What do you think?
Rate this book
BZRK #2
BZRK: Reloaded
From best-selling author Michael Grant comes the highly anticipated, terrifying, and mind-bending second book in the BZRK trilogy. The entire BZRK cell―including Noah and Sadie―has been left in pieces after the last round of battle with the Armstrong Twins, conjoined brothers who plot to rob mankind of its free will. Vincent's mind is shattered, and his memories hold dangerous secrets―secrets that Lear, BZRK's mysterious leader, will stop at nothing to protect.
Meanwhile, Bug Man has taken control of the President's brain, but playing with sanity is a dangerous game. The consequences can spiral way out of control, and the Armstrong Twins are not people Bug Man can afford to disappoint. The nano is as terrifying, exhilarating, and unpredictable as ever. But the wall of secrets that surrounds it is cracking. What will it reveal? And once the dust has settled, who will be sane enough to find out?
Meanwhile, Bug Man has taken control of the President's brain, but playing with sanity is a dangerous game. The consequences can spiral way out of control, and the Armstrong Twins are not people Bug Man can afford to disappoint. The nano is as terrifying, exhilarating, and unpredictable as ever. But the wall of secrets that surrounds it is cracking. What will it reveal? And once the dust has settled, who will be sane enough to find out?
432 pages, Hardcover
First published October 8, 2013
128 people are currently reading
3791 people want to read
About the author
Michael Grant
80 books11.3k followersCo-author with Katherine Applegate of Ocean City, Making Out, Summer, Animorphs, Everworld, Remnants, Eve and Adam.
Pseudonymous coauthor with KA of Christy (the TV spin-off books), Sweet Valley Twins, Girl Talk and various Disney spin-offs.
Pseudonymous author of Barf-O-Rama.
Author of Gone, BZRK, The Magnificent 12, Messenger of Fear, Front Lines, Monster and A Sudden Death in Cyprus.
AKA Michael Robinson (restaurant reviews and newspaper features).
AKA Michael Reynolds (legal name) political media producer. (Team Blue).
Pseudonymous coauthor with KA of Christy (the TV spin-off books), Sweet Valley Twins, Girl Talk and various Disney spin-offs.
Pseudonymous author of Barf-O-Rama.
Author of Gone, BZRK, The Magnificent 12, Messenger of Fear, Front Lines, Monster and A Sudden Death in Cyprus.
AKA Michael Robinson (restaurant reviews and newspaper features).
AKA Michael Reynolds (legal name) political media producer. (Team Blue).
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 216 reviews
June 28, 2013
From the fingers of Michael Grant:
"BZRK Reloaded is even better than BZRK. There are scenes in there that made me laugh at the sheer unbridled strangeness and intensity."
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Review originally posted at Book Probe Reviews.
Where art thou BZRK Apocalypse? A year (or who knows how long?) away, that's where!
It feels as though every Michael Grant book I read becomes a mistress of mine, with Fear and Light being my two wives, who have no idea I'm madly in love with both of them and cheating on them casually with the others. This is a dangerous life I live, risking it all for intense and satisfying pleasure produced from some middle-aged man's knobbly fingers activated by his intelligently wired brain.
BZRK Reloaded has become my latest mistress, Mistress #8 as I've been referring to it as for the past few days. Mistress #8 is more intense, more suspenseful, stranger, BETTER than Mistress #7 (a.k.a. BZRK) – the characters develop even further, such as Sadie having to step into her BZRK identity and role as Plath, hardcore twitcher in progress, as well as her real self, Sadie McClure, daughter to murdered Grey McClure and heiress to McClure Industries, the company behind BZRK, and its fortune; the story plot and arc thickens, both in the macro and in the nano, becoming increasingly intense through whomever's (i.e., person) and whatever's (i.e., biot or nanobot) eyes we experience the story from; and lastly, Mistress #8 gives me absolutely no idea – none whatsoever – of what may happen in BZRK Apocalypse, other than forthcoming destruction, as suggested by the title, on global and minuscule scales... such a selfish bitch, leaving me suspended over a "bloody" waterfall. Heck! That's what Mistresses #1 through to #7 did to me anyway, so I've become accustomed to their crazy and torturous and sociopathic, and almost psychopathic, behaviours – have become used to Michael Grant's usual wickedness.
The possibility of a future with biots and nanobots swarming our internal transport systems, leaping from cell to cell, prodding and snipping and attacking, fabricating and erasing, wiring, rewiring, and de-wiring everything that makes us up as human beings – walking, talking, thinking, and sensing human beings – has become ever more real in BZRK Reloaded. Grant's descriptions of and the logic behind the nanotechnology that BZRK and Armstrong Fancy Gifts Corporation uses and weaponises has progressed and developed significantly since the first book, BZRK. Now that I've become accustomed to the world of nanotechnology, specifically at the nano level, I slipped into the role of observer with ease, thinking less and experiencing more – more about the possibilities of nanotechnology in today's society, such as the achievements it will earn and the destruction it will cause, as reflected in Grant's writing, particularly in the conflict between the characters and the warring groups, and even between their individual decisions as dictated and influenced by the technology that they thrive off.
It's just not the characters' decisions that are dictated by the biots and nanobots that they control but their entire lives. Sadie (Plath) and Noah (Keats) slowly accept their life of a twitcher, part of a minority who could save the lives of every being on the planet – they slowly accept that they could, eventually, become just like Vincent: mindless and aloof from the loss of their biots. That is until they become more confident at mastering their biots, to use them to do good things, to help people – people like Vincent, people like each other. BZRK may be the good guys in this nanotechnological war, but if it must come to it, their biots are used for torment and the elicitation of pain. Everyone struggles to define what is ethically right. Nijinsky, as temporary BZRK principal twitcher covering for Vincent, fails to represent how a leader should be. One thing for certain is that although Nijinsky knows how to handle and control others, even if they're unaware that he is, he does not know where to draw the line for himself and his own actions. It doesn't help that he himself does not know who he gets his commands from (re: Lear).
Charles and Benjamin Armstrong... well, those twins need to die. Please let there be an apocalypse inside them in book three. Bug Man still has yet to gain my pity, but like in BZRK we are able to sympathise with him, able to understand exactly why he does what he does, not wanting to fail, rather wanting to succeed.
Dear Armstrong Twins,
It is the action that I refer to; nothing else! Oh, and the wounds from my devil horns.
Give a welcome to my first GIF in a review. Now, back to the review...
We are introduced to many more new characters like Minako, a Japanese-American girl who becomes victim along with hundreds of other women to the Armstrong twins' "utopia" scheme; Madame President Helen Falkenhym Morales, victim to Bug Man's nanobot and made to murder; and Billy the Kid, victim to terrorism (oh?), to hydras (Oh?), and to his own stupidity (OH?).
There's still a lot to be answered, but like my experience with Michael Grant's previous books I'm certain they'll be answered in book three. I am 100% certain that I won't be disappointed. I am 1000% certain that Michael Grant will kill me a 9th time.
All I can say is: I GOT LOST IN THE MEAT, YO! GO BZRK! LIVE BZRK! SLEEP BZRK! PARTY BZRK!
P.S., Lear, WHO. ARE. YOU?
"BZRK Reloaded is even better than BZRK. There are scenes in there that made me laugh at the sheer unbridled strangeness and intensity."
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Review originally posted at Book Probe Reviews.
Where art thou BZRK Apocalypse? A year (or who knows how long?) away, that's where!
It feels as though every Michael Grant book I read becomes a mistress of mine, with Fear and Light being my two wives, who have no idea I'm madly in love with both of them and cheating on them casually with the others. This is a dangerous life I live, risking it all for intense and satisfying pleasure produced from some middle-aged man's knobbly fingers activated by his intelligently wired brain.
