Antony's Library #7 - Escapology by Ren Warom
Started Reading: 1st July 2016
Finished Reading: 9th August 2016
Number of Pages: 320
Published: June 2016
This review may contain spoilers. You have been warned!
There are a few reasons why I chose to read this book. Firstly, it is a newly published one, I actually found out about it in one of those "new releases" e-mails back in June, and pre-ordered it then.
I liked the idea that virtual reality appeared to be a central plot point. I have had an interest in VR recently so I was interested to see it in a fictional context.
I also found out that it was a 'cyber-punk' book. I have never actually heard of this genre and so I was interested in finding out what it was like.
I went through a couple of phases whilst reading this book. I started off absolutely hating it. Regretting my decision but pushing on, I began to look past the complex terminology and confusing descriptions and actually really enjoyed the story itself and become invested in the characters.
I think that I am the type of reader that needs every detail laid out in front of me otherwise I begin questioning things and this makes me enjoy a book less.
It took me a while to work out that IM is a kind of voiceless mental message to other people, that everyone has a drive in their head and a port to it in the back of their skull. A lot of the opening pages make a lot more sense with this knowledge. I still don't fully understand what Blading is.
I really enjoyed Amigas character. She is sort of like Hitman's Agent 47, except she has feelings and hates what she does.
Another thing that I enjoyed is the pacing of the plot. Often, stories that have many different parties with their subplots, end up not tying them together until the final part, whereas by the 40% mark in this book, we already knew how they all linked together. This limited the amount of pointless subplot and kept the main plot moving along nicely.
Overall, I liked this book. I enjoyed the computer programming elements and the way these were mapped onto a virtual world where the code was actually living. I found myself lost to begin with, however as I went on, found myself fully engaged with the plot and characters.
Next Book
Decided to go for a much lighter book this time and one that is a proven classic: Michael Morpergo's The Sleeping Sword. I know it's a children's book, but I think it will be nice to have a lighter read for the holiday.