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iBoy
What can he do with his new powers — and what are they doing to him?
Before the attack, Tom Harvey was just an average teen. But a head-on collision with high technology has turned him into an actualized App. Fragments of a shattered iPhone are embedded in his brain. And they're having an extraordinary effect on his every thought.
Because now Tom knows, sees, and can do more than any normal boy ever could. But with his new powers comes a choice: To avenge Lucy, the girl he loves, will he hunt down the vicious gangsters who hurt her? Will he take the law into his own electric hands and exterminate them from the South London housing projects where, by fear and violence, they rule?
Not even his mental search engine can predict the shocking outcome of iBoy's actions.
A WiFi, WTF thriller by YA master Kevin Brooks.
Link to movie site: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3171832/
Before the attack, Tom Harvey was just an average teen. But a head-on collision with high technology has turned him into an actualized App. Fragments of a shattered iPhone are embedded in his brain. And they're having an extraordinary effect on his every thought.
Because now Tom knows, sees, and can do more than any normal boy ever could. But with his new powers comes a choice: To avenge Lucy, the girl he loves, will he hunt down the vicious gangsters who hurt her? Will he take the law into his own electric hands and exterminate them from the South London housing projects where, by fear and violence, they rule?
Not even his mental search engine can predict the shocking outcome of iBoy's actions.
A WiFi, WTF thriller by YA master Kevin Brooks.
Link to movie site: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3171832/
290 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2010
119 people are currently reading
3188 people want to read
About the author
Kevin Brooks
57 books877 followersKevin Brooks was born in 1959 and grew up in Exeter, Devon, England. He studied Psychology and Philosophy at Birmingham, Aston University in 1980 and Cultural Studies in London in 1983. Kevin Brooks has been in a variety of jobs including: musician, gasoline station attendant, crematorium handyman, civil service clerk, hot dog vendor at the London Zoo, post office clerk, and railway ticket office clerk.
Kevin Brooks's writing career started with the publication of Martyn Pig in 2002 through The Chicken House which won the Branford Boase Award 2003 and was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. He also wrote Lucas (2002) which was shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and Booktrust Teenage Prize in 2003 also winning the North East Book Award in 2004.
In 2004 he published Kissing the Rain and Bloodline and I See You, Baby and Candy in 2005. In 2006 he published 3 books including: Johnny Delgado Series - Like Father, Like Son and Private Detective as well as The Road of the Dead; a standalone novel. In February 2008 he published the standalone book Black Rabbit Summer.
As a child, Kevin Brooks enjoyed reading detective novels. He writes most plots of the various books he has written around crime fiction. He likes mystery and suspence and enjoys putting both of those components into each and every story he writes in some shape or form.
Kevin Brooks's writing career started with the publication of Martyn Pig in 2002 through The Chicken House which won the Branford Boase Award 2003 and was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. He also wrote Lucas (2002) which was shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and Booktrust Teenage Prize in 2003 also winning the North East Book Award in 2004.
In 2004 he published Kissing the Rain and Bloodline and I See You, Baby and Candy in 2005. In 2006 he published 3 books including: Johnny Delgado Series - Like Father, Like Son and Private Detective as well as The Road of the Dead; a standalone novel. In February 2008 he published the standalone book Black Rabbit Summer.
As a child, Kevin Brooks enjoyed reading detective novels. He writes most plots of the various books he has written around crime fiction. He likes mystery and suspence and enjoys putting both of those components into each and every story he writes in some shape or form.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 556 reviews
May 12, 2020
I’ve never really been technological. I mean, I can use a computer. I can use a phone. I can use a Kindle. Sometimes I kind of link them all together if I’m feeling particularly frisky one day.
But when people say that they prefer Windows to Apple, I zone out. I don’t know whether I’m a Mac or a PC. The adverts meant nothing to me except omfg it’s Jeremy and Mark!*
I mean, if Jeremy is a Mac and Mark is a PC, then surely they’re both as awesome as each other? Do I have to choose between them? I don’t want to. No, I refuse.
What’s Super Hans? Let’s face it, I’m going to be whatever he is.
In all seriousness though, I cannot believe that this book was written by the same author that wrote Naked which was such an excellent book that I can’t recommend it enough.
This book was… I don’t know. I can’t even say it wasn’t what I was expecting because it was basically exactly what I was expecting. A boy is standing under a block of flats and someone throws an iPhone off the 30th floor and it embeds himself into his head. When he wakes up from his coma he discovers that his brain is now an…iBrain (Brooks’ words, not mine). Needless to say, he’s not an ‘App-y chappy.
Geddit? App….y?
Never mind.
OK, so first up I’ll talk about the idea. I’m OK with suspending my disbelief when I read books. A fact, I feel, that was proven by me actually picking up this book. I understand that this story will never and could never happen. If I wanted to read a book where the science was 100% and everything was believable, I probably wouldn’t have chosen to read a book where a boy turns into an iPod….would I?
So I was OK with this and I was quite happy to read a story where everything was left a bit up in the air. Unfortunately, it seems, Mr Brooks wasn’t. There were times when this story descended into a bit of an instruction manual and it left me completely lost and it managed to yank me out of a story that I was actually really involved in. There was absolutely tons of info-dumping. And I’m not saying that in the way that most people mean it with huuuuge chunks of descriptions about a fantasy world just in case you missed that point where the author was being really clever.. I mean actual info-dumping. There is part of the iPod instruction manual in a chapter. I’m not even joking.
I did try and understand the mechanics (again, literally) of what happened to Tom but…I mean… OK, I get that he can hack into people’s phones and bank accounts and stuff… but how can he create a forcefield around himself? Have I just got a crap iPhone that doesn’t do that? I have to admit it would be handy. Anyone who was annoying me I could just be like “Oh, one sec… someone’s ringing me!” and I’d whip out my phone and ZAP right in the face.
The more I tried to understand… the more delirious I became.
One of my notes is actually: “LOLOL. But why doesn’t he electrocute himself in the shower?”
The thing that was most frustrating about this book was that I know how brilliant Mr Brooks is at writing a great and engrossing plot. He did it in Naked and, to some extent, he did it with iBoy.
If you took away the iPlot and the zapping, this book would have been so good. Seeing the gangs of South London and all the horrifying things they do through Tom’s eyes wasn’t always easy. Mr Brooks has this way of really getting into the story, into the characters’ psyches and you can be reading it, hand over your mouth, thinking “No, he’s not going to go there…” and guess where he goes? There.
And I love that about him because, even though it was uncomfortable and it was realistic and brilliant.
But then iBoy got involved and zap, zap, zap and… I don’t know, it just really took something away with it. I won’t go into all the gritty details of what happens in this story but it’s so sad and so horrifying and the iPlot seemed to trivialise it almost. Which is crazy because I know that Mr Brooks can write emotions and darker subjects with subtlety and tact but this one was just way too much.
Also, for extra iLOLZ… this main event of this story happened the day before my birthday.
You may be thinking why I carried on reading this book if I didn’t like it at all and that was because of the characters. When Tom was Tom and there weren’t any lowercase is lurking anywhere, he was brilliant. The perfect balance between hero and regular kid, I really wanted to get to know him and not iBoy. And, of course, I loved Lucy. What a little sweetheart.
Also, Gram was BRILLIANT.
I so wish this had been a contemporary book because I know that it would have been unforgettable instead of being memorable for all the wrong reasons.
iDisappointed.
*And omfg there’s a new series coming soon. Who’s excited?!
But when people say that they prefer Windows to Apple, I zone out. I don’t know whether I’m a Mac or a PC. The adverts meant nothing to me except omfg it’s Jeremy and Mark!*
I mean, if Jeremy is a Mac and Mark is a PC, then surely they’re both as awesome as each other? Do I have to choose between them? I don’t want to. No, I refuse.
What’s Super Hans? Let’s face it, I’m going to be whatever he is.
In all seriousness though, I cannot believe that this book was written by the same author that wrote Naked which was such an excellent book that I can’t recommend it enough.
This book was… I don’t know. I can’t even say it wasn’t what I was expecting because it was basically exactly what I was expecting. A boy is standing under a block of flats and someone throws an iPhone off the 30th floor and it embeds himself into his head. When he wakes up from his coma he discovers that his brain is now an…iBrain (Brooks’ words, not mine). Needless to say, he’s not an ‘App-y chappy.
Geddit? App….y?
Never mind.
OK, so first up I’ll talk about the idea. I’m OK with suspending my disbelief when I read books. A fact, I feel, that was proven by me actually picking up this book. I understand that this story will never and could never happen. If I wanted to read a book where the science was 100% and everything was believable, I probably wouldn’t have chosen to read a book where a boy turns into an iPod….would I?
