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A review by debchan
Vigilance by Robert Jackson Bennett
4.5
4.5 stars
you know what's the craziest thing about this book? the fact it's set in 2030 like omg that's SIX (6) years away and yet it's also entirely possible. like despite this being dystopian and scifi and out of left field it's that the logic holds soundly.
bennett is a fellow texan and it's felt so intimately here. wherever you go even in the big cities of dallas and houston. even though we're consistently blue. there's always gonna be those gun shows, those "prayers" after a mass shooting, those who want to arm teachers instead of choosing to target the gun laws at the root of the problem. but no, widespread guns means more danger means more guns means more danger. if only they were vigilant.
i think bennett developed the narrative pacing extremely well. he throws us in a world that's familiar. and when he explains the rules of the game, it's absurd. surely people would object; surely this can't be allowed? but america is not a place to live, it's a place to survive and how better to do it than setting civilians up for mass shootings and blaming them when they die. the numbers, the demographics for targeting ads etc. idk it somehow felt ridiculous but completely real at the same time.
probably the only reason i'd deduct .5 stars is because of the cheesy villain explanation at the end. i know it had to be done. we had to know how it happened and was able to sneak through but it felt a bit too on the nose. china hackers and the like. speeches about the decline of american civilization. books like farenheit 451 or 1984 leave you with the burden of interpretation. but i can see why bennett would include it bc people need it. viewers of the show The Boys idolize homelander and spew their conservative politics not even realizing that the show is about them. i wouldn't be surprised if someone read this book and was like "actually great idea!" so yeah while i thought it was obvious and unneeded, that ending might be necessary to the agenda grabbers out there.
being in the head of john, the creator was so fascinating. he's not the one who wanted this of course. he just played the cards and america's hand was dealt like this. the Ideal Person was just someone to exploit. he had the money, the resources, and he just tuned into the population like a dial, turning it up and up and up until the ad revenue poured in and AI forced viewers' eyes onto the screens permanently. (it's wild bc i heard that a new tech is coming where an ad will pause if it senses your gaze looking away from the screen. absolutely insane)
delyna was our woman on the ground, our average american citizen. except for her it's not a game. it's her reality as a black woman. she isn't the target audience for the show and so she's sick to her stomach about it. it was the perfect choice to have a POV of a normal person watching this unfold. the way mr oklahoma (as a texan i lowkey dislike them too) couldn't even form a real argument. he could have walked away but he didn't. and then everyone played into the game themselves without prompting, without it being part of the game show at all.
the ending, spoilers.ofc john managed to survive while delyna was shot. of course it happened that way. bennett isn't writing a happy ending here. he's writing a realistic horror story about just how easily everything can go south and how the american population is so ready, so eager to jump onto this train. i'm usually a sucker for bennett's fantasy books, but this once was so well written i'm gagged.
you know what's the craziest thing about this book? the fact it's set in 2030 like omg that's SIX (6) years away and yet it's also entirely possible. like despite this being dystopian and scifi and out of left field it's that the logic holds soundly.
bennett is a fellow texan and it's felt so intimately here. wherever you go even in the big cities of dallas and houston. even though we're consistently blue. there's always gonna be those gun shows, those "prayers" after a mass shooting, those who want to arm teachers instead of choosing to target the gun laws at the root of the problem. but no, widespread guns means more danger means more guns means more danger. if only they were vigilant.
i think bennett developed the narrative pacing extremely well. he throws us in a world that's familiar. and when he explains the rules of the game, it's absurd. surely people would object; surely this can't be allowed? but america is not a place to live, it's a place to survive and how better to do it than setting civilians up for mass shootings and blaming them when they die. the numbers, the demographics for targeting ads etc. idk it somehow felt ridiculous but completely real at the same time.
probably the only reason i'd deduct .5 stars is because of the cheesy villain explanation at the end. i know it had to be done. we had to know how it happened and was able to sneak through but it felt a bit too on the nose. china hackers and the like. speeches about the decline of american civilization. books like farenheit 451 or 1984 leave you with the burden of interpretation. but i can see why bennett would include it bc people need it. viewers of the show The Boys idolize homelander and spew their conservative politics not even realizing that the show is about them. i wouldn't be surprised if someone read this book and was like "actually great idea!" so yeah while i thought it was obvious and unneeded, that ending might be necessary to the agenda grabbers out there.
being in the head of john, the creator was so fascinating. he's not the one who wanted this of course. he just played the cards and america's hand was dealt like this. the Ideal Person was just someone to exploit. he had the money, the resources, and he just tuned into the population like a dial, turning it up and up and up until the ad revenue poured in and AI forced viewers' eyes onto the screens permanently. (it's wild bc i heard that a new tech is coming where an ad will pause if it senses your gaze looking away from the screen. absolutely insane)
delyna was our woman on the ground, our average american citizen. except for her it's not a game. it's her reality as a black woman. she isn't the target audience for the show and so she's sick to her stomach about it. it was the perfect choice to have a POV of a normal person watching this unfold. the way mr oklahoma (as a texan i lowkey dislike them too) couldn't even form a real argument. he could have walked away but he didn't. and then everyone played into the game themselves without prompting, without it being part of the game show at all.
the ending, spoilers.