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BZRK #1
BZRK
Charles and Benjamin Armstrong, conjoined twins and owners of the Armstrong Fancy Gifts Corporation, have a goal: to turn the world into their vision of utopia. No wars, no conflict, no hunger. And no free will.Opposing them is a guerrilla group of teens, code name BZRK, who are fighting to protect the right to be messed up, to be human.
This is no ordinary war, though. Weapons are deployed on the nano-level. The battleground is the human brain. And there are no stalemates here: It’s victory . . . or madness.
This is no ordinary war, though. Weapons are deployed on the nano-level. The battleground is the human brain. And there are no stalemates here: It’s victory . . . or madness.
400 pages, Paperback
First published February 28, 2012
474 people are currently reading
11.4k people want to read
About the author
Michael Grant
77books11.2kfollowersCo-author with Katherine Applegate of Ocean City, Making Out, Summer, Animorphs, Everworld, Remnants, Eve and Adam.
Pseudonymous coauthor with KA of Christy (the TV spin-off books), Sweet Valley Twins, Girl Talk and various Disney spin-offs.
Pseudonymous author of Barf-O-Rama.
Author of Gone, BZRK, The Magnificent 12, Messenger of Fear, Front Lines, Monster and A Sudden Death in Cyprus.
AKA Michael Robinson (restaurant reviews and newspaper features).
AKA Michael Reynolds (legal name) political media producer. (Team Blue).
Pseudonymous coauthor with KA of Christy (the TV spin-off books), Sweet Valley Twins, Girl Talk and various Disney spin-offs.
Pseudonymous author of Barf-O-Rama.
Author of Gone, BZRK, The Magnificent 12, Messenger of Fear, Front Lines, Monster and A Sudden Death in Cyprus.
AKA Michael Robinson (restaurant reviews and newspaper features).
AKA Michael Reynolds (legal name) political media producer. (Team Blue).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,034 reviews
May 18, 2020
i think it was at page 178 when i checked out, mentally.
yeah, it turns out i am not a fan of sci-fi even when it is YA sci-fi.
but this is just me - for people who have a better head for nanotechnology and innerspace-like adventures - this is your book. it is just not my book.
like i really need a book reminding me about all the stuff living on my skin and in my eyebrows, feasting heartily on my dead skin cells.
no, i do not. the close-up descriptions of what is happening "in the meat" made me quite ill. i needed a good scrub, way more than i did after reading fifty shades of gray. i frequently became itchy reading this book, and i am terrified that i have been infested with tiny bots. i am never touching anyone or anything again. i am constructing a bubble as we speak.
this is definitely a plot-driven book - the characters have only the barest development, and many of them are not even given closure in this book, i suppose paving the way for a sequel. to my underdeveloped science-mind, it was confusing, and there weren't any characters to hold onto for grounding. but for those of you who are better than i am at visualizing book-action and like a lot of gross-out images - here's a book for you!
that is all. i need a shower.
Nerve fibers twitched, yanked the legs from nanobots, hurled others into flesh walls. What seemed like meters m-sub became mere inches m-sub as the spasm contracted nerve and wracked muscle.
Vincent sent both his biots, half-crippled, but not dead just yet, no definitely not dead, straight into the confused mass of nanobots, plowed bodily into them with all the speed they could manage and kept thrashing ahead, dragging the microphages with them, scraping them off in the tangle of thrashing titanium.
The biots erupted through the platoons of nanobots that now added the goo of microphages to their difficulty unraveling themselves.
yeah, it turns out i am not a fan of sci-fi even when it is YA sci-fi.
but this is just me - for people who have a better head for nanotechnology and innerspace-like adventures - this is your book. it is just not my book.
like i really need a book reminding me about all the stuff living on my skin and in my eyebrows, feasting heartily on my dead skin cells.
no, i do not. the close-up descriptions of what is happening "in the meat" made me quite ill. i needed a good scrub, way more than i did after reading fifty shades of gray. i frequently became itchy reading this book, and i am terrified that i have been infested with tiny bots. i am never touching anyone or anything again. i am constructing a bubble as we speak.
this is definitely a plot-driven book - the characters have only the barest development, and many of them are not even given closure in this book, i suppose paving the way for a sequel. to my underdeveloped science-mind, it was confusing, and there weren't any characters to hold onto for grounding. but for those of you who are better than i am at visualizing book-action and like a lot of gross-out images - here's a book for you!
that is all. i need a shower.
March 30, 2012
I stayed up late to finish this and I really wish I hadn't bothered. In fact, I'm very surprised I managed it.
This book was a huge disappointment. This is because I had high expectations of after reading his imaginative series, full of exciting characters with mutant powers that draws interesting comparisons between the struggling society created by the kids and our own world. Grant's books have never been perfect to me, I have often complained about the lack of a decent female character who could be strong, realistic and not annoy the hell out of me. That's what was so bad about , because it did have this.
When I was first introduced to Sadie McLure, I was thinking "YEEESSSS!!!" inside my mind because the author had finally delivered a female lead that was intelligent, kickass and not simply the sidekick or girlfriend of the male self-sacrificing hero. She was all these things... but Sadie was also as flat and boring as any character I've read after a few chapters. The book does start well, not just with the introduction of the characters, but with the dramatic plane crash that opens up a bizarre science-fiction mystery which involves secret corporations that are trying to take over the world. Exciting stuff. Well, for a while, that is.
Boredom is my biggest complaint about this book. The sci-fi aspect is well thought-out and conceivable, perhaps this novel just really is too much of a boy book (whatever that really means), I like my sci-fi with something a bit more human to balance it out: easily relatable characters, humour, even romance... failed to successfully deliver any of these. Unfortunately, I'll just stick to finishing the series, though I'm not sure how that's going to cope with two more books on the way - sometimes authors just don't know when to quit (I'm looking at you, ).
January 5, 2012
Exactly what a YA thriller should be: smart, complex, plausible, and tense. Grant doesn't pander to his audience--the bad guys aren't wholly evil, and the good guys aren't always admirable. The near-future technology is imagined beautifully--the battlefields of BZRK are what we would get--will get--when predator drones and nanotechnology converge. Sadie's a tough-as-titanium heroine and Noah is likeable in an everyboy sort of way. Grant's writing suits the story perfectly, muscular and propulsive. Highly recommended.
December 6, 2012
Edited on Dec 6th 2012: Can I just say, I actually enjoy the paperback cover? It's intriguing, dark and has a nice hint of a middle grade cover.
End of edit.
First off: Damn you Michael Grant! Just as I have a story in mind involving nanotechnology, you produce a masterpiece that surely makes mine look weak. I declare you the king of nanotech.
Now on to my review and I have one question to ask you.
What would you choose given the choice of free will or cohesiveness?
Well, basically this is what this book is about. In one corner you have a set of deformed, conjoint twins, manoeuvring their empire of nanobots. They believe that the world should be joined together, as a whole and thinking as one. Oh geez. I wonder where they got that idea. Anyways, here is how I picture the twins (obviously less bug like and more human but you get the idea.)
In the other corner, you have a group of kids in their teens and twenties running genetically-linked biots. They are similar to nanobots but when they die, they drag their "owners" into insanity. These people make up BZRK and Lear is the mysterious force that runs the whole thing. But don't let the title of this book fool you. They can well be the bad guys in this story.
This novel seemed like a cross between old-school Nikita and good ol' James Bond . Hardcore ass-kicking in all the right ways! Woohoo. :) I've never understood how books can be deemed as thrilling until now. My heart pounded through every chapter and nearly leapt out in certain places. WHEN I SAY THIS BOOK IS A THRILLER, I MEAN IT!
Moving on (Let me get a drink of water to calm down first). Michael Grant is back in his element, doing what he does best. Putting way-too realistic teenagers in crazy-ass circumstances that makes my fangirling heart pound like there is no tomorrow. I freaking love everything he writes. Sometimes I wonder how he is able to get teenagers just right. None of those gooey, I-am-trying-too-hard-to-appeal-to-teens YA characters. These characters are relatable. Not that I can identify myself in one of the characters; I see myself in bits and pieces of many different characters. That is what I love about MG. He is a genius when it comes to generating believable characters. I have taken a liking to almost every one of them, even when I shouldn't be rooting for them. Some of these characters I love to hate.
Juggling beyond multiple characters, Michael Grant this time has also created a magical nano-size world. If you didn't pay attention is biology or history class, my condolences to you because you will miss a lot. Thankfully, the years I have stuck it out in both of these subjects made comfortable reading some of the more demanding parts. Make sure to bring your imagination with you while reading this book because if you don't, you will not enjoy the trip around the medulla oblongata and the hippocampus. And you might want to brush up on your history of the feud between Carthage and the Roman Empire. Scipio to be more precise, (hopefully there is also a Hannibal coming and I don't mean Silence-of-the-Lambs-Hannibal).
One thing that might turn away some readers is the fact that this book is more mature than the GONE series. Be prepared for some swearing and some skin. But this is the 21st century and we are teens. Thank you Michael for not treating us like babies. We are aware of stuff like the f-word or how babies are made. People with issue about that:
In conclusion, I cannot wait another torturous year before BZRK 2 comes out. Eh, excuse me Mr. Grant. When you have the basic manuscript for BZRK 2 ready, give me a call.
P.S.: I totally love Ophelia. She is like an Indian version of Barbara Gordon A.K.A. Batgirl #1 A.K.A. The Oracle.
End of edit.
First off: Damn you Michael Grant! Just as I have a story in mind involving nanotechnology, you produce a masterpiece that surely makes mine look weak. I declare you the king of nanotech.
Now on to my review and I have one question to ask you.
What would you choose given the choice of free will or cohesiveness?
Well, basically this is what this book is about. In one corner you have a set of deformed, conjoint twins, manoeuvring their empire of nanobots. They believe that the world should be joined together, as a whole and thinking as one. Oh geez. I wonder where they got that idea. Anyways, here is how I picture the twins (obviously less bug like and more human but you get the idea.)
In the other corner, you have a group of kids in their teens and twenties running genetically-linked biots. They are similar to nanobots but when they die, they drag their "owners" into insanity. These people make up BZRK and Lear is the mysterious force that runs the whole thing. But don't let the title of this book fool you. They can well be the bad guys in this story.
This novel seemed like a cross between old-school Nikita and good ol' James Bond . Hardcore ass-kicking in all the right ways! Woohoo. :) I've never understood how books can be deemed as thrilling until now. My heart pounded through every chapter and nearly leapt out in certain places. WHEN I SAY THIS BOOK IS A THRILLER, I MEAN IT!
Moving on (Let me get a drink of water to calm down first). Michael Grant is back in his element, doing what he does best. Putting way-too realistic teenagers in crazy-ass circumstances that makes my fangirling heart pound like there is no tomorrow. I freaking love everything he writes. Sometimes I wonder how he is able to get teenagers just right. None of those gooey, I-am-trying-too-hard-to-appeal-to-teens YA characters. These characters are relatable. Not that I can identify myself in one of the characters; I see myself in bits and pieces of many different characters. That is what I love about MG. He is a genius when it comes to generating believable characters. I have taken a liking to almost every one of them, even when I shouldn't be rooting for them. Some of these characters I love to hate.
Juggling beyond multiple characters, Michael Grant this time has also created a magical nano-size world. If you didn't pay attention is biology or history class, my condolences to you because you will miss a lot. Thankfully, the years I have stuck it out in both of these subjects made comfortable reading some of the more demanding parts. Make sure to bring your imagination with you while reading this book because if you don't, you will not enjoy the trip around the medulla oblongata and the hippocampus. And you might want to brush up on your history of the feud between Carthage and the Roman Empire. Scipio to be more precise, (hopefully there is also a Hannibal coming and I don't mean Silence-of-the-Lambs-Hannibal).
One thing that might turn away some readers is the fact that this book is more mature than the GONE series. Be prepared for some swearing and some skin. But this is the 21st century and we are teens. Thank you Michael for not treating us like babies. We are aware of stuff like the f-word or how babies are made. People with issue about that:
In conclusion, I cannot wait another torturous year before BZRK 2 comes out. Eh, excuse me Mr. Grant. When you have the basic manuscript for BZRK 2 ready, give me a call.
P.S.: I totally love Ophelia. She is like an Indian version of Barbara Gordon A.K.A. Batgirl #1 A.K.A. The Oracle.
August 26, 2016
A copy was provided by Random House of Canada for review! Thank you!
Noah and Sadie are two teenagers living in a world where nano bots and biots live inside people. Yes you read that right. The nano bots are machine like robots that are so tiny they can live inside a human body. The biots on the other hand were created for medical reasons. To help people. They are also a mix of several different species that include jellyfish, arachnids and ants. Talk about creepy!!! There is a war raging and it’s down to the meat level. (the meat level being down to the little nanobots and biots level). As well as to the macro level, where humans fight each other. The teens are recruited by the underground team of BZRK who fight The Armstrong Fancy Gift Corporation also known as AFGC. In doing so, they are liable assets which help them take the deformed Armstrong twins down in their rise to a Utopian society.
If I can define this book in one word? I can only pick ODD..It’s only odd in the way that I could not fathom how a world where little creepy hybrids of several different species living inside me. *shudders* I enjoyed reading this for the highly descriptive action scenes and scattered witty dialogue. What I didn’t enjoy was the too many characters to understand and remember. I had to flip several pages back to remember who did what, and who were on the BZRK team. Although the cheat sheet in the back immensely helped for that.
Michael Grant’s story telling is superb, and I felt like I was watching a science fiction movie with a cast of teenagers and young adults trying to take down the bad guy. Read this if you’re interested in a different take of a dystopian novel with a whole heck of a lot of science thrown in.
Noah and Sadie are two teenagers living in a world where nano bots and biots live inside people. Yes you read that right. The nano bots are machine like robots that are so tiny they can live inside a human body. The biots on the other hand were created for medical reasons. To help people. They are also a mix of several different species that include jellyfish, arachnids and ants. Talk about creepy!!! There is a war raging and it’s down to the meat level. (the meat level being down to the little nanobots and biots level). As well as to the macro level, where humans fight each other. The teens are recruited by the underground team of BZRK who fight The Armstrong Fancy Gift Corporation also known as AFGC. In doing so, they are liable assets which help them take the deformed Armstrong twins down in their rise to a Utopian society.
If I can define this book in one word? I can only pick ODD..It’s only odd in the way that I could not fathom how a world where little creepy hybrids of several different species living inside me. *shudders* I enjoyed reading this for the highly descriptive action scenes and scattered witty dialogue. What I didn’t enjoy was the too many characters to understand and remember. I had to flip several pages back to remember who did what, and who were on the BZRK team. Although the cheat sheet in the back immensely helped for that.
Michael Grant’s story telling is superb, and I felt like I was watching a science fiction movie with a cast of teenagers and young adults trying to take down the bad guy. Read this if you’re interested in a different take of a dystopian novel with a whole heck of a lot of science thrown in.
