Reviews and Comments

If you like old Survivor (the first 3 seasons) then you will like this book, otherwise it's not worth your time to read.

The author talks about his thoughts and opinions a ton in this book, so if you like his writing or his way of thinking you will like this book.

Ernest Cline has done it again. Another great book that I didn't want to put down. If you are an Ernest Cline fan then you will enjoy this one.

In order to understand everything you should read Ready Player One before you read this book. This book picks up almost right after the 1st book finishes.

The book ends in a way that leaves Ernest an opening to continue the series (Ready Player Three anyone?). The books does also contain an hidden easter egg hunt (it is present in the physical and ebooks) which hasn't been announced (at the time of writing this review) but I'm sure it will be announced at some point with a nice prize (like Ready Player One).

I look forward to Ernest's next book (whatever it may be).

Another good Cory Doctorow book, if you had read Little Brother than this book will be very familiar.

You read about almost 2 different stories that involve the main character through the book, and during the chapters the author switches between these stories. You can clearly telling when he is switching. But it is kind of annoying and confusing to do this as then yo have to remember 2 different stories at the same time. I wish the author almost told one story then the other so you won't have to try and keep so much in your head while reading.

As always I look forward to the author's next book.

Disclosure: I got this book for free from BookSirens (thanks to the author [a:William Sonn|109293|William Sonn|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1638301481p2/109293.jpg]). They hope I would give a review but it isn't required and I have to be honest if I do give one.

Something Like Treason starts out how you least expect it, the foreword actually starts six years later. You would think that it would give spoilers but I can see why the author chose to do this, it helps to give a good amount of context to the story ahead.

In the beginning, they mention a fair amount of camps, but the author doesn't exactly say where. If you are a reader from USA you can figure out where they are located fairly clearly, but if you are an international reader then it's hard. The author may want to mention that this all happened in the United States.

When I started reading I wasn't sure if this story was actually true or not (I didn't look at the genre). I said it would be a damn good story if it wasn't true, and a terrible story if it was true. Upon searching the main character's name (Dale Maple) you can clearly read that this book is 100% true, and even includes references. If you don't wish to spoil the book for you then don't search any of the character's names since they are all true names.

It was interesting to read how much has changed between the war and today. Including addresses, and phone numbers.

The book really dives into detail, not just in each person but also in the camps, where they are located and what's around them. If you are a visual reader then it helps you to visually see the story more.

I do appreciate that any time money was mentioned, the author included how much that would be at the time of writing. The author didn't mention what year "at this writing" was, but I still think it allowed someone to understand how much or little something was.

The author does include a few smaller stories in the book which talk about certain people, some of these stories could have been shorten, either to add more to the time frame after the war, or to shorten the length of the book.

While I was reading, there was a number of things that I didn't see coming since I didn't know the history of Dale Maple. These were some very good surprises and I can't imagine how Dale Maple felt when they happened.

The book ends (before the afterword) in a way that either wraps up the book well, or leaves unanswered questions. I feel the author ended the book well and if I was curious about more on each person then I could search for them online.

Overall, an interesting book and something that I didn't know happened until reading.

Wow, the author and those closest to him went through a ton. Once I started reading this book I almost didn't want to stop.

The author posted some of this story when the author was staff at Deadspin (with the same title). If you read that then some it will seem repeative but this book includes many details that aren't there.

The author is very lucky to be alive and realized that at some point. And his entire family is very lucky to be working for the company he did as they helped them (which is talked about in the book).

The book gives you a real view point of the american health care system as a patient which has insurance. The author didn't go into details with exact prices but does give some numbers.

There were times I was crying, laughing, or smiling when reading.

The book doesn't really feel complete as the author is still experiencing some of the things described in the book.

There are some things said in the book that can make an impact on anyone who has been in the hospital, or really anyone who may need to go to the hospital at some point in the future.

"You went for a CT scan because Megan pushed for it. You know, they tried to turn you away and send you home. Megan’s insistence that they examine you closer is what kept you alive."

If you’re not taken to surgery within four hours (...), then you have no chance of living.
My operation commenced at 6:16 a.m., over six hours after I collapsed."

"They took your sedation down further, and the nurse came in and said, If you can hear me, like, put up two fingers. You flipped them off, and we started crying and laughing. The nurse was like, That’s the happiest I’ve ever been being flipped off in my life. That to me was when things shifted."

"I started despising New York. I felt like it represented the worst thing that had ever happened in my life. I remember going to Dunkin’ Donuts, getting some coffee, and then always looking around at people. They’re fine and they have no idea what’s going on in my head. It would make me angry that they got to go on with their normal lives."

"This is part of you now. Part of your experience. You’ve got the scars to show it. It’s what’s going to make you Drew going forward."

"I also violated discharge orders (...), despite the fact that Sonia’s college friends had bought us a very generous Seamless gift card to help with meals, which remains the single most useful get-well present that I have ever received."

"That’s the American healthcare system for you: The only shit that’s free is shit you’d NEVER want"

"I wanted to be seen as “normal,” but I also wanted everyone to accommodate my predicament without my having to make a fuss about it."

"It’s amazing how much of modern medicine is still dependent on your being able to accurately describe what you’re feeling to a doctor."

Disclosure: Got ebook as part of a early reviewers. The author, publisher, nor the company organizing the early review program had any say in this honest review. Nor did they get to read this before it was public.

When I first read the description for this book I was excited. It's very relevant to COVID-19 and will be relevant after it (if we ever go back to the old normal, or we go into a new normal) . While it does make references to the 2020 COVID-19 it doesn't go into anything technical and can be enjoyed for years to come.

