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smitchy's review against another edition
4.0
This is a book I will definitely recommend to school teachers and librarians. It deals with questions of nature vs nurture / bio tech / environment / corporate responsibility / profit vs people and how we as a society define "special". There is no clear-cut solution in this story which would encourage class debate and it shows more than one perspective of the issues; all through the experience of the protagonist Fern.
The future dystopian world depicted here is not that hard to imagine given the influence of major corporations today and, sadly, the environmental damage isn't that hard to imagine either. I won't go into the plot (I am sure other reviewers will do so) but I will predict that this title will end up on the school curriculum at some point in the future.
The future dystopian world depicted here is not that hard to imagine given the influence of major corporations today and, sadly, the environmental damage isn't that hard to imagine either. I won't go into the plot (I am sure other reviewers will do so) but I will predict that this title will end up on the school curriculum at some point in the future.
thelisafraser's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
lawbooks600's review against another edition
2.0
Trigger warnings: Death of a character
5/10, looking back at this book I'm surprised that I once gave this book four stars but this book misses the mark in terms of dystopian science fiction novels. The plot itself lost its intrigue as it got more boring as I read through the book and there were some unexplained questions in the worldbuilding as well. It was essentially about a genetically made and enhanced girl called Delia Greene but she said that that isn't her real name I don't know what it is yet so that was confusing. I think the reason why she was made was because she wasn't one of those elite genetically engineered people and the company who made her didn't want her so instead she was a prize for whoever got her hence the name Lotto Girl which was strange. Delia was working in a factory when someone died and then she escaped to some orphanage to live there for a while and live her life there and then she goes back to the recycling factory because she likes working there and that is it. The world in the book is slightly intriguing but not enough for me to fully immerse in it since all I remember is the genetically engineered people, the screens in the sky and the equivalent of using the Internet with a virtual private network but I forgot what they called that in that book which was a shame since the author could have done a much better job on that but instead, it was underutilised. If you like an obscure book this one is for you but there are better ones similar to this like Divergent by Veronica Roth and The Selection by Kiera Cass.
5/10, looking back at this book I'm surprised that I once gave this book four stars but this book misses the mark in terms of dystopian science fiction novels. The plot itself lost its intrigue as it got more boring as I read through the book and there were some unexplained questions in the worldbuilding as well. It was essentially about a genetically made and enhanced girl called Delia Greene but she said that that isn't her real name I don't know what it is yet so that was confusing. I think the reason why she was made was because she wasn't one of those elite genetically engineered people and the company who made her didn't want her so instead she was a prize for whoever got her hence the name Lotto Girl which was strange. Delia was working in a factory when someone died and then she escaped to some orphanage to live there for a while and live her life there and then she goes back to the recycling factory because she likes working there and that is it. The world in the book is slightly intriguing but not enough for me to fully immerse in it since all I remember is the genetically engineered people, the screens in the sky and the equivalent of using the Internet with a virtual private network but I forgot what they called that in that book which was a shame since the author could have done a much better job on that but instead, it was underutilised. If you like an obscure book this one is for you but there are better ones similar to this like Divergent by Veronica Roth and The Selection by Kiera Cass.
dani_bugz's review against another edition
2.0
This was not good.
There was nothing original about the plotline, the characters were boring as all hell, the world building sucked balls, the pacing was all over the place, nothing made sense and I was just left frustrated and annoyed by the end of this book. The first quarter showed intrigue and I was sucked in a little. The second quarter was boring but hey, I wanted to know what was happening. It wasn't until I got halfway in that I realised nothing was going to change and this was a waste of my life. So I skipped until the last 5 chapters and - lo and behold - it WAS a worthless waste of my time!
The only reason it gets a 2 star rating is because I finished it. Otherwise it would be 1 star all the way.
Would not recommend.
