Sunday, August 19, 2012

Book Review: Amped

Last June I read the Daniel H. Wilson novel Robopocalypse and absolutely loved it.  It was fast paced, had a great cast of characters, and left me with some pretty haunting (and terrifying) images of a robot-assited world after the robots turn against humanity.

A couple weeks ago while wandering around downtown Edmonton during a lunch break at my new job, I came across Amped in a bookstore.  I liked the logo (see left), and figured my wife and both of my daughters had enjoyed Robopocalypse, so why not check it out?

Since I got it from the library two weeks ago, my wife and both of my daughters have read Amped and assured me that it's exactly the kind of book they think I'd like.

And after starting the book at 6:00 this morning?  They were totally right.

The book takes place in a near future where a significant minority of the world's population have been "Amped," meaning they've had their brains augmented with a Brain Implant designed to help them get around mental and physical disabilities they have - (the program started by helping kids with learning and physical disabilities and moved on to veterans and others with physical disabilities), the problem is that the people who get the implants don't just get to be normal - they are smarter, faster and more efficient than regular people.

The book begins with a court case which ends with Amped people loosing their status as protected citizens in the United States.  Everything goes downhill from there.

Structurally the book is similar to Robopocalypse in that it mixes chapters with news clippings, but as there is one main character and it is told from a first-person perspective, the novel is a little tighter and moves very quickly.

Without giving away too many spoilers - it was fun, if the stuff I've said makes it sound like a book you'd like to read, I'd suggest picking it up.

1 comment:

  1. That sounds very intriguing. Haven't read Robopocalypse yet, but it's on my to-read pile. However, I kind of want to skip that just now and get Amped!

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