djinnia's review against another edition
5.0
OH MY GOODNESS! This is fantastic! As my friend (who read this first since i was in a middle of another book) said to me, "It's like reading an anime!" I wholeheartedly agree.
It was an amazing near-future, semi-dystopian, sci-fi adventure. I was impressed with the book. I loved it! I'm so happy to have won the second book here!
World War III isn't fought on Earth. It's fought in space, and corporations are the driving force.
The protaganist, Tom, is fantastic at VR games. He's approached and recruited by General Marsh to fight in it.
As the book progresses, we see the rivalries and friendships between the students and CAMCO fighters and with the military.
Tom meets with Medusa, an enemy, and is driven to fight with this highly skilled combatant.
This book was fast-paced and a joy to read.
I highly recomend it.
It was an amazing near-future, semi-dystopian, sci-fi adventure. I was impressed with the book. I loved it! I'm so happy to have won the second book here!
World War III isn't fought on Earth. It's fought in space, and corporations are the driving force.
The protaganist, Tom, is fantastic at VR games. He's approached and recruited by General Marsh to fight in it.
As the book progresses, we see the rivalries and friendships between the students and CAMCO fighters and with the military.
Tom meets with Medusa, an enemy, and is driven to fight with this highly skilled combatant.
Spoiler
They form an unlikely friendship in the VR game rooms.This book was fast-paced and a joy to read.
I highly recomend it.
jlove731's review against another edition
5.0
Insignia is such a refreshing and thrilling take on a futuristic story. It's stimulating and intoxicating. You'll literally want to jump right into the world and plug your brain in.
Tom Raines life is anything but easy. His mother left his family for some big wig, his father has gambled everything away, and Tom struggles to have a place to stay every night. That's where games come in. He's one the best gamers and he knows it. So he uses it to his advantage to keep him and his father afloat. Then, Tom is noticed by the military and asked to join. A military which is now fought by simulations and gamers in space. Tom sees it as a way to finally dig himself out of the rut he's in, a way to finally be somebody important... So he accepts the offer. He soon starts to find out the worlds secrets and that he may be more valuable then he could have ever imagined.
Once this book starts getting going, it really takes off. It's a futuristic book unlike any you've read about. Can you imagine a world war three where humans don't do the actual fighting, but rather human controlled devices on another planet do. To be able to plug yourself into a simulation with out consequences to your physical self and download anything you need to learn over night? All the thought processes for the computer systems, the simulations, the corporations that went into making this book was truly fascinating.
The character as well were unique in a sense that they weren't the typical characters we normally read about. Tom isn't handsome. He's geeky, scrawny, and has to fend for himself until he goes to the Pentagonal Spire that is. Then we watch him turn into his true potential. We see his skill, his defiance, his viciousness, and overall his talent turned into something brilliant. His friends are very diverse as well. Vik definitely brings comic relief to the story, where Wyatt is reserved but completely bad ass in her own way. Honestly, I'm hoping to see a lot more of Wyatt in the future, I really liked her character and the skills she brought to the table. Even Medusa caught my eye, and I enjoyed diving into her brain as Tom did.
There's a lot of characters in this book other than the few I've mentioned. Some you'll love and others you'll want to surely strangle at times. But, they're all apart of this extremely technological world and all have their own parts to the story.
Insignia is a longer book, but after the first one hundred pages I found myself devouring the rest of the book. It's so easy to get caught up in all the possibilities this book presents and all the struggles these characters are faced with. It's truly a fresh look on a virtual world. One that will have you laughing at times, awed in others, and overall just enjoying the thrills and twists of the book.
Tom Raines life is anything but easy. His mother left his family for some big wig, his father has gambled everything away, and Tom struggles to have a place to stay every night. That's where games come in. He's one the best gamers and he knows it. So he uses it to his advantage to keep him and his father afloat. Then, Tom is noticed by the military and asked to join. A military which is now fought by simulations and gamers in space. Tom sees it as a way to finally dig himself out of the rut he's in, a way to finally be somebody important... So he accepts the offer. He soon starts to find out the worlds secrets and that he may be more valuable then he could have ever imagined.
Once this book starts getting going, it really takes off. It's a futuristic book unlike any you've read about. Can you imagine a world war three where humans don't do the actual fighting, but rather human controlled devices on another planet do. To be able to plug yourself into a simulation with out consequences to your physical self and download anything you need to learn over night? All the thought processes for the computer systems, the simulations, the corporations that went into making this book was truly fascinating.
The character as well were unique in a sense that they weren't the typical characters we normally read about. Tom isn't handsome. He's geeky, scrawny, and has to fend for himself until he goes to the Pentagonal Spire that is. Then we watch him turn into his true potential. We see his skill, his defiance, his viciousness, and overall his talent turned into something brilliant. His friends are very diverse as well. Vik definitely brings comic relief to the story, where Wyatt is reserved but completely bad ass in her own way. Honestly, I'm hoping to see a lot more of Wyatt in the future, I really liked her character and the skills she brought to the table. Even Medusa caught my eye, and I enjoyed diving into her brain as Tom did.
