Monday 19 April 2010

Logging off by Caitlin McKenna


Logging Off Caitlin McKenna 
Virtual BookWorm 
ISBN: 1589399188 (from her website) 

In 2095, every facet of society runs perfectly by computers and advanced technology. Citizens like Britannia Stone conduct their lives effortlessly with a genetically embedded barcode linked to Central, the world government. 

But this easy lifestyle, one without economical hardships, crime and disease, comes with a price - the freedom of choice. Now world citizens are beginning to mysteriously disappear. 

John Ettinger, a society inactive and member of the underground group called the Starters, knows the reason why. With the help of Kendall Knowlton, a highly-gifted psychic child, it becomes a race against time as Britannia and John join forces before they are next to disappear. They must stay alive long enough to reach Central's mainframe and destroy the enemy before the enemy destroys all of mankind. 

It is weird to see someone like Caitlin McKenna self publishing a book. With all her movie and TV credits you’d think a publisher would jump on the opportunity to do this book, but she went the independent route. And that’s why I picked up this book in a second hand store while on holiday in Japan. I wasn’t sure if I should fork out the money for this title as I do recognize the name but I loathe Lost. Possibly the worst show in the world (everyone at work raved about it, talked about and discussed possible plot turns/reasons, etc)—but I digress. 

 As far as Syfy goes, this is an excellent book. 

The plot moves fast, the POV is (unfortunately) all over the place—head hopping takes a bit to get used to, though in this book each character is clearly mentioned and it is easy to follow. The ideas are rusty and used before but Caitlin uses it as a backdrop to the plot, not part of it. The ending was stretched out. There were lines where I cringed (these are few and far between), example: She screamed in terror. He cried out in pain. The love interest formed too quickly, but I think Caitlin was going for the “love at first sight” concept. 

The characters are well formed and following their trials were easy. 
 This was a pleasant surprise and I finished it on the plane home. 79%

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