BZRK Reloaded has become my latest mistress, Mistress #8 as I've been referring to it as for the past few days. Mistress #8 is more intense, more suspenseful, stranger, BETTER than Mistress #7 (a.k.a. BZRK) – the characters develop even further, such as Sadie having to step into her BZRK identity and role as Plath, hardcore twitcher in progress, as well as her real self, Sadie McClure, daughter to murdered Grey McClure and heiress to McClure Industries, the company behind BZRK, and its fortune; the story plot and arc thickens, both in the macro and in the nano, becoming increasingly intense through whomever's (i.e., person) and whatever's (i.e., biot or nanobot) eyes we experience the story from; and lastly, Mistress #8 gives me absolutely no idea – none whatsoever – of what may happen in BZRK Apocalypse, other than forthcoming destruction, as suggested by the title, on global and minuscule scales... such a selfish bitch, leaving me suspended over a "bloody" waterfall. Heck! That's what Mistresses #1 through to #7 did to me anyway, so I've become accustomed to their crazy and torturous and sociopathic, and almost psychopathic, behaviours – have become used to Michael Grant's usual wickedness.
The possibility of a future with biots and nanobots swarming our internal transport systems, leaping from cell to cell, prodding and snipping and attacking, fabricating and erasing, wiring, rewiring, and de-wiring everything that makes us up as human beings – walking, talking, thinking, and sensing human beings – has become ever more real in BZRK Reloaded. Grant's descriptions of and the logic behind the nanotechnology that BZRK and Armstrong Fancy Gifts Corporation uses and weaponises has progressed and developed significantly since the first book, BZRK. Now that I've become accustomed to the world of nanotechnology, specifically at the nano level, I slipped into the role of observer with ease, thinking less and experiencing more – more about the possibilities of nanotechnology in today's society, such as the achievements it will earn and the destruction it will cause, as reflected in Grant's writing, particularly in the conflict between the characters and the warring groups, and even between their individual decisions as dictated and influenced by the technology that they thrive off.
It's just not the characters' decisions that are dictated by the biots and nanobots that they control but their entire lives. Sadie (Plath) and Noah (Keats) slowly accept their life of a twitcher, part of a minority who could save the lives of every being on the planet – they slowly accept that they could, eventually, become just like Vincent: mindless and aloof from the loss of their biots. That is until they become more confident at mastering their biots, to use them to do good things, to help people – people like Vincent, people like each other. BZRK may be the good guys in this nanotechnological war, but if it must come to it, their biots are used for torment and the elicitation of pain. Everyone struggles to define what is ethically right. Nijinsky, as temporary BZRK principal twitcher covering for Vincent, fails to represent how a leader should be. One thing for certain is that although Nijinsky knows how to handle and control others, even if they're unaware that he is, he does not know where to draw the line for himself and his own actions. It doesn't help that he himself does not know who he gets his commands from (re: Lear).
Charles and Benjamin Armstrong... well, those twins need to die. Please let there be an apocalypse inside them in book three. Bug Man still has yet to gain my pity, but like in BZRK we are able to sympathise with him, able to understand exactly why he does what he does, not wanting to fail, rather wanting to succeed.
Dear Armstrong Twins,
It is the action that I refer to; nothing else! Oh, and the wounds from my devil horns.
Give a welcome to my first GIF in a review. Now, back to the review...
We are introduced to many more new characters like Minako, a Japanese-American girl who becomes victim along with hundreds of other women to the Armstrong twins' "utopia" scheme; Madame President Helen Falkenhym Morales, victim to Bug Man's nanobot and made to murder; and Billy the Kid, victim to terrorism (oh?), to hydras (Oh?), and to his own stupidity (OH?).
There's still a lot to be answered, but like my experience with Michael Grant's previous books I'm certain they'll be answered in book three. I am 100% certain that I won't be disappointed. I am 1000% certain that Michael Grant will kill me a 9th time.
All I can say is: I GOT LOST IN THE MEAT, YO! GO BZRK! LIVE BZRK! SLEEP BZRK! PARTY BZRK!
P.S., Lear, WHO. ARE. YOU?
September 19, 2013
This review is also posted at http://readingnookandcranny.blogspot....
I had kept BZRK on my To Read list for a while, so when I got access to an ARC galley from the publisher, I pushed myself to go ahead and check it out of the library to read. I love sci fi novels and while BZRK was inherently nothing special, it was interesting enough to get me into the this sequel.
This sequel, however, was similar to an English homework reading assignment. It seems as if it took me ages to read, and I kept putting it off in lieu of television or other books I was also reading. Procrastination at its finest.
For one, I never felt connected to these characters. The series as a whole has severely lacked character development. It's hard to care about the characters' situations when you don't even care about the characters in general. And the whole Plath/Noah relationship is so underdeveloped it's more of a laughing point in the plot than anything else.
Then we get to the main plot(s) of this novel. While the plot of BZRK was ok, the plot of BZRK Reloaded reminded me of a train wreck. We had numerous different plot lines going on and most of them never connected or made any sense at all. My main point here, without getting into spoiler depth detail, is the Doll Ship. I realize Plath made one of the conjoined twins a "little" crazy at the end of the first novel when she did a haphazard rewiring of his brain, but the Doll Ship is something that appears to have been in the works long before that. And I guess it is a legitimate concept to point at and go "Wow, these guys really are crazy sociopaths; no wonder they want to take over the world" but then we get into the gray territory of somewhat plausible sci fi to crazy sci fi.
Overall, it's hard to pin point exactly where BZRK Reloaded lost me when I was okay with the first in the series. Perhaps it is the accumulation of all the plot pitfalls and lack of character development combined, or even something else that I can't quite put my finger on, but BZRK Reloaded was definitely not up my alley and I do not plan on taking this series any further in my reading lists.
I had kept BZRK on my To Read list for a while, so when I got access to an ARC galley from the publisher, I pushed myself to go ahead and check it out of the library to read. I love sci fi novels and while BZRK was inherently nothing special, it was interesting enough to get me into the this sequel.
This sequel, however, was similar to an English homework reading assignment. It seems as if it took me ages to read, and I kept putting it off in lieu of television or other books I was also reading. Procrastination at its finest.
For one, I never felt connected to these characters. The series as a whole has severely lacked character development. It's hard to care about the characters' situations when you don't even care about the characters in general. And the whole Plath/Noah relationship is so underdeveloped it's more of a laughing point in the plot than anything else.
Then we get to the main plot(s) of this novel. While the plot of BZRK was ok, the plot of BZRK Reloaded reminded me of a train wreck. We had numerous different plot lines going on and most of them never connected or made any sense at all. My main point here, without getting into spoiler depth detail, is the Doll Ship. I realize Plath made one of the conjoined twins a "little" crazy at the end of the first novel when she did a haphazard rewiring of his brain, but the Doll Ship is something that appears to have been in the works long before that. And I guess it is a legitimate concept to point at and go "Wow, these guys really are crazy sociopaths; no wonder they want to take over the world" but then we get into the gray territory of somewhat plausible sci fi to crazy sci fi.
Overall, it's hard to pin point exactly where BZRK Reloaded lost me when I was okay with the first in the series. Perhaps it is the accumulation of all the plot pitfalls and lack of character development combined, or even something else that I can't quite put my finger on, but BZRK Reloaded was definitely not up my alley and I do not plan on taking this series any further in my reading lists.
June 3, 2016
**4.5 stars**
November 7, 2015
"Ти не си ги застрелял защото си искал. Направил си го, защото е трябвало. Ето защо мразим хора като тях. Защото заради тях ние ставаме същите."