So I was OK with this and I was quite happy to read a story where everything was left a bit up in the air. Unfortunately, it seems, Mr Brooks wasn’t. There were times when this story descended into a bit of an instruction manual and it left me completely lost and it managed to yank me out of a story that I was actually really involved in. There was absolutely tons of info-dumping. And I’m not saying that in the way that most people mean it with huuuuge chunks of descriptions about a fantasy world just in case you missed that point where the author was being really clever.. I mean actual info-dumping. There is part of the iPod instruction manual in a chapter. I’m not even joking.
I did try and understand the mechanics (again, literally) of what happened to Tom but…I mean… OK, I get that he can hack into people’s phones and bank accounts and stuff… but how can he create a forcefield around himself? Have I just got a crap iPhone that doesn’t do that? I have to admit it would be handy. Anyone who was annoying me I could just be like “Oh, one sec… someone’s ringing me!” and I’d whip out my phone and ZAP right in the face.
The more I tried to understand… the more delirious I became.
One of my notes is actually: “LOLOL. But why doesn’t he electrocute himself in the shower?”
The thing that was most frustrating about this book was that I know how brilliant Mr Brooks is at writing a great and engrossing plot. He did it in Naked and, to some extent, he did it with iBoy.
If you took away the iPlot and the zapping, this book would have been so good. Seeing the gangs of South London and all the horrifying things they do through Tom’s eyes wasn’t always easy. Mr Brooks has this way of really getting into the story, into the characters’ psyches and you can be reading it, hand over your mouth, thinking “No, he’s not going to go there…” and guess where he goes? There.
And I love that about him because, even though it was uncomfortable and it was realistic and brilliant.
But then iBoy got involved and zap, zap, zap and… I don’t know, it just really took something away with it. I won’t go into all the gritty details of what happens in this story but it’s so sad and so horrifying and the iPlot seemed to trivialise it almost. Which is crazy because I know that Mr Brooks can write emotions and darker subjects with subtlety and tact but this one was just way too much.
Also, for extra iLOLZ… this main event of this story happened the day before my birthday.
You may be thinking why I carried on reading this book if I didn’t like it at all and that was because of the characters. When Tom was Tom and there weren’t any lowercase is lurking anywhere, he was brilliant. The perfect balance between hero and regular kid, I really wanted to get to know him and not iBoy. And, of course, I loved Lucy. What a little sweetheart.
Also, Gram was BRILLIANT.
I so wish this had been a contemporary book because I know that it would have been unforgettable instead of being memorable for all the wrong reasons.
iDisappointed.
*And omfg there’s a new series coming soon. Who’s excited?!
December 10, 2011
This book could have been more than okay. It could have been good. IF I hadn't been cringing away from it with every page I turned. IF I hadn't felt required to keep the book hidden so that younger siblings couldn't stumble upon it. IF our lovely Mr. Kevin Brooks hadn't decided to include an expletive on every page.
Ok. Yeah. I get it, Mr. Brooks. What's-his-face-Tom lives in an ugly part of town. And gang members swear in ugly parts of town. The good guys swear. Heck, even our damsel in distress has no qualms about dropping the F-bomb. Yeah. Thanks for that accurate picture. What you don't realize, oh lovely Mr. Kevin Brooks, is that swearing looks a heck of a lot worse when it's on paper. In a book, to make a point about how ugly this bit of town is, all you would have to do was use one or two well-placed pieces of swearing and I would have gotten the @*%$#$*@ message. But no. You had to marinate the book in ugly words. You had to soak, rinse, and repeat it in expletives. You had to bash us on the head with the F-bomb. Over. And over. And over.
Until I gave up. Right at the climax. The book was simply not worth it.
All the words that should have been starred or blacked out just gave me one very clear message.
Dear lovely Mr. Kevin Brooks,
You have a vocabulary the size of a period.
Love,
Lillian
Ok. Yeah. I get it, Mr. Brooks. What's-his-face-Tom lives in an ugly part of town. And gang members swear in ugly parts of town. The good guys swear. Heck, even our damsel in distress has no qualms about dropping the F-bomb. Yeah. Thanks for that accurate picture. What you don't realize, oh lovely Mr. Kevin Brooks, is that swearing looks a heck of a lot worse when it's on paper. In a book, to make a point about how ugly this bit of town is, all you would have to do was use one or two well-placed pieces of swearing and I would have gotten the @*%$#$*@ message. But no. You had to marinate the book in ugly words. You had to soak, rinse, and repeat it in expletives. You had to bash us on the head with the F-bomb. Over. And over. And over.
Until I gave up. Right at the climax. The book was simply not worth it.
All the words that should have been starred or blacked out just gave me one very clear message.
Dear lovely Mr. Kevin Brooks,
You have a vocabulary the size of a period.
Love,
Lillian
September 26, 2012
During the event of scanning through many novels in the "Teen" section of the library, my eyes stopped and lay still on the black laminated spine of this book. The title read "iBoy". I considered since I had been playing on my iPod a lot over the school break iBoy may be the appropriate read. To make sure it was about iPods, iPhones or iPads,not someone with bad sentence structure stating that he was a boy, I had a quick flip at the back summary of the book. This should be where I quote the summary but it would be too long. Basically, it's about a kid who gets an iPhone thrown at his skull and then he gets magical iPhone powers. It was one of those moments where I was like "OK..." and put it back on the shelf and started backing away. But despite the utterly stupid science behind the plot, a force pulled me back to that novel,the thought of how I had to do some more book reviews, and fast. So I read the first sentence of the first page. I was hooked. The author is a brilliant writer.
The category this novel slips under is 'A book with themes we've studied in class in term one'(Knowledge is power) this is because the main character uses his iPhone inside his head to give him the knowledge to find who 'damaged' his friend, Lucy. This category was interesting because each author can give a view of how they interpret knowledge being power.
My favourite quote from iBoy is "Knowledge is power" because anybody questioning if this novel does fit under the term 1 category can just turn to page 270.Ha.
Something new I learnt from this book is that you can die if millions of calls suddenly come to your phone, as your phone's battery will over heat then explode. This was how the main character defeated a gang in the end of the book. He used his iPhone's knowledge of that, then hacked into all the phones in the world and directed all their calls to six guys. Some died brutally as their pants exploded. I mostly leave my phone off now.
A character that interested me in this book was iBoy. As he could research anything from his brain, hack all bank accounts in the world and give people electric shocks. This made me think his powers were pretty "creative"
Overall I'll give this novel a four.It would have been a five, but the ending was very slow and boring, and left me thinking of nothing.
The category this novel slips under is 'A book with themes we've studied in class in term one'(Knowledge is power) this is because the main character uses his iPhone inside his head to give him the knowledge to find who 'damaged' his friend, Lucy. This category was interesting because each author can give a view of how they interpret knowledge being power.
My favourite quote from iBoy is "Knowledge is power" because anybody questioning if this novel does fit under the term 1 category can just turn to page 270.Ha.
Something new I learnt from this book is that you can die if millions of calls suddenly come to your phone, as your phone's battery will over heat then explode. This was how the main character defeated a gang in the end of the book. He used his iPhone's knowledge of that, then hacked into all the phones in the world and directed all their calls to six guys. Some died brutally as their pants exploded. I mostly leave my phone off now.
A character that interested me in this book was iBoy. As he could research anything from his brain, hack all bank accounts in the world and give people electric shocks. This made me think his powers were pretty "creative"
Overall I'll give this novel a four.It would have been a five, but the ending was very slow and boring, and left me thinking of nothing.
March 20, 2018
Davvero molto molto carino! Ovviamente migliore del film originale Netflix
February 10, 2012
Overall, I liked this. I really did, with a slight feeling of too-little-too-quick. Of course, as soon as I'd completed it I flipped into Safari to check what other Goodreaders thought. The language, as I suspected, was a major issue. I've no problem with the author using a wide range of profanities as I'm well beyond the age where such proclivities are considered unwholesome. Indeed, I'm preparing an entire range of new expletives for my eventual entrance to a nursing home, reserved for people who bring me handkerchiefs and cutting propagators for Christmas rather than bottles of Grand Marnier or Bombay Sapphire.
But what were people expecting from a gangland novel about group rape? This isn't an easy book, and I must say I'm unsure where it's aimed. I'm in no way an advocate of age-ratings on books, but this is a book which, as I say, features a gang rape as a plot device. I'd say it's more than 'young adult' but less than 'fiction', if you're browsing in your local library. But there we are - to go back to the start of all this paragraph's furore: when does one become aware of the existence of bad language? Or, perhaps, one might ask how the little buggers know to tattle on each other the minute the dreaded words are uttered?
