I ordered this as my Kindle First selection because I love dystopian sci-fi, and because I was intrigued by the polarized reviews. People either loved it or hated, and I knew I wouldn't bothered by many of the things people hated about the book. I don't have a problem reading other political views. I barely noticed any offensive language.I could relate to time spent in an on-line gaming clan and how it can take over your life. The always-changing POV didn't bother me. The stripper scene didn't bother me. I laughed at the idea of the Great Wall of Freedom plastered with advertising because I could actually envision that happening. What did bother me is that I'm a voracious reader and can usually devour a novel of this type in a few days (or in one sitting on a weekend), but here I am more than a week after purchasing and I'm still struggling to get more than halfway through it.
It was hard to get into initially, and then just when I thought the author had hit his stride and the story picks up pace, it gets bogged down yet again in endless tedium. Most annoying were the long chapters that purported to be newspaper/magazine articles of the time. They were so tiring that I soon found myself skipping those chapters entirely after reading a few paragraphs. I think the book would be greatly improved by drastically reducing the content of those chapters and just sticking with the story line. I couldn't read more than 10-15 minutes of this book at a time without having to put it down, but still I persevered.
What finally made me decide to put the book down and walk away for good was the airport scene. It was juvenile and too obvious, like something written by a 15 year old. If you want to make a political point, at least do so intelligently and give people something to think about. The commentary on religion was borderline over the top but the airport scene was just childish dreck. I wasn't invested in any of the characters, didn't see much of a point to the story beyond the typical disillusioned family, it's not really dystopian sci-fi, and most importantly for me, it doesn't flow.
I can count on one hand the number of times I've walked away from a book without finishing it, and sadly this is one of them. Perhaps this book is better suited to a much younger audience.
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