When I first started reading it was slow and multiple times I was unsure if I wanted to continue reading. But I'm glad I kept reading and finished.

There are many characters which make it hard to keep track of all of them, I almost needed to have a paper beside me that has notes on each characters so I wouldn't have to pause and try remember what happened with this characters in previous characters before continuing to read.

There are about 3 stories that happen in the book, they are all relevant to each other (I'm not going to spoil how) which you wouldn't realize until you read more of the book.

There was great detail in this book, which allowed me to visually see the story as it was happening.

If you are into science-fiction, fiction, or the future then I would suggest you read this book.

There are some sentences in this book that made me laugh when I read them. I'm only going to include a few of them to ensure there isn't any spoilers.

"Sage was quiet, but Sage was always quiet."

"People had strange occupations that she had never heard of and couldn’t imagine."

“Okay, but won’t people simply go back to their old habits once the curfew is lifted, and we can all go about our business?” “Time is the other factor,” he said. “Time?” “Time’s important for breaking and embedding habits.”

"Motivation is a difficult thing to work out from data, even if you know what you’re looking at. "

This perfectly describes what the world is coming too if we aren't careful (The Circle either being Google or Facebook).

The book does talk detailed about the main character but doesn't go into much detail outside of the circle.

I suggest you watch the movie (of the same name) at some point after reading the book.

Disclosure: Got this ebook for free as part of a early reviewers program. While I got this book for free I'm giving my honest opinion of it. Jacob Paul Patchen (the author) nor TouchPoint Press (the publisher) nor the company putting on the early reviewers program have any say in this review at all, and they didn't get a copy of this review before it went live.

This is a good book, which I could see a series or a movie from. The author provides enough detail allowing you to visually see the story. There are some points in the book that seemed to jump around, like they went from one place to another, but the author didn't say the journey took place.

There are a couple of small spelling and grammar errors in the book (like tied instead of tried).

If I could, I would have read the book in one seating. It's that good.

The pdf I got from the publisher however, the text size was very small. So small that I had to zoom in to least 140% to comfortably read the text. I did convert it to epub for easier reading on my ereader. I'm not sure if this was just a problem on my copy, but I hope it isn't a problem on copies that can be bought.

I have so many favourite quotes that I could probably fill this entire review with quotes, but I won't.

"We never saw it coming, because we were so comfortable looking the other way."

"Another useless piece of technology when things go dark"

"There’s no shame in feeling, son"

"Isn’t that how it all seems to work anymore? Isn’t that what Mom said politics has become? ‘Old white guys with money buying loyalties and moving pawns like a chessboard"

“Well, are you gonna just sit there and look stupid, or are you gonna shake my hand?”

If you haven't finished the first book in this series (Jubilee Cycle) then finish it before starting this book as it picks up right where the first book left off. You may need to read some of the first book to refresh your memory as this book doesn't do that and just continues the story.

In this book we continue the story of Amon and his journey. We do meet a number of other characters (I'm not going to say anything more than that to avoid spoilers) through the story and I feel like there is just enough characters to be able to remember everyone and not to have to flip back to try and remember what another character has done.

Some of the parts of this book felt like it was padded, and more detail was added to make the book longer. Which I hated and there were multiple times I was thinking about no continuing but I'm glad I did.

There were times reading when I wanted to cheer, yell, cry and many other emotions which was great.

The book does end on a big cliff hanger which I hope will be covered in the three (and from what I've heard final) book of the series.

Wow. By the end of the book I didn't want it to be over. At the beginning I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep reading but by the end I'm glad I did.

If you translate Cloud (the main company in this book) into any big company today (like Amazon) then you can see how this book can come completely true and what a future could look like.

There are some spots in the book where it's almost it's filler for the next cool event to happen, and near the end one chapter is dedicated to routine which was boring to read.

It will be interesting to see what the movie looks like (since the book has been optioned for film by Ron Howard).

Overall the book is good, tells an interesting story that got me to stay up later than I should have to keep reading.

The book does have multiple smaller stories within the book, and it gets confusing when going from one story to another since the author does it so quickly.

Just because this book was originally published back in 1996 doesn't mean it isn't good. In fact, sometimes it's better than current books.

This is the first book I have read by this author, and I look forward to reading the rest of the Neal Carey series then seeing what other books the author has written.

3.5/5

If you are interested in science fiction, mixed with Tokyo, mixed with virtual reality, and the future then you will enjoy this book.

It does start out slow, and I wondered if I wanted to keep reading but I'm glad I did. Their were some times when reading I kept reading and didn't realize how quickly time went by.

The main character Amon always try's to save as much money as he can, and he does some interesting things to save the most. After a while in the book he starts to wonder why he is saving all this money and why is he trying to always be as cheap as possible (for example on a video call using text short form instead of speaking, since each word is copyright of a company and you will get charged a licensing fee for using it). I do wish the author translated and included what all the short form means as sometimes I was lost and skipped right over it.

Another way to save money is by watching where you walk, since each company can own a square on the street. "By transforming a walk down the street into a game, the companies propagated product awareness, and made using their properties fun, with rebates as an additional incentive for returners."

There are part of the book where the author goes into great detail, where I don't think the detail is needed. It's like the author was trying to hit a certain number of pages in this book.

The book doesn't end how you want it to (on a big cliffhanger), but there is a second book in the series (called The Naked World, published in November 2017) that sounds like it picks up where this book finishes.

It is a great first book by this author and I look forward to reading the next book.