Мина доста време откако прчетох първата книга и въпреки че бях нетърпелива да разбера какво се случва по-нататък, останах леко разочарована. Дори не разбирам напълно защо. Всъщност сюжетът продължава да се натяга малко по малко, но заради отделни сцени, които не ми допаднаха, цялостното изживяване беше като че ли недостатъчно, за да задоволи жаждата ми за още информация. Въпреки това обаче не мога да не дам висока оценка, при положение, че тя е напълно заслужена.
Един от конфликтите между книгата и мен като читател бяха сцените на Кораба на Куклите, които ме се сториха малко пресилени и отчасти ненужни. Като цяло всички сцени с близнаците са ми ужасно безинтересни. Чудя се дали в следващата книга изобщо Минако ще се появи със своята перспектива или просто ще изчезне безследно. Освен това малко ми дойде пресилен персонажа на Пиа, шведския шпионин, която умря толкова бързо и лесно, все едно никога не била в ситуация, в която е трябвало да се бори за живота си. Останах разочарована, тъй като явно единствената й функция беше да се погрижи да има експлозии и да бъде изтрита безследно.
От друга страна обаче имам известни надежни за Били Хлапето. Може би в следващата книга ще има по-голямо присъствие? Надявам се.
Но нека най-сетне споделя радостта си от завръщането на Винсент - моят любимец от тази поредица. Изключително съм щастлива, че към края на книгата той се завърна в (почти) пълния си блясък. Тая надежди, че в по-нататък ще има по-голяма роля, също както преди. То беше ясно, че не могат да го оставят парализиран от лудост - все пак смея да твърдя - той е най-интригуващия персонаж заедно с Калигула и мистериозния Лир. Честно казано искам да знам повече за Калигула, а Майкъл Грант само ни подхвърля трохи. Тъжна съм.
"Главните" персонажи, ако мога да ги нарека такива, са ми малко мудни и леко безинтересни. Харесвам Сейди и Ноа, но дотам. Освен леки симпатии, за жалост, те не могат да пробудят друга емоция в мен, независимо колко се опитват. Дори Нижински има повече потенциал от тях двамата. Но това е личното ми мнение. Сигурна съм, че има много хора, на които са им любимци. Може би.
И така, силно се надявам да имам възможността да прочета и последната книга в скоро време, но за жалост все още я нямам вкъщи. Ще видим как ще се развият нещата декември месец.
June 1, 2019
There is so much going on at all times and I am living.
You have a bunch of different POV characters, but it never gets confusing. Though it jumps around from one to the other in no particular order, it's always clear who you're dealing with and what they're doing.
And the action. I said it in my previous review but lol for you: Action scenes are rarely what get me in books, but these are so exciting. Not only is the whole nano thing really cool still, but you never know who is going to come out on top.
Speaking of, I was just gonna leave a sentence for my fave but then realized that would be spoiling that they survive book 1 so (GASP I just SPOILED that the entire cast of characters isn't killed off in book 1 Oh NOOO)
You have a bunch of different POV characters, but it never gets confusing. Though it jumps around from one to the other in no particular order, it's always clear who you're dealing with and what they're doing.
And the action. I said it in my previous review but lol for you: Action scenes are rarely what get me in books, but these are so exciting. Not only is the whole nano thing really cool still, but you never know who is going to come out on top.
Speaking of, I was just gonna leave a sentence for my fave but then realized that would be spoiling that they survive book 1 so (GASP I just SPOILED that the entire cast of characters isn't killed off in book 1 Oh NOOO)
November 21, 2020
All the surviving characters from the first book are back. Things are getting messy. BZRK is being attacked by thugs from the Armstrong Fancy Gifts Corporation. Noah and Sadie are getting closer and Vincent has lost his mind. They need to regroup and figure out what to do next. When will this war end and can anyone actually win?
Great series - I'm on to book 3.
Great series - I'm on to book 3.
October 15, 2014
See more reviews on my blog.
BZRK Reloaded took everything BZRK had to offer and kicked it up to eleven. On the other hand, the whole thing suffered from a bit of “middle-book syndrome.” It was…good, but it didn’t really have its own story so much as it was a vehicle for moving us along to the final book.
Middle books are really hard. There’s a mix of good and things that are pretty distinct to middle books, especially in a series like this, which tells one long story instead of something with a more episodic set up. For instance, we got a lot more intensity out of the characters, because we didn’t have to spend any time setting them. Backstory, establishing scenes, “meeting all the other characters,” all of that was already done with, so we could jump straight into the development. And in this book’s case, it was quite excellent. There’s a lot going on with these characters are they get more and more embroiled in violence and all the guilt that goes along with that, and the connections between the characters get pretty intense.
On the other hand, the plot of the book turns into more of a very long set-up for the big shebang at the end. There wasn’t much of a goal in this one. Things just progressively got worse in an attempt to make the main conflict extra sticky and tense in BZRK Apocalypse. And it was, unfortunately, more obvious than usual in this book that that’s what was going on. It was all very interesting stuff, there’s no lie about that, but there was a sense that it didn’t really have a purpose besides 1) making chaos and 2) providing impetus for the characters to get more depressed.
Still, those character moments are what made this book. I would, quite honestly, read just about anything for the sake of those character moments. There was some stuff in here that was just really, really brilliant, and a lot of it happened outside of our main group of kids. Especially the plot line with the President, I was blown away by that. I loved the amount of focus that was put on people out in ‘the world.’ It gave the story a sense of being complete, of being part of a more complex world, instead of being focused on just a few random teenage kid-heroes. Of course other people would learn about the megalomaniacs. Of course they would try and do stuff about it. There are, after all, a lot of very observant people in the world, yeah? And there were just enough of those outside POVs to make the point without pulling too far away from the core group. (Although, I do wonder if that’s because our core group wasn’t doing much? Maybe I just didn’t mind being pulled away from them…)
Overall, it was a very emotional read for me, and that’s probably most of the draw. Yeah, the horror and the action are both still there, but give me that introspective despair any day of the week.
BZRK Reloaded took everything BZRK had to offer and kicked it up to eleven. On the other hand, the whole thing suffered from a bit of “middle-book syndrome.” It was…good, but it didn’t really have its own story so much as it was a vehicle for moving us along to the final book.
Middle books are really hard. There’s a mix of good and things that are pretty distinct to middle books, especially in a series like this, which tells one long story instead of something with a more episodic set up. For instance, we got a lot more intensity out of the characters, because we didn’t have to spend any time setting them. Backstory, establishing scenes, “meeting all the other characters,” all of that was already done with, so we could jump straight into the development. And in this book’s case, it was quite excellent. There’s a lot going on with these characters are they get more and more embroiled in violence and all the guilt that goes along with that, and the connections between the characters get pretty intense.
On the other hand, the plot of the book turns into more of a very long set-up for the big shebang at the end. There wasn’t much of a goal in this one. Things just progressively got worse in an attempt to make the main conflict extra sticky and tense in BZRK Apocalypse. And it was, unfortunately, more obvious than usual in this book that that’s what was going on. It was all very interesting stuff, there’s no lie about that, but there was a sense that it didn’t really have a purpose besides 1) making chaos and 2) providing impetus for the characters to get more depressed.
Still, those character moments are what made this book. I would, quite honestly, read just about anything for the sake of those character moments. There was some stuff in here that was just really, really brilliant, and a lot of it happened outside of our main group of kids. Especially the plot line with the President, I was blown away by that. I loved the amount of focus that was put on people out in ‘the world.’ It gave the story a sense of being complete, of being part of a more complex world, instead of being focused on just a few random teenage kid-heroes. Of course other people would learn about the megalomaniacs. Of course they would try and do stuff about it. There are, after all, a lot of very observant people in the world, yeah? And there were just enough of those outside POVs to make the point without pulling too far away from the core group. (Although, I do wonder if that’s because our core group wasn’t doing much? Maybe I just didn’t mind being pulled away from them…)
Overall, it was a very emotional read for me, and that’s probably most of the draw. Yeah, the horror and the action are both still there, but give me that introspective despair any day of the week.
