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velvet_young's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
Moderate: Hate crime, Chronic illness, and Murder
Minor: Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Violence, and Alcoholism
nannahnannah's review against another edition
5.0
"No. Making people change because you can't deal with who they are isn't how it's supposed to be done. What needs to be done is for people to pull their heads out of their asses. You say 'cure.' I hear 'you're not human enough.'"
In the near future, a virus spreads throughout the world. Called Haden's, it can cause fever, meningitis, or a "locked in" state, where the person cannot move, but is fully conscious. These people are called Hadens, or clanks, when their minds use an android-like body to experience the world outside their bedridden bodies. The MC, Shane, the poster child for Haden's, is now grown up and an FBI agent for cases involving Hadens, and he gets involved in one heck of a mess.
This book is basically a discussion on capitalism and how it affects people with disabilities (and how, if a virus affected people worldwide, making a significant amount of the world's population disabled, big businesses in America would find more ways to capitalize on them). It also mentions classicism and disability, which pleasantly surprised me, especially since the MC comes from a very privileged background. All in all, this book has the most sensitive treatment of disabled characters that I've ever read.
It took me a little while to get used to the style, but once I did, the book hooked me in, and it became very difficult to stop reading. Of course, this book is written in about 90% dialogue (which is probably his greatest strength, since when he does manage to slip some prose in, it's not all that great), which accounts for the speedy pacing. There's also some mighty cliche dialogue ("Cut the suspense, Diaz. Get to it."), but I found it was easily overlooked for reasons described above.
All in all, I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did.
In the near future, a virus spreads throughout the world. Called Haden's, it can cause fever, meningitis, or a "locked in" state, where the person cannot move, but is fully conscious. These people are called Hadens, or clanks, when their minds use an android-like body to experience the world outside their bedridden bodies. The MC, Shane, the poster child for Haden's, is now grown up and an FBI agent for cases involving Hadens, and he gets involved in one heck of a mess.
This book is basically a discussion on capitalism and how it affects people with disabilities (and how, if a virus affected people worldwide, making a significant amount of the world's population disabled, big businesses in America would find more ways to capitalize on them). It also mentions classicism and disability, which pleasantly surprised me, especially since the MC comes from a very privileged background. All in all, this book has the most sensitive treatment of disabled characters that I've ever read.
It took me a little while to get used to the style, but once I did, the book hooked me in, and it became very difficult to stop reading. Of course, this book is written in about 90% dialogue (which is probably his greatest strength, since when he does manage to slip some prose in, it's not all that great), which accounts for the speedy pacing. There's also some mighty cliche dialogue ("Cut the suspense, Diaz. Get to it."), but I found it was easily overlooked for reasons described above.
All in all, I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did.
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide
breadwitchery's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, and Murder
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Suicide, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Confinement and Sexual content
ladylothlorien's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This is my second time around with this book. I first listened to the audiobook narrated by Wil Wheaton a few years ago and now I’ve read the paperback for my book club. I think perhaps it would have been better to read the editions in the opposite order. Not that the audio narration was bad, not at all. But I think I followed the story better with the paperback since there were a lot of unique technologies in this world. That being said, I highly recommend both editions. It’s a quirky story: a sort of detective thriller with the usual trappings but the main character is piloting a robot and the murder mystery to be solved gets into the nitty gritty of the technology that allows the main character to pilot the robot. There is technobabble and sometimes it is confusing. But if you kind of just go with it, it’s a fun ride.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Bullying, Murder, Suicide, and Violence
People with “lock in” who use robots to get around experience bullying, casual discrimination, and violence. And because they are people with disabilities, the problems they experience are related to ableism.sarz's review
adventurous
challenging
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Murder, Self harm, and Suicide
Moderate: Alcoholism, Slavery, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Police brutality
kadtide's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Murder, Violence, and Gun violence
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Medical content, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Car accident, and Ableism
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