What if incorporating such words into a text isn't a matter of educating young people in the art of the expletive, but simply acknowledging that these words exist, fit perfectly into the environment of the novel as described, and it's actually a situation of trust between the author and the reader, who includes them for realism and no more expects to be accused of promoting excessive swearing than of being accused of promoting gang rape. (The language thing, I would argue, reflects an issue with the reader, not the writer.)
The rape itself is also a realistic plot device. There is no luridity; it's an awful event which occurs, and which engenders emotions within both the protagonists and the participants. If you're looking for a redemption theme here, it's missing - the rapists are through and through unreticent, and the book ends up oddly patchwork as a result - the actions of the heroes and villains are not intended to be compared, but the author visits this theme slightly and there is little redemption - iBoy's actions are vigilante and increasingly brutal, giving a credible and potentially satisfying moral outcome. Similarly, iBoy muses on the virtues of taking from the rich to help his immediate family, and ultimately fails to reconcile his personal views with his own actions. It's a conundrum, true, but an author who poses such questions should really attempt to answer them, rather than chicken out with the vagaries of an invented character.
I did cringe at the convenience of the plot: the iThis and iThat which gives iBoy his overly iDeusExMachina powers. Obviously, we suspend reality to enjoy the book, but I couldn't manage to get all the way into the iWorld - I'm ultimately left thinking that iBoy went over the iTop - it was all too convenient, and eventually became as iIrritating as me putting 'i' in front of everything. The iProblem... oh, alright, I'll stop: The problem was that iBoy was massively overpowered - in the sense of being an unstoppable force and therefore unrelated to existence. Dr Manhattan (Watchmen) is the ultimate result of this path; a superhero whose powers so separate him from humanity that he becomes truly alien. iBoy is similar. The eventual power-foiling climax is a good read, a bit of entertainment, but doesn't touch on this idea at all; that iBoy is now a new race, separate from humanity and, indeed, beyond its petty ideas of one human being being worth more than another. In writing terms, I have to say it pales in comparison to the manner in which David Rice's equally superhuman powers are fully explored by Steven Gould in Reflex, the sequel to Jumper.
All that said, this was a great book. I liked it a lot, and Kevin Brooks brings a chill to my skin when I hear another book's due. Black Rabbit Summer was great, and the (apparently) massive language problem wasn't a problem for me. What I was concerned about was the fizzling out of a perfectly executable idea; it all came to fruition too soon. Double the weight of this tome, or add a sequel. iBoy became iFizzledOut, iDidn'tManageMuch and iEscapedUnharmedButDidn'tChangeTheWorld. iWhat'sGoingOn?
But what were people expecting from a gangland novel about group rape? This isn't an easy book, and I must say I'm unsure where it's aimed. I'm in no way an advocate of age-ratings on books, but this is a book which, as I say, features a gang rape as a plot device. I'd say it's more than 'young adult' but less than 'fiction', if you're browsing in your local library. But there we are - to go back to the start of all this paragraph's furore: when does one become aware of the existence of bad language? Or, perhaps, one might ask how the little buggers know to tattle on each other the minute the dreaded words are uttered?
What if incorporating such words into a text isn't a matter of educating young people in the art of the expletive, but simply acknowledging that these words exist, fit perfectly into the environment of the novel as described, and it's actually a situation of trust between the author and the reader, who includes them for realism and no more expects to be accused of promoting excessive swearing than of being accused of promoting gang rape. (The language thing, I would argue, reflects an issue with the reader, not the writer.)
The rape itself is also a realistic plot device. There is no luridity; it's an awful event which occurs, and which engenders emotions within both the protagonists and the participants. If you're looking for a redemption theme here, it's missing - the rapists are through and through unreticent, and the book ends up oddly patchwork as a result - the actions of the heroes and villains are not intended to be compared, but the author visits this theme slightly and there is little redemption - iBoy's actions are vigilante and increasingly brutal, giving a credible and potentially satisfying moral outcome. Similarly, iBoy muses on the virtues of taking from the rich to help his immediate family, and ultimately fails to reconcile his personal views with his own actions. It's a conundrum, true, but an author who poses such questions should really attempt to answer them, rather than chicken out with the vagaries of an invented character.
I did cringe at the convenience of the plot: the iThis and iThat which gives iBoy his overly iDeusExMachina powers. Obviously, we suspend reality to enjoy the book, but I couldn't manage to get all the way into the iWorld - I'm ultimately left thinking that iBoy went over the iTop - it was all too convenient, and eventually became as iIrritating as me putting 'i' in front of everything. The iProblem... oh, alright, I'll stop: The problem was that iBoy was massively overpowered - in the sense of being an unstoppable force and therefore unrelated to existence. Dr Manhattan (Watchmen) is the ultimate result of this path; a superhero whose powers so separate him from humanity that he becomes truly alien. iBoy is similar. The eventual power-foiling climax is a good read, a bit of entertainment, but doesn't touch on this idea at all; that iBoy is now a new race, separate from humanity and, indeed, beyond its petty ideas of one human being being worth more than another. In writing terms, I have to say it pales in comparison to the manner in which David Rice's equally superhuman powers are fully explored by Steven Gould in Reflex, the sequel to Jumper.
All that said, this was a great book. I liked it a lot, and Kevin Brooks brings a chill to my skin when I hear another book's due. Black Rabbit Summer was great, and the (apparently) massive language problem wasn't a problem for me. What I was concerned about was the fizzling out of a perfectly executable idea; it all came to fruition too soon. Double the weight of this tome, or add a sequel. iBoy became iFizzledOut, iDidn'tManageMuch and iEscapedUnharmedButDidn'tChangeTheWorld. iWhat'sGoingOn?
April 11, 2020
No pensaba que este libro fuera gustarme TANTO.
Lo leí en una sentada, se me hizo entretenido y fresco. Tiene una mezcla de juvenil y ficción. Fue muy bueno
Lo leí en una sentada, se me hizo entretenido y fresco. Tiene una mezcla de juvenil y ficción. Fue muy bueno
February 7, 2020
This was a pretty interesting book, revolving around the topic of revenge, and why people do the things they do. I found it pretty interesting and laced with an abundance of hidden meanings and motives. If you like slightly dark but complex and intricate books, this is the book for you!
June 18, 2023
3 / 3.5 ⭐
Dopo aver letto e apprezzato The Bunker Diary, forse mi aspettavo qualcosa di più da Kevin Brooks. Non ho ritrovato forse la stessa profondità del precedente libro, ma forse questo è anche dettato dal fatto che non amo particolarmente i libri con protagonisti che acquisiscono randomicamente dei superpoteri troppo potenti. In questo caso Tom diventa una sorta di IA antropomorfa, che vivendo in una periferia di Londra, si dedica alla risoluzione dei problemi di coloro che gli stanno a cuore utilizzando la rete. Anche in questo caso la scrittura di Brooks coinvolge nella lettura, l'ho divorato in pochissime ore, e ci sono dei temi molto importanti come la degradazione delle periferie, la droga, la malavita, lo stupro e come sopravvivere a uno stupro di gruppo. Brooks è molto coraggioso a tirare fuori questi argomenti in uno YA. Tutti temi che nei romanzi di formazione sono importanti e vanno affrontati, ma ho trovato un protagonista, e in effetti anche gli altri personaggi, troppo "piatti". Non mi ha convito più di tanto, purtroppo.
Dopo aver letto e apprezzato The Bunker Diary, forse mi aspettavo qualcosa di più da Kevin Brooks. Non ho ritrovato forse la stessa profondità del precedente libro, ma forse questo è anche dettato dal fatto che non amo particolarmente i libri con protagonisti che acquisiscono randomicamente dei superpoteri troppo potenti. In questo caso Tom diventa una sorta di IA antropomorfa, che vivendo in una periferia di Londra, si dedica alla risoluzione dei problemi di coloro che gli stanno a cuore utilizzando la rete. Anche in questo caso la scrittura di Brooks coinvolge nella lettura, l'ho divorato in pochissime ore, e ci sono dei temi molto importanti come la degradazione delle periferie, la droga, la malavita, lo stupro e come sopravvivere a uno stupro di gruppo. Brooks è molto coraggioso a tirare fuori questi argomenti in uno YA. Tutti temi che nei romanzi di formazione sono importanti e vanno affrontati, ma ho trovato un protagonista, e in effetti anche gli altri personaggi, troppo "piatti". Non mi ha convito più di tanto, purtroppo.
January 29, 2019
This book totally blew me away. I have this book for years now, and was like ‘if i ain’t gonna read it now, i will not ever’ so i picked it up this month. And i have no regrets. This is one i am going to recommend to a lot of people. Can’t wait too see the movie on netflix :)
June 10, 2017
Al comenzar iBoy, me repetí incontables veces que no debía esperar mucho, por aquello de que generalmente creo expectativas altísimas y termino moribunda al llevarme tremenda decepción. En esta ocasión, funcionó bastante. Por eso mismo, de entrada, les digo que no esperen el libro del año, sino uno de esos que son bastante buenos para las lecturas ligeras, pero que vale la pena leer.
