Book Review: BZRK

As a huge fan of Michael Grant's Gone series, I was pretty excited to discover BZRK. 

As I mentioned in my last review, I'm pretty terrible with summaries, so let's leave it to the experts at Amazon:

Set in the near future, BZRK is the story of a war for control of the human mind. Charles and Benjamin Armstrong, conjoined twins and owners of the Armstrong Fancy Gifts Corporation, have a goal: to turn the world into their vision of utopia. No wars, no conflict, no hunger. And no free will. Opposing them is a guerrilla group of teens, code name BZRK, who are fighting to protect the right to be messed up, to be human. This is no ordinary war, though. Weapons are deployed on the nano-level. The battleground is the human brain. And there are no stalemates here: It's victory. . .or madness.

BZRK unfolds with hurricane force around core themes of conspiracy and mystery, insanity and changing realities, engagement and empowerment, and the larger impact of personal choice. Which side would you choose? How far would you go to win? 

via Goodreads

When one is a fan of YA, as I am, it is almost impossible not to run into an almost disappointingly easy to read writing style, a tone that is simplified for its targeted audience* - take note, folks: that is not the case here.

The subject matter is very scientific and engineer-y with heavy emphasis on nanotechnology and robotics. Although fascinating, it can be really hard to follow along with, especially because there's little to no introduction. The Gone series had a similar set-up (or lack thereof), so while I wasn't necessarily surprised, I definitely had a few, "wait, what just happened?" moments that caused me to go back and re-read. 

Another aspect of the book that I've come to recognize as a part of Grant's style is switching between character points of view. As was the case with the previous series, there are a myriad of different characters, each with shared as well as personal storylines. Each character gets his or own time to shine and we learn the background of the supporting cast as well as those who could be deemed the main characters. Although it's written entirely in third person narrative, readers are following along with what is happening to Vincent the same time something else is happening to Plath as Keats is across town dealing with something else entirely. While not really a negative aspect, I again had to go back and re-read a few things, or actively think it all out to myself to ensure I was following along correctly. To the author's credit, though, there is a glossary included so you can keep the characters and terminology straight if you'd like to use it as a reference.

My final lasting impression: this shit was gross. I'm a squeamish person to begin with, but phrases like "in the meat" (ew), in-depth descriptions of a teeny tiny thing crawling across dead skin (ew) and what an eyeball looks like from a standing-on-it viewpoint (ew!) definitely had a shiver and scrunched up nose effect on me.

I have the second novel in the trilogy downloaded and waiting for me so I'm going to continue with the series, but it definitely wasn't Immersion At First Sight like I felt with the Gone series. I'm intrigued, but I'm not quite able to lose myself because I have to pay attention. Maybe now that I (think I) have the stories and characters straight, I can get into the second one, but this one gets a B-, I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it, but I wouldn't advise against it, either. 

Recently Read: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Up Next: BZRK Reloaded by Michael Grant

* although, thanks in part to the prevalence of hits like The Fault in Our Stars, YA books are not just for young adults anymore. My vote: a book is a book. As long as we're reading, I'm all for it.