May 30, 2012
I know a lot of people love this book, but for some reason, it just wasn't one of my favorites. Don't get me wrong, I love Michael Grant (I am obsessed with the Gone series!) but this book didn't manage to surprise me or keep me very entertained. I thought the idea of the nanotechnology was certainly interesting, but I was kind of bothered by how the writing would switch into the nano's perspective and just seem to drag on and on with all these details about how disturbing/fantastical it was to be on the side of someone's face. It became kind of dull after awhile, to say the least. Another thing that I didn't like about this book was that the characters were not relatable to me at all. I didn't really care what happened to Sadie or Noah, and I was not hooked with them from the beginning. They never seemed all that interesting to me, and one of the most important things I look for in a story is if I care about the characters and how I can relate to them. And their relationship was just kind of...boring, and never seemed to move beyond just the physical aspect. To be clear, I didn't HATE this book, but I just didn't love it. I can't wait for the next installment of the Gone series to come out, though!
January 7, 2013
Recenze na blogu -
Po dočtení: To si ze mě utahujete?! Takhle to fakt skončilo? :D A já nemám druhý díl? :D
- Ale všechna čest našemu překladateli, kniha je plná neobvyklých popisů a věcí, které se prostě jinak nevidí, takže si určitě máknul, aby to pak pro nás bylo stravitelné :)) -
Malé zádrhelky BZRK má, některá rozhodnutí jsou třeba moc složitá či naopak příliš jednoduchá, ale jinak je ten nápad perfektní a Grant se fakt nebojí lidi rozcupovat... A hlavně... je to zase něco jiného, pro oživení knižního seznamu je BZRK naprosto ideální :))
Po dočtení: To si ze mě utahujete?! Takhle to fakt skončilo? :D A já nemám druhý díl? :D
- Ale všechna čest našemu překladateli, kniha je plná neobvyklých popisů a věcí, které se prostě jinak nevidí, takže si určitě máknul, aby to pak pro nás bylo stravitelné :)) -
Malé zádrhelky BZRK má, některá rozhodnutí jsou třeba moc složitá či naopak příliš jednoduchá, ale jinak je ten nápad perfektní a Grant se fakt nebojí lidi rozcupovat... A hlavně... je to zase něco jiného, pro oživení knižního seznamu je BZRK naprosto ideální :))
March 30, 2013
upřímně hodně slabé. k postavám jsem měla nulový vztah. a ještě na 200stý stránce jsem uvažovala kdo je kdo...
February 26, 2012
***No Spoilers***
As I have "seen" some things while reading Michael Grant's new title, I'd like to share them with you. . .if only in an effort to absolve myself of some of the horrors.
By habit, I am NOT a sci-fi or fantasy reader. No, it's not that I don't like them (I've admitted this before and awoke to a flood of messages and tweets). I do, in fact, know enough about the titles I HAVE read to make recommendations in Room 407 for my readers who do read in this genre. And with recent offerings by David Macinnis Gill (BLACK HOLE SUN) and Beth Revis (ACROSS THE UNIVERSE), I am warming up to the genre like a small climate shift across that part of me called THE READER. And there may be a hundred reasons that I am not drawn automatically to sci-fi to include: background and a seeming need for background language, unfamiliarity with world building and imaginative creatures, and (okay) perhaps a firm grounding in this real word I have created around myself.
But I am sold on Michael Grant's book. And it may be for all for that fact that Grant seems to quietly address each of my limitations one by one as this new title--offered by Egmont--unfolds. I am reminded of the scene from RED DRAGON where "The Tooth Fairy" is showing the smarmy reporter, bound to a chair, horrific scenes from the crimes he has committed asking over and over again, "Do you see?"
Yes. I have seen.
In the opening chapter, I see Noah Cotton going to an insane asylum to visit his brother Alex. Alex is the veteran of some great war where his military prowess is something of lore that leaves Noah feeling a bit inadequate by comparison. Here is where we could draw a ladder to Dana Reinhardt's THE THINGS A BROTHER KNOWS with ease. I see this.
With some prior knowledge of what an asylum might look like, Grant walks the reader to the room of Alex Cotton, who is a mere shell of who he was before. After a tense interaction between the two brothers, Alex begins to mutter--then shout over and over the word "Berserk!" And this is the beginning of the show that Grant carries over 386 pages, the last hundred of which are the most action-packed, suspenseful pages I have had the pleasure to read in the past few years.
In a tweet to Michael Grant, I let him know that these final pages left me "agitated and irritable." I really didn't want anyone around as I finished the book. It reads just like this. Grant responded by letting me know (what a gift Twitter is) that "if it were any consolation, they had the same effect on him).
Grant points the lens now to a father and his son on a private jet. This is Grey and Stone McClure. We can sense the power the father must have from the conversation. The scene seems to be set for a passing down of a company to a successor. They are having a conversation about Stone's sister and a boy she is dating. They are attending a football game in a stadium the jet is about to fly over. Both are curious about whether or not they might be able to see Sadie in the stands as they fly over. I see it.
And then, Grant shatters what I see.
Chapter Three is a graphic description of the events that transpire, wherein Grant seemingly wants to make sure that if you covered your eyes in Chapter Two, you will take in the full effect of his chaos and mayhem now.
He makes you see it.
And by the end of Chapter Four, the reader is fully engrossed in a battle that wages in a nano and macro world wherein those selected for service--because of their "gaming" skills--and a natural bend toward "crazy"--are drivers of microscopic entities that carry the DNA of the operator. With the ability to launch these nanobots onto others who become host (or perhaps "prey" would be more appropriate here) for a manipulative scheme to overtake the rival company created by Grey Stone, a company that created biots as a means of releasing into a singular host a microscopic element that might aid in healing (based upon stem cell research conducted by the company).
Enter the world of Michael Grant's BZRK. This is a book that you simply have to read to really get a sense of how exciting, how speculative, and how haunting Grant's vision really is here.
And because of Grant's ability to point the lens toward scenes that let the story unfold in a way that will satisfy those who are quickly pulled into the science and possibility of the story as well as letting readers like me come into the story as it reveals characters and their relationships, the whole of the complexity of this book (it is very difficult to describe without entering into the technology and associated jargon to render a feel for the book) unfolds until it's dramatic conclusion.
I really want to say more about this book but the elements and twists and turns keep me from saying too much too early. There is so much to see here.
I think this is the kind of book where in a literature circle of readers could really reach into this book at the macro and nano level to flesh out the details I am leaving out in this introduction to what is going to be the hot read for guy readers this spring. BZRK would ladder most well with other sci-fi titles like FEED, FOR THE WIN, ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, and UNWIND. With a ladder like this, you will pull those dormant guy readers out of their slumber.
What's more, BZRK--a work of speculative fiction--is so on track with the number of TED talks regarding technological realities and possibilities a lead learner might plug into as readers dive into this world Grant has created. Non-fiction "ladders" might include technological advances, the ethics of innovation, and the possibility of regeneration at the nano level being "driven" by an operator at the macro level.
And, Grant has built into BZRK a most interesting "ladder" when it comes to a fiction title. Each of the characters--once they are brought into the cell referred to as BZRK--are named for a famous poet, artist, or pop culture star (don't miss the character Wilkes ((yes. . .that Wilkes) who has walked the thin line between sanity and insanity. Here there be "ladders" as well. Can you see them?
BZRK has what guy readers want and this might serve as a reader-advisory point. Depictions of violence and mayhem are graphically rendered here. Grant does not disappoint for action, suspense, intrigue, twists and turns. Make sure that BZRK is on your radar.
As I have "seen" some things while reading Michael Grant's new title, I'd like to share them with you. . .if only in an effort to absolve myself of some of the horrors.
By habit, I am NOT a sci-fi or fantasy reader. No, it's not that I don't like them (I've admitted this before and awoke to a flood of messages and tweets). I do, in fact, know enough about the titles I HAVE read to make recommendations in Room 407 for my readers who do read in this genre. And with recent offerings by David Macinnis Gill (BLACK HOLE SUN) and Beth Revis (ACROSS THE UNIVERSE), I am warming up to the genre like a small climate shift across that part of me called THE READER. And there may be a hundred reasons that I am not drawn automatically to sci-fi to include: background and a seeming need for background language, unfamiliarity with world building and imaginative creatures, and (okay) perhaps a firm grounding in this real word I have created around myself.
But I am sold on Michael Grant's book. And it may be for all for that fact that Grant seems to quietly address each of my limitations one by one as this new title--offered by Egmont--unfolds. I am reminded of the scene from RED DRAGON where "The Tooth Fairy" is showing the smarmy reporter, bound to a chair, horrific scenes from the crimes he has committed asking over and over again, "Do you see?"
Yes. I have seen.
In the opening chapter, I see Noah Cotton going to an insane asylum to visit his brother Alex. Alex is the veteran of some great war where his military prowess is something of lore that leaves Noah feeling a bit inadequate by comparison. Here is where we could draw a ladder to Dana Reinhardt's THE THINGS A BROTHER KNOWS with ease. I see this.
With some prior knowledge of what an asylum might look like, Grant walks the reader to the room of Alex Cotton, who is a mere shell of who he was before. After a tense interaction between the two brothers, Alex begins to mutter--then shout over and over the word "Berserk!" And this is the beginning of the show that Grant carries over 386 pages, the last hundred of which are the most action-packed, suspenseful pages I have had the pleasure to read in the past few years.
In a tweet to Michael Grant, I let him know that these final pages left me "agitated and irritable." I really didn't want anyone around as I finished the book. It reads just like this. Grant responded by letting me know (what a gift Twitter is) that "if it were any consolation, they had the same effect on him).
Grant points the lens now to a father and his son on a private jet. This is Grey and Stone McClure. We can sense the power the father must have from the conversation. The scene seems to be set for a passing down of a company to a successor. They are having a conversation about Stone's sister and a boy she is dating. They are attending a football game in a stadium the jet is about to fly over. Both are curious about whether or not they might be able to see Sadie in the stands as they fly over. I see it.
And then, Grant shatters what I see.
Chapter Three is a graphic description of the events that transpire, wherein Grant seemingly wants to make sure that if you covered your eyes in Chapter Two, you will take in the full effect of his chaos and mayhem now.
He makes you see it.
And by the end of Chapter Four, the reader is fully engrossed in a battle that wages in a nano and macro world wherein those selected for service--because of their "gaming" skills--and a natural bend toward "crazy"--are drivers of microscopic entities that carry the DNA of the operator. With the ability to launch these nanobots onto others who become host (or perhaps "prey" would be more appropriate here) for a manipulative scheme to overtake the rival company created by Grey Stone, a company that created biots as a means of releasing into a singular host a microscopic element that might aid in healing (based upon stem cell research conducted by the company).
Enter the world of Michael Grant's BZRK. This is a book that you simply have to read to really get a sense of how exciting, how speculative, and how haunting Grant's vision really is here.
And because of Grant's ability to point the lens toward scenes that let the story unfold in a way that will satisfy those who are quickly pulled into the science and possibility of the story as well as letting readers like me come into the story as it reveals characters and their relationships, the whole of the complexity of this book (it is very difficult to describe without entering into the technology and associated jargon to render a feel for the book) unfolds until it's dramatic conclusion.
I really want to say more about this book but the elements and twists and turns keep me from saying too much too early. There is so much to see here.
I think this is the kind of book where in a literature circle of readers could really reach into this book at the macro and nano level to flesh out the details I am leaving out in this introduction to what is going to be the hot read for guy readers this spring. BZRK would ladder most well with other sci-fi titles like FEED, FOR THE WIN, ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, and UNWIND. With a ladder like this, you will pull those dormant guy readers out of their slumber.
What's more, BZRK--a work of speculative fiction--is so on track with the number of TED talks regarding technological realities and possibilities a lead learner might plug into as readers dive into this world Grant has created. Non-fiction "ladders" might include technological advances, the ethics of innovation, and the possibility of regeneration at the nano level being "driven" by an operator at the macro level.
And, Grant has built into BZRK a most interesting "ladder" when it comes to a fiction title. Each of the characters--once they are brought into the cell referred to as BZRK--are named for a famous poet, artist, or pop culture star (don't miss the character Wilkes ((yes. . .that Wilkes) who has walked the thin line between sanity and insanity. Here there be "ladders" as well. Can you see them?
BZRK has what guy readers want and this might serve as a reader-advisory point. Depictions of violence and mayhem are graphically rendered here. Grant does not disappoint for action, suspense, intrigue, twists and turns. Make sure that BZRK is on your radar.
May 31, 2016
**4.5 stars**
**No spoilers**
This book took me completely by surprise. I really wasn't expecting to like it half as much as I did. I found it to be really fast paced and fascinating. The characters were great and I appreciated that it gave the POV of the bad guys too. I just kept finding myself really gripped which is always a good thing.
The romance felt a little forced but it wasn't a major part of the book, and when it first started some of it was a little confusing, but other than that this book was a complete win!
**No spoilers**
This book took me completely by surprise. I really wasn't expecting to like it half as much as I did. I found it to be really fast paced and fascinating. The characters were great and I appreciated that it gave the POV of the bad guys too. I just kept finding myself really gripped which is always a good thing.
The romance felt a little forced but it wasn't a major part of the book, and when it first started some of it was a little confusing, but other than that this book was a complete win!
February 17, 2012
If you’re a big fan of Michael Grant’s Gone series like I am, and eagerly anticipating for Fear, then you are absolutely going to devour BZRK, the first book in his new thriller series. Where Gone was my entrée in 2010 and Plague my main course in 2011 (the books in between being complementary champagnes and refreshments), BZRK was my dessert � although filled with internal bodily environments, blood, bits of brain, and shards of bone, it was sweet and delectable the entire way through, or as they say, “cooked to perfection� � before my satisfying tea and biscuits � Fear � arrives in April. Yes, I understand you must think I’m delusional after spending over a year and a half in the restaurant called ‘The Fayz� with a dessert special containing nanobots and a thrill ride� but I’m hooked. All I need is a hook-ah/er and I’d be even more hooked then I already am. Michael Grant can give me my hookah course so that way I can save the hooker course for when I find myself in Amsterdam again� BRAIDEN! You’re getting off-topic mate! Get with it! Okay I will.
So you’ve come here to read my thoughts on BZRK and yet you found me discussing hookers. All I can say is Michael Grant’s writing, his novels, his characters, his worlds, are a drug. Maybe Gone was the hookah in the first place. Oh God! I am getting totally sidetracked because I don’t know how to � or don’t really want to � write a review for this exciting and thrilling book. There’s one way to comprehend how I feel after reading it: BZRK literally f***s up your brain, your mind, as if an army of nanobots has invaded your cranial cavity and is now pulling and pushing and poking about, injecting every neuron in your brain with psychedelic drugs. Or it could feel like you’re undertaking aversion therapy (think of Clockwork Orange). Either way, I’m studying Psychology so I could well know what this “pleasurable� experience felt like. Or you know, going back to basics and being a so-called “adult�, it’s like eating your favourite dessert� where the psychedelics and dessert are one and the same. Round and round in circles I go.