Ahora, ¿por qué me gusto? Ante todo, qué personaje tan bonito tiene como protagonista. Tom Harvey, de dieciséis años, va a visitar a su amiga Lucy, cuando de pronto alguien (porque no logra identificar quién es) le lanza un iPhone. ¡Un iPhone! El objeto le abre la cabeza, dejándolo inconsciente y provocando que unas cuantas piezas se incrusten en su cerebro. Y ahora, todo él y su vida cambiarán.
Hay que resaltar que Tom es un personaje sencillo, es el narrado de su propia historia y no busca contarla con un lenguaje súper complejo. Y miren que Tom sí podría hacer uso de palabras así, pues los fragmentos del iPhone que le han quedado dentro de la cabeza le han proporcionado poderes (como obtener señal, acceder a Google, tomar fotos y videos, WiFi, dar cargas eléctricas y muchas otras cosas más), además de la cirugía y unas dos semanas en coma. Así que Tom de pronto se encuentra con éste montonal de poderes dentro de su cabeza y poco a poco, comienza a experimentar y conocerse más. Mientras tanto, se entera de que su amiga Lucy y el hermano de ella, Ben, fueron agredidos la misma tarde en la que él fue atacado con el iPhone. Por supuesto, Tom no se puede quedar con los brazos cruzados y ahí es donde comienza verdaderamente la historia. Como dice el Tío Ben, en Spiderman: “un gran poder conlleva una gran responsabilidad”. Si tienes poderes y puedes hacer justicia, ¿lo harías o no? Pues Tom dice que él puede hacer justicia por su propia cuenta, castigar a quienes lastimaron a Lucy y también, componer el mundo de una buena vez. Lo que me enamoró de él fue su humanidad, la sencillez y el cariño que siente por su familia y amigos.
Pasando a otros detalles (porque me estoy derritiendo de amor por Tom), no hay muchos personajes en el libro y Tom no profundiza en ellos, lo cual me parece bien, porque en caso contrario, podría ser que la narración resultara más pesada. Las conversaciones son muy sencillas y reales, nada construidas ni forzadas. Algo que no pienso pasar por alto, es que en éste libro el mundo de las pandillas está muy cerca de Tom, por lo que sí hay muchas referencias a acciones violentas que algunos chicos cometen. Yo no había leído un libro sobre pandillas anteriormente, así que no sé si Kevin Brooks lo hace realista o no. Estoy perdida en ése aspecto.
Un detalle super chuli, es que en cada capítulo hay una frase relacionada al contenido, lo que a mí me hizo flipar. Y bueno, aunque no hace una reflexión profunda, lo correcto e incorrecto de las acciones humanas siempre está presente. Atrocidades como las violaciones, los asaltos y demás actos violentos también están dentro de la historia. No hay cosas color de rosa y Tom no es un chico débil que te fastidie. Al final, muestra otra faceta de sí mismo que no pensé que pudiese llegar a tener.
En conclusión: es un libro agradable.
Ahora, ¿por qué me gusto? Ante todo, qué personaje tan bonito tiene como protagonista. Tom Harvey, de dieciséis años, va a visitar a su amiga Lucy, cuando de pronto alguien (porque no logra identificar quién es) le lanza un iPhone. ¡Un iPhone! El objeto le abre la cabeza, dejándolo inconsciente y provocando que unas cuantas piezas se incrusten en su cerebro. Y ahora, todo él y su vida cambiarán.
Hay que resaltar que Tom es un personaje sencillo, es el narrado de su propia historia y no busca contarla con un lenguaje súper complejo. Y miren que Tom sí podría hacer uso de palabras así, pues los fragmentos del iPhone que le han quedado dentro de la cabeza le han proporcionado poderes (como obtener señal, acceder a Google, tomar fotos y videos, WiFi, dar cargas eléctricas y muchas otras cosas más), además de la cirugía y unas dos semanas en coma. Así que Tom de pronto se encuentra con éste montonal de poderes dentro de su cabeza y poco a poco, comienza a experimentar y conocerse más. Mientras tanto, se entera de que su amiga Lucy y el hermano de ella, Ben, fueron agredidos la misma tarde en la que él fue atacado con el iPhone. Por supuesto, Tom no se puede quedar con los brazos cruzados y ahí es donde comienza verdaderamente la historia. Como dice el Tío Ben, en Spiderman: “un gran poder conlleva una gran responsabilidad”. Si tienes poderes y puedes hacer justicia, ¿lo harías o no? Pues Tom dice que él puede hacer justicia por su propia cuenta, castigar a quienes lastimaron a Lucy y también, componer el mundo de una buena vez. Lo que me enamoró de él fue su humanidad, la sencillez y el cariño que siente por su familia y amigos.
Pasando a otros detalles (porque me estoy derritiendo de amor por Tom), no hay muchos personajes en el libro y Tom no profundiza en ellos, lo cual me parece bien, porque en caso contrario, podría ser que la narración resultara más pesada. Las conversaciones son muy sencillas y reales, nada construidas ni forzadas. Algo que no pienso pasar por alto, es que en éste libro el mundo de las pandillas está muy cerca de Tom, por lo que sí hay muchas referencias a acciones violentas que algunos chicos cometen. Yo no había leído un libro sobre pandillas anteriormente, así que no sé si Kevin Brooks lo hace realista o no. Estoy perdida en ése aspecto.
Un detalle super chuli, es que en cada capítulo hay una frase relacionada al contenido, lo que a mí me hizo flipar. Y bueno, aunque no hace una reflexión profunda, lo correcto e incorrecto de las acciones humanas siempre está presente. Atrocidades como las violaciones, los asaltos y demás actos violentos también están dentro de la historia. No hay cosas color de rosa y Tom no es un chico débil que te fastidie. Al final, muestra otra faceta de sí mismo que no pensé que pudiese llegar a tener.
En conclusión: es un libro agradable.
No sabía por qué.
Por alguna razón, la risa me hizo sentir sumamente triste, entonces dejé de reír y comencé a llorar, a sollozar sin control. Las lágrimas salían de mí como un río, como las lágrimas de un niño asustado.
No quería morir.
Pero tampoco quería vivir.
November 15, 2021
if you like this review, i now have website: www.michaelkamakana.com
210724: second reading, eight years on, i decide to up the rating. because it is ya i think i devalued it, but it is really very good. had wanted to read Being by brooks but could not find it. this one is apparently a Netflix movie as well. can see that. quotes from philosophical sources meld with action-adventure plot. dark sense of humour, dark plot, real dialog, this is far more interesting than ya dystopias. once you accept premise the plot unfolds seamlessly and realistically and somewhat self-aware. now i have to watch the movie...
210724: second reading, eight years on, i decide to up the rating. because it is ya i think i devalued it, but it is really very good. had wanted to read Being by brooks but could not find it. this one is apparently a Netflix movie as well. can see that. quotes from philosophical sources meld with action-adventure plot. dark sense of humour, dark plot, real dialog, this is far more interesting than ya dystopias. once you accept premise the plot unfolds seamlessly and realistically and somewhat self-aware. now i have to watch the movie...
April 13, 2012
this book was amazing I wish their was a sequel. I loved everything about this book. Iboy is now one of my favorite science fiction novels. I thought the idea of an iPhone giving Tom special powers was really cool and creative. Also I really enjoyed how Tom changes throughout the story and learns more about himself. IBoy would be an incredible movie
abandoned
June 28, 2012Before I grow up, I want an iPhone and iPod and iPad and turn into an iGirl....
February 16, 2024
i just randomly remembered that we had to read this book in school once, my god this was bad
September 27, 2021
Buying the premise of iBoy requires a vast amount of suspension of disbelief- no, strike that! An insane amount. But if you ignore the fact that the novel should've ended after chapter one, because having an iPhone thrown in your face from several stories' altitude would kill you, and that iPhone parts in your brain would cause more internal bleeding than extrasensory power, you'll find an exciting and emotionally gripping, for Young Adult standards, story.
The story revolves around sixteen year old Tom Harvey who ends up with a broken skull from a falling iPhone. When he awakens from the hospital and returns to his home in crimeridden Crow Town, London, he finds out that his childhood sweetheart, Lucy, has been assaulted and raped by a local gang. However, Tom has means of revenge- the iPhone parts in his brain connects him to the digital world and he has godlike control of electronics. As he wages his one man war against the gangs, he starts to wonder if he really is using the powers for good or if he simply finds too much joy in the chaos he makes.