There was nothing original about the plotline, the characters were boring as all hell, the world building sucked balls, the pacing was all over the place, nothing made sense and I was just left frustrated and annoyed by the end of this book. The first quarter showed intrigue and I was sucked in a little. The second quarter was boring but hey, I wanted to know what was happening. It wasn't until I got halfway in that I realised nothing was going to change and this was a waste of my life. So I skipped until the last 5 chapters and - lo and behold - it WAS a worthless waste of my time!
The only reason it gets a 2 star rating is because I finished it. Otherwise it would be 1 star all the way.
Would not recommend.
felixsanchez's review against another edition
1.0
Dystopian isn't my thing, but I wanted to read a contemporary Australian author. Unfortunately this didn't do much for me.
None of the characters had terribly defining features (except for what they were good at; music, maths, communications etc., but I wouldn't count that), which made the story beige and not connect as much (or at all, really). They were severely underdeveloped and just, well, boring.
The plot had a pretty hackneyed message; watch out for technology, it'll go too far. That's partly why dystopian isn't my thing, so that isn't Blain's fault. It all gets pretty repetitive. Regardless, this particular dystopia was, again, underdeveloped and not fleshed out at all. There was little to no explanation of what certain companies were, why they were there, were they corrupt and why? Perhaps this was an intended 'style', but it didn't work in this case.
I found the narrator/protagonist incredibly boring and annoying. She, like all the other characters, had no personality and just seemed to do this. Her relationship with Chimo felt incredibly set-up and forced and overall sudden; she'd been in quite a hostile and ever-changing environment, without contact to boys, so why did she suddenly fall in love?
There were mumblings of corruption occasionally, but these led nowhere and ended up making no sense. Given that this world is so corrupt, and we have so many corrupt corporations, it would've made more sense in a dystopia like this. The characters seemed to change their minds very suddenly about which corporations they were trusting, so the reader never really knew who/what to trust and why.
A lot of the problems were a chain reaction. The overarching thing was the underdevelopment of plot and characters, which led to doubt about their choices or motivations, the environment, and the situation entirely.
Toward the end you could see what Blain was trying to touch on - that technology cannot create people, it's a nature and nurture thing - but it was so brief that I was disappointed. She clearly wanted the whole novel to be about it, but it did not come through clearly at all. Perhaps that is partly my bias toward dystopia, but I think that argument/idea is actually pretty good, and somewhat of an original idea in the whole dystopian fiction world. I would've loved to see that a key central player in the novel, and more obviously so.
None of the characters had terribly defining features (except for what they were good at; music, maths, communications etc., but I wouldn't count that), which made the story beige and not connect as much (or at all, really). They were severely underdeveloped and just, well, boring.
The plot had a pretty hackneyed message; watch out for technology, it'll go too far. That's partly why dystopian isn't my thing, so that isn't Blain's fault. It all gets pretty repetitive. Regardless, this particular dystopia was, again, underdeveloped and not fleshed out at all. There was little to no explanation of what certain companies were, why they were there, were they corrupt and why? Perhaps this was an intended 'style', but it didn't work in this case.
I found the narrator/protagonist incredibly boring and annoying. She, like all the other characters, had no personality and just seemed to do this. Her relationship with Chimo felt incredibly set-up and forced and overall sudden; she'd been in quite a hostile and ever-changing environment, without contact to boys, so why did she suddenly fall in love?
There were mumblings of corruption occasionally, but these led nowhere and ended up making no sense. Given that this world is so corrupt, and we have so many corrupt corporations, it would've made more sense in a dystopia like this. The characters seemed to change their minds very suddenly about which corporations they were trusting, so the reader never really knew who/what to trust and why.
A lot of the problems were a chain reaction. The overarching thing was the underdevelopment of plot and characters, which led to doubt about their choices or motivations, the environment, and the situation entirely.