Sensible time: In alternating perspectives we find ourselves introduced to Noah and Sadie, two separate individuals, an ocean dividing them, each with an event that is about to dramatically change their lives and thrust them into a war they never knew even existed. A war involving nanobots and biots, two opposing sides, which happens in the very meat of the individuals each side is either trying to defend, or attempting to succeed. Even by reading this, these microscopic DNA-based bots may have crawled onto your skin, into your eyes, your nose, your ears, scurrying along your optic nerve, your olfactory or trigeminal tracts, your auditory nerve, heading straight for your brain, their target, to invade, to control, to takeover your every action, your every thought, your every right as a human being on this planet. The next time you do something stupid or caught by the police for doing something against the law (like running a red light), blame it on the bots. Or give them Michael Grant’s number for your contact and let him explain the situation. He’s the creator. A damn phenomenal creator who knows how to twist your mind every which way humanly � and not-so humanly � possible.
But we can’t blame it on Michael Grant of course. So he gives us a pair of conjoined twins � Charles and Benjamin � to pile all the blame on. These twins have one goal: to “attempt� to make a better world. Do they succeed? You’ll find out. This “better world� is termed Nexus Humanus, where we become an interconnected species and able to communicate with one another more efficiently (like we don’t communicate enough!), to make one another an equal, with equal rights and equal lives � their view on what a utopia should be. Being conjoined is hard enough in a world where you are outed, different, targeted. So they’ve worked hard at this Nexus Humanus, to build it, and they’re going to do all it takes to make it work. Although they’re the true villains of this twisted society, we can’t blame them entirely for the war which has started. This war between the “baddies� working for the twins, the Armstrong Fancy Gift Corporation, and their nanobots. The “goodies�, those in the guerilla group BZRK � that also recruit Noah and Sadie � using DNA-derived biots to destroy the nanobots, to protect the very rights of the human being affected with these bots. Which side would you choose? They’re both fighting for a cause which they believe is right. And why shouldn’t they?
You may have seen goodies and baddies in quotation marks. That is because in BZRK there’s no point in taking sides. Each character in this book has the right to believe in what they want to believe in, to do the things they want to do, to be the person they want to be. There’s no denying them of that opportunity. Bugman who works for the twins is just a teenage boy like you and me, the teenage you will be like or how you were like. And when you put him besides Noah and Sadie, there’s really no difference. They have their dreams and aspirations even if it’s to do with revenge or just to find peace and happiness in the world around you. You feel sympathy for the “baddies� and the “goodies� and Michael Grant gives you access into each of their lives, their emotions and feelings. You begin to feel empathy to everyone. A trait we all must possess today. But looking out of one character’s eyes makes the other set of eyes, which you are directly glaring at, seem evil and sinister like a monster’s, and vice versa.
The only issue I did have with BZRK was the changing from macro to micro, the view of the human to the view of the bot/biot. It was confusing at first, but as you read and understand the descriptions and moments more, you find yourself automatically being transported from the macro to the micro, from being face to face to being face to brain. So as you change, it’s an automatic “transferral� of view which I’ll term it as. And this was my only issue � hence the half a star deduction � but everything else was sheer perfection and an enjoyment of epic proportions (DESSERT! hehehe).
And like I said: BZRK f***s you up hardcore.
*
Now when I think about it, I did feel an itch in my eye when I met Michael Grant in 2010 when he came to Melbourne (at Jam Factory’s Borders � now closed [blame it on the bots!]). Thought it was an eyelash but I’m beginning to think it was much more than just an eyelash�
So you’ve come here to read my thoughts on BZRK and yet you found me discussing hookers. All I can say is Michael Grant’s writing, his novels, his characters, his worlds, are a drug. Maybe Gone was the hookah in the first place. Oh God! I am getting totally sidetracked because I don’t know how to � or don’t really want to � write a review for this exciting and thrilling book. There’s one way to comprehend how I feel after reading it: BZRK literally f***s up your brain, your mind, as if an army of nanobots has invaded your cranial cavity and is now pulling and pushing and poking about, injecting every neuron in your brain with psychedelic drugs. Or it could feel like you’re undertaking aversion therapy (think of Clockwork Orange). Either way, I’m studying Psychology so I could well know what this “pleasurable� experience felt like. Or you know, going back to basics and being a so-called “adult�, it’s like eating your favourite dessert� where the psychedelics and dessert are one and the same. Round and round in circles I go.
Sensible time: In alternating perspectives we find ourselves introduced to Noah and Sadie, two separate individuals, an ocean dividing them, each with an event that is about to dramatically change their lives and thrust them into a war they never knew even existed. A war involving nanobots and biots, two opposing sides, which happens in the very meat of the individuals each side is either trying to defend, or attempting to succeed. Even by reading this, these microscopic DNA-based bots may have crawled onto your skin, into your eyes, your nose, your ears, scurrying along your optic nerve, your olfactory or trigeminal tracts, your auditory nerve, heading straight for your brain, their target, to invade, to control, to takeover your every action, your every thought, your every right as a human being on this planet. The next time you do something stupid or caught by the police for doing something against the law (like running a red light), blame it on the bots. Or give them Michael Grant’s number for your contact and let him explain the situation. He’s the creator. A damn phenomenal creator who knows how to twist your mind every which way humanly � and not-so humanly � possible.
But we can’t blame it on Michael Grant of course. So he gives us a pair of conjoined twins � Charles and Benjamin � to pile all the blame on. These twins have one goal: to “attempt� to make a better world. Do they succeed? You’ll find out. This “better world� is termed Nexus Humanus, where we become an interconnected species and able to communicate with one another more efficiently (like we don’t communicate enough!), to make one another an equal, with equal rights and equal lives � their view on what a utopia should be. Being conjoined is hard enough in a world where you are outed, different, targeted. So they’ve worked hard at this Nexus Humanus, to build it, and they’re going to do all it takes to make it work. Although they’re the true villains of this twisted society, we can’t blame them entirely for the war which has started. This war between the “baddies� working for the twins, the Armstrong Fancy Gift Corporation, and their nanobots. The “goodies�, those in the guerilla group BZRK � that also recruit Noah and Sadie � using DNA-derived biots to destroy the nanobots, to protect the very rights of the human being affected with these bots. Which side would you choose? They’re both fighting for a cause which they believe is right. And why shouldn’t they?
You may have seen goodies and baddies in quotation marks. That is because in BZRK there’s no point in taking sides. Each character in this book has the right to believe in what they want to believe in, to do the things they want to do, to be the person they want to be. There’s no denying them of that opportunity. Bugman who works for the twins is just a teenage boy like you and me, the teenage you will be like or how you were like. And when you put him besides Noah and Sadie, there’s really no difference. They have their dreams and aspirations even if it’s to do with revenge or just to find peace and happiness in the world around you. You feel sympathy for the “baddies� and the “goodies� and Michael Grant gives you access into each of their lives, their emotions and feelings. You begin to feel empathy to everyone. A trait we all must possess today. But looking out of one character’s eyes makes the other set of eyes, which you are directly glaring at, seem evil and sinister like a monster’s, and vice versa.
The only issue I did have with BZRK was the changing from macro to micro, the view of the human to the view of the bot/biot. It was confusing at first, but as you read and understand the descriptions and moments more, you find yourself automatically being transported from the macro to the micro, from being face to face to being face to brain. So as you change, it’s an automatic “transferral� of view which I’ll term it as. And this was my only issue � hence the half a star deduction � but everything else was sheer perfection and an enjoyment of epic proportions (DESSERT! hehehe).
And like I said: BZRK f***s you up hardcore.
*
Now when I think about it, I did feel an itch in my eye when I met Michael Grant in 2010 when he came to Melbourne (at Jam Factory’s Borders � now closed [blame it on the bots!]). Thought it was an eyelash but I’m beginning to think it was much more than just an eyelash�
February 14, 2013
Jak začít... můj vztah k této knize mi nebyl pravděpodobně již od počátku přán. Nejdříve se recenzní kopie ztratila kdesi na cestě, takže se do mých rukou nedostala včas a já nemohla v požadovaném čase její čtení dokončit a přicházím s recenzí téměř s křížkem po funuse. Nicméně jsem se do toho vrhla a čekala na zázrak, jelikož tato kniha je opravdu ve všech směrech vychvalována a já si byla naprosto jistá, že mne čeká unikátní ��tenářský zážitek. Problém byl v tom, že přes neskutečně slibný začátek se postupně nadšení kamsi vytrácelo a já začínala zjišťovat, jak se do čtení vyloženě nutím. Co nutím. Vypadalo to u mne nějak takto... "Bože můj, co mám dělat, mně se ta kniha fakt neskutečně nelíbí, nudí mě a měla by ve mně přece vyvolávat opak. Za co?"
Takže znovu. Začátek byl skvost. Napínavé, představení postav mne velmi zaujalo a říkala si, že to bude fakt dobrá kniha. Styl psaní super, dostatek přímé řeči, to se mi líbí. Myšlenkové pochody v hlavách zásadních postav - výborné. Do jaké doby? Než jsem zjistila, o co po celou dobu v knize půjde. Nano svět? Bioti? Aj, to vypadá zle. Nevím, k čemu to přirovnat. Možná sci-fi? Pravděpodobně to nebude můj šálek kafe.
Vesměs si vůbec nejsem jistá, jak tuto knihu popsat. Na jednu stranu se přikláním k výbornému nápadu, Michael Grant to musel mít v hlavě pěkně zmáklé a srovnané, musel toho určitě spoustu nastudovat, aby mohl věrohodně vyprávět. Na druhou stranu tento nápad nebyl vůbec dobře využit (v mých očích). Některé pasáže mi přišly nechutné, je zde spousta násilí, která mi prostě nikdy nebylo blízké (víte jak to myslím, jistě, že není normální zabíjet lidi, ale tady je toho prostě moc). Na začátku knihy mi rodinná tragédie přišla "zajímavá", tedy zajímavá pro knihu a to, jakým směrem by se mohl příběh ubírat. Bohužel. Všechno to chytlo špatný, pro mne nevyhovující směr.
Ačkoli píši tuto recenzi negativně, v žádném případě nechci od koupi či přečtení knihy odrazovat. Kniha je napsaná dobře. Michael Grant psát umí. O tom žádná. Problém je v tom, že se mi naprosto, ale naprosto netrefil do mého vkusu coby vyprávěním příběhu. Ve tři čtvrtině knihy jsem stále nechápala a nerozuměla postavám. Přišly mi bez charakteru, nedalo se nikoho oblíbit. A můžu vám říct, že postav je v této knize vcelku dost. Možná je to také díky tomu, že se po většinu knihy vlastně minimálně projevovaly. Dle mého názoru se autor dostatečně nevěnoval právě důležitým postavám, ale nechal je svými myšlenkami ovládat nanoboty, jejichž boje, vypíchnuté oči a hořící končetiny mě fakt nezajímaly. Pasáže, kde autor popisoval boje mezi nanoboty a bioty byly pro mne nezáživné, neskutečně nudné, já se čtením opravdu trápila.
Pomalu to vypadá, že by si kniha zasloužila naprosto minimální počet hvězdiček, ale to zase nemohu. On to totiž není brak, ono si to prostě musí najít svého čitatele, kterému takový příběh bude sedět a všeobecně mu sci-fi a otázka pokročilé technologie v lidstvu nevadí. Ona totiž ta myšlenka mít malé robotky, které jsou schopny vám uvnitř těla zachránit život a bojovat s nepřátelskými viry a podobně, je velmi atraktivní, ale dle mého názoru to měl Grant vzít za jiný konec.
Co si přeji? Fakt moc si přeji, aby byla tato kniha zfilmovaná, protože jako film to bude opravdu fantastická jízda. Tomu bezmezně věřím. Pravděpodobně nemám dostatečnou představivost, i když si říkám, že nanotechnologie je určitě zajímavým krokem kamsi do budoucnosti. Moje srdce patří ale jiným žánrům. Těm rozumím.
Takže znovu. Začátek byl skvost. Napínavé, představení postav mne velmi zaujalo a říkala si, že to bude fakt dobrá kniha. Styl psaní super, dostatek přímé řeči, to se mi líbí. Myšlenkové pochody v hlavách zásadních postav - výborné. Do jaké doby? Než jsem zjistila, o co po celou dobu v knize půjde. Nano svět? Bioti? Aj, to vypadá zle. Nevím, k čemu to přirovnat. Možná sci-fi? Pravděpodobně to nebude můj šálek kafe.
Vesměs si vůbec nejsem jistá, jak tuto knihu popsat. Na jednu stranu se přikláním k výbornému nápadu, Michael Grant to musel mít v hlavě pěkně zmáklé a srovnané, musel toho určitě spoustu nastudovat, aby mohl věrohodně vyprávět. Na druhou stranu tento nápad nebyl vůbec dobře využit (v mých očích). Některé pasáže mi přišly nechutné, je zde spousta násilí, která mi prostě nikdy nebylo blízké (víte jak to myslím, jistě, že není normální zabíjet lidi, ale tady je toho prostě moc). Na začátku knihy mi rodinná tragédie přišla "zajímavá", tedy zajímavá pro knihu a to, jakým směrem by se mohl příběh ubírat. Bohužel. Všechno to chytlo špatný, pro mne nevyhovující směr.
Ačkoli píši tuto recenzi negativně, v žádném případě nechci od koupi či přečtení knihy odrazovat. Kniha je napsaná dobře. Michael Grant psát umí. O tom žádná. Problém je v tom, že se mi naprosto, ale naprosto netrefil do mého vkusu coby vyprávěním příběhu. Ve tři čtvrtině knihy jsem stále nechápala a nerozuměla postavám. Přišly mi bez charakteru, nedalo se nikoho oblíbit. A můžu vám říct, že postav je v této knize vcelku dost. Možná je to také díky tomu, že se po většinu knihy vlastně minimálně projevovaly. Dle mého názoru se autor dostatečně nevěnoval právě důležitým postavám, ale nechal je svými myšlenkami ovládat nanoboty, jejichž boje, vypíchnuté oči a hořící končetiny mě fakt nezajímaly. Pasáže, kde autor popisoval boje mezi nanoboty a bioty byly pro mne nezáživné, neskutečně nudné, já se čtením opravdu trápila.
Pomalu to vypadá, že by si kniha zasloužila naprosto minimální počet hvězdiček, ale to zase nemohu. On to totiž není brak, ono si to prostě musí najít svého čitatele, kterému takový příběh bude sedět a všeobecně mu sci-fi a otázka pokročilé technologie v lidstvu nevadí. Ona totiž ta myšlenka mít malé robotky, které jsou schopny vám uvnitř těla zachránit život a bojovat s nepřátelskými viry a podobně, je velmi atraktivní, ale dle mého názoru to měl Grant vzít za jiný konec.
Co si přeji? Fakt moc si přeji, aby byla tato kniha zfilmovaná, protože jako film to bude opravdu fantastická jízda. Tomu bezmezně věřím. Pravděpodobně nemám dostatečnou představivost, i když si říkám, že nanotechnologie je určitě zajímavým krokem kamsi do budoucnosti. Moje srdce patří ale jiným žánrům. Těm rozumím.