The novel explores the concept of moral relativism extremely well. We were of course never really going to side with the gangs so we always find Tom's actions sympathetic but as he wonders if lowlife lost boys really deserve being smited by his superpowers, we understand him. It is an interesting story about the absolute corruption of absolute power, and seeing how even fighting for a good cause can turn you into a monster is quite refreshing in the often so black-and-white superhero story.
Another thing I like is this story's very mature portrayal of sexual assault. The character of Lucy is quite boring, and she sadly devolves into your typical damsel-in-distress later, but her reaction to the assault is very emotionally gripping and subtle.
Finally this book gives a gripping portrayal of gang culture and how indifference to the problem only makes it worse...
However, as I read this book for the second time, I realised a bit more flaws, and especially one thing prevents iBoy from being a GREAT book: we don't know the characters from before Tom's accident.
Even though this book makes snarky remarks about superheroes, this is essentially a superhero origin story, and a key ingredient is that the alter ego must also be interesting before taking up his mission. Barry Allen was a police scientist investigating his mother's death before becoming the Flash, Stephen Strange was in the medical business for the money rather than helping people before an accident set him up to be an altruistic sorcerer supreme and Bruce Wayne wanted to kill Joe Chill, his parents' assassin, before realizing that was not the righteous way.
The only thing we learn about Tom Harvey is that he was an ordinary boy without special plans and that he kinda crushed on his childhood friend. Not necessarily a bad guy, but is he exciting? Instead we should've been given more time with him to see his reactions to the gang violence in his city, explore his relationship with his grandmother and Lucy. That way we could also meet Lucy before the rape and see how much things had changed, when Tom returned to the land of the living. That would give the rest of the novel a lot more emotional weight.
But honestly try and pick this one up. Me spending so much time on how it could have been perfect just means that this is a book I have strong feelings for, and despite the outlandish premise it is good fun. And with the new film adaption ready on Netflix, maybe now is as good as time as any to read it!
The story revolves around sixteen year old Tom Harvey who ends up with a broken skull from a falling iPhone. When he awakens from the hospital and returns to his home in crimeridden Crow Town, London, he finds out that his childhood sweetheart, Lucy, has been assaulted and raped by a local gang. However, Tom has means of revenge- the iPhone parts in his brain connects him to the digital world and he has godlike control of electronics. As he wages his one man war against the gangs, he starts to wonder if he really is using the powers for good or if he simply finds too much joy in the chaos he makes.
The novel explores the concept of moral relativism extremely well. We were of course never really going to side with the gangs so we always find Tom's actions sympathetic but as he wonders if lowlife lost boys really deserve being smited by his superpowers, we understand him. It is an interesting story about the absolute corruption of absolute power, and seeing how even fighting for a good cause can turn you into a monster is quite refreshing in the often so black-and-white superhero story.
Another thing I like is this story's very mature portrayal of sexual assault. The character of Lucy is quite boring, and she sadly devolves into your typical damsel-in-distress later, but her reaction to the assault is very emotionally gripping and subtle.
Finally this book gives a gripping portrayal of gang culture and how indifference to the problem only makes it worse...
However, as I read this book for the second time, I realised a bit more flaws, and especially one thing prevents iBoy from being a GREAT book: we don't know the characters from before Tom's accident.
Even though this book makes snarky remarks about superheroes, this is essentially a superhero origin story, and a key ingredient is that the alter ego must also be interesting before taking up his mission. Barry Allen was a police scientist investigating his mother's death before becoming the Flash, Stephen Strange was in the medical business for the money rather than helping people before an accident set him up to be an altruistic sorcerer supreme and Bruce Wayne wanted to kill Joe Chill, his parents' assassin, before realizing that was not the righteous way.
The only thing we learn about Tom Harvey is that he was an ordinary boy without special plans and that he kinda crushed on his childhood friend. Not necessarily a bad guy, but is he exciting? Instead we should've been given more time with him to see his reactions to the gang violence in his city, explore his relationship with his grandmother and Lucy. That way we could also meet Lucy before the rape and see how much things had changed, when Tom returned to the land of the living. That would give the rest of the novel a lot more emotional weight.
But honestly try and pick this one up. Me spending so much time on how it could have been perfect just means that this is a book I have strong feelings for, and despite the outlandish premise it is good fun. And with the new film adaption ready on Netflix, maybe now is as good as time as any to read it!
April 2, 2018
Recensione pubblicata su Cronache di Betelgeuse
iBoy è un romanzo fantastico alquanto strano. Il giovane Tom si ritrova a diventare per caso una specie di supereroe, in grado di sfruttare internet e i cellulari come gli pare e piace. Con citazioni su Spiderman e momenti di lotta stile Matrix, ci troviamo di fronte a un romanzo che affronta il tema del bullismo e del degrado nella periferia di Londra.
Tom è un ragazzo alquanto semplice, che non aspira a diventare chissà chi ma vorrebbe semplicemente conquistare la ragazza di cui è innamorato. Purtroppo però avrà la sfortuna di essere coinvolto in una serie di disgrazie che gli cambieranno la vita. Le sue emozioni sono sempre estreme, soprattutto quando è arrabbiato. Non si lascia però travolgere ma rimane lucido e in grado di manipolare a suo vantaggio la furia che ha dentro di sé.
L’intero romanzo è ambientato in una zona periferica di Londra, dove si avvertono il disagio e l’abbandono. I residenti devono convivere con delle vere e proprie gang di ragazzini, che terrorizzano tutti. Nessuno si può permettere di denunciare i crimini, se non vuole subire tremende ripercussioni. Tom ha sempre accettato questo clima, tenendo la testa bassa senza lamentarsi. Stavolta invece può provare a fare la differenza.
Gli adulti sembrano rassegnati tanto quanto i ragazzi. Anche la nonna di Tom, che fa tanto la “tosta” con i poliziotti, in alcuni punti del romanzo cerca quasi di frenare il nipote, per non farlo scontrare con le gang. Appena qualcuno si oppone al sistema è additato come pazzo o visionario.
La parte fantastica del libro è alquanto strana. I poteri di Tom compaiono quasi subito all’inizio del libro, con una spiegazione che fa acqua da tutte le parti. Il motivo dietro le sue capacità non è importante, quanto il suo utilizzo. E avremo modo di apprezzare diverse sfumature del suo dono in più di un’occasione.
iBoy è un romanzo fantastico alquanto strano. Il giovane Tom si ritrova a diventare per caso una specie di supereroe, in grado di sfruttare internet e i cellulari come gli pare e piace. Con citazioni su Spiderman e momenti di lotta stile Matrix, ci troviamo di fronte a un romanzo che affronta il tema del bullismo e del degrado nella periferia di Londra.
Tom è un ragazzo alquanto semplice, che non aspira a diventare chissà chi ma vorrebbe semplicemente conquistare la ragazza di cui è innamorato. Purtroppo però avrà la sfortuna di essere coinvolto in una serie di disgrazie che gli cambieranno la vita. Le sue emozioni sono sempre estreme, soprattutto quando è arrabbiato. Non si lascia però travolgere ma rimane lucido e in grado di manipolare a suo vantaggio la furia che ha dentro di sé.
L’intero romanzo è ambientato in una zona periferica di Londra, dove si avvertono il disagio e l’abbandono. I residenti devono convivere con delle vere e proprie gang di ragazzini, che terrorizzano tutti. Nessuno si può permettere di denunciare i crimini, se non vuole subire tremende ripercussioni. Tom ha sempre accettato questo clima, tenendo la testa bassa senza lamentarsi. Stavolta invece può provare a fare la differenza.
Gli adulti sembrano rassegnati tanto quanto i ragazzi. Anche la nonna di Tom, che fa tanto la “tosta” con i poliziotti, in alcuni punti del romanzo cerca quasi di frenare il nipote, per non farlo scontrare con le gang. Appena qualcuno si oppone al sistema è additato come pazzo o visionario.
La parte fantastica del libro è alquanto strana. I poteri di Tom compaiono quasi subito all’inizio del libro, con una spiegazione che fa acqua da tutte le parti. Il motivo dietro le sue capacità non è importante, quanto il suo utilizzo. E avremo modo di apprezzare diverse sfumature del suo dono in più di un’occasione.
August 6, 2010
I had no preconceptions about this book not knowing the author or much about the plot. I knew it was a teen fiction book and given my recent Children Literature course, I was interested to see how this book fit into the tradition of children's literature.
My initial reaction was that this pulled no punches. The 'attack' mentioned in the blurb on the back cover is in fact a gang rape of a 16 year old girl by a council flat high-rise gang. The book also includes violence, thoughts of suicide and swearing and as a mum-to-be, I immediately framed myself as a parent and wondered if I would want my child to read this.
The conclusion I came to was a resounding 'yes'. Whilst it is true that the book is filled with gritty realism, there is also much internal and external debate about morality, the meaning of right and wrong and debating the consequences of violence.
