leavingsealevel's review against another edition
2.0
The clear Gaby Swift-Donald Trump parallel is weird because hating technology and being dubious about silicon valley capitalism (Swift) is literally NOTHING like being an evil white supremacist. And I couldn't really ever get past that. Second star for Opal, who's a badass.
cs_the_librarian's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
lexiealbert's review against another edition
3.0
Really enjoyed this! I loved how it explores the life of becoming a viral star but my favourite aspect by far was the mystery. Although I felt the end was a little incomplete, I am happy to have read this and would recommend to anyone interested in technology
musingsfromamandalyn's review against another edition
4.0
This book was really hard for me. I kept going back and forth between 3 and 5 stars but landed in the middle. I liked the tech, or at least some of it. All self-driving Teslas, drones delivering packages or food, amazing personal assistants that can do whatever you ask, makeup mirrors that give you full tutorials. But then they take it too far with the VR worlds. Not only do you give permission for location, file access, etc. but also your facial features, your exact emotions, and more. Students' clothes are embedded with Bluetooth chips that completely personalizes their experience. Screens change to reflect what they want to see, lockers and doors open automatically, and every movement is monitored. I can't tell if I find that cool or creepy. In some ways, it would make everything so much easier. On the other hand, no privacy ever. In the background of all of this Opal is trying to find her Dad, deal with relationships among her friends, figure out her way in the social media platform WAVE, deal with corporations, and try to get into college. It is so much for a high schooler to deal with. There is also a continual war, including a new president, between technology and Luddites who want all technology gone. Some of the parts made me cheer and other parts ripped my heart out. The truth about her Dad was definitely painful. I also feel like too much happened in the last quarter of the book and it ended way too soon. I need more of this world, I need more of Opal, Moyo, Shane, and Kara, I need to know how they manage the new virtual world that was created. I would love a sequel or a TV show adaptation.
mtullock214's review against another edition
3.0
Beginning felt very stretched out and the ending felt rushed but overall it was a cute story. Makes you wonder how the technology we have now may advance in the future.
supremefangirl57's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
mysterious
tense
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
4.0
servemethesky's review against another edition
2.0
Oh man. This book was super compelling and a total page turner… and yet it just did not come together for me.
My main beef with this novel is that it raised so many fascinating issues about technology and privacy and then treated them with no nuance whatsoever. Just because it’s a YA novel doesn’t mean it can’t have nuance, c’mon! There’s an insane and alarming about of tracking going on and a blatant disregard for privacy. I kept thinking Opal would start to get it, it would bite her in the butt and she’d want to figure out smart and kind ways to navigate the online world, but she just brazenly stormed ahead, ignoring all valid concerns and dismissing the anti-tech crowd.
I also found Opal frustrating as a character. This book made me realize that while I LOVE an unlikable protagonist, the kind of unlikable protagonist I appreciate is one who’s at least somewhat self aware. Opal is manipulative, constantly lies to her closest friends, and will do anything to get ahead… and never really has a moment of reckoning or offers her peers a genuine apology. Damn, girl.
Final issue with the book: the timelines and technology just don’t make any sense. They act like it’s the way distant future from now—Instagram is dead, people don’t use phones anymore, VR is everything—but everyone knows who Taylor Swift and Kim K are and Seth Myers is still on TV? Okay…
I don’t even care about the abrupt prom-posal ending, I just wish the book hadn’t been so heavy handed in it’s shameless promotion of big tech. [massive spoiler] Having the Luddites turn out to have murdered Opal’s father just made me roll my eyes. Cartoonish evil is not interesting!
My main beef with this novel is that it raised so many fascinating issues about technology and privacy and then treated them with no nuance whatsoever. Just because it’s a YA novel doesn’t mean it can’t have nuance, c’mon! There’s an insane and alarming about of tracking going on and a blatant disregard for privacy. I kept thinking Opal would start to get it, it would bite her in the butt and she’d want to figure out smart and kind ways to navigate the online world, but she just brazenly stormed ahead, ignoring all valid concerns and dismissing the anti-tech crowd.
I also found Opal frustrating as a character. This book made me realize that while I LOVE an unlikable protagonist, the kind of unlikable protagonist I appreciate is one who’s at least somewhat self aware. Opal is manipulative, constantly lies to her closest friends, and will do anything to get ahead… and never really has a moment of reckoning or offers her peers a genuine apology. Damn, girl.