March 8, 2012
Today’s review is about a book I am super excited about for many, many reasons (if you’re bored with backstories, just scroll down). First of all, it’s Michael Grant! Super talented author of the Gone series. Second of all, it’s been so long since I’d read a thrilling, gross boy book, it was about time. I was way too deep in girly drama books. Not. Good. One of the biggest reasons this book will always be dear to my heart is because it was the first ARC I requested directly from a big publisher and was approved for. It was a celebratory moment, to say the least ;) And not to sound arrogant here, but I haven’t seen a lot of blogs talk about this book and I seriously think this book needs more attention (heaps and loads) and it’s kind of cool to tell your bloggy friends about a new famous-author book they haven’t heard of, isn’t it? No?
A truly interesting thing about BZRK is its marketing campaign. There were various websites created � gobzrk.com, NexusHumanus.com, DeathorMadness.com, and SocietyTwins.com � which are interrelated with the book’s content, video games (there’s a free iPhone app!) and fan fiction has already started popping up all over the place.
Plot: Everything about BZRK blew me away starting with the completely original plot. A group of unlikely heroes save the world from destruction. Overdone? Not even close. Twins Charles and Benjamin are joined at the hip (literally) and embarrassed by their deformity, they decide to make the world a better place � where people would not have to feel pain or sorrow because their emotions would be controlled for them. They have a benign goal in mind (or do they?) but a different organization, the BZRK, believes that they are going about it wrong.
They believe humans should retain their free will. The war goes on � not in a battlefield � but inside the minds of ignorant humans (“down in the meat� as they say) with the help of the most powerful armies: nanobots.
The whole novel was such a thrilling ride, I honestly didn’t realize I had turned the last page until I tried vainly to scratch out another page. It was that good.
Characters: All the agents use codenames throughout the book which would seem to make it harder to connect to the characters but it just made me all the more curious to find out their real names because knowing a person’s real name is sort of the end-all of understanding the character.
Still, if you are uncomfortable with code names such as Bug Man, there is a glossary in the back explaining each’s role and true name. I found the characters very believable and it was easy to feel for them and understand their emotions.
Narration/Tone: One of my favorite things about BZRK was its fast pace. Grant condensed a lot within his 386 pages. You were shown how many of the young members joined BZRK and each character was given a little time for his backstory. The two main characters were recruited and taught the basics of the trade, they even got a nice little romance going, and the team almost beat the evil geniuses. There was not a single dull moment in the book. Even the romance was gone within a snap of a finger.
The mood throughout the novel is very dark, often desperate sort of like a dystopian (and you all know how much I adore those). There is a lot of humor in the book, but it’s the ironic dark kind. Another thing I enjoyed very much.
Romanciness: The romance was just the right amount and very nicely done. It was a small element in the story, just the way I like it. And the characters didn’t just suddenly start loving each other due to some unexplained attraction. Two people thrown in horrific circumstances find comfort in each other � it’s all very appropriate and natural. It does turn into more though I promise, they like each other lots �
Cover/Title: To be honest, it was the author who caught my attention with this one, not any cover or title. And really, there isn’t anything particularly attractive about its cover. It’s very simple and to the point. It’s inside you find the real gold.
Word of caution: If you’re a little squeamish, you’d better not pick this book up. Since agents� (twitchers�) nanobots go down into people’s brains to control/fight, etc, there is plenty of detailed explanation of them squeezing in through the eye or slogging through mounds of makeup of creeping through scaly skin. There is also violence and such. It is most definitely a boy book and pick this book up if you’re comfortable with graphic descriptions (no sex scenes or anything).
BZRK easily comes into my top three so far this year. Fantastic edgy thriller!
FYI, it has been optioned by Sony Pictures! Yahoo-ey!
A truly interesting thing about BZRK is its marketing campaign. There were various websites created � gobzrk.com, NexusHumanus.com, DeathorMadness.com, and SocietyTwins.com � which are interrelated with the book’s content, video games (there’s a free iPhone app!) and fan fiction has already started popping up all over the place.
Plot: Everything about BZRK blew me away starting with the completely original plot. A group of unlikely heroes save the world from destruction. Overdone? Not even close. Twins Charles and Benjamin are joined at the hip (literally) and embarrassed by their deformity, they decide to make the world a better place � where people would not have to feel pain or sorrow because their emotions would be controlled for them. They have a benign goal in mind (or do they?) but a different organization, the BZRK, believes that they are going about it wrong.
They believe humans should retain their free will. The war goes on � not in a battlefield � but inside the minds of ignorant humans (“down in the meat� as they say) with the help of the most powerful armies: nanobots.
The whole novel was such a thrilling ride, I honestly didn’t realize I had turned the last page until I tried vainly to scratch out another page. It was that good.
Characters: All the agents use codenames throughout the book which would seem to make it harder to connect to the characters but it just made me all the more curious to find out their real names because knowing a person’s real name is sort of the end-all of understanding the character.
Still, if you are uncomfortable with code names such as Bug Man, there is a glossary in the back explaining each’s role and true name. I found the characters very believable and it was easy to feel for them and understand their emotions.
Narration/Tone: One of my favorite things about BZRK was its fast pace. Grant condensed a lot within his 386 pages. You were shown how many of the young members joined BZRK and each character was given a little time for his backstory. The two main characters were recruited and taught the basics of the trade, they even got a nice little romance going, and the team almost beat the evil geniuses. There was not a single dull moment in the book. Even the romance was gone within a snap of a finger.
The mood throughout the novel is very dark, often desperate sort of like a dystopian (and you all know how much I adore those). There is a lot of humor in the book, but it’s the ironic dark kind. Another thing I enjoyed very much.
Romanciness: The romance was just the right amount and very nicely done. It was a small element in the story, just the way I like it. And the characters didn’t just suddenly start loving each other due to some unexplained attraction. Two people thrown in horrific circumstances find comfort in each other � it’s all very appropriate and natural. It does turn into more though I promise, they like each other lots �
Cover/Title: To be honest, it was the author who caught my attention with this one, not any cover or title. And really, there isn’t anything particularly attractive about its cover. It’s very simple and to the point. It’s inside you find the real gold.
Word of caution: If you’re a little squeamish, you’d better not pick this book up. Since agents� (twitchers�) nanobots go down into people’s brains to control/fight, etc, there is plenty of detailed explanation of them squeezing in through the eye or slogging through mounds of makeup of creeping through scaly skin. There is also violence and such. It is most definitely a boy book and pick this book up if you’re comfortable with graphic descriptions (no sex scenes or anything).
BZRK easily comes into my top three so far this year. Fantastic edgy thriller!
FYI, it has been optioned by Sony Pictures! Yahoo-ey!
January 20, 2013
„Tam dole v masu je divnej svět. A ze všeho nejdivnější jsme my.�
BZRK je zvláštní knihou. Neobvyklou, zajímavou, zmatenou a nabízející toho hodně do budoucna. S Michaelem Grantem nemám žádné zkušenosti, ale co jsem tak v okolí postřehla, je to dobrý autor. A opravdu tomu tak je, protože jak by špatný autor mohl sestavit knihu jako je tato?
V BZRKu v podstatě najdete nový svět. Svět nana, svět všeho, co není vidět pouhým okem. Svět tam dole v masu, uvnitř lidského těla. Chápu, že to asi zní zmateně, ale tak to je. A celá kniha je o tomhle. Hned na začátku na vás autor vybalí pojmy jako makro, nano, bioti, nanoboti, maso, BZRK, Armstrongovy famózní dárky... A vám hlava půjde kolem. Nebudete to chvílemi chápat, ani trochu nebudete mít ponětí, o co vlastně jde, ale nedá vám to spát. A budete v knize pokračovat, hltat každou stránku, dokud nebudete na konci.
Nemusíte se ale bát, že byste to nechápali. Je jen otázkou času, než vám všechno zapadne dohromady, ale nakonec to z ničeho nic bude dávat smysl. A navíc, tohle byl autora záměr, prostě zmást čtenáře, protože ona ta neznalost dodává na zvědavosti. A taky je větší šance, že vás překvapí. A to se mu tedy povede. A ne jen jednou.
Kdybych se tu snažila popsat děj, určitě bych se do toho zamotala a ještě bych vám udělala bordel v hlavě. Jenom vám řeknu, že se nestihnete nudit. Ani náhodou. Od začátku do konce tam je spousta akce, napínavých scén, zvratů a všeho, co by podle mě měla dobrá kniha mít. A samozřejmě také skvělé postavy.
Postav je tam poměrně dost. V podstatě by se dalo říct, že hlavními postavami je Sadie s Noahem, na druhou stranu je tam spousta jiných postav, které jsou stejně hlavní jako Sadie nebo Noah. To je hlavně způsobené tím, že je příběh vyprávěný er-formou z pohledu hodně charakterů. I těch z té dobré strany, i ty z té zlé. Problém je pak akorát v tom poznat, jaká ta strana je opravdu špatná.
Autor v knize nešetří ani postavy, ani čtenáře. Čas od času se tam totiž také našla nějaká scéna, která rozhodně nebyla pro slabší povahy. A postavy si tímhle procházely pořád. Nebezpečí, strach, zodpovědnost... pořád něco.
Zajímavým rysem knihy je i to, že autor se vůbec nebál žádného tématu. A také u postav byl poměrně kreativní. Dvojčata Armstrongova jsou toho hodně čestným důkazem. A stejně tak se tam vyskytovaly různé etniky, národnosti, životní styly... - Indka Ofélie, potetovaná Wilkesová, černoch Broučák, drogový závislák Burnofsky, šílený voják Alex, gay Nindžiskij... Na co si vzpomenete, to tam najdete.
BZRK je bláznivá kniha. Opravdu jsem nic šílenějšího a zamotanějšího nikdy nečetla. Ale je to skvělá zkušenost. Od začátku do konce jsem byla napnutá jako struna a čekala jsem, co se nakonec semele. Hluchá místa tam snad ani nebyla a jestli ano, nijak mě to nerušilo. Je to nepředvídatelné, dramatické a chtě nechtě i zatraceně reálné. Upřímně jsem během čtení byla tak nesvá z té představy, že by se mi v mozku mohly prohánět nějací malinkatí broučci a dělat mi tam bordel.
Knize dávám velice zasloužených pět hvězdiček a jsem natěšená na další díl, protože ten konec byl vážně zabijácký.
Reakce po dočtení: Skvělé, skvělé, skvělé... Docela obdivuju autora, že něco takonýho vymyslel.
BZRK je zvláštní knihou. Neobvyklou, zajímavou, zmatenou a nabízející toho hodně do budoucna. S Michaelem Grantem nemám žádné zkušenosti, ale co jsem tak v okolí postřehla, je to dobrý autor. A opravdu tomu tak je, protože jak by špatný autor mohl sestavit knihu jako je tato?
V BZRKu v podstatě najdete nový svět. Svět nana, svět všeho, co není vidět pouhým okem. Svět tam dole v masu, uvnitř lidského těla. Chápu, že to asi zní zmateně, ale tak to je. A celá kniha je o tomhle. Hned na začátku na vás autor vybalí pojmy jako makro, nano, bioti, nanoboti, maso, BZRK, Armstrongovy famózní dárky... A vám hlava půjde kolem. Nebudete to chvílemi chápat, ani trochu nebudete mít ponětí, o co vlastně jde, ale nedá vám to spát. A budete v knize pokračovat, hltat každou stránku, dokud nebudete na konci.
Nemusíte se ale bát, že byste to nechápali. Je jen otázkou času, než vám všechno zapadne dohromady, ale nakonec to z ničeho nic bude dávat smysl. A navíc, tohle byl autora záměr, prostě zmást čtenáře, protože ona ta neznalost dodává na zvědavosti. A taky je větší šance, že vás překvapí. A to se mu tedy povede. A ne jen jednou.
Kdybych se tu snažila popsat děj, určitě bych se do toho zamotala a ještě bych vám udělala bordel v hlavě. Jenom vám řeknu, že se nestihnete nudit. Ani náhodou. Od začátku do konce tam je spousta akce, napínavých scén, zvratů a všeho, co by podle mě měla dobrá kniha mít. A samozřejmě také skvělé postavy.
Postav je tam poměrně dost. V podstatě by se dalo říct, že hlavními postavami je Sadie s Noahem, na druhou stranu je tam spousta jiných postav, které jsou stejně hlavní jako Sadie nebo Noah. To je hlavně způsobené tím, že je příběh vyprávěný er-formou z pohledu hodně charakterů. I těch z té dobré strany, i ty z té zlé. Problém je pak akorát v tom poznat, jaká ta strana je opravdu špatná.
Autor v knize nešetří ani postavy, ani čtenáře. Čas od času se tam totiž také našla nějaká scéna, která rozhodně nebyla pro slabší povahy. A postavy si tímhle procházely pořád. Nebezpečí, strach, zodpovědnost... pořád něco.
Zajímavým rysem knihy je i to, že autor se vůbec nebál žádného tématu. A také u postav byl poměrně kreativní. Dvojčata Armstrongova jsou toho hodně čestným důkazem. A stejně tak se tam vyskytovaly různé etniky, národnosti, životní styly... - Indka Ofélie, potetovaná Wilkesová, černoch Broučák, drogový závislák Burnofsky, šílený voják Alex, gay Nindžiskij... Na co si vzpomenete, to tam najdete.
BZRK je bláznivá kniha. Opravdu jsem nic šílenějšího a zamotanějšího nikdy nečetla. Ale je to skvělá zkušenost. Od začátku do konce jsem byla napnutá jako struna a čekala jsem, co se nakonec semele. Hluchá místa tam snad ani nebyla a jestli ano, nijak mě to nerušilo. Je to nepředvídatelné, dramatické a chtě nechtě i zatraceně reálné. Upřímně jsem během čtení byla tak nesvá z té představy, že by se mi v mozku mohly prohánět nějací malinkatí broučci a dělat mi tam bordel.
Knize dávám velice zasloužených pět hvězdiček a jsem natěšená na další díl, protože ten konec byl vážně zabijácký.
Reakce po dočtení: Skvělé, skvělé, skvělé... Docela obdivuju autora, že něco takonýho vymyslel.
May 1, 2014
I still remember reading Animorphs and wondering how the Yeerks could actually reach the brain through the ear. It’s not like there’s actually an open hole into your cranium.
Um…Michael Grant has done some research since those books.
A lot.
Maybe too much.
This was a seriously creepy book, but in the best possible way. Certainly not for the squeamish, though. It has its share of blood and gore, as his books are wont to do, but the majority of the creep factor comes from how much exacting detail is put into the descriptions of human bodies on the microscopic level.
No, I take that back. I can handle straight up descriptions of how weird humans are. That’s fun. It’s the way he writes it. The reactions of these characters who are experiencing things at that micro level, their disorientation, their disgust, their fixation on traumatizing aspects, all of it comes off the page really well. There’s a repetition in the descriptions that’s just shy of annoying, and it’s really effective as a vehicle for showing trauma in the kids, showing how they get stuck on certain things and how what they’re going through gets processed differently because of what they now know.