The protagonist is Tom, a boy who is struck my a falling iPhone who wakes from the resulting coma to find his brain has all the abilities of an iPhone and more powers besides. Brooks works hard at rationalising the technicalities of how thus could be but really, do we care? I was willing to take the leap of faith needed in any superhero story. Because this is what this boiled down to; a superhero kid takes revenge on the sick thugs who ruined the life of the girl he loves.
Whilst there were some interesting characters such as the foul-mouthed cigar smoking grandmother of Tom who wrote romance novels to support them both, and Tom himself who was fully developed, the 'baddies' were pretty one-dimensional. This is a small criticism though.
All in all, I enjoyed the book thoroughly and would read more Brooks again.
My initial reaction was that this pulled no punches. The 'attack' mentioned in the blurb on the back cover is in fact a gang rape of a 16 year old girl by a council flat high-rise gang. The book also includes violence, thoughts of suicide and swearing and as a mum-to-be, I immediately framed myself as a parent and wondered if I would want my child to read this.
The conclusion I came to was a resounding 'yes'. Whilst it is true that the book is filled with gritty realism, there is also much internal and external debate about morality, the meaning of right and wrong and debating the consequences of violence.
The protagonist is Tom, a boy who is struck my a falling iPhone who wakes from the resulting coma to find his brain has all the abilities of an iPhone and more powers besides. Brooks works hard at rationalising the technicalities of how thus could be but really, do we care? I was willing to take the leap of faith needed in any superhero story. Because this is what this boiled down to; a superhero kid takes revenge on the sick thugs who ruined the life of the girl he loves.
Whilst there were some interesting characters such as the foul-mouthed cigar smoking grandmother of Tom who wrote romance novels to support them both, and Tom himself who was fully developed, the 'baddies' were pretty one-dimensional. This is a small criticism though.
All in all, I enjoyed the book thoroughly and would read more Brooks again.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 21, 2011
Imagine getting hit in the head one day by an Iphone of all things and it turning out to be the weirdest day of your life and the last day that you will ever be normal to speak of .
Tom lives in a dodgy part of London known as Crow Town with his nan Grams as his mum was killed in an accident when Tom was younger. In the flats lives his best friend Luce and her brother Ben. One day Luce asks Tom to meet her , next thing he knows is he's been hit in the head and wakes up in hospital. He discovers that he was hit in the head with an Iphone and that Luce was gang-raped and her brother Ben was left half-beaten to death. Over the next course of the time , Tom lays in a coma and then when he wakes up he discovers he's intelligent and has superpowers as parts of the Iphone are still fragmented in his brain. He can control anything electronically and soon finds himself a bit of a superhero like Superman and he calls himself iBoy. Can he get revenge on those who hurt Luce ? What will happen when he discovers that the mysterious leader of the Crow Town flats gang has a connection to his mother's death ? Will Tom put his new powers to good use and will he realise that sometimes trying to do the right thing is alot harder than it should be.
A great novel that was fast-paced and had a dystopian/ sci-fi with a touch of supernatural feel to it.
Tom lives in a dodgy part of London known as Crow Town with his nan Grams as his mum was killed in an accident when Tom was younger. In the flats lives his best friend Luce and her brother Ben. One day Luce asks Tom to meet her , next thing he knows is he's been hit in the head and wakes up in hospital. He discovers that he was hit in the head with an Iphone and that Luce was gang-raped and her brother Ben was left half-beaten to death. Over the next course of the time , Tom lays in a coma and then when he wakes up he discovers he's intelligent and has superpowers as parts of the Iphone are still fragmented in his brain. He can control anything electronically and soon finds himself a bit of a superhero like Superman and he calls himself iBoy. Can he get revenge on those who hurt Luce ? What will happen when he discovers that the mysterious leader of the Crow Town flats gang has a connection to his mother's death ? Will Tom put his new powers to good use and will he realise that sometimes trying to do the right thing is alot harder than it should be.
A great novel that was fast-paced and had a dystopian/ sci-fi with a touch of supernatural feel to it.
December 28, 2020
U need to leave logic behind to actually enjoy what's happening inthe book. If u don't u'll keep questioning the plausibility of the events.
August 2, 2013
Shouldn't have read this.
There's this guy (What's-his-name) who gets banged up in the head by an iPhone and becomes iBoy (I bet you figured it by yourself already huh genius?). I don't feel like talking about it anymore.
Thank god that this one was written way back so I had to endure the basics (Yeah like total technological things and features copied from the apple website) upto 3GS only, just imagine if it was published now.
*Shudders*
There's this guy (What's-his-name) who gets banged up in the head by an iPhone and becomes iBoy (I bet you figured it by yourself already huh genius?). I don't feel like talking about it anymore.
Thank god that this one was written way back so I had to endure the basics (Yeah like total technological things and features copied from the apple website) upto 3GS only, just imagine if it was published now.
*Shudders*
March 26, 2017
At first I liked it but then as I continued my dislike for this book grew. The idea of a boy who get superpowers because of an iPhone in his heads seems ridiculous. Maybe if I had been a little younger I might have enjoyed the book. I did like the gang related theme.
But the drugs and rapist in combination with the guy who gets an iPhone in his head and survives is silly.
But the drugs and rapist in combination with the guy who gets an iPhone in his head and survives is silly.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 21, 2017
Probabilmente avete sentito parlare del film di Netflix "iBoy", uscito nel 2016 e piuttosto chiacchierato nella rete. C'è chi lo ha amato e chi l'ha odiato, ma una cosa è certa: il libro da cui è stato tratto è un vero pugno nello stomaco.
Recensione completa su Atelier dei Libri
Recensione completa su Atelier dei Libri
March 18, 2015
OH I used to be in love with this book. Then I grew up (such a shame) and my tastes have changed and the flaws in this book stick out a lot clearer than they used to.
Still so good though. Kevin Brooks knows how to write a good story.
Still so good though. Kevin Brooks knows how to write a good story.
Want to read
November 9, 2011I would never, ever read this. Because honestly, I think the premise is ridiculous.
Except Kevin Brooks wrote it. And I love him. So, I at least have to give it a chance.
Except Kevin Brooks wrote it. And I love him. So, I at least have to give it a chance.
May 25, 2024
What a fucking dumpster fire of a novel. I had trouble finding a physical copy of it and I think that might be a good thing.
I am disappointed to say that I preferred the movie, which is saying something, because the movie was dreadful.
In summary, Tom's friend Lucy gets SAd, Tom runs around the city doing 'generic vigilante things' for 200 pages, then gets kidnapped within the last 40 in one of the most anticlimactic endings I have ever read. It's a laughable concept but could have been interesting if it didn't take itself so seriously. Instead it comes out cringe with a massive basket of badly dealt with sensitive themes. I would not recommend anyone reads this.
It's full of really insufferable language, such as putting the prefix 'i' in front of everything, shit tons of really uninteresting info dumping, and a really directionless and surface level plot that is just not engaging at all. Arguably that's not a problem though because the novel doesn't try and get you to interact with the plot anyway. Aside from the beginning and the end, I cannot remember a single relevant thing that happens.
Brooks struggles to build absolutely any tension and has this really astonishing ability to just suck all the atmosphere of scenes that are supposed to be dangerous. There are absolutely no consequences at all ever and it's rare that Tom at all struggles and therefore it's hard to care about any of it.
We also need to bring up the dreadful handling of themes of SA (and that one trafficking scene that is never brought up again). Rarely do we see Lucy's road to recovery - instead we get loads of dialogue about how much it hurts *Tom*, fueling his white male saviour complex and his revenge fantasy. It is a plot device. It is nothing more. The amount of times when discussion goes from talking about how awful her situation is, to how Tom has feelings with her (and this is what is implied to encourage his actions), within about half a page is frankly disgusting.
Tom is self centered and has serious issues with justifying his own actions. This would be fine if unreliable narration was the intention but I do not get the sense this is the case. Please leave writing about themes like this, and centering plots around dealing with them, to authors that are going to properly discuss them. iBoy is an insult to anyone that has actually been through it and Brooks clearly shows that he has absolutely no concept of how much they affect a person's psyche, ignoring the character and her gripes until he wants to use this as a plot point towards *Tom's* journey.
All the characters are fairly dreadful, in fact. I don't like Tom and his incel energy, Lucy might be one of the most unrealistic women I've ever read, and Ellman was so nonexistent that it was hard to consider him a threat on any level. I enjoyed the headfuck near the end with the discussion on what happened to Tom's mother, I'll give Brooks that, but it was another example of female characters and their struggles - now introducing drugs and prostitution, which have in part been mentioned but not treated as seriously as they deserved - being used to fund male character arcs!! I love this book!!
