by Cory Doctorow
416 pages (paperback edition)
416 pages (paperback edition)
ebook edition read on my phone
When I got my new Droid phone in May I immediately realized that I could read books on it - woohoo! The first thing I downloaded was this book and once I started reading I realized that with all the technology in there, it was the perfect book to read on an eReader.High school student Marcus is out with his buddies when the world goes crazy. A terrorist group bombs the Bay Bridge in San Fransisco and homeland-security-types immediately begin arresting people left and right. Marcus and his pals feel that the security forces are quickly becoming worse than the terrorists with all the insane controls they put on the city so they decide to (clandestinely) fight back using all the technological savvy they have at their disposal.
I LOVED the first half of this book and recommend it to several friends. But then I got to the middle and I felt like Doctorow went off on too much of a political rant. The end was a bit better, but not nearly as good as the beginning. I did enjoy reading it but it could have been much, much better in my opinion.
9 comments:
I wanted to read this after seeing him speak at BEA. I still might, but maybe not rush right out for it ;)
Also, I'm hosting a couple of giveaways and one of them is for children's/audio schwag that I thought you and Kiddo would love. (There's also a big kids book giveaway too :).
http://homebetweenpages.com
I have a blackberry and I think there is an app for books but I can't see me using it. It's just too tiny for me to read for a long period of time. I would love to give the ipad a try for books. *swoon*
m
This has been on my list for some time now, but SwapTree doesn't have it; BookMooch doesn't have it; none of the libraries around me have a copy; and I'm on a book buying ban. :) Eventually I'll get around to reading it.
homebetweenpages - I met him at BEA while I was still in the best part of this book - it was so much fun to meet an author that I was then enjoying so much! And thanks for letting me know about your contest - I'll be over to check it out as soon as I can.
monica - yeah, I think the blackberry would be a bit TOO small for my taste as well. My Droid's screen is not really that bad though.
Trisha - Doctorow is all about liberal copyright law so there are free downloads of the ebook in several places online. If you have an ereader (or can read on your computer, which I generally can't) you should look for it that way!
When I got my nook, the first book I bought was one on how the internet is changing our brains. It seemed like a good ebook to start with -- this one seems appropriate too :) Too bad it wasn't quite as good as you hoped it would be.
I honestly couldn't get into this one. I tried reading it back in November but I felt like it was talking down to the reader. Maybe that's just because I know lots about computers, which would definitely not make me the target audience I suppose...
I heard Doctorow speak at the author breakfast and thought he was fascinating - I didn't get to meet him, though. I still want to try one of his books.
Kim - Funny how we both did the same kind of thing - I guess we enjoy the irony of it all. :)
Amanda - I didn't get the "talking down" vibe but I definitely got the political rant vibe ...
bermudaonion - I wouldn't NOT recommend this one, so don't write it off on my account.
Oh. Shame about the second half. I have this book on my TBR pile and was hoping to get around to it before Lenore's dystopian August..
Post a Comment