January 10, 2014
BZRK reloaded by Michael Grant takes place in an alternate present day. Teenagers are the soldiers in this. These teenagers are like Romans with nanotechnology. The main focus of this book is on the NYC cell of BZRK. They are being tracked down by people who want them dead. There are many characters that are just phenomenal.
To sum up the book in one word... Awesome. I'm a nanotech fan so this book was good regardless. Beyond the the tech the characters where great. The plot had its good point and then it's great point. Michael didn't just leave it at they have these little bots that work for them. He even developed the normal people so that they become awesome as well. The who love or not to love in the beginning is a better alternative to the "I love you" right at the start. Most of all this book had me laughing.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants something a bit different. Teens will love this book. There is action, comedy and romance. The book will amaze you.
To sum up the book in one word... Awesome. I'm a nanotech fan so this book was good regardless. Beyond the the tech the characters where great. The plot had its good point and then it's great point. Michael didn't just leave it at they have these little bots that work for them. He even developed the normal people so that they become awesome as well. The who love or not to love in the beginning is a better alternative to the "I love you" right at the start. Most of all this book had me laughing.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants something a bit different. Teens will love this book. There is action, comedy and romance. The book will amaze you.
April 10, 2018
What a delightful read. I read the first book in this series long ago, when it first came out.
But, like many other series, I never got the chance to read the sequels. I am now.
This book was honestly very good. It is YA but its main themes and plot does not read like majority of YA books. The series features Noah and Sadie, who want to fight a world that is shaping up to be a utopia. They want feeling.
The book is very interesting because of its sci-fi elements. The "wars" here are through nanobots and biots that go through different people's eyes and different organs to control them. The premise is very well-executed and intriguing. There's politics involved, wars fought, and danger around every corner.
I am going to read the last book in the series immediately. You don't see such YA books everyday. Maybe it was a good thing after all, to wait all this time, as I'm generally much more objective about YA books these days.
But, like many other series, I never got the chance to read the sequels. I am now.
This book was honestly very good. It is YA but its main themes and plot does not read like majority of YA books. The series features Noah and Sadie, who want to fight a world that is shaping up to be a utopia. They want feeling.
The book is very interesting because of its sci-fi elements. The "wars" here are through nanobots and biots that go through different people's eyes and different organs to control them. The premise is very well-executed and intriguing. There's politics involved, wars fought, and danger around every corner.
I am going to read the last book in the series immediately. You don't see such YA books everyday. Maybe it was a good thing after all, to wait all this time, as I'm generally much more objective about YA books these days.
September 1, 2021
BZRK Reloaded is a science-fiction look written by Michael Grant, a well-known science-fiction/young adult fiction author from Tiburon, California. I really enjoyed reading BZRK Reloaded, because I haven't read a science-fiction book in quite some time. BZRK Reloaded takes place in multiple cities, including Washington, DC, New York City, and Chicago. BZRK and the opposing group, the Armstrong Fancy Gifts Corporation, have a large fight about microchips inserted into the brains of humans. At the beginning of the story, the President of the United States has her brain hacked, and she attacks the First Gentleman, which was really entertaining. The book was always interesting, and events such as a SWAT raid on BZRK's DC headquarters, or a close encounter with the AFGC made the book fun to read. These events pull you in to the story. The only reason I gave it a 4/5 is because of the constant violence.
January 14, 2016
Personal Response: I think that “BZRK: Reloaded” is a very good book. The only thing I would change in this book is the fact that it jumps around so much. I would start to get into something and then mid page the scene would change over to someone else. Other than that this book is extremely well written and keeps the reader engaged the whole time. If the reader is not engaged in the book he/she will be left behind and will have to re-read a lot.
Plot:
Characterization: In the beginning of the book the characters are all the same, we don't meet any new characters until about 100 pages in when we meet Pia Valquist. Pia is a Swedish Intelligence agent who goes after the Doll Ship. Other characters we meet are Silver: an ex-marine on the Doll Ship, Kim Kim: a Japanese spy that is part of the crew on the Doll Ship, and finally Minako: A teenage girl who was taken from her hometown and was brought to the Doll Ship. We also meet Billy, the sole survivor of the BZRK: Washington cell.
Impacts of Setting: The impacts of setting is kind of difficult to differentiate because this book jumps around so much. One of the impacts is that the New York BZRK cell has to move to Washington because the cell that was there was destroyed. Another one is on the Doll Ship when Minako is trying to get someone to listen to her, but no one does because they are all so focused on the Armstrong twins.
Thematic Connection: It is hard to find a definite theme in the second book of a series, but if I would have to guess I would say it is, Keep your head up/ Things could always be worse. The reason I say it is one of these is because if Plath wouldn't have kept her head up to save Vincent they could not have beaten Bugman.
Recommendation: I would recommend this book to all genders aged from 15 to 18 because this is not a gender specific series. There is both a male and female protagonist as well as an antagonist.
Plot:
This book started off with Burnofsky going to the Armstrong twins to talk about Bugman’s failed mission. His mission was to try and stop the president from killing her husband. Burnofsky told them that he would take care of Bugman himself. In all reality what Burnofsky told Bugman was to lay low and not do any twitching for a while, while he tried to figure out how he could fix Bugman’s screw up.
Then the book jumped to a new character, Farid Barbera, the son of the Lebanon Ambassador. He was a very brilliant hacker and he hacked into what Bugman was doing and saw everything. The book jumps to the BZRK: Washington cell and how it was almost completely taken out, but there was one survivor. The one survivor was a 14 year old boy who goes by the name, Billy the Kid. While the Washington cell was getting attacked (by AFGC) the New York cell was hunting down Bugman.
When they found him Vincent and Nijinsky started fighting him and Bugman killed one of Vincent’s biots which means he went insane and Nijinsky retreated before Bugman could kill one of his. After this battle Nijinsky went to talk to Anya and she told him the she could start research on a new biot, but she needed a lab. Plath and Keats went to Grey McLures will reading and there Plath got 55% of McLure Industries which equates to just under $2 billion and she also stood up to three workers and told them that she was in charge now. Plath talked to Mr. Stern after the other two left and asked him if he could find an island so that she and Keats could get out of BZRK if they so choose.
After Billy killed everyone that attacked their cell he contacted Lear and Lear said that he would send help as soon as he could. Around the same time Farid was going to meet with a police officer, but the ETA showed up and a couple of the agents went rouge and shot him in the jaw. He ran out of the coffee shop where they were meeting and jumped into a cab. Charles and Benjamin went to the Doll Ship, the ship where they keep people and rewire their brains to follow the Armstrong twin’s rule, to check on the people that they were keeping there.
The New York cell got packed up to go to Washington to find and help Billy. Keats and Plath flew to Washington while Nijinsky, Anya, Wilkes, and Vincent drove. On the way there Keats and Plath found that Burnofsky was following them. Keats and Plath captured him and took him with them. After Plath and Keats took Burnofsky they went and picked up Billy in Washington.
While driving down to Washington Nijinsky saw on his phone that people were raiding the New York safe house and he took it into his own hands by blowing up the safe house. When they, the New York cell, met up again they made a new safe house out of a church and had Anya start researching the biot 4.0. Plath was the first one to receive the 4.0 because Nijinsky wanted to see what would happen if someone eliminated the memory of Vincent losing a biot. When Plath started pouring acid on the memory she spilled some onto her own biot which in return hurt her, but Nijinsky yelled at her to keep going.