Note how I say arcs and not growth. There is zero character growth in this book. Because nobody has conflicting circumstances. Even Ellman and Tom kind of get along in their general attitude towards each other (and it's character dynamics that develop characters and relationships more than it is soulless conflicts between [insert generic gang name here] and iBoy). This is at least one thing I will give to the movie. Lucy didn't like iBoy. Did it make a difference to Tom and his actions, no, but she at least appeared to kind of have a soul in that moment. She should never have gotten into any kind of relationship with Tom though. Their dialogue was soulless and so was their relationship. Tom alone had any kind of depth to him, and as mentioned, it stank of incel and 'oh, I just feel bad for these little girls getting trafficked because I'm a *hopeless romantic*', which, what? I am not over that scene. It was horrific.
There's also some weird allusions that leave a bad taste in my mouth throughout. Placing making up a rumour about someone being 'queer' on the same level as planting unauthorised firearms on someone, and likening Tom's relationship with his persona of iBoy to a dissociative disorder.
I hope Kevin has grown as a writer since he wrote this. Every copy of it should be burned and nobody should ever read it ever.
Thank you for reading.
I am disappointed to say that I preferred the movie, which is saying something, because the movie was dreadful.
In summary, Tom's friend Lucy gets SAd, Tom runs around the city doing 'generic vigilante things' for 200 pages, then gets kidnapped within the last 40 in one of the most anticlimactic endings I have ever read. It's a laughable concept but could have been interesting if it didn't take itself so seriously. Instead it comes out cringe with a massive basket of badly dealt with sensitive themes. I would not recommend anyone reads this.
It's full of really insufferable language, such as putting the prefix 'i' in front of everything, shit tons of really uninteresting info dumping, and a really directionless and surface level plot that is just not engaging at all. Arguably that's not a problem though because the novel doesn't try and get you to interact with the plot anyway. Aside from the beginning and the end, I cannot remember a single relevant thing that happens.
Brooks struggles to build absolutely any tension and has this really astonishing ability to just suck all the atmosphere of scenes that are supposed to be dangerous. There are absolutely no consequences at all ever and it's rare that Tom at all struggles and therefore it's hard to care about any of it.
We also need to bring up the dreadful handling of themes of SA (and that one trafficking scene that is never brought up again). Rarely do we see Lucy's road to recovery - instead we get loads of dialogue about how much it hurts *Tom*, fueling his white male saviour complex and his revenge fantasy. It is a plot device. It is nothing more. The amount of times when discussion goes from talking about how awful her situation is, to how Tom has feelings with her (and this is what is implied to encourage his actions), within about half a page is frankly disgusting.
Tom is self centered and has serious issues with justifying his own actions. This would be fine if unreliable narration was the intention but I do not get the sense this is the case. Please leave writing about themes like this, and centering plots around dealing with them, to authors that are going to properly discuss them. iBoy is an insult to anyone that has actually been through it and Brooks clearly shows that he has absolutely no concept of how much they affect a person's psyche, ignoring the character and her gripes until he wants to use this as a plot point towards *Tom's* journey.
All the characters are fairly dreadful, in fact. I don't like Tom and his incel energy, Lucy might be one of the most unrealistic women I've ever read, and Ellman was so nonexistent that it was hard to consider him a threat on any level. I enjoyed the headfuck near the end with the discussion on what happened to Tom's mother, I'll give Brooks that, but it was another example of female characters and their struggles - now introducing drugs and prostitution, which have in part been mentioned but not treated as seriously as they deserved - being used to fund male character arcs!! I love this book!!
Note how I say arcs and not growth. There is zero character growth in this book. Because nobody has conflicting circumstances. Even Ellman and Tom kind of get along in their general attitude towards each other (and it's character dynamics that develop characters and relationships more than it is soulless conflicts between [insert generic gang name here] and iBoy). This is at least one thing I will give to the movie. Lucy didn't like iBoy. Did it make a difference to Tom and his actions, no, but she at least appeared to kind of have a soul in that moment. She should never have gotten into any kind of relationship with Tom though. Their dialogue was soulless and so was their relationship. Tom alone had any kind of depth to him, and as mentioned, it stank of incel and 'oh, I just feel bad for these little girls getting trafficked because I'm a *hopeless romantic*', which, what? I am not over that scene. It was horrific.
There's also some weird allusions that leave a bad taste in my mouth throughout. Placing making up a rumour about someone being 'queer' on the same level as planting unauthorised firearms on someone, and likening Tom's relationship with his persona of iBoy to a dissociative disorder.
I hope Kevin has grown as a writer since he wrote this. Every copy of it should be burned and nobody should ever read it ever.
Thank you for reading.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 13, 2025
The basic story is that a teenage boy is attacked and ends up with bits of an iPhone embedded in his brain which gives him superpowers. Radioactive spiders are obviously so passé. He uses his new-found powers to get revenge on the gangs responsible for an attack on his friend, Lucy. I think it's more of a YA book but it's also a little on the dark side. It's set in South London and doesn't shy away from the reality of life there, the drugs, gangs, violence, and poverty that people experience so it's very gritty. According to some of the reviews on Goodreads, there's too much swearing which has not been very well received. It's really not as bad as they're making out though, I think there was maybe a dozen instances of fuck being used in the entire book, certainly not numerous times on every page as has been claimed.
I found the book to be an easy read but not really all that good. The powers that Tom gets from the phone get more and more OTT, most of which aren't even logical. A protective forcefield on his skin that he can turn on and off? How does that come from a phone? And it's an iPhone at that, not a Nokia 3310. The ending was disappointing as well. Tom decides that he's going to do the right thing and he's just about to do that when he is distracted by Lucy and so he never actually does it. I thought that could have given it an interesting level, to see how that is handled, but perhaps it would have been far too interesting for the book. Still, it's really not a book I would recommend reading, mainly because it's so ludicrous.
I found the book to be an easy read but not really all that good. The powers that Tom gets from the phone get more and more OTT, most of which aren't even logical. A protective forcefield on his skin that he can turn on and off? How does that come from a phone? And it's an iPhone at that, not a Nokia 3310. The ending was disappointing as well. Tom decides that he's going to do the right thing and he's just about to do that when he is distracted by Lucy and so he never actually does it. I thought that could have given it an interesting level, to see how that is handled, but perhaps it would have been far too interesting for the book. Still, it's really not a book I would recommend reading, mainly because it's so ludicrous.
Read
October 6, 2022Ik vind dit boek eigenlijk wel heel interessant. Het is een science-fiction genre, maar je hebt gebeurtenissen in het boek die realistisch zijn. Eerst even een korte samenvatting. Tom leeft in de meer gevaarlijke plek van London. Hij leeft rond Compton House en Crow Lane waar hij in een appartement woont met zijn oma. De 16-jarige Tom krijgt een Iphone op zijn hoofd gevallen. Daardoor krijgt hij superkrachten. Hij probeert met die superkrachten probeert hij de lokale gang die zijn beste vriendin lucy hebben verkracht, terug te pakken. Later worden zijn oma en Lucy ontvoerd door de leider van de gang. Hij gaat ze redden en verslaat de gang. dit is heel kort samengevat, dus als je meer wilt weten, zou ik het boek lezen. Ik vind het concept van de superkrachten wel een gaaf iets. De superkrachten in het boek vind meer realistischer klinken dan in Avengers of Star Wars. Het kan iedereen overkomen. Het boek is soms ook heel erg gedetailleerd. Bijvoorbeeld wanneer hij praat over Lucy haar kamer of het beschrijven van het hoofdgebouw van de school. Het boek is gemaakt voor jongeren of ouder, want Tom gebruikt soms wel scheldwoorden zoals Fuck. Er word ook heel vaak verteld hoe het karakter voelt, denkt en ziet. Ik vind het zelf wel minder spannend en meer rustig, want het is soms zo gedetailleerd dat het langdradig wordt. Bv. Hij begint alle verkrachters hun namen te zeggen, wat ze dragen, hoe ze eruit zien etc. Het belangrijkste beeld dat bij mij is bijgebleven is wanneer hij beschrijft hoe een elektrische schok met zijn vinger stuurt naar één van de gangleden. Ik maakte daar onmiddellijk een beeld bij. Het is echt een aanrader.