Toward the end you could see what Blain was trying to touch on - that technology cannot create people, it's a nature and nurture thing - but it was so brief that I was disappointed. She clearly wanted the whole novel to be about it, but it did not come through clearly at all. Perhaps that is partly my bias toward dystopia, but I think that argument/idea is actually pretty good, and somewhat of an original idea in the whole dystopian fiction world. I would've loved to see that a key central player in the novel, and more obviously so.
brona's review
3.0
In Special, Georgia Blain imagines a world not too far removed from what is possible now.
A world before 'The Breakdown'.
A world where data is the new currency and where genetic modification is the norm. For some.
For everything has a price. Even our individual identity.
Especially our individual identity.
A world where being special isn't all its cracked up to be.
http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com.au/2016/02/special-by-georgia-blain.html?m=1
A world before 'The Breakdown'.
A world where data is the new currency and where genetic modification is the norm. For some.
For everything has a price. Even our individual identity.
Especially our individual identity.
A world where being special isn't all its cracked up to be.
http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com.au/2016/02/special-by-georgia-blain.html?m=1
greerd's review
3.0
A three-way cross between [b:Never Let Me Go|6334|Never Let Me Go|Kazuo Ishiguro|http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1353048590s/6334.jpg|1499998], Gattaca, and Scott Westerfeld’s [b:Uglies|24770|Uglies (Uglies, #1)|Scott Westerfeld|http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1443904172s/24770.jpg|2895388] series.
Fern is a ‘Lotto Girl’, her impoverished parents having won the ability to craft a genetically-specialised child. This is a world where people are owned and housed by corporations, where most people live in slums and struggle to survive, where currency has been replaced by ill-defined “data”, and the ultimate punishment is “datawiping” - a sort of identity theft and banishment that kills many who incur it.
Fern herself is far from perfect; spoiled, arrogant, and pleasingly naive, she nevertheless has sufficient survival skills to keep me from becoming completely frustrated with her.
There’s not a lot of infodumping here. This world is gradually fleshed out through a mix of current chapters and flashbacks to Fern’s childhood. By the end I felt like I still had more to learn about this world and I wanted a sequel - but I think this is meant to be a standalone novel.
I enjoyed this book as I read it, but looking back it’s very light on plot and explanations. If dystopian sci-fi isn’t already your interest, you might struggle to see it through. Overall, this book feels... light. Blain has created a world riddled with social evils and moral questions, but never delves deeply enough into the issues she raises. Genetic modification, nature vs nurture, rampant capitalism, classism and poverty - the setting demands more detail, and again I’m surprised that there’s no sequel.
For me, three stars. I enjoyed reading it, it was just... lacking.
Fern is a ‘Lotto Girl’, her impoverished parents having won the ability to craft a genetically-specialised child. This is a world where people are owned and housed by corporations, where most people live in slums and struggle to survive, where currency has been replaced by ill-defined “data”, and the ultimate punishment is “datawiping” - a sort of identity theft and banishment that kills many who incur it.
Fern herself is far from perfect; spoiled, arrogant, and pleasingly naive, she nevertheless has sufficient survival skills to keep me from becoming completely frustrated with her.
There’s not a lot of infodumping here. This world is gradually fleshed out through a mix of current chapters and flashbacks to Fern’s childhood. By the end I felt like I still had more to learn about this world and I wanted a sequel - but I think this is meant to be a standalone novel.
I enjoyed this book as I read it, but looking back it’s very light on plot and explanations. If dystopian sci-fi isn’t already your interest, you might struggle to see it through. Overall, this book feels... light. Blain has created a world riddled with social evils and moral questions, but never delves deeply enough into the issues she raises. Genetic modification, nature vs nurture, rampant capitalism, classism and poverty - the setting demands more detail, and again I’m surprised that there’s no sequel.
For me, three stars. I enjoyed reading it, it was just... lacking.
calissa's review
This book is an entry in the Aurealis Awards for 2016, for which I am a judge. Any review will be withheld until the results of the awards are announced.
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