While all this was going on Bugman went out with his girlfriend, Jessica, after he got done unwiring her which turned out to be a very bad idea. Nijinsky finally got overthrown as leader because no one was going to take any orders from him anymore, Plath took control of the cell. After Plath took charge she ordered Vincent, Wilkes, Keats, and herself to go and get Bugman because if they couldn't get the POTUS then they would get the person who has the POTUS. Vincent was able to fight Bugman in the Nano because he was sane enough even though he was not completely back to normal in the macro. Vincent won this fight because Bugman was awestruck that Vincent was back.
Characterization: In the beginning of the book the characters are all the same, we don't meet any new characters until about 100 pages in when we meet Pia Valquist. Pia is a Swedish Intelligence agent who goes after the Doll Ship. Other characters we meet are Silver: an ex-marine on the Doll Ship, Kim Kim: a Japanese spy that is part of the crew on the Doll Ship, and finally Minako: A teenage girl who was taken from her hometown and was brought to the Doll Ship. We also meet Billy, the sole survivor of the BZRK: Washington cell.
Impacts of Setting: The impacts of setting is kind of difficult to differentiate because this book jumps around so much. One of the impacts is that the New York BZRK cell has to move to Washington because the cell that was there was destroyed. Another one is on the Doll Ship when Minako is trying to get someone to listen to her, but no one does because they are all so focused on the Armstrong twins.
Thematic Connection: It is hard to find a definite theme in the second book of a series, but if I would have to guess I would say it is, Keep your head up/ Things could always be worse. The reason I say it is one of these is because if Plath wouldn't have kept her head up to save Vincent they could not have beaten Bugman.
Recommendation: I would recommend this book to all genders aged from 15 to 18 because this is not a gender specific series. There is both a male and female protagonist as well as an antagonist.
March 5, 2023
The first BZRK was good, this one was great. With the world and stakes established in the first book, Michael Grant takes the extra space to go all in on his best in class villains and morally gray but loveable supporting cast. The main duo are still kind of annoying but better then the first book and now with relatively less screentime.
March 19, 2024
Captivant, intense. Meilleur que le premier opus où il fallait un peu de temps pour comprendre les forces en présence et les personnages.
August 30, 2022
Ooit weleens een boek gelezen wat je eigenlijk helemaal niet aanspreekt qua onderwerp of verhaal, maar toch moet je per se weten hoe het afloopt?
Dat heb ik nu met de BZRK trilogie. Ik vind het niet per se goede boeken, maar mijn nieuwsgierigheid wint het van de kwaliteit.
Dat heb ik nu met de BZRK trilogie. Ik vind het niet per se goede boeken, maar mijn nieuwsgierigheid wint het van de kwaliteit.
February 29, 2024
hahahahah what da heck
June 1, 2025
Oh, this was a fantastic sequel, loved the developments, and I need to finish the series now!
January 2, 2020
3.5 Stars. It was good but not great. I felt there was more action in this than the first and the story lines flowed faster and smoother than the first. The characters are more fleshed out. I think that if the first 2 books were released as the first book it would be a better result. The first volume had so much to introduce it struggled to get into the story.
September 19, 2020
✨⭐ 7.5 out of 10 stars ⭐✨
I'm a bit disappointed with this sequel. The first book was kinda ok but this one is uninteresting.. The nanotech concept is still very cool though.
Keywords: scifi, biopunk, nanotechnology, madness; trigger warning: suicide, gore, violence
A biot was not an "other". It was not outside of you, it was part of you. It was like a finger or a leg. (p. 372)
REVIEW
In Bzrk series, scientists had found a way to make nanotech weapons. One of them is nanobots, a nano-sized robots that can be controlled from afar and held in the hand of our antagonists, the Armstrong Twin. They used it for controlling people's mind and attempting to take over the world.
The other nanotech is more biological. Biots, is a nano-sized avatar linked directly to people's mind and can be controlled in a risk that if biot died, the owner will went insane. Our resistance group, Bzrk, were using biots to fight against the Armstrong Twin. This bring us to raging nanotech battle edging between death and madness.
Bzrk: Reloaded continued in what we were left in the end of the first book. After failing in their mission, Bzrk branch New York gained fatal blow, one of Vincent's biot died thus making him slip to insanity. The team, left uncertain with the events, had to stay low and Nijinsky recluctantly appointed as their leader. Meanwhile the Armstrong Twin had another plan and began experimenting their mind controls en masse. Will Bzrk able to stop them?
I'll just say it directly because this review is long enough. What I like from this book:
- The bleak, depressing and edgy tones
Just like the first book, it still very bleak. Just the amount of edgy tones that I like.
- The romance
As I mentioned in my review of previous book, the romance is instalove. It's the "I'm desperate, afraid, and dangling between sanity and madness so I need you as a distraction" kind of thing. Some might think it's cheap but I really buy the romance and I like it greatly.
The dynamic between the Bzrk team
Bzrk New York team was left devastated after previous event. And I like how Michael Grant wrote the tension between them. Everyone is on edge. Sadie questioning why she didn't killed the Twin and took the blame of their loss. Keats madly in love with Sadie and want her to safely get away from it all. Wilkes still very bitter about what happened to Ophelia. Anya is trying to cope with Vincent's betrayal and her love with him. Nijinsky who don't want to lead, forced to the role and thinking he's not good enough. Vincent who went insane and struggling with hallucinations. I like their dynamic and how they tried to move on and do the next mission regardless how broken they're.
- The biots and nanotech battle
The nanotech concept is awesome. Alas most of the scenes in this book are in macro and only some of them seen in "the meat" or from controlling the nanotech. I also like how the nanotech began taking control of people's mind and there's always some kind of side effect to it. You can't get away tampering with other people's brain.
What I don't like:
- Some scenes make no sense
Some scenes feels weird and irked me because it making no sense. I don't mean the scifi, nanotech part, it's the plot. There are scenes that came as cheap and too convenient for the plot.
- I don't care about 50% of the story
I only care about the Bzrk gang's plot and there are some other subplots that feels like filler and I'm bored to death reading it. Namely the "doll ship" part. And it's like, half of the book so I read this half without any enjoyment at all.
- Too much new characters, I don't care about them
With the new subplot came new characters and I found that I can't connect with them and I don't care about them at all.
- Stereotypes
I find that several passages of the book might be insulting to some groups of people. There are some that might seems ableist, some others might be insulting to those with neurodivergents. And there are so many racial stereotypes just as the first book.
CONCLUSION
The concept of this series is very cool but I found the contents of the book lacking. Might still read the third book because I need to know what happened. I don't know whether I'll recommend this to people or not.
I'm a bit disappointed with this sequel. The first book was kinda ok but this one is uninteresting.. The nanotech concept is still very cool though.
Keywords: scifi, biopunk, nanotechnology, madness; trigger warning: suicide, gore, violence
A biot was not an "other". It was not outside of you, it was part of you. It was like a finger or a leg. (p. 372)
REVIEW
In Bzrk series, scientists had found a way to make nanotech weapons. One of them is nanobots, a nano-sized robots that can be controlled from afar and held in the hand of our antagonists, the Armstrong Twin. They used it for controlling people's mind and attempting to take over the world.
The other nanotech is more biological. Biots, is a nano-sized avatar linked directly to people's mind and can be controlled in a risk that if biot died, the owner will went insane. Our resistance group, Bzrk, were using biots to fight against the Armstrong Twin. This bring us to raging nanotech battle edging between death and madness.
