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chaoticread 's review for:
Head On
by John Scalzi
In the sequel to Lock In, Scalzi is back with another FBI investigation in his excellently built sci-fi/near-future world, this time about a sudden death of a Hilketa player. The story starts out rather slow and I must admit, it took me a few tries to get into the book. I started reading the kindle version, but I eventually switched to the audiobook narrated by Wil Wheaton. I didn't love Wheaton's narration; he doesn't change his voice when different characters are speaking, so I often got a little lost in the conversations.
To start, I love this world. There are so many details that come up throughout the story that I would have never thought of, especially in the legal sense. I also love the fact that Chris' gender is continued to be left ambiguous. I personally imagine Chris as male because of a lot of the character interactions, but it's fun to imagine different scenes the other way around. Perhaps I'll pick up the audiobook narrated by Amber Benson in the future to compare.
The actual investigation was not very intriguing to me. The entire time, Chris and his/her partner, had no proof or evidence that there was even something to investigate but then something that was way too big of a coincidence would happen and it would push them farther down the rabbit hole. It felt forced. I enjoyed following the story, but I didn't particularly care about the resolution. Even when it ended, I sort of shrugged as the motivations of the characters didn't seem particularly believable to me.
Even though I didn't love the ending, doesn't mean the journey wasn't awesome. I loved every second of the story, which is my favorite thing about Scalzi's books. There's enough witty banter and hilarious moments woven into the serious FBI investigation, that it is definitely fun to follow. The number of threeps that Chris ruins is still comical and makes me question why any non-Haden FBI agent in this story manages to not die. The hints throughout about Haden rights make me think more about minority rights in the real world, but it doesn't seem forced nor is it blatant. My one complaint is that I had a hard time keeping track of all the characters, but that happens to me in a lot of books. I will continue to pick up Scalzi's books and would welcome another sequel.
I rated this one the same as Lock In, but I think I liked Lock In a little bit better. While this story was different enough to be entertaining, there was also a little too much story arc parallel to feel like it was completely new and refreshing.
To start, I love this world. There are so many details that come up throughout the story that I would have never thought of, especially in the legal sense. I also love the fact that Chris' gender is continued to be left ambiguous. I personally imagine Chris as male because of a lot of the character interactions, but it's fun to imagine different scenes the other way around. Perhaps I'll pick up the audiobook narrated by Amber Benson in the future to compare.
The actual investigation was not very intriguing to me. The entire time, Chris and his/her partner, had no proof or evidence that there was even something to investigate but then something that was way too big of a coincidence would happen and it would push them farther down the rabbit hole. It felt forced. I enjoyed following the story, but I didn't particularly care about the resolution. Even when it ended, I sort of shrugged as the motivations of the characters didn't seem particularly believable to me.
Even though I didn't love the ending, doesn't mean the journey wasn't awesome. I loved every second of the story, which is my favorite thing about Scalzi's books. There's enough witty banter and hilarious moments woven into the serious FBI investigation, that it is definitely fun to follow. The number of threeps that Chris ruins is still comical and makes me question why any non-Haden FBI agent in this story manages to not die. The hints throughout about Haden rights make me think more about minority rights in the real world, but it doesn't seem forced nor is it blatant. My one complaint is that I had a hard time keeping track of all the characters, but that happens to me in a lot of books. I will continue to pick up Scalzi's books and would welcome another sequel.
I rated this one the same as Lock In, but I think I liked Lock In a little bit better. While this story was different enough to be entertaining, there was also a little too much story arc parallel to feel like it was completely new and refreshing.