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A review by blueloris
Proxy by Alex London
3.0
Ok, so on the one hand, I read this very fast and definitely was interested to see where it was going. However, the farther along I got, the less interested I was.
Proxy is yet another take on the "this is the future and it sucks" theme so prevalent right now. In a nutshell, there's only the very rich and the very poor, so rich "patrons" hire "proxies" to take their punishments for them; in this way proxies can then pay off part of the debt that virtually every poor person is burdened with.
Which brings me to our teen hero, Syd. He's been under contract to his patron, Knox, since they were kids, and unfortunately Knox is a jerk who gets in trouble all the time which leads to copious amounts of corporal punishment for poor Syd, who nevertheless, still has years of debt to pay off. But this time Knox has gone too far, and Syd's about to be shipped off to a labor camp, but through a series of lucky escapes and coincidences, Syd and Knox end up going on the lam.
This is where the book started to lose me and I find I can't write about it without spoilers galore so.
For a world in which high tech security and data literally streams in everyone's blood, it's pretty darn easy for Knox (conveniently a skilled hacker) and Syd to continually elude their trackers. Especially after Syd has made the boneheaded move of going STRAIGHT TO HIS HOME to warn his surrogate father, Mr. Baram, that he's in trouble.
But lo, Mr. Baram has a secret! He's been helping Syd all these years because Syd is the key to the revolution that will liberate the people from debt and oppression. There's a rebel camp that Syd needs to find in order to set this revolution in motion, so he helps Syd, Knox, and a girl who's been aiding them get away. The journey to the camp is treacherous, they almost die several times, but finally, finally, they make it to the camp, where.... Mr. Baram greets them.
Um, hey Mr. Baram, how'd you get there so fast and maybe you could've brought Syd with you instead of leaving him to deal with bandits, the desert and a flash flood. And actually, while we're at it, why did you wait until special savior Syd almost died at the hands of his patron before you sent him off to do his world saving?
Anyway, plot holes aside, we come to the twist that anyone who's seen Buffy probably already guessed, and while I like the idea in theory, it doesn't have much of an emotional impact because the character development/motivation all around has been lacking.
But in some ways, the most important thing about this book isn't the world-building or the twists and turns; it's that the main character is gay. I found this extremely refreshing, especially because while there's some homophobia throughout, Syd being gay isn't the point of the book. He's the hero, he's the key to changing the world, and he also happens to be gay.
So here's hoping that he'll get a love interest in the sequel, which yes, despite my misgivings, I'll probably read.
Proxy is yet another take on the "this is the future and it sucks" theme so prevalent right now. In a nutshell, there's only the very rich and the very poor, so rich "patrons" hire "proxies" to take their punishments for them; in this way proxies can then pay off part of the debt that virtually every poor person is burdened with.
Which brings me to our teen hero, Syd. He's been under contract to his patron, Knox, since they were kids, and unfortunately Knox is a jerk who gets in trouble all the time which leads to copious amounts of corporal punishment for poor Syd, who nevertheless, still has years of debt to pay off. But this time Knox has gone too far, and Syd's about to be shipped off to a labor camp, but through a series of lucky escapes and coincidences, Syd and Knox end up going on the lam.
This is where the book started to lose me and I find I can't write about it without spoilers galore so.
Spoiler
For a world in which high tech security and data literally streams in everyone's blood, it's pretty darn easy for Knox (conveniently a skilled hacker) and Syd to continually elude their trackers. Especially after Syd has made the boneheaded move of going STRAIGHT TO HIS HOME to warn his surrogate father, Mr. Baram, that he's in trouble.
But lo, Mr. Baram has a secret! He's been helping Syd all these years because Syd is the key to the revolution that will liberate the people from debt and oppression. There's a rebel camp that Syd needs to find in order to set this revolution in motion, so he helps Syd, Knox, and a girl who's been aiding them get away. The journey to the camp is treacherous, they almost die several times, but finally, finally, they make it to the camp, where.... Mr. Baram greets them.
Um, hey Mr. Baram, how'd you get there so fast and maybe you could've brought Syd with you instead of leaving him to deal with bandits, the desert and a flash flood. And actually, while we're at it, why did you wait until special savior Syd almost died at the hands of his patron before you sent him off to do his world saving?
Anyway, plot holes aside, we come to the twist that anyone who's seen Buffy probably already guessed, and while I like the idea in theory, it doesn't have much of an emotional impact because the character development/motivation all around has been lacking.
But in some ways, the most important thing about this book isn't the world-building or the twists and turns; it's that the main character is gay. I found this extremely refreshing, especially because while there's some homophobia throughout, Syd being gay isn't the point of the book. He's the hero, he's the key to changing the world, and he also happens to be gay.
So here's hoping that he'll get a love interest in the sequel, which yes, despite my misgivings, I'll probably read.