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A review by sidneyellwood
Proxy by Alex London
5.0
i just finished this and oh my god it was so great. i was at first under the impression that it was a sci-fi novel, which put me off a little bit, but no. it’s dystopia. it’s definitely dystopia, and i love dystopia. also, there’s a trend in dystopia, with something wrong in the world and then a heterosexual white female (or of ambiguous race, which everyone assumes is white) does something to defy government structure and does everything for defying government structure while spending a lot of her time choosing between two boys.
like. this wasn’t it. this was different and refreshing and i really liked it. first off, the society. the society is shit. basically, a corporation runs the whole thing and patrons can pay for proxies, which means that the proxy gets a small benefit for taking the punishments of the patrons. it’s rich vs poor, and the rich are ignorant and the poor have no way to get out of it. this is where paying debts come in and it is a major theme of the novel - the phrase “paying debts” or “owing debts” and just debts in general are mentioned a lot. blood debts, life debts, money debts. (and i had to burst out with “a lannister always pays their debts,” at least in the beginning … later on, i got too involved in the story.) so i liked that. (i need to read divergent … wow.) it was a lot more technological and computerized than a lot of other dystopias i’ve read, which could put it under the sci-fi umbrella.
remember how i said that most other young adult dystopians involve a cishet white female? now i’m all for girls kicking ass and we get that in the form of marie, who is presumably heterosexual, but she’s also a poc. also, knox is a cisgender white guy. the heterosexual … that’s debatable. and syd, the main main character is a gay person of color whose identity is not consumed by the fact, which is PRETTY DAMN COOL. (the only other one i can think of is malinda lo’s books anD I NEED TO READ THEM TOO.)
so yeah. that made me really happy, and while homophobia is discussed and present, the characters don’t really give a shit because they are running for their fucking lives. and the romance isn’t really a big deal either, which, again, is refreshing. knox is a giant flirt. he flirts with tons and tons of girls (or at least he’s said to) and he even flirts with syd a bit, though it’s kind of on the fence to whether he’s joking or serious. marie pretty much likes both syd and knox, syd doesn’t really give a shit and knox just kind of likes both of them. but they’re running for their lives so it’s not a big concern - like it’s there, but it doesn’t completely take over and it’s not overbearing. wow. this is the book i was hoping for. and the stakes just kept getting raised higher and higher; there’s no going back. the plot escalated. and then it escalated more and more and moreandmoreandmore until the fricking ending which made me cry and laugh at the same time.
please don’t talk to me about the ending because i will cry on you and let me say that it was very similar to the last book i reviewed. like i said, i will cry on you.
i liked syd right from the beginning, and i liked marie from the time we met her. marie is definitely the most kickass of the trio, i think. syd is a close second. knox … eh. he’s all right. speaking of knox, i disliked him with a passion for a good half of the novel. i was rooting for syd to punch him in the face, or push him off the horse, or something. and then, later, i realized i liked him. i’m not entirely sure when i started liking knox, i just realized that i did like him after all, and that he was a good character. in my eyes, he had almost redeemed himself for putting syd through sixteen years of hell.
i’m definitely ready for the next book, and will be waiting anxiously.
i give this a 9.5/10, and i recommend this to anyone who likes dystopian or sci-fi, and definitely to anyone who is tired of seeing books about poc or queer people be about the fact that they are poc or queer because this book does not care the antagonists just want to kill the protags and even the protags want to kill the protags sometimes
like. this wasn’t it. this was different and refreshing and i really liked it. first off, the society. the society is shit. basically, a corporation runs the whole thing and patrons can pay for proxies, which means that the proxy gets a small benefit for taking the punishments of the patrons. it’s rich vs poor, and the rich are ignorant and the poor have no way to get out of it. this is where paying debts come in and it is a major theme of the novel - the phrase “paying debts” or “owing debts” and just debts in general are mentioned a lot. blood debts, life debts, money debts. (and i had to burst out with “a lannister always pays their debts,” at least in the beginning … later on, i got too involved in the story.) so i liked that. (i need to read divergent … wow.) it was a lot more technological and computerized than a lot of other dystopias i’ve read, which could put it under the sci-fi umbrella.
remember how i said that most other young adult dystopians involve a cishet white female? now i’m all for girls kicking ass and we get that in the form of marie, who is presumably heterosexual, but she’s also a poc. also, knox is a cisgender white guy. the heterosexual … that’s debatable. and syd, the main main character is a gay person of color whose identity is not consumed by the fact, which is PRETTY DAMN COOL. (the only other one i can think of is malinda lo’s books anD I NEED TO READ THEM TOO.)
so yeah. that made me really happy, and while homophobia is discussed and present, the characters don’t really give a shit because they are running for their fucking lives. and the romance isn’t really a big deal either, which, again, is refreshing. knox is a giant flirt. he flirts with tons and tons of girls (or at least he’s said to) and he even flirts with syd a bit, though it’s kind of on the fence to whether he’s joking or serious. marie pretty much likes both syd and knox, syd doesn’t really give a shit and knox just kind of likes both of them. but they’re running for their lives so it’s not a big concern - like it’s there, but it doesn’t completely take over and it’s not overbearing. wow. this is the book i was hoping for. and the stakes just kept getting raised higher and higher; there’s no going back. the plot escalated. and then it escalated more and more and moreandmoreandmore until the fricking ending which made me cry and laugh at the same time.
please don’t talk to me about the ending because i will cry on you and let me say that it was very similar to the last book i reviewed. like i said, i will cry on you.
i liked syd right from the beginning, and i liked marie from the time we met her. marie is definitely the most kickass of the trio, i think. syd is a close second. knox … eh. he’s all right. speaking of knox, i disliked him with a passion for a good half of the novel. i was rooting for syd to punch him in the face, or push him off the horse, or something. and then, later, i realized i liked him. i’m not entirely sure when i started liking knox, i just realized that i did like him after all, and that he was a good character. in my eyes, he had almost redeemed himself for putting syd through sixteen years of hell.
i’m definitely ready for the next book, and will be waiting anxiously.
i give this a 9.5/10, and i recommend this to anyone who likes dystopian or sci-fi, and definitely to anyone who is tired of seeing books about poc or queer people be about the fact that they are poc or queer because this book does not care the antagonists just want to kill the protags and even the protags want to kill the protags sometimes