February 3, 2018
once again this is a really exciting ya book. Terry brooks is a great writer and beside from the superhero action it is a believable social study and lovestory.
ich kann dieses Buch nur empfehlen. ich habe es gelesen, weil der Film mir gut gefallen hat. wie der Autor es schafft eine glaubwürdige Superheldengeschichte mit einer Gesellschaftskritik, Erwachsenwerden und Liebesgeschichte zu verbinden erscheint mir genial. ich denke auch Wenigleser kommen hier zum Zuge, weil es sehr actionreich zugeht und leider sehr kurz ist.
natürlich hat mich der Computerthriller Anteil auch sehr eingenommen.
mein Fazit: Buch und Film lohnen sich gleichermaßen und werden all-time favourites
ich kann dieses Buch nur empfehlen. ich habe es gelesen, weil der Film mir gut gefallen hat. wie der Autor es schafft eine glaubwürdige Superheldengeschichte mit einer Gesellschaftskritik, Erwachsenwerden und Liebesgeschichte zu verbinden erscheint mir genial. ich denke auch Wenigleser kommen hier zum Zuge, weil es sehr actionreich zugeht und leider sehr kurz ist.
natürlich hat mich der Computerthriller Anteil auch sehr eingenommen.
mein Fazit: Buch und Film lohnen sich gleichermaßen und werden all-time favourites
July 27, 2017
Fazit:
Fantastisches Buch mit einer genialen Idee, die wirklich viel Spaß gemacht hat beim Lesen. Die Ausarbeitung ist gut gewesen und es war auch gut nachvollziehbar.
Und auf Netflix gibt es dazu auch den Film, in dem Arya Stark aus Game of Thrones mitspielt. Diesen werde ich mir in den nächsten Tagen anschauen und bin sehr gespannt dadrauf.
Bewertung:
Nachdem Tom von einem Handy am Kopf getroffen wird, ändert sich sein Leben schlagartig. Er bekommt auf einmal komische Dinge mit. Er weiß z. B. Sachen, die er vorher nicht wusste und er spürt Dinge. Nicht so wie ihr jetzt denkt, sondern wie ein Computer, der alles in Zahlen abbildet. Es ist greifbar und wieder auch nicht.
Tom wird dadurch eine Art Genie und hat auch noch andere Kräfte. Das ist wirklich cool, aber eben auch beängstigend. Was kann man damit anstellen und was ist richtig und was ist falsch? Tom versucht damit klarzukommen und findet dabei einen eigenen Weg.
Am Anfang jedes Kapitels werden jedes Mal Dinge erklärt, die mit dem Kapitel zu tun haben. Zum Beispiel das Dualsystem oder auch Binärsystem. Erst denke ich nicht daran, dass es was mit dem Buch zu tun hat, aber das stimmt so nicht. Es erklärt schon einiges.
Diese Absätze lehren mich auch so einiges und das finde ich wirklich schön. Es ist einfach wirklich interessant.
Die Story ist wirklich gut nachvollziehbar und auch nicht zu abgehoben für mich. Manchmal denkt man ja, dass ist einfach zu viel, aber das ist hier nicht so. Für mich war die Handlung gut nachvollziehbar und eben nicht zu abgehoben.
Wer Lust auf dieses Buch bekommen hat, sollte sich danach nicht den Film entgehen lassen, den es auf Netflix zu sehen gibt.
Charaktere
Tom scheint eher der Einzelgänger zu sein. Er ist eher ruhig und liebt seine Oma sehr. Er ist ein netter Kerl und versucht zu helfen. Er mag Lucy, das auch ein bisschen mehr. Er hat wohl nicht viele Freunde, da er eher zurückgezogen lebt. Er versucht sich aus den Gangsachen rauszuhalten, was ihm wohl ganz gut gelingt. Nachdem er sein Supergehirn erhält, ändert er sein Auftreten etwas, aber er ist immer noch er selbst. Niemals abgehoben oder von oben herab und er versucht das Richtige zu tun.
Toms Gram ist einfach göttlich. Sie weiß, wie man Dinge bekommt. Sie ist manipulativ und das ganz offensichtlich. Sie kümmert sich auch schon lange sehr gut um Tom und sie scheint dabei ein echtes Großmutterherz zu besitzen. So eine Großmutter wünscht man sich einfach. Sie ist aber gegenüber Tom trotzdem nicht locker, sondern kann sich auch ihm gegenüber auch durchsetzen.
Lucy ist ein normales Mädchen, welches etwas erlebt, was keiner erleben soll. Danach ist sie verändert, was verständlich ist, aber durch Tom wird sie mehr sie selber. Sie sieht wohl auch ganz gut aus und ist aber trotzdem nicht abgehoben und immer nett.
Und dann gibt es dort eben noch die ganzen Gangtypen. Die sind sehr verschieden. Es ist eben fast der einzige Ausweg und ich denke, viele härten auch einfach ab und schotten sich selber ab. Da gibt es eben die, die Spaß an Gewalt und Macht haben oder die, die Geld oder eben mehr Geld benötigen. Viele werden durch die Umgebung auch einfach mit reingezogen und wenn diese dann aussteigen wollen, geht es nicht gut für diese aus.
Fantastisches Buch mit einer genialen Idee, die wirklich viel Spaß gemacht hat beim Lesen. Die Ausarbeitung ist gut gewesen und es war auch gut nachvollziehbar.
Und auf Netflix gibt es dazu auch den Film, in dem Arya Stark aus Game of Thrones mitspielt. Diesen werde ich mir in den nächsten Tagen anschauen und bin sehr gespannt dadrauf.
Bewertung:
Nachdem Tom von einem Handy am Kopf getroffen wird, ändert sich sein Leben schlagartig. Er bekommt auf einmal komische Dinge mit. Er weiß z. B. Sachen, die er vorher nicht wusste und er spürt Dinge. Nicht so wie ihr jetzt denkt, sondern wie ein Computer, der alles in Zahlen abbildet. Es ist greifbar und wieder auch nicht.
Tom wird dadurch eine Art Genie und hat auch noch andere Kräfte. Das ist wirklich cool, aber eben auch beängstigend. Was kann man damit anstellen und was ist richtig und was ist falsch? Tom versucht damit klarzukommen und findet dabei einen eigenen Weg.
Am Anfang jedes Kapitels werden jedes Mal Dinge erklärt, die mit dem Kapitel zu tun haben. Zum Beispiel das Dualsystem oder auch Binärsystem. Erst denke ich nicht daran, dass es was mit dem Buch zu tun hat, aber das stimmt so nicht. Es erklärt schon einiges.
Diese Absätze lehren mich auch so einiges und das finde ich wirklich schön. Es ist einfach wirklich interessant.
Die Story ist wirklich gut nachvollziehbar und auch nicht zu abgehoben für mich. Manchmal denkt man ja, dass ist einfach zu viel, aber das ist hier nicht so. Für mich war die Handlung gut nachvollziehbar und eben nicht zu abgehoben.
Wer Lust auf dieses Buch bekommen hat, sollte sich danach nicht den Film entgehen lassen, den es auf Netflix zu sehen gibt.
Charaktere
Tom scheint eher der Einzelgänger zu sein. Er ist eher ruhig und liebt seine Oma sehr. Er ist ein netter Kerl und versucht zu helfen. Er mag Lucy, das auch ein bisschen mehr. Er hat wohl nicht viele Freunde, da er eher zurückgezogen lebt. Er versucht sich aus den Gangsachen rauszuhalten, was ihm wohl ganz gut gelingt. Nachdem er sein Supergehirn erhält, ändert er sein Auftreten etwas, aber er ist immer noch er selbst. Niemals abgehoben oder von oben herab und er versucht das Richtige zu tun.
Toms Gram ist einfach göttlich. Sie weiß, wie man Dinge bekommt. Sie ist manipulativ und das ganz offensichtlich. Sie kümmert sich auch schon lange sehr gut um Tom und sie scheint dabei ein echtes Großmutterherz zu besitzen. So eine Großmutter wünscht man sich einfach. Sie ist aber gegenüber Tom trotzdem nicht locker, sondern kann sich auch ihm gegenüber auch durchsetzen.
Lucy ist ein normales Mädchen, welches etwas erlebt, was keiner erleben soll. Danach ist sie verändert, was verständlich ist, aber durch Tom wird sie mehr sie selber. Sie sieht wohl auch ganz gut aus und ist aber trotzdem nicht abgehoben und immer nett.
Und dann gibt es dort eben noch die ganzen Gangtypen. Die sind sehr verschieden. Es ist eben fast der einzige Ausweg und ich denke, viele härten auch einfach ab und schotten sich selber ab. Da gibt es eben die, die Spaß an Gewalt und Macht haben oder die, die Geld oder eben mehr Geld benötigen. Viele werden durch die Umgebung auch einfach mit reingezogen und wenn diese dann aussteigen wollen, geht es nicht gut für diese aus.
February 24, 2021
This book was published in 2010. Today is 2021. Nearly 12 years of middle schoolers have read this book around the world. These kids have been indoctrinated with biotechnology, artificial intelligence, computer chip implants, and gang violence. Looking at today's world cultures, the impact is evident. People give in to convenience with zero regard to the entity which controls the power. Serious food for thought: Who are you giving your freedom to?
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