A review by bluejayreads
Zoey Punches the Future in the Dick by David Wong

adventurous dark
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I had so much fun with Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits, the first book in this series, that I was eager to get my hands on this one as soon as possible. But then I realized the smart thing to do would be to finish the library books that are due before getting more, and, well, at least I got to this one in the same year. 

This book tries to rectify some of the issues with the previous book. Zoey’s characterization is still a bit inconsistent, but this book at least tries to explain it. There’s also a bit of a Thing (I’m not sure if I should call it a character arc or a theme or what) around how wealth separates you from others and prevents a lot of human connection – which I do agree with, but it’s framed in a “pity the poor little rich person” way that undercut it a bit. Regardless, Zoey did start to feel like an actual nuanced person, so overall I’d call it an improvement. 

If you like hateable enemies, this is your series. Book one had a very hateable incel-type antagonist, and this book has a whole organization of Zoey-hating incels. The threat is bigger, so you get more of the suits in action, plus the kind of antagonists you just love to hate, even though I simultaneously felt bad for some of them. 

Now for my main problem with the book: it gets frustrating. My favorite part of book one was the way the suits were always 3-5 steps ahead of everyone. In this one they often end up several steps behind because their opponents are different from the usual type, but they can’t let go of their preconceived ideas about what threats should look like to see what the current opponents are doing. As a result, fully 80% of the action that happens in this book was unnecessary and avoidable, and that was frustrating to me as a reader. Zoey even suggested early on that they investigate something that would have put them back ahead and avoided the unnecessary action but the suits brush her off. 

I did not enjoy this one quite as much as Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits, but it was still a lot of fun and a very enjoyable read. Book one just set a high bar that this one didn’t quite live up to. That doesn’t make it a bad book by any means – as I said, it was plenty of fun and I did enjoy it – I just think book one was better. 
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