Reviews

The storygraph question "Would you say the cast of characters is diverse?" is an example of how we are conditioned by the social norms after internet and smartphones. The author has foreseen this in 2007!

amcwater5's review against another edition

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challenging informative mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

A little bit dull and too convenient at points, the character development moved swiftly without any real consequences or challenge, a nice ending that somewhat tied the story together, not my style of writing but enjoyable enough.

_rusalka's review against another edition

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4.0

Ben Elton imagines a world where privacy has disappeared, and is actually punished. Every intimate detail of one's life must be published or streamed on Facebook-esq and You Tube-like mediums, or blogged about. Science and critical thinking are no more, with religion which glorifies the self ruling the world, as if God created us in his image, we are godlike and should worship ourselves and our urges. But also God chooses what happens to us and we should not control it with things like science, unless it's to make ourselves prettier of course, as God is love, so we should make ourselves more attractive to be more loved, thus celebrating God more. Also this means we should wear as little as possible to celebrate us and our body, as we are created in God's image, and we should love us, and others as they are in God's image, and so we should bonk everyone's brains out and broadcast it on the internet.

That. That confusion and head spinning feeling of contradiction. That hypocrisy oozes out of this book like some horrible sugary syrup they eat all the time (as you should treat your body with sugar all the time, as it is what you deserve. My pancreas hurt while reading this book) and covers you in that stickiness. It's just uncomfortable, and you just want to have a shower.

Because of this, you have a very likeable and relatable character in Trafford. Oh, he's naive and a bit simplistic, but he's goddamn trying. And I hope I would be too in that world. Although I would hope we would all realise and stop that world from occurring before it got there, but recently I have less hope in that. I'm not the biggest fan of Ben Elton, but I definitely enjoyed this one.

reachant's review against another edition

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4.0

This book had so many themes going on, and usually I’m not keen on that because one or themes isn’t done well, but this one tied them together very well. It was a scary dystopian scenario and went to the nature of humans. An excellent read for sure

beentsy's review against another edition

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3.0

Hmmmm, that really didn't end the way I thought it was going to. Not sure if I'm okay with that or not.

sayeeda's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

aline_16's review against another edition

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4.0

We sometimes forget that we have to stop and think about society and the rol we play in it. We also forget to think about ourselves and for what we stand for and in what we believe. This book will make you stop and think about those things. Because our life and society might not be as far as from the one in the book as we think.

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