raemelle's review against another edition
4.0
Pretty good! Definitely made the president in this book act like Trump. While I certainly agree with the political leanings of this story, it did lay it on a bit thick sometimes. And sometimes there were weird details (like using a complicated pattern that involves prime numbers to get across a room) that seemed purely designed to make Cassie or other “good guys” look extra smart, but they weren’t very practical. Overall has a good message.
eyedoc's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying and Murder
eserafina42's review against another edition
4.0
An interesting question: What would happen if internet shaming got out of hand and was then seized upon by the powers that be to be regulated and used as a means of manipulation and control? I enjoyed this book and pretty much raced through it but there were still some things that bothered me. The "insta-love" was only a minor one; the incredible coincidence that everybody the MC needed to help her evade the mob was magically positioned just perfectly to do so was a bit less minor. Also, while I "got" and appreciated the portrayal of a certain person as the president, I feel that it might have been a bit too self-indulgent and risks alienating some of the people who could benefit from the larger message.
My biggest question, however - and to me, this is a huge weakness in the worldbuilding - is, why would the president need more control? Congress and the courts don't appear to even exist in this near-future version of the US, or if they do they're so cowed they're irrelevant. I can't even conceive of a way this extrajudicial "trial, conviction and punishment" procedure would pass muster in even a minimally-functioning constitutional system, and if things have gone that far downhill the extra steps aren't even needed.
However, that's me - and I have been accused of overthinking things. Those issues also did not do much to impede my enjoyment of the story.
My biggest question, however - and to me, this is a huge weakness in the worldbuilding - is, why would the president need more control? Congress and the courts don't appear to even exist in this near-future version of the US, or if they do they're so cowed they're irrelevant. I can't even conceive of a way this extrajudicial "trial, conviction and punishment" procedure would pass muster in even a minimally-functioning constitutional system, and if things have gone that far downhill the extra steps aren't even needed.
However, that's me - and I have been accused of overthinking things. Those issues also did not do much to impede my enjoyment of the story.
lisaluvsliterature's review against another edition
5.0
This book was so good. So much of it relates to what is going on today, our President, our social media issues, society, mob mentality, all of it. It was really scary and had me gasping even at certain parts. It definitely reminded me of one episode of the show Black Mirror that starred Bryce Dallas Howard, where everyone rated everyone else when they saw them, and how you could take away the little perks and even just ease of every day life by down-voting people. I've also been told there is another episode of the same show where someone is able to control mechanical bees to kill people that have done something on social media. I will have to watch that one. But anyway, the main character Cassie lost her father and had to move to a new school where she doesn't really want to fit in. Her father was a well-known/infamous hacker and her mother is a professor of classics. She doesn't get along with her mother, but misses her father a lot. She finally tries to fit in with a group of girls who are kind of the top of the popular kids. The girls goad her into posting something about the President's grandchild and her tasteless joke backfires in that everyone gets up in arms and all of a sudden she is the one the Hive is after and she runs. We get a lot of the hacker group story in this, which is very interesting, although maybe a little high-techy at times. There's definitely a lot of adventure and suspense and back doors and twists and turns. There are things that the President in the book does or says that totally are like you'd think our actual current President in real life would do.
My only complaint was with the third person type of narration, it was somewhat omniscient in that we got both Cassie and her mother Rachel's thoughts and actions, and sometimes it was confusing because it was within the same page without any separation to tell us we'd changed points of view. Other than that this was such a real book to how things are and how easy it is for people to go so intense over the smallest thing, such as what a person has said.
Review first appeared on Lisa Loves Literature.
My only complaint was with the third person type of narration, it was somewhat omniscient in that we got both Cassie and her mother Rachel's thoughts and actions, and sometimes it was confusing because it was within the same page without any separation to tell us we'd changed points of view. Other than that this was such a real book to how things are and how easy it is for people to go so intense over the smallest thing, such as what a person has said.
