Insignia
by S.J. Kincaid
Series: Insignia #1
Published: July 10, 2012
Genres: Dystopian, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Format: eARC (444 pages)
Source: For Review
More than anything, Tom Raines wants to be important, though his shadowy life is anything but that. For years, Tom's drifted from casino to casino with his unlucky gambler of a dad, gaming for their survival. Keeping a roof over their heads depends on a careful combination of skill, luck, con artistry, and staying invisible. Then one day, Tom stops being invisible . . .
The beginning of Insignia gave me this 80’s vibe because of all the Virtual Reality games that the main character, Tom, plays. The set-up is very similar to Ender’s Game, but the rest of the story was different enough that it didn’t feel like a copy-cat. There’s a lot of technical stuff and details at the beginning that made it hard to get into at first. The pace feels a little slow because there are some long historical passages about the world. I didn’t see how all these details could be relevant at first, but she utilizes all the details you know about the world to make some really cool conflicts. About half-way through, the pace picked up and the author’s attention to detail spilled over into the interesting, funny and sarcastic characters and their complex relationships. I flew through the last half of the book. The author surprised me more than once with some awesome plot twists. She did something with computers that I haven’t seen done before and then made it so funny. If you’re a fan of science fiction or video games (like I am), go grab this book.
Content Rating: Medium, for a several violent scenes.
I received this book for review from the publisher, Harper Collins, through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. I was not told what to say, I was not paid to write this review and all the opinions expressed are my own. I read an Advanced Reading Copy for this review.
About S.J. Kincaid
S.J. Kincaid was born in Alabama, grew up in California, and attended high school in New Hampshire, but it was while living beside a haunted graveyard in Scotland, that she realized that she wanted to be a writer. Her debut, Insignia, came out in July of 2012.
My name is Jessica. I love to read Young Adult and classic literature. I’ve been a book blogger for six years and I haven’t gotten tired of it yet. I’m a very curious reader. Writing about all the questions and thoughts I had while reading a book is the best hobby ever.
Yeah, I found the pacing to be slow and the technical jargon to be off-putting at times. But overall I thought the concept was really fun! I’ll definitely read the sequel.