Alright, enough about the horror part, what about the plot? I enjoyed it. It held together pretty well, it had just enough action to balance out all the info dumping that inevitably takes place in a first novel, and the stakes were high enough to keep things nice and thrilling. Though nanobots are not a new concept for scifi books, I thought the idea of having so much action take place at the microscopic level was fresh and interesting. The book didn’t shy away from all manner of disturbing stuff, although I could have done without that ‘I’m going to change your brain to make you want to sleep with me� rape. It was pointed out that it was a bad thing, but…then that was all that happened with it. Not enough payoff for that level of uncomfortable.
The characters were pretty bland, though. They started off great. Vibrant and distinct and full of potential. Once we got into the ‘meat� of the story, though, they took a back seat and started to blend together. Which is not to say that they turned bad, necessarily, just that the focus wasn’t on them, so we didn’t get to see any goodness. The most I can say in the end is that they didn’t get in the way of the more interesting things going on.
Overall, very much worth the read, but don’t pick it up if you’re disgusted by squishy eyeballs.
October 21, 2013
[This review assumes you've read the book. If you haven't, you probably shouldn't read it. Or do.]
I'm starting to wonder if I have the same condition Victor has, and am unable to experience pleasure. Because despite the fact that this book has everything (or what is generally considered everything - cars, money, explosions, government conspiracy, politics, and evil deformed twin creatures) for some reason, I can't push it over to 4-5 star territory.
My issues with this:
Character motivation/development: We're told that the entire reason Sadie and Noah (or shall I say Plath and Keats? So clever, Mr. Grant!) go on this entire journey is because: 1.) Sadie's family is killed by the bad guys (speaking of which, we never find out why, specially since the baddies needed her father so much for something...?) 2.) Noah because his brother is driven mad when his biot is killed.
While seemingly sound motivation, for two people who are shoved into a crazy, fast-paced, alien world, they never have very much doubt, or moments of reconsideration. This is a world where death and insanity are creatures that wait around every corner. But we never, or rarely see Sadie and Noah call on their prime motivators - family. Sadie only every now and then, and Noah almost never. I know that to some extent, there's no out for them (the whole sanity-biot thing) but still -- everyone has moments of doubt.
I mean, if I found myself hiding in dumpster from from two rugby players turned henchmen on steroids, or in the middle of a shoot-out, or being tortured, I'd be doing some serious reconsideration. Unless you're Rhianna and that excites you. Or whatever. Damn I hate that song.
Another issue for me: Sadie and Noah's relationship. While I did "like" their relationship, but it just had very little grounding and development, unless you go with the "I'm gonna go crazy you're gonna go crazy SO LET'S DO IT!" theory, which, you know, you can (that's what Kim and Kanye did). Also there's the fact that they were both terrified, so it makes sense they'd want to rely upon each other. But I'd still appreciate seeing relationships actually DEVELOPED with the majority of books these days that employ the use of instantaneous relationships.
Also, Sadie and Noah themselves could've been stronger characters. While this is a collective, semi-multi-POV, narrative, there should be tethers that the reader can use to connect with the main characters...which didn't happen for me.
I'm starting to wonder if I have the same condition Victor has, and am unable to experience pleasure. Because despite the fact that this book has everything (or what is generally considered everything - cars, money, explosions, government conspiracy, politics, and evil deformed twin creatures) for some reason, I can't push it over to 4-5 star territory.
My issues with this:
Character motivation/development: We're told that the entire reason Sadie and Noah (or shall I say Plath and Keats? So clever, Mr. Grant!) go on this entire journey is because: 1.) Sadie's family is killed by the bad guys (speaking of which, we never find out why, specially since the baddies needed her father so much for something...?) 2.) Noah because his brother is driven mad when his biot is killed.
While seemingly sound motivation, for two people who are shoved into a crazy, fast-paced, alien world, they never have very much doubt, or moments of reconsideration. This is a world where death and insanity are creatures that wait around every corner. But we never, or rarely see Sadie and Noah call on their prime motivators - family. Sadie only every now and then, and Noah almost never. I know that to some extent, there's no out for them (the whole sanity-biot thing) but still -- everyone has moments of doubt.
I mean, if I found myself hiding in dumpster from from two rugby players turned henchmen on steroids, or in the middle of a shoot-out, or being tortured, I'd be doing some serious reconsideration. Unless you're Rhianna and that excites you. Or whatever. Damn I hate that song.
Another issue for me: Sadie and Noah's relationship. While I did "like" their relationship, but it just had very little grounding and development, unless you go with the "I'm gonna go crazy you're gonna go crazy SO LET'S DO IT!" theory, which, you know, you can (that's what Kim and Kanye did). Also there's the fact that they were both terrified, so it makes sense they'd want to rely upon each other. But I'd still appreciate seeing relationships actually DEVELOPED with the majority of books these days that employ the use of instantaneous relationships.
Also, Sadie and Noah themselves could've been stronger characters. While this is a collective, semi-multi-POV, narrative, there should be tethers that the reader can use to connect with the main characters...which didn't happen for me.
June 29, 2014
I picked up BZRK because I love the Gone series (and feel that Animorphs may be a little 90's for my tastes these days.) At first the concept really drew me in - along with unusually brutal prose - an idea of battles taking place in the 'micro' and 'macro' was scary and interesting.
Unfortunately I found myself unable to attach to the characters, they all seemed to be introduced the same way: 2-3 paragraphs describing a couple of physical attributes and a run-down on the 'sort' of person they were. None of it really stuck in my head and the first third of the book was somewhat of a confusion to try and suss out who I should be cheering for.
When I finally did work it out they had to go and get code names, which I thoroughly do not remember at all. The only character I could cling to was the disturbing twins simply because they were the only people 'distinctive' (so to speak [see what I did there?]) I could keep track of.
Obviously if the characters fail to pop, it means boo for the novel, I feel I also need to point out that while the concept was cool I felt it wasn't really developed to its potential. A nano-macro showdown was pretty predictable and the implications of the technology was not fleshed out beyond 'its a bit dangerous in the wrong hands'
Back to Gone series for me
Unfortunately I found myself unable to attach to the characters, they all seemed to be introduced the same way: 2-3 paragraphs describing a couple of physical attributes and a run-down on the 'sort' of person they were. None of it really stuck in my head and the first third of the book was somewhat of a confusion to try and suss out who I should be cheering for.
When I finally did work it out they had to go and get code names, which I thoroughly do not remember at all. The only character I could cling to was the disturbing twins simply because they were the only people 'distinctive' (so to speak [see what I did there?]) I could keep track of.
Obviously if the characters fail to pop, it means boo for the novel, I feel I also need to point out that while the concept was cool I felt it wasn't really developed to its potential. A nano-macro showdown was pretty predictable and the implications of the technology was not fleshed out beyond 'its a bit dangerous in the wrong hands'
Back to Gone series for me
March 13, 2013
EDIT: Po napsání recenze, kterou si později budete moci přečíst na Fantasy Planet jsem se rozhodla zvednout hodnocení ze tří na čtyři hvězdičky, protože mi došlo, že něco tak nechutného, geniálního a originálního jsem snad ještě ani nečetla...
January 10, 2013
Takovéhle konce by se měly zakázat.
June 13, 2017
A good story that lacks in character development. The nitty gritty tech of nanotechnology isn't explained, although the viewpoint of a nanobot is described. The struggle between conflicting worldviews and thus the real world battles we witness are interesting.
A very few profanities are sprinkled in and sexual content, though not explicit, is definitely prevalent and beyond innuendo, including a physical relationship between a 16 year old and an older woman. Homosexuality is openly discussed.
Found in the YA section, this book is definitely geared toward older teens, but parents may want to screen this one to see if it is right for your child and views.
A very few profanities are sprinkled in and sexual content, though not explicit, is definitely prevalent and beyond innuendo, including a physical relationship between a 16 year old and an older woman. Homosexuality is openly discussed.
Found in the YA section, this book is definitely geared toward older teens, but parents may want to screen this one to see if it is right for your child and views.
February 14, 2013
Válka je věc špatná sama o sobě. Ničí lidi, pustoší vesnice a to vše řídí vysoce postavení lidé. Kde jsou ty doby, kdy se válčilo muž proti muži? Pryč. Nastává totiž nová éra. Éra strojů, robotů. A biotů. Díky nim uvidíte, jak vlastně vypadá smítko prachu z mikroskopické dálky. Jak vlastně vypadá roztoč, blecha, nebo oko? Stačí dotyk a jste pod nadvládou těchto strojů. V této „miniaturní� válce existují lidé, kteří to ví a bojují. Oni tam totiž byli. Tam dole. Dole v nanu�
Pomocí naší a zvířecí DNA byli vytvořeni bioti. Zmenšenina� čeho vlastně? Biot by se dal přirovnat k malé bleše, kterou nespatříme ani pomocí mikroskopu. Jedná se o opravdu malé stroje, které ovládají lidé. Ovládají je stejně, jako my ovládáme sebe: myšlenkami. Ze začátku se zdál tento plán jako skvělá myšlenka, jenže vše se zvrhlo v něco ještě horšího. Byli totiž vytvořeni nanoboti. Bioti proti nanobotům. Společnost, která chce svět zachránit proti společnosti, která chce vytvořit utopii, kde budou lidé pouhé loutky. Dobří proti zlým. Vítejte ve válce dvacátého prvního století.
Do tohoto zmatku jsou vhozeni Sadie a Noah. Jednomu zabili rodinu, tomu druhému se zbláznil bratr. Zůstali sami, dokud se nepřipojili do BZRKu. Do jejich nové rodiny, která vlastní bioty, díky nímž mají svět zachránit před společnosti, která chce lidstvo sjednotit v jednotně myslící národ. Je něco takového možné? Ano. Díky nanobotům, kteří vám mohou během dne předrátovat mozek a vytvořit tak jakoukoli myšlenku. Děsivé, že ano? Sice jsou ve společnosti BZRK „ti hodní�, ale používají stejné, ovšem šetrnější metody. Teď mají před sebou ale důležitější úkol. Pomocí nanobotů byli nakaženy hlavy států, které mají zasedat na radě OSN. Jestli se podaří této společnosti ovládnout všechny hlavy států, bude pozdě. Sadie a Noah to vědí. Na výcvik nemají čas a musí okamžitě konat. Boj v nanu není jednoduchý a při poražení hrozí, že se zblázníte. Jednoduché a prosté, no ne�?
Biot. Biologický tvor, nikoli stroj. Věc spíchnutá ze směsky útržků a odřezků DNA. Z pavouka, kobry, medúzy. Ale hlavně, v ovládacím mechanismu, který umožňoval jediné mysli vidět biotíma očima a běhat biotíma nohama a sekat biotími noži, z DNA lidského. Biot nebyl robot. Byla to končetina. Přímo napojená na mysl svého stvořitele. Součást svého stvořitele.
BZRK je něco� nečekaného. Samotný název vypovídá o zvláštnosti. A co teprve svět masa, nana, makra? Je tohle normální? Ne, opravdu není! Jak je možné, že autor dokáže napsat něco tak šíleného a přesto čtivého? Protože autor na to má! Michael Grant zaujme svým stylem a hlavně myšlením. Od první stránky se vám bude zdát příběh zmatený, ale o to jde. Musíte se v tom zmatku vyznat, abyste se ponořily do toho světa uvnitř.
Rozhodně vás zajímá, jak to vypadá na té dobré straně a na té zlé, že ano? Uvnitř knihy tohle nebude žádný problém. Autor vám totiž nabídne pohled rovnou z více stran. Určité kapitoly se týkají BZRKu. Jiné zase společnosti AFD, což je skupina zlá. Myslím, že nehrozí okamžik, kdy si řeknete, že vás pohled z této osoby nebaví. Všechny postavy jsou propletené a bez určitých scén byste se ochudili o část skládačky, kterou na konci můžete složit. V tom všem vám ještě autor podá svět nana. Zdá se to hektické, ale když se začtete, uvědomíte si, že je to v podstatě normální.
BZRK se neodehrává na jednom místě. Ze začátku je to Anglie až poté Amerika. Občas se i stává, že se podíváte do historie postav, nebo o nich odhalíte pravdu. Předesílám, že se nemusíte bát zdlouhavých popisů. Autor se spíše zaměřuje na osoby a děj a tím se příběh lépe čte a stránky ubíhají mrknutím oka. Každá postava je v ději nepostradatelná. Některé umřou, některé přeběhnou. Nikdy nevíte, čím budete zaskočeni. Jak už tohle celé napovídá, rozhodně nemůžete očekávat poklidnou četbu. Anotace nám říká, že se jedná o nervy drásající thriller plný zvratů a osudů postav a ti co četli tuto knihu mohou souhlasit. Krev, urážlivá slovíčka a smrt není pro Granta žádná překážka a setkáte se s nimi ještě dosti, než se dostanete ke konci.
Připravte se na revoluci v YA. Na válku nanobotů a biotů. Na válku mezi samotnými lidmi. Na tohle všechno se musíte připravit, protože tento román je svým způsobem šílený, ale přesto famózní. Vše má spád a akci. Bát se o nudu nemusíte. Neumíte si představit, jaký to musí být pocit pro hlavní hrdiny, když ví, že s každým dotykem se na ně může nalodit armáda těchto malých potvůrek? Když knihu dočtete, nebudete moci spát. Musíte si totiž uvědomit, že tohle není konec. Ovšem, než vyjde druhý díl, musíte si dávat pozor, protože nikdy nevíte, kdy vám nějaký nanobot drátuje mozek�
Pomocí naší a zvířecí DNA byli vytvořeni bioti. Zmenšenina� čeho vlastně? Biot by se dal přirovnat k malé bleše, kterou nespatříme ani pomocí mikroskopu. Jedná se o opravdu malé stroje, které ovládají lidé. Ovládají je stejně, jako my ovládáme sebe: myšlenkami. Ze začátku se zdál tento plán jako skvělá myšlenka, jenže vše se zvrhlo v něco ještě horšího. Byli totiž vytvořeni nanoboti. Bioti proti nanobotům. Společnost, která chce svět zachránit proti společnosti, která chce vytvořit utopii, kde budou lidé pouhé loutky. Dobří proti zlým. Vítejte ve válce dvacátého prvního století.
Do tohoto zmatku jsou vhozeni Sadie a Noah. Jednomu zabili rodinu, tomu druhému se zbláznil bratr. Zůstali sami, dokud se nepřipojili do BZRKu. Do jejich nové rodiny, která vlastní bioty, díky nímž mají svět zachránit před společnosti, která chce lidstvo sjednotit v jednotně myslící národ. Je něco takového možné? Ano. Díky nanobotům, kteří vám mohou během dne předrátovat mozek a vytvořit tak jakoukoli myšlenku. Děsivé, že ano? Sice jsou ve společnosti BZRK „ti hodní�, ale používají stejné, ovšem šetrnější metody. Teď mají před sebou ale důležitější úkol. Pomocí nanobotů byli nakaženy hlavy států, které mají zasedat na radě OSN. Jestli se podaří této společnosti ovládnout všechny hlavy států, bude pozdě. Sadie a Noah to vědí. Na výcvik nemají čas a musí okamžitě konat. Boj v nanu není jednoduchý a při poražení hrozí, že se zblázníte. Jednoduché a prosté, no ne�?
