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OVERVIEW: Los Angeles in 2050 is a city of open doors,
as long as you have the right connections. One of those connections is a
djinni—a smart device implanted right in a person’s head. In a world where
virtually everyone is online twenty-four hours a day, this connection is like
oxygen—and a world like that presents plenty of opportunities for someone who
knows how to manipulate it.
Marisa Carneseca is one of those people. She might spend her days in Mirador, the small, vibrant LA neighborhood where her family owns a restaurant, but she lives on the net—going to school, playing games, hanging out, or doing things of more questionable legality with her friends Sahara and Anja. And it’s Anja who first gets her hands on Bluescreen—a virtual drug that plugs right into a person’s djinni and delivers a massive, non-chemical, completely safe high. But in this city, when something sounds too good to be true, it usually is, and Mari and her friends soon find themselves in the middle of a conspiracy that is much bigger than they ever suspected.
Marisa Carneseca is one of those people. She might spend her days in Mirador, the small, vibrant LA neighborhood where her family owns a restaurant, but she lives on the net—going to school, playing games, hanging out, or doing things of more questionable legality with her friends Sahara and Anja. And it’s Anja who first gets her hands on Bluescreen—a virtual drug that plugs right into a person’s djinni and delivers a massive, non-chemical, completely safe high. But in this city, when something sounds too good to be true, it usually is, and Mari and her friends soon find themselves in the middle of a conspiracy that is much bigger than they ever suspected.
FORMAT: Bluescreen is the first novel in the
Mirador series. It is a YA dystopian, science fiction, cyberpunk novel that has
both action and a mystery. It is told from the third person point of view.
Bluescreen stands at 352 pages. It was released February 16,
2016 by Balzer & Bray.
ANALYSIS: We, as
a society, have this fascination with the thought that someday, we will be
glued to our computer/tablets/Internet 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This
theory is so popular that it seems to be the newest trend in science fiction.
Not that it is new, but just like Hunger Games style
writing, the science fiction world is now obsessed with a dystopian world where
everyone lives and breathes in a virtual reality world, as opposed to getting
up and living in the real world. Bluescreen, the first novel in a new
series by Dan Wells, attempts to jump on this trend.
Before even exploring Bluescreen, it should be said that
it isn't a novel for everyone. While the novel has elements of mystery and
action involved, there is a lot of focus on the gaming world. Even the first
few chapters of the book start out with the reader thrust into a virtual gaming
world (a first person shooter game). Gamers and some action lovers will enjoy
these scenes with the virtual reality game, but there are many that may believe
it is pointless and boggles down the pacing of the novel.
I, personally, didn't feel either way for the gaming scenes.
They do play a slight role later in the book, but I could have done with or
without them. People who aren't as thrilled with the gaming world, or those who
have no real knowledge of it may find these gaming scenes and the constant use
of technical terms boring and even confusing. But, the book's target audience
is probably teenage gamers, so it works for its target audience.
It does help that, while the gaming elements are
incorporated into the novel, the world that is developed isn't solely dependent
upon the virtual reality world. People still go out to clubs, dance, enjoy a
meal at a restaurant. Some cyberpunk novels try to portray a world where no one
leaves their home, no one interacts outside of the 'net', and I struggle to see
how that would happen.
One of the things I enjoyed about Bluescreen was, for the
most part, it painted a fairly accurate picture of what a futuristic world
might look like if society continued the way it does. Sometimes dystopian
novels try too hard to create a dull, depressing world. In the effort to create
this type of world, elements are left out and it is difficult for readers to
envision that type of world really happening.
Bluescreen's future I could picture happening. It got so
realistic and thought-provoking that it almost made me uncomfortable because
there were elements that were just so true, you could see how in several years
(20, 30 or more), the Bluescreen reality would be the
world we lived in.
There is one thing I want to note. The novel takes place 34
years in the future. I think it is a bit of a stretch to think all of this will
happen in 34 years. The actual year isn't too important to the novel, but it was
a minor detail that caught my eye. I
just really don't see the world being so virtual reality focused, people
walking around with data ports in their heads, and machine-like body parts
being created within the next 34 years.
Another strong aspect of Bluescreen that I really
enjoyed was the mystery element. It isn't an overly complex mystery and there
were certain aspects that I could have guessed right away, but it was enough to
keep me reading. The rather fast-paced style of the book also made it bearable.
I could easy read several chapters without realizing it.
Even though Bluescreen is a strong YA cyberpunk
novel, it isn't without its faults. First, the characters and how they were
portrayed. The secondary characters – Sahara and Anja frustrated me. One – Anja
– is an uber rich teenager who came across as very stuck up, oblivious to the
world around her, and just annoying. Sahara wasn't much better. She has this mysterious
past that isn't really revealed, but she is like the Kardashian of the novel.
She has reality TV show bots flying around her broadcasting everything 24/7 and
she is always dressed to perfection.
It would have been okay with an either or situation. Either
having this uber rich character or a self-absorbed Kardashian teen, but to have
both in one novel made it a bit frustrating. I would have really liked to see
the main character have a more realistic support system friend wise.
The secondary characters weren't the only ones that could be
a bit frustrating. The main character, Marisa, was overly frustrating to me.
She seemed to believe she lived in a world that because she was a hacker and
good at gaming, she was above any type of consequences or rules. At times she
came across as super self-absorbed, which wasn't a good trait for someone who
lived in a large family, and a bit condescending. Considering Marisa's family
wasn't super rich or famous, she tended to act like she was above everyone else
in the world and better than them.
Marisa's character changed a little bit towards the end, but
it wasn't enough to win me over. If anything, I think the characters and their
personality traits are probably the weakest part of this novel.
Another weakness of Bluescreen was the pacing of the
action. While the book was a quick read, the pacing of the action was a bit
uneven. The first half of the novel was filled with world building, virtual
reality/technology building and descriptions, and setting up the entire
situation for the big mystery at the end. At times it did feel as if focus was
placed on something pointless – running around a virtual reality game or
something similar – when it could have been devoted to something more
important.
The pacing of the novel does pick up after the half way
point, but it almost felt like too much was crammed into the end. It would have
been nice to have information/plot pacing come across a bit more even.
Despite the few flaws in Bluescreen, I found it
extremely enjoyable. It is obvious that it isn't a book for everyone and there
are plenty of things for people to not like (frustrating characters, overuse of
virtual reality gaming, the use of random Spanish words), but for the right
person it will be a worthwhile read.
I would highly recommend Bluescreen to anyone
looking to try out cyberpunk, as it is a light version of it and it has plenty
of other elements – mystery and action – to keep people entertained. I will
certainly be following this series to see where it goes.
12:00 AM | 
Posted by
Cindy |
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2 comments:
I wish the reviewer would elaborate on what she means by "random Spanish words..."
I would gladly elaborate on it. There were entire conversations where the main character who is Hispanic would randomly shove in Spanish words. There was no definition of the word, no context for it. It seemed very forced in a way that was like 'look this character is Hispanic and is a minority'.
Don't get me wrong, I am sure it happens, but there would be entire scenes where the main character spoke fluently and then when she was around other characters she shoved in the Spanish words.
I can find examples if you want, but I'd have to find the book.
The best example I can think of (this is not from the book) would be a character saying -
"I need to do my homework. Where is my libro?". Now in the previous scenes said character always called it a book, but now.. because she's with her friends she's calling it a libro because she's Hispanic.
If I had to guess, the biggest reason for this was because the character came across very whitewashed. If she hadn't been spouting out random Spanish, she read as a very standard white female character. The use of random Spanish helped convey (poorly) that the character was Hispanic.