There's a lot of characters in this book other than the few I've mentioned. Some you'll love and others you'll want to surely strangle at times. But, they're all apart of this extremely technological world and all have their own parts to the story.
Insignia is a longer book, but after the first one hundred pages I found myself devouring the rest of the book. It's so easy to get caught up in all the possibilities this book presents and all the struggles these characters are faced with. It's truly a fresh look on a virtual world. One that will have you laughing at times, awed in others, and overall just enjoying the thrills and twists of the book.
maria_elisabeth's review against another edition
3.0
Started so good, I was having Warcross and Ready Player One vibes from it!
But I felt that it might have been too long for me, as a non-sci-fi reader
But I felt that it might have been too long for me, as a non-sci-fi reader
bokbubblan's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 stjärnor. Eller vi kanske ger den en femma ändå. Den vann mig helt över på slutet.
Jag älskar den här boken! Den är rolig och hon lyckas på ett alldeles naturligt och icke-forserande sätt att plantera in intärna skämt. Inte för att glömma att händelserna genom hela boken har en tendens att vara helt absurt underbara. Karaktärerna är många, men de som det ligger fokus på är roliga och vitsiga.
Jag älskar den här boken! Den är rolig och hon lyckas på ett alldeles naturligt och icke-forserande sätt att plantera in intärna skämt. Inte för att glömma att händelserna genom hela boken har en tendens att vara helt absurt underbara. Karaktärerna är många, men de som det ligger fokus på är roliga och vitsiga.
chelsea_jack's review against another edition
4.0
Ender's Game comparisons are unavoidable. It's very much a more modern, YA version. I was compelled enough to immediately snag the next two books in the series.
There is something really *horrifying* about the basic premise of the book, and I was very much on tenterhooks because of that.
There is something really *horrifying* about the basic premise of the book, and I was very much on tenterhooks because of that.
carstensena's review against another edition
4.0
Exceeded my expectations. A lot of interesting things going on here, but the simulations were the highlight.
venusfawn's review against another edition
4.0
I didn’t know if I’d be able to enjoy reading a book written from the POV of a fourteen year old, but I actually really liked this book. Tom had his moments where I wanted to throttle him but he was a believable character and I liked him most of the time. The premise of the book managed to not come off as a complete mess of cliche and cheesiness, with enough action to keep me interested and a lot of comedic scenes as well. My favorite character by far was Vik, the Spicy Indian. Everyone who was a teenager was a believable one without being too obnoxious (mostly) and even all the time set in classrooms and training managed to be fun and engaging instead of boring me to death.
All around, hats off to Kincaid for this.
All around, hats off to Kincaid for this.
novelheartbeat's review against another edition
DNF @ 80 pages
I had tried to read this once before and couldn't get into it. It's been a couple years, so I wanted to try again - this time I downloaded the audio, because it's narrated by Lincoln Hoppe and I loved him in Illuminae and Aurora Rising.
Sadly, that was literally the only thing about this book that I remotely liked. I didn't like the prose, the tone, or the main character. Or any of the characters, actually. It looked good on the surface, with plenty of diversity and characters that I should have liked, but I just didn't. I think the sophomoric tone/writing really ruined everything for me. It also felt exactly like every other generic dystopian I've ever read. It didn't bring anything new or exciting to the dystopian table, which made me not want to continue. I saw a couple people comparing it to Ender's Game, which I hated, so maybe that's another one of my issues. It really did feel like Ender's Game all over again.
Then, as if I wasn't already feeling apathetic enough, there was an exercise/training simulation in which "Japanese ronins came rushing out." That's right. Ronins. (In case you're unfamiliar with Japanese culture, the plural form of ronin is, in fact, RONIN.) How TF did that pass editing and publication? My eye twitched every time it was repeated and it was just too much for me.
I had tried to read this once before and couldn't get into it. It's been a couple years, so I wanted to try again - this time I downloaded the audio, because it's narrated by Lincoln Hoppe and I loved him in Illuminae and Aurora Rising.
Sadly, that was literally the only thing about this book that I remotely liked. I didn't like the prose, the tone, or the main character. Or any of the characters, actually. It looked good on the surface, with plenty of diversity and characters that I should have liked, but I just didn't. I think the sophomoric tone/writing really ruined everything for me. It also felt exactly like every other generic dystopian I've ever read. It didn't bring anything new or exciting to the dystopian table, which made me not want to continue. I saw a couple people comparing it to Ender's Game, which I hated, so maybe that's another one of my issues. It really did feel like Ender's Game all over again.
Then, as if I wasn't already feeling apathetic enough, there was an exercise/training simulation in which "Japanese ronins came rushing out." That's right. Ronins. (In case you're unfamiliar with Japanese culture, the plural form of ronin is, in fact, RONIN.) How TF did that pass editing and publication? My eye twitched every time it was repeated and it was just too much for me.
haahu's review against another edition
3.0
Little kids going to war is not exactly novel novel. About half-way through I was considering giving it up, but it got somewhat more interesting. I like the notion of war mixed with corporate rather than country politics. It's definitely not an insanely rich universe, certainly not on the level of the Culture series from Iain Banks, but it's somewhat entertaining.