Biot. Biologický tvor, nikoli stroj. Věc spíchnutá ze směsky útržků a odřezků DNA. Z pavouka, kobry, medúzy. Ale hlavně, v ovládacím mechanismu, který umožňoval jediné mysli vidět biotíma očima a běhat biotíma nohama a sekat biotími noži, z DNA lidského. Biot nebyl robot. Byla to končetina. Přímo napojená na mysl svého stvořitele. Součást svého stvořitele.
BZRK je něco� nečekaného. Samotný název vypovídá o zvláštnosti. A co teprve svět masa, nana, makra? Je tohle normální? Ne, opravdu není! Jak je možné, že autor dokáže napsat něco tak šíleného a přesto čtivého? Protože autor na to má! Michael Grant zaujme svým stylem a hlavně myšlením. Od první stránky se vám bude zdát příběh zmatený, ale o to jde. Musíte se v tom zmatku vyznat, abyste se ponořily do toho světa uvnitř.
Rozhodně vás zajímá, jak to vypadá na té dobré straně a na té zlé, že ano? Uvnitř knihy tohle nebude žádný problém. Autor vám totiž nabídne pohled rovnou z více stran. Určité kapitoly se týkají BZRKu. Jiné zase společnosti AFD, což je skupina zlá. Myslím, že nehrozí okamžik, kdy si řeknete, že vás pohled z této osoby nebaví. Všechny postavy jsou propletené a bez určitých scén byste se ochudili o část skládačky, kterou na konci můžete složit. V tom všem vám ještě autor podá svět nana. Zdá se to hektické, ale když se začtete, uvědomíte si, že je to v podstatě normální.
BZRK se neodehrává na jednom místě. Ze začátku je to Anglie až poté Amerika. Občas se i stává, že se podíváte do historie postav, nebo o nich odhalíte pravdu. Předesílám, že se nemusíte bát zdlouhavých popisů. Autor se spíše zaměřuje na osoby a děj a tím se příběh lépe čte a stránky ubíhají mrknutím oka. Každá postava je v ději nepostradatelná. Některé umřou, některé přeběhnou. Nikdy nevíte, čím budete zaskočeni. Jak už tohle celé napovídá, rozhodně nemůžete očekávat poklidnou četbu. Anotace nám říká, že se jedná o nervy drásající thriller plný zvratů a osudů postav a ti co četli tuto knihu mohou souhlasit. Krev, urážlivá slovíčka a smrt není pro Granta žádná překážka a setkáte se s nimi ještě dosti, než se dostanete ke konci.
Připravte se na revoluci v YA. Na válku nanobotů a biotů. Na válku mezi samotnými lidmi. Na tohle všechno se musíte připravit, protože tento román je svým způsobem šílený, ale přesto famózní. Vše má spád a akci. Bát se o nudu nemusíte. Neumíte si představit, jaký to musí být pocit pro hlavní hrdiny, když ví, že s každým dotykem se na ně může nalodit armáda těchto malých potvůrek? Když knihu dočtete, nebudete moci spát. Musíte si totiž uvědomit, že tohle není konec. Ovšem, než vyjde druhý díl, musíte si dávat pozor, protože nikdy nevíte, kdy vám nějaký nanobot drátuje mozek�
January 15, 2012
I’ve never read anything by Michael Grant before but I’ve read so many stellar reviews of his books that I thought it was about time I tried one for myself. BZRK is published by Egmont’s new YA imprint Electric Monkey and is unique because prior to the book’s publication, a six-month long interactive transmedia prequel was launched online, incorporating social media, web sites, blogs, video games and many other mobile devices to develop people’s interest in the characters and the story before actually reading the book. The beauty of this is that people can become as involved as they want to be but the more they interact with the content, the more they’re likely to engage with the story. I think this is a great idea and it would be interesting to know how successful this project has been. It may be something that other authors consider adopting in the future.
‘BZRK� had a stellar opening which really grabbed my attention and left me wondering what was coming next. A private jet crashes into a stadium full of people and Grant pulls no punches in showing us what happens in gory detail. Although a book for young adults, Grant’s writing, along with the complexity and sophistication of the plot and many of the concepts and ideas incorporated into the novel are not dumbed down at all. This is a book that you need to pay attention to. I have to say that at some points I wasn’t completely sure I understood what was happening and some passages I had to go back to and read again which slightly spoilt my enjoyment of the overall story.
Grant has invented a world where two factions are battling for the future of civilisation as we know it. They’re battling not with conventional weapons but with nano technology. One side controls biots while the other side uses nanobots � designed to be implanted into people’s heads, allowing someone else to control their thoughts, actions and feelings, without them even knowing it. This is a scary idea as it seems impossible at the moment but plausible in the future. There are some explicit descriptions of them entering people’s eyes and brain which definitely had me wincing more than once.
The main fault for me with ‘BZRK� was that I didn’t feel any real connection with the characters. Many of the people in the book go by code names to protect their identity, but this, combined with the fact that there wasn’t much back story for the two main protagonists, left me with a sense that I never really got to know who they were or their true personalities. There were some interesting and unique secondary characters in the book including the creepy conjoined Armstrong Twins who want to take away peoples� free will and a mysterious figure called Caligula but no one that I found myself really caring about.
I’ve actually got mixed feelings about the book. I wanted to love it and I was blown away by how clever it was but for me, my favourite books are ones where what happens to the characters actually matters to me and I just didn’t experience that with ‘BZRK�. I am intrigued enough to want to find out what happens next though as there were a lot of plot threads left hanging and I’m curious to see where Michael Grant will take the story next.
‘BZRK� had a stellar opening which really grabbed my attention and left me wondering what was coming next. A private jet crashes into a stadium full of people and Grant pulls no punches in showing us what happens in gory detail. Although a book for young adults, Grant’s writing, along with the complexity and sophistication of the plot and many of the concepts and ideas incorporated into the novel are not dumbed down at all. This is a book that you need to pay attention to. I have to say that at some points I wasn’t completely sure I understood what was happening and some passages I had to go back to and read again which slightly spoilt my enjoyment of the overall story.
Grant has invented a world where two factions are battling for the future of civilisation as we know it. They’re battling not with conventional weapons but with nano technology. One side controls biots while the other side uses nanobots � designed to be implanted into people’s heads, allowing someone else to control their thoughts, actions and feelings, without them even knowing it. This is a scary idea as it seems impossible at the moment but plausible in the future. There are some explicit descriptions of them entering people’s eyes and brain which definitely had me wincing more than once.
The main fault for me with ‘BZRK� was that I didn’t feel any real connection with the characters. Many of the people in the book go by code names to protect their identity, but this, combined with the fact that there wasn’t much back story for the two main protagonists, left me with a sense that I never really got to know who they were or their true personalities. There were some interesting and unique secondary characters in the book including the creepy conjoined Armstrong Twins who want to take away peoples� free will and a mysterious figure called Caligula but no one that I found myself really caring about.
I’ve actually got mixed feelings about the book. I wanted to love it and I was blown away by how clever it was but for me, my favourite books are ones where what happens to the characters actually matters to me and I just didn’t experience that with ‘BZRK�. I am intrigued enough to want to find out what happens next though as there were a lot of plot threads left hanging and I’m curious to see where Michael Grant will take the story next.
March 8, 2012
Often, I feel there is a gender divide in YA with books either aimed at girls (the majority) or a few action/sci-fi for the boys. Michael Grant's new YA series BZRK though proves YA doesn't need this as it has an appeal for both sexes. It is an action filled, complicated and thrilling novel that left me anticipating the next addition and feeling like I'd been on an insane journey.
Writing a review for BZRK has been challenging as there is so much I don't want to spoil for you and it is such a different book. It's plot feels original, exciting and intelligent and I found it an unpatronising read that never talked down to the reader. Summing up my own feelings about it was difficult as the book was a roller coaster read; an enjoyable roller coaster too!
BZRK's central concept lies in nanotechnology and there are gamer like wars "down in the meat" where losing means losing your mind. I will admit that for the first few chapters I loved reading the book but I wasn't entirely sure what was going. I could tell you the events and plot but asking me to sum it up or work out how it tied together seemed impossible at first. It didn't stay like that though and Grant's writing was strong enough that even when I was unsure I still needed to carry on, not out of obligation but captivation.
This novel proposes a lot of big questions; is it right to make humans perfect? Do the ends justify the means? How much is freedom truly worth? And while these may seem very much dependent on a sci-fi concept, they raise a lot of questions about our world today in my opinion. The Armstrong Twins seem to have a benevolent purpose but are also the villains and evil.
I loved how the BZRK team picked their names; they chose people famous for their madness, partly as insanity could be their eventual fate if they lose, and this little detail really interested me and evoked the characters and team well.
The book is a little gory, as I hear Grant's books can be, and there are some scenes that are violent but for me it wasn't excessive to the point I was alienated from the book.
Grant's characters are interested. I loved Sadie and Noah and how they developed throughout the novel. They were strong and resilient and resourceful teenagers that never felt like they were acting too old or young. The flirtation between them was also well-written from both perspectives and I liked that Grant wrote the female perspective so well into this novel.
If you are a fan of action packed reads and want to read something thrilling and exciting then this is definitely the book for you. It is an almost cinematic novel that takes you to a different existence, even if it is based in our world, that is utterly terrifying. If you are a newbie to Michael Grant's novels as well then I recommend checking out this series now as it begins as well as his famous GONE series.
I received this book for free from Egmont/ Electric Monkey and am very thankful for their generosity here. My review has not been affected by this.
Writing a review for BZRK has been challenging as there is so much I don't want to spoil for you and it is such a different book. It's plot feels original, exciting and intelligent and I found it an unpatronising read that never talked down to the reader. Summing up my own feelings about it was difficult as the book was a roller coaster read; an enjoyable roller coaster too!
BZRK's central concept lies in nanotechnology and there are gamer like wars "down in the meat" where losing means losing your mind. I will admit that for the first few chapters I loved reading the book but I wasn't entirely sure what was going. I could tell you the events and plot but asking me to sum it up or work out how it tied together seemed impossible at first. It didn't stay like that though and Grant's writing was strong enough that even when I was unsure I still needed to carry on, not out of obligation but captivation.
This novel proposes a lot of big questions; is it right to make humans perfect? Do the ends justify the means? How much is freedom truly worth? And while these may seem very much dependent on a sci-fi concept, they raise a lot of questions about our world today in my opinion. The Armstrong Twins seem to have a benevolent purpose but are also the villains and evil.
I loved how the BZRK team picked their names; they chose people famous for their madness, partly as insanity could be their eventual fate if they lose, and this little detail really interested me and evoked the characters and team well.
The book is a little gory, as I hear Grant's books can be, and there are some scenes that are violent but for me it wasn't excessive to the point I was alienated from the book.
Grant's characters are interested. I loved Sadie and Noah and how they developed throughout the novel. They were strong and resilient and resourceful teenagers that never felt like they were acting too old or young. The flirtation between them was also well-written from both perspectives and I liked that Grant wrote the female perspective so well into this novel.
If you are a fan of action packed reads and want to read something thrilling and exciting then this is definitely the book for you. It is an almost cinematic novel that takes you to a different existence, even if it is based in our world, that is utterly terrifying. If you are a newbie to Michael Grant's novels as well then I recommend checking out this series now as it begins as well as his famous GONE series.
I received this book for free from Egmont/ Electric Monkey and am very thankful for their generosity here. My review has not been affected by this.
March 13, 2012
Guest Review by Andrew
BZRK... I’m not 100% sure how to describe this book as this is a ... well... a hard thing to explain. But here’s my attempt. BZRK, the first in a new series, is about nanos and biots. Not sure what these are? These are nanobots and biots, the biological counterpart of nanos. And here, it seems the world is in danger from these. Or rather, the group known as AFGC, who want to “rewire� the most powerful minds of the world: the President of the United States and the British Prime Minister, to name two. But BZRK has to stop them. Enter Sadie and Noah, the teenagers with their private reasons to join. But with the stakes so high and failure meaning they might lose their sanity, losing isn’t an option...
Now, this is my first Michael Grant book (never read his Gone series, though I have been told I should loads of time in the past), I don’t know what my reaction would be. And, I hate to say, I’m a bit “muh� over it. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it. I’m just in the middle, not sure with myself if I like or not.
Ok, let’s talk about this book’s good point. Once you got your head into this, it was a fast thriller that played out on two levels: in real life and in nano (or “down on the meat�). And with technology at the level it is at the present moment, you sometimes go “This could/might be possible...�
But, there are problems with this book. The first problem I had was when the story or the action scene jumped for human to nano/biot. For the first half of the book, I sometimes had to reread paragraphs to go “OK. Where am I again?� so I didn’t get confused. And near the end of the book, I suddenly started seeing the nanos and the biots like the robot-cookies from Despicable Me.
Another problem I had was the characters. I’m sorry, but I want to be gripped by the characters very quickly. I want to read their story and want to rush back to the book because of them. And with these characters... it took a long time to warm to them or the situation. And the reason I feel for this was that I never felt like I had time to get to know the characters. I would have a chapter (at the most) with one character before it jumped to another character, whether they were the good guy or the bad guy. I never “clicked� with any of the characters.
I’m still unsure on how I feel about BZRK. This wasn’t my cup of tea. But I’m sure all the Gone fans will love this and am sure that some of you guys will enjoy it a lot more than me. So please, don’t let me review put you off. If you want to read this book, READ IT!
BZRK... I’m not 100% sure how to describe this book as this is a ... well... a hard thing to explain. But here’s my attempt. BZRK, the first in a new series, is about nanos and biots. Not sure what these are? These are nanobots and biots, the biological counterpart of nanos. And here, it seems the world is in danger from these. Or rather, the group known as AFGC, who want to “rewire� the most powerful minds of the world: the President of the United States and the British Prime Minister, to name two. But BZRK has to stop them. Enter Sadie and Noah, the teenagers with their private reasons to join. But with the stakes so high and failure meaning they might lose their sanity, losing isn’t an option...
Now, this is my first Michael Grant book (never read his Gone series, though I have been told I should loads of time in the past), I don’t know what my reaction would be. And, I hate to say, I’m a bit “muh� over it. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it. I’m just in the middle, not sure with myself if I like or not.
Ok, let’s talk about this book’s good point. Once you got your head into this, it was a fast thriller that played out on two levels: in real life and in nano (or “down on the meat�). And with technology at the level it is at the present moment, you sometimes go “This could/might be possible...�
But, there are problems with this book. The first problem I had was when the story or the action scene jumped for human to nano/biot. For the first half of the book, I sometimes had to reread paragraphs to go “OK. Where am I again?� so I didn’t get confused. And near the end of the book, I suddenly started seeing the nanos and the biots like the robot-cookies from Despicable Me.
Another problem I had was the characters. I’m sorry, but I want to be gripped by the characters very quickly. I want to read their story and want to rush back to the book because of them. And with these characters... it took a long time to warm to them or the situation. And the reason I feel for this was that I never felt like I had time to get to know the characters. I would have a chapter (at the most) with one character before it jumped to another character, whether they were the good guy or the bad guy. I never “clicked� with any of the characters.
