A review by elliotvanz
The Velocity of Revolution by Marshall Ryan Maresca

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

When I started this book I was excited. I was amped to read a book about revolution, motorcycles, psychic mushrooms, and a bunch of bisexual punks forming a found family. On the surface this book has some of that but when you go deeper not so much. 

 

As the book progressed I liked it less and less until by the time I reached the end I had lost all interest and was somewhat exasperated.  At every turn I kept waiting for the protagonist to become someone better. And he doesn't. The revolution aspect is disappointing and ends up with a white savior serving as a deus ex machina. The found family is a lie. The bisexual element made me bristle because it seemed to reinforce the stereotype that bisexual means horny all the time and will sleep with literally anyone. (Nothing wrong with writing a society like that, but it wasn't what I was hoping for or pitched.) And the mushrooms make less and less sense the more the book tried to explain, and could have been used in far more interesting ways. I suppose the motorcycles were still cool. 

 

One of the core problems for me is I just didn't think the prose was up to snuff, and it made the other problems with the story structure and characterization all the more noticeable. It just never gels, and the more I poked at it the more it fell apart. All in all this was a book that set up a bunch of cool ideas and then just missed every opportunity to do something I found interesting or emotionally resonate. I'm glad other people seem to enjoy it but for me it missed the mark entirely.