Final issue with the book: the timelines and technology just don’t make any sense. They act like it’s the way distant future from now—Instagram is dead, people don’t use phones anymore, VR is everything—but everyone knows who Taylor Swift and Kim K are and Seth Myers is still on TV? Okay…
I don’t even care about the abrupt prom-posal ending, I just wish the book hadn’t been so heavy handed in it’s shameless promotion of big tech. [massive spoiler] Having the Luddites turn out to have murdered Opal’s father just made me roll my eyes. Cartoonish evil is not interesting!
vera_michele's review against another edition
3.0
3/5 Stars
I enjoyed my time listening to this. It was fun, and interesting, and I was in to the VR world and the "dystopian" esque type. I really liked Opal, even with some of her poor choices in here. I loved Shane, Moyo, and even Kara. I didn't love the plot. I feel it could be very stagnant at points, and I felt like the ending was really open ended. I thought the author was setting up for a second book, but nothing has been announced, so I don't know.
I did love the writing style and the settings for things.
I enjoyed my time listening to this. It was fun, and interesting, and I was in to the VR world and the "dystopian" esque type. I really liked Opal, even with some of her poor choices in here. I loved Shane, Moyo, and even Kara. I didn't love the plot. I feel it could be very stagnant at points, and I felt like the ending was really open ended. I thought the author was setting up for a second book, but nothing has been announced, so I don't know.
I did love the writing style and the settings for things.
lorialdenholuta's review against another edition
3.0
Well, let's get the comparison out of the way first - I'm calling this one a mashup of Ready, Player One (book) and War Games (movie), as directed by John Hughes (80's movies beloved filmmaker).
The book was first published in 2019. Books about computer tech and social media tend to show their age rapidly, but this story felt current and relevant. Give it another couple of years and that might not be the case, but right now, that's not a problem. The students at Palo Alto Academy of Science and Technology are up to their eyeballs in all the latest tech, and that includes our protagonist, Opal Hopper. Long story short: Opal uses the tech to become a social media darling, but at a cost. Everything she does is part of a bigger plan that she hopes will ultimately lead to the truth about her father's mysterious disappearance seven years ago.
While I enjoyed the wild ride of the story as Opal and her friends find themselves in a constantly intensifying situation, I was less than pleased with the writer's use of character development. Everyone's core personality was far too flexible. I would rather have seen the author do the hard work of building and retaining strong characters who worked their way through difficult situations, but instead we get situations that are easily resolved by having a character cave in to the circumstances.
And speaking of working through difficult situations - one plotline that permeates the story is the pressure of college application deadlines, which Opal and her pals are all dealing with... or not? Opal stresses like mad about the deadline, blows off an early application deadline, struggles to answer essay questions for the second deadline... and then sometime later she casually mentioned that she submitted her application a while ago. It felt like that plotline was temporarily forgotten in the writing process and then quickly patched up later.
So - fun storyline, mostly enjoyable read, but the characters are clearly flawed. I suspect the author is a Pantser, not a Planner. He's got talent, but needs to apply more of the un-fun work to his manuscripts.
The book was first published in 2019. Books about computer tech and social media tend to show their age rapidly, but this story felt current and relevant. Give it another couple of years and that might not be the case, but right now, that's not a problem. The students at Palo Alto Academy of Science and Technology are up to their eyeballs in all the latest tech, and that includes our protagonist, Opal Hopper. Long story short: Opal uses the tech to become a social media darling, but at a cost. Everything she does is part of a bigger plan that she hopes will ultimately lead to the truth about her father's mysterious disappearance seven years ago.
While I enjoyed the wild ride of the story as Opal and her friends find themselves in a constantly intensifying situation, I was less than pleased with the writer's use of character development. Everyone's core personality was far too flexible. I would rather have seen the author do the hard work of building and retaining strong characters who worked their way through difficult situations, but instead we get situations that are easily resolved by having a character cave in to the circumstances.
And speaking of working through difficult situations - one plotline that permeates the story is the pressure of college application deadlines, which Opal and her pals are all dealing with... or not? Opal stresses like mad about the deadline, blows off an early application deadline, struggles to answer essay questions for the second deadline... and then sometime later she casually mentioned that she submitted her application a while ago. It felt like that plotline was temporarily forgotten in the writing process and then quickly patched up later.
So - fun storyline, mostly enjoyable read, but the characters are clearly flawed. I suspect the author is a Pantser, not a Planner. He's got talent, but needs to apply more of the un-fun work to his manuscripts.
bestdressedbookworm's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this world that was built, I loved that our current pop culture references are their past ones. The whole plot was really entertaining. It was an easy read that wasn’t overly complicated which is great especially since is listened to this on audio book.
Would read this authors work again.
Would read this authors work again.