I’m still unsure on how I feel about BZRK. This wasn’t my cup of tea. But I’m sure all the Gone fans will love this and am sure that some of you guys will enjoy it a lot more than me. So please, don’t let me review put you off. If you want to read this book, READ IT!
February 13, 2016
More like 1,5 stars.
So, I absolutely love the Gone series, and I've been dying to read something else by Michael Grant ever since I finished Light. I thought Bzrk sounded great, and my expectations were pretty high. But, I didn't like it, and I'm so disappointed. I thought the story was weird, I was having trouble imagining the whole biot thing, and I didn't connect with a single character. I liked the ending, though, and it's the only reason that this wasn't a one star read for me.
So, I absolutely love the Gone series, and I've been dying to read something else by Michael Grant ever since I finished Light. I thought Bzrk sounded great, and my expectations were pretty high. But, I didn't like it, and I'm so disappointed. I thought the story was weird, I was having trouble imagining the whole biot thing, and I didn't connect with a single character. I liked the ending, though, and it's the only reason that this wasn't a one star read for me.
May 29, 2019
List time cause what is sentence.
Good shit:
- The concept. It's awesome, and the book delivers.
- Perspectives. I love getting many POV characters, and you definitely get that here, from both sides of the main conflict.
- Juicy juicy action. I have read this book before, and I was still scared. Action and fight scenes aren't what I enjoy most in books, but these are so good. I think it's because there's so much happening at the same time.
Good shit:
- The concept. It's awesome, and the book delivers.
- Perspectives. I love getting many POV characters, and you definitely get that here, from both sides of the main conflict.
- Juicy juicy action. I have read this book before, and I was still scared. Action and fight scenes aren't what I enjoy most in books, but these are so good. I think it's because there's so much happening at the same time.
November 18, 2012
In England, Noah Cotton visits his older brother, an ex-soldier, in a mental facility where he rages about ‘nanos� and berserk.
Sadie McLure is at a football game while her brother and father fly in a private jet overhead, off to a meeting about their company, McLure Industries.
Bug Man is at the controls, about to change the very course of history.
And down in the meat, everything is coming together for disaster. . .
‘BZRK� is the first book in a new and frightening YA series from Michael Grant.
Nothing is as it seems in Michael Grant’s creepy-fantastic ‘BZRK� � that’s true from the story, right down to my original pre-read misconceptions (of which, I shame-facedly admit, I had many). To begin with, the book is pronounced ‘Berserk� (not BZ-RK as I first called it), and while the cover is rather dark and masculine, hinting at the sinister within, I actually came away from ‘BZRK� thinking it was one of those rare YA books that will appeal equally to both female and male readers. But what really impressed me about Michael Grant’s first book in a new series is how downright clever it is. It’s something of an espionage/action-thriller/pre-Dystopian gem with teen heroes, set on an epic world-stage and will also appeal to adult readers. But I’m getting ahead of myself � let me delve into the meat of this story, if you will.
We open with threads of characters � beginning with Noah Cotton visiting his older brother in a mental asylum. Alex was once Noah’s idol � a fit military man, apart of an elite unit, he must have seemed like the veritable GI Joe to his young brother whose talents lay more in shoot ’em up video games than the real thing. But we quickly see that something has gone wrong � between Noah’s old idolization of his brother to now, when we see Alex has lost his mind and is confined to an asylum. Now he rages at the world, repeating the word ‘berserk, BERSERK! � BZRK� over and over in a looping madness.
Shift to Sadie McLure � on a date at a football game with a boy she was intrigued by, but who is quickly boring her. While Sadie tries to keep a smile on her face in the stands, her brother and father (her last remaining family after the prolonged, suffering death of her mother to illness) fly overhead in a private jet � on their way to an important conference for McLure Industires. For a little while, as we’re introduced to the intriguing brother Stone McLure, readers may be mistaken for thinking we’re meeting the star of Grant’s series. Seventeen-year-old Stone is described as not exactly model handsome, but with a certain something that makes him not for girls, but for women. He is intriguing in everything, from his interactions with his proud father, Grey (who owns a mug with ‘FAIRLY DECENT DAD� printed on it), to his very description: “He had a brow that seemed designed by God to mark him as honest…� but, alas, Stone is not for readers. Because as soon as we’re introduced to him, begin to settle down with his character, Grant pulls the rug out from under us in a fiery plane disaster that leaves Sadie an orphan � well and truly alone in the world.
Oh, and by this point, we’re only at page 15.
After Noah’s unsettling visit with his insane brother, he gets a visitor � a man who only gives the name Nijinsky. He is eager to meet Alex Cotton’s brother, and has a proposition for Noah � if he’s interested. Meanwhile, Sadie is being given a similar spiel � after the fiery loss of her brother and father, she needs something to fight and fight for.
Both Sadie and Noah agree to a training program � thus pushing them onto ‘the battlefield� with BZRK. By agreeing to enter into the battle that took Noah’s brother, and Sadie’s family away, they are leaving their old lives behind � no longer are they Sadie and Noah � they are now Keats and Plath.
Now we meet the big players of little warfare controlling the world. There’s Vincent (real name: Michael Ford) and Bug Man (Anthony Elder). Men behind the controls of nanobot and biot technology. Tiny nanorobotics - machines or robots whose components are at or close to the scale of a nanometer � are controlled by these men for two separate companies. There is BZRK � a secret organization divided into numerous cells � headed by Lear, who nobody has ever met by who masterminds BZRK with the sole purpose of bringing down Charles and Benjamin Armstrong, of Armstrong Fancy Gifts Corporation (I particularly like this � for all those who think Hallmark is secretly ruling the world). The Armstrong’s are conjoined twins and the other major players of nanorobotics. Between Armstrong Fancy Gifts Corporation and BZRK, a small battle is being waged � in eyelashes, under the skin and in the hair of the world’s most influential people. And now Keats and Plath (formerly Sadie and Noah) are entering into the battle.
The genius of Grant’s ‘BZRK� series lies in the nanorobotics. I admit, for a little while, I was reading ‘BZRK� thinking what a wonderful imagination Michael Grant had. And then I got a sinking feeling in my gut. I searched Wikipedia (a scary thought in itself � since in the novel, Wikipedia is used to pass secret coded messages) and found that nanorobotics are entirely real. There really are such things as nanobots and biots, and they could very well be being used by the military. And as Michael Grant’s ‘BZRK� progresses � as readers follow Plath and Keats on their training program, learning how to control small insect-like robots with their mind’s eye � you realize what a scary proposition that is.
The fright of nanorobotics is often perfectly articulated by a character called Karl Burnofsky, who works for the Armstrong’s and is the mastermind behind many of their creations. He was once as good a controller as Bug Man, but in recent years he has turned to drink to squelch the uneasiness of what he has unleashed on the world;
You want to see God the Creator, the supreme artist? Gaze into the nano. You’ll see your God, and he will scare the shit out of you.
God isn’t in the big things measured in miles, he’s down there. Down there in a flea’s antennae like a hairy tree trunk twitching for blood, and a macrophage slithering along like a shell-less snail come to eat you up, and the cells you see splitting beneath your feet, and landscapes of seething bacteria, and yeah, right there, you want to see God up close and personal?
Much of the action of this novel takes place in ‘the nano� � the places where these small nanobots and biots travel � often along the clothing/skin of people, hanging on their eyelash or wading through the forest of follicle hair. Grant’s descriptions are magnified and spectacular;
“It’s like crossing a desert drawn by Dr. Seuss or Salvador Dalí,� Wilkes interrupted. “Wrinkles and crevices and hairs the size of trees.�
What I loved most about ‘BZRK� is perhaps that it is a book of many genres. By the end of this first instalment, I was thinking that Michael Grant’s new series is best described as a pre-Dystopian one. You can imagine what the world will eventually look like if the nano-warfare played out in ‘BZRK� continues � if regimes and countries are toppled by the goings on of biots in the nano, controlled by power-hungry corporations and unseen men.
But this is also very much a series about Noah and Saide � all that they have lost, and what they are wading into by joining BZRK. Yes, there are hints of a budding romance on the battlefield, but it’s also their respective histories of family tragedy and grief that make these two such compelling characters.
And as much as Noah and Sadie are wonderful protagonists � I’m also a fan of the villains. Conjoined twins, the Armstrong’s, are like something out of a David Lynch movie. And Anthony (‘Bug Man�) is the scariest type of sociopath because there’s so much truth in his origin � recruited by the Armstrong Corporation for his mad gaming skills, he’s now a teenager with the world, literally, at his fingertips.
Michael Grant’s ‘BZRK� is an ALA Popular Paperback for Young Adults, but most importantly it was shortlisted for the Centre for Youth Literature Inky Awards. Here is a creepy-fantastic novel that takes a look at the current world warfare raging in the nano � based around nanorobotics and being perfected by young people with gaming dexterity. This is a cross-genre gem that will creep out the young and old, and is a must-read for anyone who enjoys a good spine-tingle with heavy doses of uneasy reality.
Sadie McLure is at a football game while her brother and father fly in a private jet overhead, off to a meeting about their company, McLure Industries.
Bug Man is at the controls, about to change the very course of history.
And down in the meat, everything is coming together for disaster. . .
‘BZRK� is the first book in a new and frightening YA series from Michael Grant.
Nothing is as it seems in Michael Grant’s creepy-fantastic ‘BZRK� � that’s true from the story, right down to my original pre-read misconceptions (of which, I shame-facedly admit, I had many). To begin with, the book is pronounced ‘Berserk� (not BZ-RK as I first called it), and while the cover is rather dark and masculine, hinting at the sinister within, I actually came away from ‘BZRK� thinking it was one of those rare YA books that will appeal equally to both female and male readers. But what really impressed me about Michael Grant’s first book in a new series is how downright clever it is. It’s something of an espionage/action-thriller/pre-Dystopian gem with teen heroes, set on an epic world-stage and will also appeal to adult readers. But I’m getting ahead of myself � let me delve into the meat of this story, if you will.
We open with threads of characters � beginning with Noah Cotton visiting his older brother in a mental asylum. Alex was once Noah’s idol � a fit military man, apart of an elite unit, he must have seemed like the veritable GI Joe to his young brother whose talents lay more in shoot ’em up video games than the real thing. But we quickly see that something has gone wrong � between Noah’s old idolization of his brother to now, when we see Alex has lost his mind and is confined to an asylum. Now he rages at the world, repeating the word ‘berserk, BERSERK! � BZRK� over and over in a looping madness.
Shift to Sadie McLure � on a date at a football game with a boy she was intrigued by, but who is quickly boring her. While Sadie tries to keep a smile on her face in the stands, her brother and father (her last remaining family after the prolonged, suffering death of her mother to illness) fly overhead in a private jet � on their way to an important conference for McLure Industires. For a little while, as we’re introduced to the intriguing brother Stone McLure, readers may be mistaken for thinking we’re meeting the star of Grant’s series. Seventeen-year-old Stone is described as not exactly model handsome, but with a certain something that makes him not for girls, but for women. He is intriguing in everything, from his interactions with his proud father, Grey (who owns a mug with ‘FAIRLY DECENT DAD� printed on it), to his very description: “He had a brow that seemed designed by God to mark him as honest…� but, alas, Stone is not for readers. Because as soon as we’re introduced to him, begin to settle down with his character, Grant pulls the rug out from under us in a fiery plane disaster that leaves Sadie an orphan � well and truly alone in the world.
Oh, and by this point, we’re only at page 15.
After Noah’s unsettling visit with his insane brother, he gets a visitor � a man who only gives the name Nijinsky. He is eager to meet Alex Cotton’s brother, and has a proposition for Noah � if he’s interested. Meanwhile, Sadie is being given a similar spiel � after the fiery loss of her brother and father, she needs something to fight and fight for.
Both Sadie and Noah agree to a training program � thus pushing them onto ‘the battlefield� with BZRK. By agreeing to enter into the battle that took Noah’s brother, and Sadie’s family away, they are leaving their old lives behind � no longer are they Sadie and Noah � they are now Keats and Plath.
Now we meet the big players of little warfare controlling the world. There’s Vincent (real name: Michael Ford) and Bug Man (Anthony Elder). Men behind the controls of nanobot and biot technology. Tiny nanorobotics - machines or robots whose components are at or close to the scale of a nanometer � are controlled by these men for two separate companies. There is BZRK � a secret organization divided into numerous cells � headed by Lear, who nobody has ever met by who masterminds BZRK with the sole purpose of bringing down Charles and Benjamin Armstrong, of Armstrong Fancy Gifts Corporation (I particularly like this � for all those who think Hallmark is secretly ruling the world). The Armstrong’s are conjoined twins and the other major players of nanorobotics. Between Armstrong Fancy Gifts Corporation and BZRK, a small battle is being waged � in eyelashes, under the skin and in the hair of the world’s most influential people. And now Keats and Plath (formerly Sadie and Noah) are entering into the battle.
The genius of Grant’s ‘BZRK� series lies in the nanorobotics. I admit, for a little while, I was reading ‘BZRK� thinking what a wonderful imagination Michael Grant had. And then I got a sinking feeling in my gut. I searched Wikipedia (a scary thought in itself � since in the novel, Wikipedia is used to pass secret coded messages) and found that nanorobotics are entirely real. There really are such things as nanobots and biots, and they could very well be being used by the military. And as Michael Grant’s ‘BZRK� progresses � as readers follow Plath and Keats on their training program, learning how to control small insect-like robots with their mind’s eye � you realize what a scary proposition that is.
The fright of nanorobotics is often perfectly articulated by a character called Karl Burnofsky, who works for the Armstrong’s and is the mastermind behind many of their creations. He was once as good a controller as Bug Man, but in recent years he has turned to drink to squelch the uneasiness of what he has unleashed on the world;
You want to see God the Creator, the supreme artist? Gaze into the nano. You’ll see your God, and he will scare the shit out of you.
God isn’t in the big things measured in miles, he’s down there. Down there in a flea’s antennae like a hairy tree trunk twitching for blood, and a macrophage slithering along like a shell-less snail come to eat you up, and the cells you see splitting beneath your feet, and landscapes of seething bacteria, and yeah, right there, you want to see God up close and personal?
Much of the action of this novel takes place in ‘the nano� � the places where these small nanobots and biots travel � often along the clothing/skin of people, hanging on their eyelash or wading through the forest of follicle hair. Grant’s descriptions are magnified and spectacular;
“It’s like crossing a desert drawn by Dr. Seuss or Salvador Dalí,� Wilkes interrupted. “Wrinkles and crevices and hairs the size of trees.�
What I loved most about ‘BZRK� is perhaps that it is a book of many genres. By the end of this first instalment, I was thinking that Michael Grant’s new series is best described as a pre-Dystopian one. You can imagine what the world will eventually look like if the nano-warfare played out in ‘BZRK� continues � if regimes and countries are toppled by the goings on of biots in the nano, controlled by power-hungry corporations and unseen men.
