When Sadie witnesses the private jet in which her father and brother are flying crash into the packed football stadium where she is also present, and narrowly escapes with her life, she might think that the world can't get any crazier. Yet, without any time to grieve the loss of her only remaining close family, she is thrust into the middle of a global conflict. One that involves nanobots and microscopic biots being used to fight for control over the minds of the world's most important figures. While BZRK, a resistance group, fights for sustained freewill and freedom, the Armstrong twins head a movement towards a collective human identity, which will make free will a thing of the past but also, they promise, will bring universal happiness.
| BZRK by Michael Grant | |
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| Category: Teens | |
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Reviewer: Nigethan Sathiyalingam
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| Summary: Based on a contemporary and exciting concept, Michael Grant's slick hard-hitting writing makes 400 pages fly past incredibly quickly and will leave you wanting more. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 416 | Date: February 2012 |
| Publisher: Electric Monkey | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1405259934 | |
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BRZK make use of biots, microscopic organisms that are permanently connected to the brain of their controller and can be controlled telepathically, while the other side use nanobots, which are essentially tiny remote controlled robots. While biots are stronger and more intuitive, a person using biots also runs the risk of insanity if their biot is killed, due to the intrinsic link between them. This technology can be used not only to spy on people, but also to rewire their brains and manipulate the way they think and act. Intense visceral fight scenes take place simultaneously at a normal physical scale and at a microscopic level, with fighters having to focus both on the input from their biots, as well as their own eyes. It takes a little while to get the hang of following the narrative which rapidly alternates between the two points of view, but the way in which it is written helps to convey, more than anything else, the confusion and disorientation of focusing on two perspectives simultaneously, especially when one displays the world at such a microscopic level, that it appears vast and alien.
Along with Sadie, there is a second newcomer to BRZK in Noah, who gets dragged into the chaos when he tries to discover the cause behind his ex-soldier brother's madness. The book wouldn't have worked without the narrative voices of Sadie and Noah as relatively ordinary newcomers to the conflict, allowing readers to gradually develop an understanding of the technology, the context and the jargon, alongside Sadie and Noah. However, a lack of any real backstory for either of them as well as a lack of chemistry to make their relationship believable, results in the two being rather weak protagonists. Fortunately, the rest of the characters more than make up for the relative blandness of the central pairing. The Armstrong twins, highly intelligent and ambitious, are conjoined with three eyes between them; of the people they employ, very few actually share their rather twisted vision for the future, with their most skilled player, Bug Man, being a power-hungry immature teen while their next best is a troubled opium addict. BZRK isn't exactly filled with the most wholesome of characters either. Vincent, the de facto leader of the group, suffers from anhedonia, a disorder that leaves him unable to experience pleasure, and has no qualms with murder if he deems it necessary. Wilkes is a disturbingly aggressive tough girl, while the enforcer of their group, Caligula, is a ruthless and enigmatic figure.
If you're feeling a little confused right now, then you're not alone. Having devoured the book in a single breathless sitting I'm still not entirely sure about exactly what was going on. From the very first page I found myself caught up in the thrill of the action and the intrigue of the plot. However, it took me a little longer to understand exactly what was going on, and the sudden nature of the conclusion means that there are plenty of loose strands that need to be addressed in the rest of the series. The idea of controlling bots that are fighting inside the brain of a person is incredibly cool and Michael Grant really makes the concept come alive with his vivid descriptions of the view from a microscopic scale. Furthermore, the idea of nanotechnology being used in this way is scarily plausible when you consider the level of research and progress that has been made in the field of nanotechnology in recent years, and the author's attention to detail and efforts to maintain realism really enhance this effect.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to The Bookbag. We also have a review of Monster (The Monster Series) by Michael Grant.
If you enjoyed the hard-hitting action-packed writing of Michael Grant in BRZK, you will love his epic science fiction series, which starts with Gone. Meanwhile, Colony by J A Henderson is similarly tense and pacy, and deals with the horrific potential of biological warfare.
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You can read more book reviews or buy BZRK by Michael Grant at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy BZRK by Michael Grant at Amazon.com.
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