Bzrk: Reloaded continued in what we were left in the end of the first book. After failing in their mission, Bzrk branch New York gained fatal blow, one of Vincent's biot died thus making him slip to insanity. The team, left uncertain with the events, had to stay low and Nijinsky recluctantly appointed as their leader. Meanwhile the Armstrong Twin had another plan and began experimenting their mind controls en masse. Will Bzrk able to stop them?
I'll just say it directly because this review is long enough. What I like from this book:
- The bleak, depressing and edgy tones
Just like the first book, it still very bleak. Just the amount of edgy tones that I like.
- The romance
As I mentioned in my review of previous book, the romance is instalove. It's the "I'm desperate, afraid, and dangling between sanity and madness so I need you as a distraction" kind of thing. Some might think it's cheap but I really buy the romance and I like it greatly.
The dynamic between the Bzrk team
Bzrk New York team was left devastated after previous event. And I like how Michael Grant wrote the tension between them. Everyone is on edge. Sadie questioning why she didn't killed the Twin and took the blame of their loss. Keats madly in love with Sadie and want her to safely get away from it all. Wilkes still very bitter about what happened to Ophelia. Anya is trying to cope with Vincent's betrayal and her love with him. Nijinsky who don't want to lead, forced to the role and thinking he's not good enough. Vincent who went insane and struggling with hallucinations. I like their dynamic and how they tried to move on and do the next mission regardless how broken they're.
- The biots and nanotech battle
The nanotech concept is awesome. Alas most of the scenes in this book are in macro and only some of them seen in "the meat" or from controlling the nanotech. I also like how the nanotech began taking control of people's mind and there's always some kind of side effect to it. You can't get away tampering with other people's brain.
What I don't like:
- Some scenes make no sense
Some scenes feels weird and irked me because it making no sense. I don't mean the scifi, nanotech part, it's the plot. There are scenes that came as cheap and too convenient for the plot.
- I don't care about 50% of the story
I only care about the Bzrk gang's plot and there are some other subplots that feels like filler and I'm bored to death reading it. Namely the "doll ship" part. And it's like, half of the book so I read this half without any enjoyment at all.
- Too much new characters, I don't care about them
With the new subplot came new characters and I found that I can't connect with them and I don't care about them at all.
- Stereotypes
I find that several passages of the book might be insulting to some groups of people. There are some that might seems ableist, some others might be insulting to those with neurodivergents. And there are so many racial stereotypes just as the first book.
CONCLUSION
The concept of this series is very cool but I found the contents of the book lacking. Might still read the third book because I need to know what happened. I don't know whether I'll recommend this to people or not.
October 19, 2017
BZRK II, nog zo'n boek wat al eeuwen op mijn to-read stond, maar waar toe ik me gewoon niet kon zetten. Deel 1 heb ik jaren geleden eens op vakantie gelezen en ik had behoorlijk wat moeite om in dat verhaal te komen, maar uiteindelijk vond ik het een goed boek. Hoe langer ik deel 2 uitstelde, hoe banger ik werd dat ik me niks meer zou kunnen herinneren en er dus opnieuw helemaal in zou moeten komen. Kortom, het werd hooooog tijd om deel 2 te gaan lezen.
Verbazend genoeg had ik heel veel van deel 1 onthouden en zat ik dus binnen no-time in het verhaal, fijn! Het verhaal leest ook redelijk vlot en uiteindelijk wordt het ook erg spannend, maar dat middenstuk.. Daar had ik de meeste moeite mee. In deel 1 zat een heel deel romantiek en karakterontwikkeling en dat miste ik in dit deel. Hier zit je vooral continue in de actie en mis je dus de echte gesprekken. Je leert de karakters ook niet beter kennen in dit boek. Het einde was prima, maar niet verzadigend. Erg jammer dus eigenlijk dat deel 3 niet vertaald is, want ik ga deel 3 hierdoor niet oppakken. Daarvoor is het onderwerp te lastig, dus ik verwacht dat ik dat in het Engels al helemaal niet kan volgen.
Verbazend genoeg had ik heel veel van deel 1 onthouden en zat ik dus binnen no-time in het verhaal, fijn! Het verhaal leest ook redelijk vlot en uiteindelijk wordt het ook erg spannend, maar dat middenstuk.. Daar had ik de meeste moeite mee. In deel 1 zat een heel deel romantiek en karakterontwikkeling en dat miste ik in dit deel. Hier zit je vooral continue in de actie en mis je dus de echte gesprekken. Je leert de karakters ook niet beter kennen in dit boek. Het einde was prima, maar niet verzadigend. Erg jammer dus eigenlijk dat deel 3 niet vertaald is, want ik ga deel 3 hierdoor niet oppakken. Daarvoor is het onderwerp te lastig, dus ik verwacht dat ik dat in het Engels al helemaal niet kan volgen.
April 21, 2014
Potential spoilersSsSsSs.
Down in the meat...(As the twitchers say)
---------Characters--------
I like how we've got Vincent, Nijinsky, Plath, Keats, Wilkes and they're all BZRK pipur but the characteristics are so different from one another. You have the leader whose gone insane, the gay male model who's pushed into being a Number One and he's not enjoying it, the privilege girl planning to run away with the poor boy, the badass maniac with her heh heh heh.
Aaand then you get Billy the Kid. Let me tell you about Billy. So, bad guy Burnofsky is provoking him to wear these special gloves yea and Burnofsky provokes Billy to wear them and then there's a sachet of nanobots and provokes him further to experiment with em' by switching them on AND THAT'S ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA RIGHT.
The whole time Billy knows he's being provoked but doesn't know exactly why. To what end?? So why the fricking fracking heck would you toy with the sachet and let it fall on your hands??????? The bots starts eating his skin and producing new sets of babies and those babies eat his skin and produces new sets of babies and those babies eat - yeah you get the point.
Everyone is panicking and Burnofsky is all, "Welcome to the end of the world."
----------Writing---------
Reading BZRK: Reloaded you get experiences like...
In and out of desert ravines, past scattered balls of pollen in half a dozen different colors and shapes. The pollen grains looked oddly like an assortment of footballs and soccer balls left carelessly on a playing field.
Onto the cheek. Here the skin was smooth - no more ravines. Those would come no doubt with age - but for now her skin was a carpet of leaves, dead cells drifted onto a living substrata. As she watched a handful of dead cells broke loose and fluttered away.
The biots could not see distances well. So Plath knew that the massive, Everest-size mountain off in the distance was her nose, but she wouldnt easily have recognized it as such.
-Page 208.
It's describing her freckle. FRECKLE!! Such a beautiful and intricate way of describing. MICHAEL GRANT SUCH WORDS MUCH WOW.
and and and
If the bacteria were frightening, other things were startlingly beautiful - crystals of unknown provenance, bubbles of soap that turned the ring of light into a rainbow, fantastic sculptures of debris trapped in balls of hair
-Page 417
DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS SCENE IS ABOUT? INSIDE A SHOWER DRAIN, THAT'S WHAT. This is a testament to Grant's storytelling because wow honestly how many times have i open a book to read a similar situation? Um, never. I don't recall anyone describing the what's in a shower drain as beautiful as this. Diaper poo sounds gross? Give it to Grant and he'll Michelangelo it!
I love how in the middle of it all the good guys were losing and questioning whether they could don the White Hat? Bad guys were leading and then BAM! Tables turn, guns ablazing, things explode, characters die.
FYI, I love the references! I don't know why but it just makes it more this century. So far I can remember he made a High School Musical, a Jason Bourne, The Avengers and a very cute Katniss and Peeta.
