Unprofitables are banished to work camps to pay off their credit. Other tie-men and women look on apathetically. "Fair is fair. Everyone knows you shouldn't use more credit than you are worth to the Company. "They turn their attention to the next repackaged but highly coveted N-Corp product on the market, creatively advertised on the imager screens that adorn virtually every available flat surface. All the while, their mandatory cross-implants and wrist-worn "ICs" keep them focused on the endless cycle of work and consumption to which they are enslaved.
May Fields the CEO's daughter would like to believe she is above all that. Head of N-Corp's marketing team, the young woman who has almost everything anyone could want spends her days dreaming up ingenious ways to make workers buy more of what they already have and don't need. Even before May discovers that the Company is headed for its first loss in thirty years, she is feeling the stirrings of dissatisfaction with the system that has given her everything she's ever wanted . . . except the freedom to be herself.
When she is kidnapped by a member of the Protectorate a secret order dating back to the American Revolution May is suddenly faced with the frightening truth of what the Company's greed has done to our most basic human rights. Will she embrace who she is and join the battle to restore America's democratic freedom, or put her blinders back on and return to her safe and passionless life?
More prediction than fiction, "Blood Zero Sky "is a riveting, nonstop, and suspenseful gaze into the looking glass, destined to rise with the zeitgeist of our times to become the anthem of a generation.
Publication Date: October 1, 2012
Genre: Dystopia, Sci-Fi, Young Adult
Source: Thanks to the author, Mr. Gates, for providing me with a review copy!
Review:
I hate to admit that I was a bit turned off by the cover of this book, but on the flip side I'm pleased to say that Blood Zero Sky is amazing. Period. I'm sure I won't be the only one to compare it to George Orwell's 1984 because it shares a lot of those same themes of totalitarianism, psychological control through filtering information and propaganda and an overall sense of helplessness at the all-consuming reach of, in this book, The Company.
What is awesome about this book is that no matter how many comparisons can be made to 1984 it stands completely on its own merit. The cautionary tale it tells is all the more frightening because the technology we have today isn't far off from that used in the book. And it's not too big a stretch to picture a large powerful entity sneaking its way into monopolizing every industry in the country. It's totally believable.
And I haven't even mentioned the characters yet :) May Fields is the MC, but she's not your typical girl. The CEO of The Company is her dad, and she's living the high life compared to a lot of people. She's got everything she could want, but she still feels as if something is missing in her life. May is a strong female character and the fact that she's gay isn't what defines her, nor is it what the book is about. She does have to hide the fact that she's a lesbian because that doesn't line up with The Company's religious policies. The whole Company controlled religion was another factor that added to the feeling of power un-checked when it comes to how the people live their lives.
I thought this was a great book for a variety of reasons. It definitely makes you think and speaks to a lot of things that are currently going on in our world today. It's also just a plain good read!