Review first appeared on Lisa Loves Literature.
lazygal's review against another edition
4.0
I loved Lyga's Jasper Dent series so was really excited to see that he's got a new book and how it would compare to them. In this case, it's as though Lyga is channeling Cory Doctorow, and I mean that in a very good way. "The Hive" was founded on the idea that peer pressure/peer justice would get rid of online bullying and shaming (although it's very much about shaming!) and is government run. When someone does or says something online, people can "like" or "condemn" it and when the algorithm shows a bad condemn to like ratio, the group can - in real life, in public - exact some sort of punishment. What could possibly go wrong?
Our heroine is the daughter of a Latin professor (living) and an infamous hacker/programmer (now dead) and the government is convinced that when her father died, he left something behind, something the government wants (what, they're not quite sure, but they know it exists... probably). So when Cassie, in an attempt to fit in with the cool girls at her new school, posts a somewhat questionable joke online, the Hive decides that what she said was unacceptable and that she should be severely punished. No spoilers, but there are some parts that require a suspension of disbelief as she goes on the run, trying to avoid "justice" and repair her reputation. She's kind of like Katniss but with code, not arrows.
What doesn't require that suspension is the existence of the Hive and the idea that an entire society, so addicted to its devices and its desire for likes (or upvoting or whatever the term is on different platforms) could create such a thing and then use it to mete out justice. Or that the government would use it to try to control events and people, becoming more authoritarian in the process.
eARC provided by publisher.
Our heroine is the daughter of a Latin professor (living) and an infamous hacker/programmer (now dead) and the government is convinced that when her father died, he left something behind, something the government wants (what, they're not quite sure, but they know it exists... probably). So when Cassie, in an attempt to fit in with the cool girls at her new school, posts a somewhat questionable joke online, the Hive decides that what she said was unacceptable and that she should be severely punished. No spoilers, but there are some parts that require a suspension of disbelief as she goes on the run, trying to avoid "justice" and repair her reputation. She's kind of like Katniss but with code, not arrows.
What doesn't require that suspension is the existence of the Hive and the idea that an entire society, so addicted to its devices and its desire for likes (or upvoting or whatever the term is on different platforms) could create such a thing and then use it to mete out justice. Or that the government would use it to try to control events and people, becoming more authoritarian in the process.
eARC provided by publisher.
sphinx91's review against another edition
2.0
All in all its not a bad book and I can see why YA may enjoy it. It is well-written, catchy and deals with important topic of social media's influence in our everyday lives and communications.
Story itself is kind of mash up of 'Fahrenheit 451', '1984', Hunger Games and 'The Purge'. It is not fault per se but that's why I think that authors could have tried a bit harder to incorporate the characters and storylines which they created but left hanging after awhile.
Simplicity of the ending made me feel that either book could have been shorter or longer (series for example). As I said, there were characters and storylines which could have been either left out or enforced. For example Trish, Sarah's betrayal, Cassie's dad's death, Alexandra, OHM, Rowan & co, Mom's army (perhaps it was the most pointless in my eyes). Of course those unused storylines offer authors enough material for writing another book but I just wish that authors would have tied up these ends better.
Story itself is kind of mash up of 'Fahrenheit 451', '1984', Hunger Games and 'The Purge'. It is not fault per se but that's why I think that authors could have tried a bit harder to incorporate the characters and storylines which they created but left hanging after awhile.
Simplicity of the ending made me feel that either book could have been shorter or longer (series for example). As I said, there were characters and storylines which could have been either left out or enforced. For example Trish, Sarah's betrayal, Cassie's dad's death, Alexandra, OHM, Rowan & co, Mom's army (perhaps it was the most pointless in my eyes). Of course those unused storylines offer authors enough material for writing another book but I just wish that authors would have tied up these ends better.
aliciakindlereads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This book had its moments where it was high and then went low. I gave .5 because of the storyline during the end. Listening to the audio helped make me get through this as well. A world where technology is taking over and to watch the citizens become obsessed with the new world was interesting to read about.