You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by kjjohnson
Mirror's Edge by Scott Westerfeld
4.0
I enjoyed it overall, but I’m equally dreading/looking forward to the next one.
Pros:
Getting to explore the city more from the perspective of the common people, and how they’ve found ways to communicate despite the spy dust, and that a group of people like the spy dust because it keeps the peace and/or they live their whole lives for history because it’s all recorded. This was fascinating, and makes complete sense! Of course there will be widely varying reactions to the system that’s ruling/spying on them, and of course people would find a way to circumvent the restrictions - that’s human nature, really.
I feel like Frey has been doing a lot of growing and becoming more independent, and that continued here even as her life is still largely dictated by the whims of others. I also appreciate that she still automatically goes for the ‘emotions at the press of a button’ when she doesn’t want to feel her own actual emotions. I also really loved the exploration of Frey getting an entirely different body, and how that changed her perspective and both gave her freedom in some sense but also dysphoria - it was pretty fascinating.
All of the political intrigue and agendas at cross purposes were interesting, even if it was hard to tell what they were because Frey was largely outside of most of the politicking.
Cons:
This series just kills me because there’s so many good ideas but the more I read the more I wish we were following Rafi instead of Frey. Everything I learn about her makes her seem more fascinating - from how she ended up taking control of the gang (and the gang leader was her girlfriend for a bit???), to how she apparently was helping foment rebellion with her elite friends even before escaping the city, to how she is just very proactive! She doesn’t just react to situations, she creates situations through her own efforts and will! And she can be cutthroat but does seem to genuinely love and want the best for her sister, even if she doesn’t always demonstrate that in the best ways. So many interesting facets to explore, but yet again she is offscreen most of the book. And all of Frey’s friends seem to try to encourage Frey to stop trusting her/break away from her, which I suppose makes some sense but on the other hand I’m annoyed by because I want them to interact more!
I may take this back depending on how book 4 goes, but I’m dreading Rafi becoming the ultimate villain of the series. Between all of Frey’s friends unsubtly warning her about Rafi, to Rafi’s ease with lying for convenience, to her being forced to kill Frey’s bland boyfriend and ending up in charge of the city, that seems where the story is headed. And especially the boyfriend part I’m irritated with, because that of all the issues is the real dealbreaker for Frey? Not the taking of her name/persona, for example? Like, I would have made the exact same choice! She was given three options: do nothing and have everyone in the room and city die. Kill Frey, her beloved twin who seems to be the only person she cares about. Or kill Frey’s boyfriend, who she barely knows but who Frey loves. Like, Frey sees this as a huge betrayal but honestly what choice did Rafi have? And they were working so well/in synch beforehand, too.
I think ultimately this may be a me-problem, with me wanting things that the book never intended to give me, which is hardly the book or author’s fault. However, that doesn’t change the way I feel. There were some very interesting identity things, with Rafi taking the one thing Frey had (her name) but also giving her the perfect gift and (seemingly) having Frey as the only one she truly cares about. It is interesting seeing Frey become her own person outside of her twin/being a body double, and how having an entire different body fed into that. But it just is so annoying to me that it looks like the ultimate split will happen because of boyfriend dying, which Rafi really didn’t have a choice in, rather than the above issues with Rafi hiding things and taking advantage and whatnot, which would have been way more interesting to me. At the end of the day, the twin relationship was what most interested me about this story and I just hope it ends in a satisfying manner.
Pros:
Getting to explore the city more from the perspective of the common people, and how they’ve found ways to communicate despite the spy dust, and that a group of people like the spy dust because it keeps the peace and/or they live their whole lives for history because it’s all recorded. This was fascinating, and makes complete sense! Of course there will be widely varying reactions to the system that’s ruling/spying on them, and of course people would find a way to circumvent the restrictions - that’s human nature, really.
I feel like Frey has been doing a lot of growing and becoming more independent, and that continued here even as her life is still largely dictated by the whims of others. I also appreciate that she still automatically goes for the ‘emotions at the press of a button’ when she doesn’t want to feel her own actual emotions. I also really loved the exploration of Frey getting an entirely different body, and how that changed her perspective and both gave her freedom in some sense but also dysphoria - it was pretty fascinating.
All of the political intrigue and agendas at cross purposes were interesting, even if it was hard to tell what they were because Frey was largely outside of most of the politicking.
Cons:
This series just kills me because there’s so many good ideas but the more I read the more I wish we were following Rafi instead of Frey. Everything I learn about her makes her seem more fascinating - from how she ended up taking control of the gang (and the gang leader was her girlfriend for a bit???), to how she apparently was helping foment rebellion with her elite friends even before escaping the city, to how she is just very proactive! She doesn’t just react to situations, she creates situations through her own efforts and will! And she can be cutthroat but does seem to genuinely love and want the best for her sister, even if she doesn’t always demonstrate that in the best ways. So many interesting facets to explore, but yet again she is offscreen most of the book. And all of Frey’s friends seem to try to encourage Frey to stop trusting her/break away from her, which I suppose makes some sense but on the other hand I’m annoyed by because I want them to interact more!
I may take this back depending on how book 4 goes, but I’m dreading Rafi becoming the ultimate villain of the series. Between all of Frey’s friends unsubtly warning her about Rafi, to Rafi’s ease with lying for convenience, to her being forced to kill Frey’s bland boyfriend and ending up in charge of the city, that seems where the story is headed. And especially the boyfriend part I’m irritated with, because that of all the issues is the real dealbreaker for Frey? Not the taking of her name/persona, for example? Like, I would have made the exact same choice! She was given three options: do nothing and have everyone in the room and city die. Kill Frey, her beloved twin who seems to be the only person she cares about. Or kill Frey’s boyfriend, who she barely knows but who Frey loves. Like, Frey sees this as a huge betrayal but honestly what choice did Rafi have? And they were working so well/in synch beforehand, too.
I think ultimately this may be a me-problem, with me wanting things that the book never intended to give me, which is hardly the book or author’s fault. However, that doesn’t change the way I feel. There were some very interesting identity things, with Rafi taking the one thing Frey had (her name) but also giving her the perfect gift and (seemingly) having Frey as the only one she truly cares about. It is interesting seeing Frey become her own person outside of her twin/being a body double, and how having an entire different body fed into that. But it just is so annoying to me that it looks like the ultimate split will happen because of boyfriend dying, which Rafi really didn’t have a choice in, rather than the above issues with Rafi hiding things and taking advantage and whatnot, which would have been way more interesting to me. At the end of the day, the twin relationship was what most interested me about this story and I just hope it ends in a satisfying manner.