But this is also very much a series about Noah and Saide � all that they have lost, and what they are wading into by joining BZRK. Yes, there are hints of a budding romance on the battlefield, but it’s also their respective histories of family tragedy and grief that make these two such compelling characters.
And as much as Noah and Sadie are wonderful protagonists � I’m also a fan of the villains. Conjoined twins, the Armstrong’s, are like something out of a David Lynch movie. And Anthony (‘Bug Man�) is the scariest type of sociopath because there’s so much truth in his origin � recruited by the Armstrong Corporation for his mad gaming skills, he’s now a teenager with the world, literally, at his fingertips.
Michael Grant’s ‘BZRK� is an ALA Popular Paperback for Young Adults, but most importantly it was shortlisted for the Centre for Youth Literature Inky Awards. Here is a creepy-fantastic novel that takes a look at the current world warfare raging in the nano � based around nanorobotics and being perfected by young people with gaming dexterity. This is a cross-genre gem that will creep out the young and old, and is a must-read for anyone who enjoys a good spine-tingle with heavy doses of uneasy reality.
January 7, 2013
Michael Grant je šprýmař. Tedy alespoň takovým pohledem se na svět okolo sebe dívá a nikdy nezapomene utrousit nějakou trefnou a mírně sarkastickou poznámku. Čtenáři po celém světě si jeho knihy oblíbili právě díky jeho specifickému stylu vypráv��ní. O svém dětství říká, že bylo těžké. Tedy hlavně pro jeho rodiče. Narodil se v Kalifornii, ale během dětství a dospívání žil všudemožně � v Americe, 3 roky ve Francii a taky v Itálii. To vše díky tomu, že byl jeho otec voják z povolání. Většinu svého života strávil povalováním se, dokud se nerozhodl, že bude spisovatelem. Jeho žena mu totiž řekla, že by měl konečně dospět a najít si práci.
Jeho vůbec nejznámější knižní série je vysoce hodnocené a oceňované Gone. To vypráví o skupině dětí, co se snaží přežít poté, co se v městě i bližším okolí zčistajasna vypařili všichni dospělí a dospívající na patnáct let. Nejen že jejich život najednou ztratí jakýkoliv jasný řád, ale také se o sebe budou muset postarat sami. O sérii říká, že ji sepsal s jasným úmyslem � všechny vyděsit. Kromě toho má na kontě také sérii The Magnificent 12, Eve and Adam (píše společně se svou ženou) a nově také BZRK. Nedávno se nechal slyšet, že pracuje na další knižní sérii. Uvidíme, co si pro nás dál připraví.
Představte si, že vše, co jste dosud brali za samozřejmost, se může v okamžiku změnit. Co když existují lidé s technologií tak vyspělou, že dokážou ovládat svět? Co když se teď někdo pomocí nanobotů kousek po kousku dostává do vašeho těla? Co když se mu podaří vás ovládat? Co když už vás dávno ovládá? Jsou všechny ty pocity a myšlenky vaše? A nebo je vám uměle vytvořili? Směšné? Jen si nemyslete.
Noaha a Sadie dohromady svede celá řada náhod. On se snaží přijít na to, co stojí za šílenstvímn jeho bratra, ona se pokouší vzpamatovat ze ztráty bližních. Netuší, že oba dva se stanou pěšci na šachovnici tak složité, že na její pochopení budou potřebovat nejen hodiny, dny, týdny, ale rovnou měsíce až roky. Jenže ani jeden z nich tolik času nemá. Do všeho skočí rovnýma nohama a budou se muset naučit plavat. A je dost dobře možné, že z toho živí nevyváznou. Možná nikdo z nás�
Českému překladu nemám co vytknout. Nevšimla jsem si jediného přepisu, přesmyčky, podivného slova, či nelogičnosti. Sice jsem se ze začátku motala jak ve jménech postav, protože jich tam je prostě poměrně dost, tak i v jednotlivých pojmech (jako jsou bioti, snovači, cukači, drátování, makro, nano, maso), ale později jsem se začala orientovat a všechny indície a vysvětlení zapadla na ta správná místa. Naopak některé výrazy mě v textu pobavily. Jako bych postavy slyšela ona slova pronášet.
Už u série Gone jsem zjistila, že autorovy knihy jsou prostě něčím výjimečné. Natolik, že mě při čtení dokážou naplno pohltit. Uháním po stránkách příběhu jako o závod a častokrát ztrácím dech. Mám strach z toho, co přijde dál, přesto mi zvědavost nedá a já prostě musím pokračovat dál. Svým světem mě děsí zas a znovu a nutí mě pokládat si celou hromadu otázek. A když začne příběh gradovat, cítím se na konci, jako bych uběhla maratón plnou parou. Pak mi nezbývá nic jiného, než padnout vyčerpáním a pořád si dokola říkat, jak šílená a úžasná jízda to byla.
BZRKem nezklamal. Ani trošičku. Četbu jsem si užívala od začátku do konce a i když Grantův styl znám, přesto mě měl neustále čím překvapovat. Neustále děsit. Hlavní hrdiny, Noaha i Sadie, jsem si opravdu oblíbila. Ale nejen to, já jsem vše viděla jejich očima, chápala jsem. Stejně jako jsem rozuměla všem ostatním postavám, které se v příběhu vyskytly.
Autor totiž do lidí vidí a ví, co je pohání. A jak víme, ne všichni jsou čistí jako padlý sníh. Jenže ani ti, kteří vypadají jako správní klaďasové, úplně bez poskvrny být nemusí. Nutí vás zamyslet se nad otázkou, co byste byli ochotní udělat pro větší dobro. A co je vůbec to větší dobro? Která cesta je správná? Jak velká musí být oběť�
Michael Grant patří k těm autorům, co se vám svým stylem vyprávění zaryjí hluboko do kůže. Nebojí se jít do děsivých detailů a neustále si s vámi hraje. Jeho příběhy jsou krásně promyšlené a nic neponechává náhodě. A to i v případě, že se vám může zdát, že se tu a tam upsal, anebo něco nedává smysl. Věřte mi, že po čase vám to smysl začne dávat a vy nestačíte žasnout. Své postavy vykresluje natolik reálně, že máte častokrát pocit, že jde o někoho z vašeho okolí. O to víc se jich bojíte a začnete si říkat, čeho všeho jsou lidé schopní.
Grant se svými knihami nebojí čtenáře šokovat. Rád je protáhne vším možným i nemožným, vystraší je svou vizí a zároveň je příběhem naprosto pohltí. Přesto jeho knihy nejsou pro všechny. Sice si je stejnou měrou užijí jak dospívající, tak dospělí, ale na jisté popisy musíte mít dobrý žaludek a taky pořádnou fantazii. Autor je totiž svým způsobem mág. V příběhu dokáže vyčarovat téměř cokoliv.
Knihu si nejspíš více užijí ti, kteří holdují scifi a jistým druhům konspiračních teorií. A jelikož k takovýmto lidem patřím, nemůžu jinak a knize dávám zasloužený plný počet, tedy 5 hvězdiček. Jsem z knihy tak nadšená, že bych jí dala i víc, ale stupnici hodnocení mám nastavenou takto. S koupí rozhodně neváhejte, už se i já těším, až si svůj výtisk odnesu z knihkupectví a jak krásně (a hlavně mírně děsivě) se mi v knihovně bude vyjímat. Nejspíš se dočkáme i filmového zpracování. Sony Pictures na psaní scénáře najalo Michaela Rosse, producenty by měli být Sam Raimi a Josh Donen.
------------Reakce po dočtení knihy------------
Ach bože, tohle byla síla. Smekám, Grante, smekám. A zbožňuju tě. Výborně napsané, promyšlené a bravurně ukončené. Nezklamals.
Jeho vůbec nejznámější knižní série je vysoce hodnocené a oceňované Gone. To vypráví o skupině dětí, co se snaží přežít poté, co se v městě i bližším okolí zčistajasna vypařili všichni dospělí a dospívající na patnáct let. Nejen že jejich život najednou ztratí jakýkoliv jasný řád, ale také se o sebe budou muset postarat sami. O sérii říká, že ji sepsal s jasným úmyslem � všechny vyděsit. Kromě toho má na kontě také sérii The Magnificent 12, Eve and Adam (píše společně se svou ženou) a nově také BZRK. Nedávno se nechal slyšet, že pracuje na další knižní sérii. Uvidíme, co si pro nás dál připraví.
Představte si, že vše, co jste dosud brali za samozřejmost, se může v okamžiku změnit. Co když existují lidé s technologií tak vyspělou, že dokážou ovládat svět? Co když se teď někdo pomocí nanobotů kousek po kousku dostává do vašeho těla? Co když se mu podaří vás ovládat? Co když už vás dávno ovládá? Jsou všechny ty pocity a myšlenky vaše? A nebo je vám uměle vytvořili? Směšné? Jen si nemyslete.
Noaha a Sadie dohromady svede celá řada náhod. On se snaží přijít na to, co stojí za šílenstvímn jeho bratra, ona se pokouší vzpamatovat ze ztráty bližních. Netuší, že oba dva se stanou pěšci na šachovnici tak složité, že na její pochopení budou potřebovat nejen hodiny, dny, týdny, ale rovnou měsíce až roky. Jenže ani jeden z nich tolik času nemá. Do všeho skočí rovnýma nohama a budou se muset naučit plavat. A je dost dobře možné, že z toho živí nevyváznou. Možná nikdo z nás�
Českému překladu nemám co vytknout. Nevšimla jsem si jediného přepisu, přesmyčky, podivného slova, či nelogičnosti. Sice jsem se ze začátku motala jak ve jménech postav, protože jich tam je prostě poměrně dost, tak i v jednotlivých pojmech (jako jsou bioti, snovači, cukači, drátování, makro, nano, maso), ale později jsem se začala orientovat a všechny indície a vysvětlení zapadla na ta správná místa. Naopak některé výrazy mě v textu pobavily. Jako bych postavy slyšela ona slova pronášet.
Už u série Gone jsem zjistila, že autorovy knihy jsou prostě něčím výjimečné. Natolik, že mě při čtení dokážou naplno pohltit. Uháním po stránkách příběhu jako o závod a častokrát ztrácím dech. Mám strach z toho, co přijde dál, přesto mi zvědavost nedá a já prostě musím pokračovat dál. Svým světem mě děsí zas a znovu a nutí mě pokládat si celou hromadu otázek. A když začne příběh gradovat, cítím se na konci, jako bych uběhla maratón plnou parou. Pak mi nezbývá nic jiného, než padnout vyčerpáním a pořád si dokola říkat, jak šílená a úžasná jízda to byla.
BZRKem nezklamal. Ani trošičku. Četbu jsem si užívala od začátku do konce a i když Grantův styl znám, přesto mě měl neustále čím překvapovat. Neustále děsit. Hlavní hrdiny, Noaha i Sadie, jsem si opravdu oblíbila. Ale nejen to, já jsem vše viděla jejich očima, chápala jsem. Stejně jako jsem rozuměla všem ostatním postavám, které se v příběhu vyskytly.
Autor totiž do lidí vidí a ví, co je pohání. A jak víme, ne všichni jsou čistí jako padlý sníh. Jenže ani ti, kteří vypadají jako správní klaďasové, úplně bez poskvrny být nemusí. Nutí vás zamyslet se nad otázkou, co byste byli ochotní udělat pro větší dobro. A co je vůbec to větší dobro? Která cesta je správná? Jak velká musí být oběť�
Michael Grant patří k těm autorům, co se vám svým stylem vyprávění zaryjí hluboko do kůže. Nebojí se jít do děsivých detailů a neustále si s vámi hraje. Jeho příběhy jsou krásně promyšlené a nic neponechává náhodě. A to i v případě, že se vám může zdát, že se tu a tam upsal, anebo něco nedává smysl. Věřte mi, že po čase vám to smysl začne dávat a vy nestačíte žasnout. Své postavy vykresluje natolik reálně, že máte častokrát pocit, že jde o někoho z vašeho okolí. O to víc se jich bojíte a začnete si říkat, čeho všeho jsou lidé schopní.
Grant se svými knihami nebojí čtenáře šokovat. Rád je protáhne vším možným i nemožným, vystraší je svou vizí a zároveň je příběhem naprosto pohltí. Přesto jeho knihy nejsou pro všechny. Sice si je stejnou měrou užijí jak dospívající, tak dospělí, ale na jisté popisy musíte mít dobrý žaludek a taky pořádnou fantazii. Autor je totiž svým způsobem mág. V příběhu dokáže vyčarovat téměř cokoliv.
Knihu si nejspíš více užijí ti, kteří holdují scifi a jistým druhům konspiračních teorií. A jelikož k takovýmto lidem patřím, nemůžu jinak a knize dávám zasloužený plný počet, tedy 5 hvězdiček. Jsem z knihy tak nadšená, že bych jí dala i víc, ale stupnici hodnocení mám nastavenou takto. S koupí rozhodně neváhejte, už se i já těším, až si svůj výtisk odnesu z knihkupectví a jak krásně (a hlavně mírně děsivě) se mi v knihovně bude vyjímat. Nejspíš se dočkáme i filmového zpracování. Sony Pictures na psaní scénáře najalo Michaela Rosse, producenty by měli být Sam Raimi a Josh Donen.
------------Reakce po dočtení knihy------------
Ach bože, tohle byla síla. Smekám, Grante, smekám. A zbožňuju tě. Výborně napsané, promyšlené a bravurně ukončené. Nezklamals.
November 18, 2020
Nanotechnology. This book is about kids (twitchers) (usually gamers) who are fighting on two sides of a war no one knows about. The Armstrong Gift Corporation is run by conjoined twins Benjamin & Charles who also deal in weapons and happen to be sociopaths. They want to use nanobots to control every person on earth so that no one will ever suffer again or have to think for themselves. Everyone will also worship them. Bzrk is the other side and they want to stop the Twins. The book talks a lot about what it is like to be a microscopic bot exploring the human brain/face. It's a bit weird. Both sides use the biots to"wire" people so they can control them or so they will do something for them. The biots are made from tissue from the twitcher's body and if the biot dies, it affects the twitcher mentally (like they go crazy). The story is thrilling and by the end, I couldn't wait to read the next one. So... I borrowed it from the library immediately.
September 9, 2020
It was a decent book, I love the characters and the plot, but the images that appear in my mind... ew! The book was quite grotesque, and I wouldn't want the faint-hearted to read this book and get nightmares. Also wouldn't recommend it to young readers because there's a fair amount of cussing. And of course the distorted parts...
It is also quite confusing at parts and I had to re-read some parts of the book. But overall, I was engrossed in the book. I would recommend this to young adults because I'm sure teenagers would fall in love with this book. It just has to be clearer for me to understand the book thoroughly! The disgusting parts... well, the book is supposed to be like that so young readers have to wait a few years before they read this:)
4/5.
It is also quite confusing at parts and I had to re-read some parts of the book. But overall, I was engrossed in the book. I would recommend this to young adults because I'm sure teenagers would fall in love with this book. It just has to be clearer for me to understand the book thoroughly! The disgusting parts... well, the book is supposed to be like that so young readers have to wait a few years before they read this:)
4/5.
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