near-future science fiction novel. It's set off the coast of Newfoundland in the future (how far is not mentioned). The main difference from what you would find in a modern city is that almost everyone has some form of augmentation - nanobots that watch your hormone levels, to cameras in your eyes, to devices that regulate your adrenaline levels. Of course, how rich/poor you are effects what you have and how good it is.
This book had a lot going on, from the main character Hwa being hired as a body guard, to her attempting to find out who is murdering her friends (all members of the United Canadian Sex Workers).
It was a very fast read, however I felt that the ending was a little rushed and that the book would have benefited from an additional 50-100 pages. The main issue with the rushed pacing at the end was that I started to struggle to follow what was going on and how things were connected. I also felt that the explanation came out of left field and that there had been no clues dropped throughout the beginning of the book.
I do recommend this book, however it comes with some strong content warnings, so make sure that none of them will bother you first.
This book had a lot going on, from the main character Hwa being hired as a body guard, to her attempting to find out who is murdering her friends (all members of the United Canadian Sex Workers).
It was a very fast read, however I felt that the ending was a little rushed and that the book would have benefited from an additional 50-100 pages. The main issue with the rushed pacing at the end was that I started to struggle to follow what was going on and how things were connected. I also felt that the explanation came out of left field and that there had been no clues dropped throughout the beginning of the book.
I do recommend this book, however it comes with some strong content warnings, so make sure that none of them will bother you first.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Misogyny, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Rape, Mass/school shootings, Excrement, Chronic illness, and Body shaming
Content Warning not available in the list: there is mention of sexual grooming (it's not graphic, and it is acknowledged by the main character to be creepy and not ok - the direct quote is hidden in the spoiler tags)
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