--------Overall--------
I cannot stress this enough SOMEONE NEEDS TO MAKE BZRK INTO A MOVIE PLEASE I mean it's got Michael Bay written all over it. After Hunger Games movie came out, wave after wave of dystopia is 'in development' (i.e Delirium, Legend) but there's also movies like Divergent and Maze Runner and while I love some of these books and I love the movieness of it, I really hope SOMEONE HELLO ANYONE will turn this into a blockbuster movie because it's very different and fresh
Down in the meat...(As the twitchers say)
---------Characters--------
I like how we've got Vincent, Nijinsky, Plath, Keats, Wilkes and they're all BZRK pipur but the characteristics are so different from one another. You have the leader whose gone insane, the gay male model who's pushed into being a Number One and he's not enjoying it, the privilege girl planning to run away with the poor boy, the badass maniac with her heh heh heh.
Aaand then you get Billy the Kid. Let me tell you about Billy. So, bad guy Burnofsky is provoking him to wear these special gloves yea and Burnofsky provokes Billy to wear them and then there's a sachet of nanobots and provokes him further to experiment with em' by switching them on AND THAT'S ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA RIGHT.
The whole time Billy knows he's being provoked but doesn't know exactly why. To what end?? So why the fricking fracking heck would you toy with the sachet and let it fall on your hands??????? The bots starts eating his skin and producing new sets of babies and those babies eat his skin and produces new sets of babies and those babies eat - yeah you get the point.
Everyone is panicking and Burnofsky is all, "Welcome to the end of the world."
----------Writing---------
Reading BZRK: Reloaded you get experiences like...
In and out of desert ravines, past scattered balls of pollen in half a dozen different colors and shapes. The pollen grains looked oddly like an assortment of footballs and soccer balls left carelessly on a playing field.
Onto the cheek. Here the skin was smooth - no more ravines. Those would come no doubt with age - but for now her skin was a carpet of leaves, dead cells drifted onto a living substrata. As she watched a handful of dead cells broke loose and fluttered away.
The biots could not see distances well. So Plath knew that the massive, Everest-size mountain off in the distance was her nose, but she wouldnt easily have recognized it as such.
-Page 208.
It's describing her freckle. FRECKLE!! Such a beautiful and intricate way of describing. MICHAEL GRANT SUCH WORDS MUCH WOW.
and and and
If the bacteria were frightening, other things were startlingly beautiful - crystals of unknown provenance, bubbles of soap that turned the ring of light into a rainbow, fantastic sculptures of debris trapped in balls of hair
-Page 417
DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS SCENE IS ABOUT? INSIDE A SHOWER DRAIN, THAT'S WHAT. This is a testament to Grant's storytelling because wow honestly how many times have i open a book to read a similar situation? Um, never. I don't recall anyone describing the what's in a shower drain as beautiful as this. Diaper poo sounds gross? Give it to Grant and he'll Michelangelo it!
I love how in the middle of it all the good guys were losing and questioning whether they could don the White Hat? Bad guys were leading and then BAM! Tables turn, guns ablazing, things explode, characters die.
FYI, I love the references! I don't know why but it just makes it more this century. So far I can remember he made a High School Musical, a Jason Bourne, The Avengers and a very cute Katniss and Peeta.
--------Overall--------
I cannot stress this enough SOMEONE NEEDS TO MAKE BZRK INTO A MOVIE PLEASE I mean it's got Michael Bay written all over it. After Hunger Games movie came out, wave after wave of dystopia is 'in development' (i.e Delirium, Legend) but there's also movies like Divergent and Maze Runner and while I love some of these books and I love the movieness of it, I really hope SOMEONE HELLO ANYONE will turn this into a blockbuster movie because it's very different and fresh
March 21, 2016
Personal Response
Another great book from one of my favorite authors. I cannot help but find myself wanting to keep reading whether I have free time or not. The concept of nanotechnology and how it is portrayed really made this an interesting read.
Plot
The BZRK team is constantly fighting a battle with the ACFG on both the nano and macro levels. Their constant strategizing and manipulation is having an effect on things and yet they are not bringing any attention to themselves. From working in safe houses to floating civilizations, neither side is gaining too much headway. In the end, neither side comes out as the victor.
Characterization
Like the first of the series, the point of view was constantly changing throughout the book. The more prominent characters are Plath and Keats, a young couple that would never have met had they been living normal lives. No matter what they encounter, they do their best to stay close to each other. On the other side, the Twins and Bug man are the more common. The Twins happen to be a freak of nature that own and run AFCG. Their underling, Bug Man, is a young african american teenager that enjoys the “game” as he calls it, making him the best twitcher on their side.
Impact of Setting
The setting plays an enormous role in this story. The events change drastically from either normal or microscopic, to being on either end of the world like Washington D.C. and Japan. On several occasions, having a change in location also has some nano events underway at the same time. Without clear distinction of where something is happening, this would be quite the quagmire.
Thematic Connection
I had trouble narrowing in on a theme that kept reoccurring. I finally settled for perseverance. No matter what happened, regardless of what side the character was on, they always kept going. In several occasions, drastic measures are taken to get the upper hand, sometimes resulting in a loss.
Recommendation
I would recommend this book to the teen to young adult range. This is including the ages of 12-25 and regardless of gender. The large amount of technology and strategy keep it interesting along with some sub plot lines and romances to add more to the novel itself.
Another great book from one of my favorite authors. I cannot help but find myself wanting to keep reading whether I have free time or not. The concept of nanotechnology and how it is portrayed really made this an interesting read.
Plot
The BZRK team is constantly fighting a battle with the ACFG on both the nano and macro levels. Their constant strategizing and manipulation is having an effect on things and yet they are not bringing any attention to themselves. From working in safe houses to floating civilizations, neither side is gaining too much headway. In the end, neither side comes out as the victor.
Characterization
Like the first of the series, the point of view was constantly changing throughout the book. The more prominent characters are Plath and Keats, a young couple that would never have met had they been living normal lives. No matter what they encounter, they do their best to stay close to each other. On the other side, the Twins and Bug man are the more common. The Twins happen to be a freak of nature that own and run AFCG. Their underling, Bug Man, is a young african american teenager that enjoys the “game” as he calls it, making him the best twitcher on their side.
Impact of Setting
The setting plays an enormous role in this story. The events change drastically from either normal or microscopic, to being on either end of the world like Washington D.C. and Japan. On several occasions, having a change in location also has some nano events underway at the same time. Without clear distinction of where something is happening, this would be quite the quagmire.
Thematic Connection
I had trouble narrowing in on a theme that kept reoccurring. I finally settled for perseverance. No matter what happened, regardless of what side the character was on, they always kept going. In several occasions, drastic measures are taken to get the upper hand, sometimes resulting in a loss.
Recommendation
I would recommend this book to the teen to young adult range. This is including the ages of 12-25 and regardless of gender. The large amount of technology and strategy keep it interesting along with some sub plot lines and romances to add more to the novel itself.
February 25, 2015
This book was read and reviewed by my no-worker, Nicole:
**spoiler alert** This book was almost impossible to read.
1)You must have read the first book: BZRK to have any idea what is going on
2)It takes place in the very near future, with the FBI, Google, the United States etc, however there is very advanced nanotechnology and something called biobots
3)It describes people being able to see things on a microscopic level and includes the bacteria on human skin and hair
4)Within the first couple of pages there are two brutal murders, described in detail
5)A lot of heavy and abrasive cursing used with more frequency in a teen book than I would like
6)In a future world it is surprising that the conjoined Twins would exist
7)A lot of violent scenes are depicted as are the visions of those who have gone insane ( i.e. a man’s arms being ripped out of their sockets)
8)Sexual actions take place to include the president showering with her husband; not tender sexual acts ( not upsetting, just a little surprising) and how the women are described
9)Detailed descriptions on a microscopic level about what the insides of our bodies look like ( such as eyeballs)
10)The messing up, changing and control people by their brains was upsetting for me.
