Reviews

this was a good book but the ending... kinda devastated me in a bleak way. I really think that this is a book about the present as much as the future and the brutality of the ending kinda broke me tonight.

mimmareads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.75

Interesting, though not really original dystopian view of the future. Felt like it ended too early, like part of the story was left untold, perhaps for sequal?

s_sheppard18's review against another edition

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4.0

"It's a beautiful spring morning. The air smells like flowers and blood." -Mallory, the narrator of Firebreak by Nicole Kornher-Stace

I wasn't sure about this book at the beginning; it opened into an action-packed playthrough of the VR game the narrator, Mallory, streams as one of her jobs. I don't typically get engrossed in thrillers for the action, but the author uses Mallory's stream-of-consciousness narration as a tool to introduce her characters and world to us in an authentic way. The fact that Mallory is familiar with real-world weapons of war via gameplay, in a game sold and modeled on the same war that took her parents from her, makes the real-world violent scenarios she survives much more believable (and that much more of a mindf*ck).

I adored the relationships in this book, and the strength of Mallory's found-family. The way her friends rally around her and surprise her is heartwarming in the best way. I love the quiet aro/ace representation. The trauma, outrage, and resilience the characters experience is written with understanding and care, but also unflinching honesty.

This is a must read for people who enjoyed [b:Ready Player One|9969571|Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1)|Ernest Cline|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1500930947l/9969571._SY75_.jpg|14863741] or [b:Feed|169756|Feed|M.T. Anderson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327891005l/169756._SY75_.jpg|163928]- and if you liked Firebreak, but haven't read those, put them on your list!

tricapra's review against another edition

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3.0

All the fun of Ready Player One with none of the exhausting 80s nostalgia references and pesky misogyny.

In a very-near future dystopia where two warring corporations control everything and everyone via water and electricity rationing, a thoroughly dehydrated girl just wants to get by.

It was nice to see a dystopian revolution book where things aren't magically better or fixed just because the protagonist stood up and did the right thing. It acknowledges that people will suffer, and die, for the cause and change will be slow. Despite that, the book was hopeful and quite the page-turner. Check it out.

kleonard's review against another edition

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3.0

This is a solid book about resistance and group action. Set in a dystopian world where two enormous corporations that control everything including water, housing, and food are always at war, a professional gamers and gig workers uncover the secrets of one of the corporations and decide to make them public. While the characters were basically just names and had no real development or even descriptions, the story is compelling and the tech believable enough for the setting to make this an enjoyable read.

bleepbloop's review against another edition

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adventurous tense fast-paced

4.5

can't believe she never asked that man his name

also not sure why this is tagged as LGBTQ. there is one (1) tangential character who is non-binary but it's not a queer story.

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