John Marrs shows the true danger and fear behind driver-less cars:

Self driving cars have been made standard in the UK, you can no longer drive yourself. These vehicles have been found more safe and reliable than regular vehicles. Everyone has been assured that they are completely safe and even safer when the act of driving is taken out of their hands. But then eight people enter into driver-less cars for possible their last time. Six were chosen, two were random and their vehicles have been hacked. They are now heading to the same destination, where only one individual gets to survive and who gets to decide who survives? The public of course as the whole event is broadcast world wide and everyone's secrets are about to be exposed.

Well what a trip (pun intended), to the not so distant future. This book has you go through so many emotions over the span of a two and a half hour car ride it is insane. I really enjoyed this book, it was fast paced due to the time constraints on the cars, therefore, the plot has to fast as well. This book will have you asking yourself who would you choose to die? Would you play the Hacker's game? It was almost like you were participating in the book. And oh reveal after reveal, twist after twist, its really hard to predict what is going to happen next, which I really enjoyed. I was able to figure some of it out, but not even close to all of it, which makes this book even better in my opinion. 

You don't really get to know any of the characters that well even the main ones, you just get glimpses of who they are, especially the passengers in the cars. This is completely deliberate by Marrs as he wants you/the characters within the book to choose based upon the facts that the Hacker presents. However, when it comes to Libby we get a bit more character development as we not only see her in this snapshot of time but also some of her history with driver-less cars but overall I don't think she is completely fleshed out as a character. There is one character that I absolutely despised was the social media expert, all he cared about was what was on twitter or what hashtag was trending. Honestly, I feel like he is the future of some people where all they care about it the online aspect and not even acknowledging that there are people in real life. His nonchalance when people are killed was just crazy to me, but all he saw was where the next trend was heading. I think this was also a deliberate character creation by Marrs, as a way of saying look where we're heading now.

One thing that puzzled me was why were the six chosen, there were eight people but two were random taxi cabs so those were left up to fate. I mean we all have some sort of skeleton in our closet, maybe not to the extreme of the people shown here, by how and why did he choose them. I mean there are quite a few factors that the Hacker would have had to predict in order to pull all this off on this specific day. I get that we put lots of things on social media and it is only going to grow but i do not think he could have predicted certain events that swayed people for and against a person in the vehicle. So on that front a few things do not really add up.

Not going to lie, I liked the idea of driver-less cars before I read this book, now they scare the crap out of me. Nope, No Thank You, I will continue to drive myself thanks. See this is how this book has affected me. This is the first book by Marrs that I have read and it will not be the last.

Enjoy!!!

Got some good stuff at this year's BEA.  My summer is fully booked. 

 

Pobody's nerfect?

I’ve tried to branch out more into other genres and new authors with my reading this year, and some of the bigger gaps in my library include YA and lesbian lit. Just my luck, then, that MrsLangdonAlger posted a review for not one but two YA coming out novels with female protagonists: Ask the Passengers by A.S. King and It’s Not Like It’s a Secret by Misa Sugiura. I’ve had an eye out for both books for a few months now, finally picking up Ask the Passengers a few weeks ago at one of my favorite places in the world: Powell’s World of Books in Portland, Oregon.

Astrid escapes from her family and small Pennsylvania town by lying on her backyard picnic table and watching planes fly over, sending love to the unseen passengers. She tries to do the same with the people she knows, but it isn’t easy. As often goes with small towns, everyone is into everyone else’s business, gossiping and criticizing and reveling in others’ misery. Everyone has secrets — including Astrid — but not everyone is good at keeping them.

Astrid has been fooling around with a coworker, bringing her to question her own sexuality for the first time. Perfect high school power couple Kristina and Justin are secretly bearding for each other, sneaking off to the city every Saturday night to hang out at a gay club with their real girlfriend and boyfriend, Donna and Clay. Even after Astrid finally gives in and goes out with them, she still takes her time revealing her own secret, even to her best friend Kristina.

When the club is raided, all the illusions of perfection are shattered. The gossip machine kicks into high gear, and the town’s simmering homophobia boils over. Friendships and relationships are strained. Parents are furious. And even after all of the revelations, Astrid stubbornly insists on being allowed to do things in her own time, frustrating both friends and family.

I probably shouldn’t have enjoyed this book as much as I did. The story itself was fairly conventional and the supporting characters too thinly drawn. The humanities class exploring Greek philosophy felt forced, and unrealistic, obligatory and trite. And though I found Astrid likable overall, she became strangely full of herself towards the end, and for me, she never fully recovered.

And yet the telling is lovely enough to overcome those issues. Astrid’s narrative voice is distinct and consistent, and I appreciated how King focused more on the issue of questioning than coming out itself, an experience too often ignored in stories like this. I enjoyed the brief breakaways to the airplane passengers, and King was wise enough to use that device sparingly to avoid distracting too much from the main story. And I’ll admit I’m a sucker for a Greek chorus, especially as employed here in the form of imaginary-friend Greek philosopher Frank Socrates.

A.S. King took a familiar story with familiar tropes and somehow made something charming and special. I have to admire that.

(This review was originally posted as part of Cannonball Read 10: Sticking It to Cancer, One Book at a Time.)

This is a combination of memoir of a Lyft/Uber driver, and a guide to starting/surviving/thriving as one in a tough market. A memoir/guide written by a humorist, it should be stressed, so there's plenty of humor infused throughout. That right there sounds like a winning book -- and <b>Uber Diva</b> almost was one.

 

Sadly, it came across as a pretty good first draft or a series of short blog posts. Every chapter -- almost every paragraph -- could've used just a little more. A little more detail, a little more context. A few chapters read like a thorough outline rather than actual prose -- just a series of bullet points along a theme. A little more expansion, a little more time spent with each idea and this would've been a whole lot of fun. As it is, <b>Uber Diva</b> is frequently worth a chuckle or wry smile to oneself, but it's never enough to satisfy.

 

I'm not crazy about St. Anthony's organization, either -- I'm not sure it ever made that much sense. Particularly, the jump from his opening to the rest just didn't work for me, it was a jarring tonal shift. The first chapter would've fit better as a closing or penultimate chapter, if you ask me.

 

There's a lot to like here, but it feels undercooked. It's enjoyable enough -- especially, I bet, for Lyft/Uber drivers -- but it could've been so much better. A little more revision, a little expansion and I bet I'd be talking about a good read, rather than one that's just good enough.

 

<i><b>Disclaimer:</b> I received a copy of this from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.</i>