11)The gray areas of good and evil on both sides- I didn’t really want to cheer on for the “good” team because they felt just as bad and controlling as the villains
12)The brain torture scenes got old very quick
13)I couldn’t stand reading about needles in the eyes ( that’s a personal ick)
14)The Doll Ship – everything about it.
Redeeming qualities:
1) the codenames of some of the characters are famous literature people/characters who have gone insane such as Lear, Keats and Plath
**spoiler alert** This book was almost impossible to read.
1)You must have read the first book: BZRK to have any idea what is going on
2)It takes place in the very near future, with the FBI, Google, the United States etc, however there is very advanced nanotechnology and something called biobots
3)It describes people being able to see things on a microscopic level and includes the bacteria on human skin and hair
4)Within the first couple of pages there are two brutal murders, described in detail
5)A lot of heavy and abrasive cursing used with more frequency in a teen book than I would like
6)In a future world it is surprising that the conjoined Twins would exist
7)A lot of violent scenes are depicted as are the visions of those who have gone insane ( i.e. a man’s arms being ripped out of their sockets)
8)Sexual actions take place to include the president showering with her husband; not tender sexual acts ( not upsetting, just a little surprising) and how the women are described
9)Detailed descriptions on a microscopic level about what the insides of our bodies look like ( such as eyeballs)
10)The messing up, changing and control people by their brains was upsetting for me.
11)The gray areas of good and evil on both sides- I didn’t really want to cheer on for the “good” team because they felt just as bad and controlling as the villains
12)The brain torture scenes got old very quick
13)I couldn’t stand reading about needles in the eyes ( that’s a personal ick)
14)The Doll Ship – everything about it.
Redeeming qualities:
1) the codenames of some of the characters are famous literature people/characters who have gone insane such as Lear, Keats and Plath
August 31, 2014
BZRK, in my opinion, was the best sci fi novel I read this summer. It was witty, I liked the concept, I thought all the characters were well thought out and likable. I immediately wanted to read the next book, thinking it would be good or even better than the first one.
What I got was a book that was a big splat of complete blandness.
What was a good premise in BZRK had been completely dumped to make way for POINTLESS new story arcs featuring a shipload of POINTLESS new characters that are so underdeveloped you couldn't care less when Michael Grant kills them off. The whole Doll Ship story arc came completely out of nowhere and had so little to do with the first book, it makes you wonder whether Reloaded is in the same series as BZRK at all.
The main characters from the first book are not involved with the Doll Ship story arc at all and are left with almost nothing to do apart from shout at each other pointlessly and have one small scene where they are actually doing any action. Plath and Keats are as unconvincing as ever.
Some of the characters from the first book such as One-Up who would have made a good villain have been written out, along with the BZRK spy in AFGC who I thought would have a bigger role in the book.
However, I really liked the opening of the book and although it went downhill after that,I enjoyed the President story arc, and seeing what her life was like.
That isn't anough to make the book better though, and all I can say is I hope Apocalypse is better.
What I got was a book that was a big splat of complete blandness.
What was a good premise in BZRK had been completely dumped to make way for POINTLESS new story arcs featuring a shipload of POINTLESS new characters that are so underdeveloped you couldn't care less when Michael Grant kills them off. The whole Doll Ship story arc came completely out of nowhere and had so little to do with the first book, it makes you wonder whether Reloaded is in the same series as BZRK at all.
The main characters from the first book are not involved with the Doll Ship story arc at all and are left with almost nothing to do apart from shout at each other pointlessly and have one small scene where they are actually doing any action. Plath and Keats are as unconvincing as ever.
Some of the characters from the first book such as One-Up who would have made a good villain have been written out, along with the BZRK spy in AFGC who I thought would have a bigger role in the book.
However, I really liked the opening of the book and although it went downhill after that,I enjoyed the President story arc, and seeing what her life was like.
That isn't anough to make the book better though, and all I can say is I hope Apocalypse is better.
December 17, 2014
This book is truly one of my favourites.
Whether it's a personal preference or not, I enjoy books that not only have a strong, well-thought-out plot,innovative concepts, and also characters that aren't just based on basic, generic stocks and cliches but unique characterization. BZRK has all of that for me. The neverending ability of Michael Grant to keep you guessing and guessing wrong is a trait I strongly wish I could have, because the twists he weaves into the story are all synchronized well. Every single page of this trilogy is gripping. No character, quote, or event is redundant or unnecessary in this book because all of it is intricately woven into a bigger picture.
This is a book that keeps me up at night wondering and pondering and diving deeper and deeper into thoughts I never knew I could fathom, and still don't know if I can- portraying the human and less-than-human sides of people. It makes me question everything. This is a book that haunts my bones even after I've finished it and now I have no idea what I want to read next because this book raises my standards.
Whether it's a personal preference or not, I enjoy books that not only have a strong, well-thought-out plot,innovative concepts, and also characters that aren't just based on basic, generic stocks and cliches but unique characterization. BZRK has all of that for me. The neverending ability of Michael Grant to keep you guessing and guessing wrong is a trait I strongly wish I could have, because the twists he weaves into the story are all synchronized well. Every single page of this trilogy is gripping. No character, quote, or event is redundant or unnecessary in this book because all of it is intricately woven into a bigger picture.
This is a book that keeps me up at night wondering and pondering and diving deeper and deeper into thoughts I never knew I could fathom, and still don't know if I can- portraying the human and less-than-human sides of people. It makes me question everything. This is a book that haunts my bones even after I've finished it and now I have no idea what I want to read next because this book raises my standards.
September 27, 2013
This is the second book to BZRK. They absolutely must be read in order or you'll be very confused and your brain will turn to mush. They are also so awesome you'll have a literary hangover for days where nothing else sounds good and you can't stop thinking about the characters. I was honestly a little nervous about this one. BZRK was so good and so action-packed, I didn't think the sequel could possibly live up to it, but it did. It's possibly even more amazing than the first. If you're looking for an thrill-a-minute, mildly dystopian, science fiction dealing with nanobots (and why wouldn't you be?), look no further. This series is great for fans of The Obsidian Blade or Ender's Game.
January 4, 2016
Bij het voorgaande boek, BZRK, had ik wat tijd nodig om in het verhaal te komen. Er werden enorm veel personages geïntroduceerd en ook de wereld van de nanotechnologie was in het begin wat ongrijpbaar en onduidelijk. In BZRK Reloaded daarentegen is een introductie niet langer noodzakelijk. Als lezer ken je de wereld down in the meat en weet je wie de belangrijkste personages zijn. Hierdoor kan het boek midden in de actie beginnen en je van begin tot eind meenemen op avontuur.
Mijn complete review lees je op Oog op de Toekomst.
Mijn complete review lees je op Oog op de Toekomst.
November 25, 2014
i am not so wild on this series as compared to Gone series. somehow, the nanobots technology does not appeal to me. the book is slow-paced. we have two teenagers who are facing some major crossroads in their lives, i.e. becoming a "twitcher" while falling in love with each other (or is it just one of them who is really feeling that way?). sadie/plath is definitely not katniss everdeen, but maybe noah/keats is like peeta.. in a way..
May 25, 2014
Often, an author begins with a bang but over the course of a series, the quality of his story deteriorates. Not so here. The second of the BZRK series easily equalled the beauty, the fast-paced insight of the first. This series is one of the best out there!
November 17, 2013
Scifi is rapidly becoming something I actually like...at least in certain doses. LOL I fell in love with Grant's GONE series and and followed him into the Adam and Eve book and then BZRK. Grant may have opened my eyes to a whole new genre to explore. :-)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 216 reviews