Review by JHuschle519 -- World, Incorporated by Tom Gariffo

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JHuschle519
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Review by JHuschle519 -- World, Incorporated by Tom Gariffo

Post by JHuschle519 »

[Following is a volunteer review of "World, Incorporated" by Tom Gariffo.]
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3 out of 4 stars
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World Incorporated by Tom Gariffo gives readers a glimpse of the future, and for all its shimmer and shine, it's not pretty. In fact, it's downright terrifying to think that the world we live in today could one day become Tom Gariffo's modern dystopia. All it would take is a few more technological advancements, and the right push.

In World Incorporated, Agent Sliver is an unregistered asset working for World, Inc., one of the five supercorporations that control the world. His job is quite simple. When someone becomes a threat to the corporation's dominance, Agent Sliver is dispatched to eliminate the threat. Sometimes, all it takes is a forceful conversation, while other times the target requires a more permanent solution. He is the product of a specialized training program, and as such feels no remorse for his actions. He doesn't feel anything at all. Nothing that is, until he meets Kelly during one of his missions. What happens when a man like Agent Sliver suddenly remembers what it is like to feel? And what would happen if World Inc. ever found out?

The thing I loved most about this book was the future technology. With a few exceptions, it is easy to imagine today's technology evolving over the next 40 years to become exactly what Tom Gariffo describes. For example, there are already debates raging over the use of consumer data collection tools and facial recognition technology. World Inc. uses both, albeit more advanced versions of them, to keep the people in line.

I was also a huge fan of the character development in this book. The author does a fantastic job showing subtle, but meaningful changes, to Agent Sliver’s personality throughout the story. The same can be said of almost every character that Agent Sliver surrounds himself with. It was so refreshing to read a book where none of the characters came across as one-dimensional.

There were a few chapters that were a bit slow for my taste, but that is more so due to my preferences, and not due to any fault on the author’s part. Also, this only occurs in two of the chapters, so it did not lessen my overall enjoyment of the book. Still, I feel it’s worth mentioning, since it may matter to some readers.

There was only one real problem I had with World Incorporated. There were a lot of grammar errors. To be more specific, there were a lot of the same error made when writing dialogue; either there was no comma preceding the dialogue tag, or the incorrect punctuation was used at the end of the dialogue. This was very distracting at times.

Overall, I rate World Incorporated 3 out of 4 stars. The plot and the characters were fantastic, and I desperately wanted to give this book a 4-star rating, but I had to remove one star due to the grammatical issues. They caused too much of a distraction for me. With another round of editing, it would probably be perfect. I firmly believe that any lover of the science fiction genre will enjoy it.

******
World, Incorporated
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Sarah Starling
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Post by Sarah Starling »

I really liked your book summary, very clean and easy to understand - I'll have to keep your style in mind for my next review!

Overall, I agree with your review, but I really thought the characters were one-dimensional. When a character died (I'll leave them nameless to avoid spoilers to anyone who hasn't read the book), I was relieved because now I didn't have to read anymore of the dialogue they had with everyone else.

The commas surrounding the quotations were atrocious. I agree that they strongly detracted from the entire book.
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Post by FictionLover »

I was also a huge fan of the character development in this book. The author does a fantastic job showing subtle, but meaningful changes, to Agent Sliver’s personality throughout the story. The same can be said of almost every character that Agent Sliver surrounds himself with. It was so refreshing to read a book where none of the characters came across as one-dimensional.

There was only one real problem I had with World Incorporated. There were a lot of grammar errors. To be more specific, there were a lot of the same error made when writing dialogue; either there was no comma preceding the dialogue tag, or the incorrect punctuation was used at the end of the dialogue. This was very distracting at times.
I have this on my list to review. I am glad you liked it, now I want to read it even more.

I'm especially glad to hear the characters are well developed. I think that many people, including reviewers here, don't care about that. And my last two reads have featured pretty superficial characters.

I also noticed a book that didn't have any punctuation before a closed quote. I thought that was weird.

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Post by Fu Zaila »

I'm glad you decided to point out the slow pace in this book at a few places. I'm impatient with my books so that was a crucial point. Thank you for your review!
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Post by jcoad »

I appreciate you only calling the newspaper articles "slow". To me they were excruciating to try and read. They knocked this book down to at least 2 stars for me. The technology was cool but I couldn't figure out how "real" people lived so felt the technology didn't make sense at times with other portions of the book. This wasn't my cup of tea but I appreciate your review.
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Post by amsula_2018 »

Based from your review, the story seems to be similar with the movie agent 47. Definitely not the book for me because I am more interested to the plot than the action scenes or technology. Thanks for your informative review.
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Post by FictionLover »

jcoad wrote: 15 Aug 2018, 18:44 I appreciate you only calling the newspaper articles "slow". To me they were excruciating to try and read. They knocked this book down to at least 2 stars for me. The technology was cool but I couldn't figure out how "real" people lived so felt the technology didn't make sense at times with other portions of the book. This wasn't my cup of tea but I appreciate your review.
I agree with you about the newspaper articles! Ironic, that in a book filled with futuristic technology Gariffo couldn't figure out a more interactive way to 'educate' Kelly - and via her, the reader. She might has well have been sitting at a library reading through microfische!

I thought many of his action scenes were much too wordy and found a lot of it excruciating.

:tiphat: :tiphat:
"I love reading another reader’s list of favorites. Even when I find I do not share their tastes or predilections, I am provoked to compare, contrast, and contradict. It is a most healthy exercise, and one altogether fruitful." T.S. Eliot
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JHuschle519
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Post by JHuschle519 »

amsula_2018 wrote: 16 Aug 2018, 03:33 Based from your review, the story seems to be similar with the movie agent 47. Definitely not the book for me because I am more interested to the plot than the action scenes or technology. Thanks for your informative review.
I've never seen Agent 47, but I've seen it mentioned a few times on the forums. I guess I'll have to check it out. Thanks for commenting!
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JHuschle519
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Post by JHuschle519 »

StarkidStarling wrote: 06 Aug 2018, 09:14 I really liked your book summary, very clean and easy to understand - I'll have to keep your style in mind for my next review!

Overall, I agree with your review, but I really thought the characters were one-dimensional. When a character died (I'll leave them nameless to avoid spoilers to anyone who hasn't read the book), I was relieved because now I didn't have to read anymore of the dialogue they had with everyone else.

The commas surrounding the quotations were atrocious. I agree that they strongly detracted from the entire book.
Thank you so much for your kind comment. I'm glad you enjoyed the review, even if we did have different opinions on the character development.
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JHuschle519
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Post by JHuschle519 »

Fuzaila wrote: 11 Aug 2018, 10:48 I'm glad you decided to point out the slow pace in this book at a few places. I'm impatient with my books so that was a crucial point. Thank you for your review!
Glad to know the review was helpful, thanks for commenting!
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Post by Debjani Ghosh »

Great review. I had heard rave reviews of this book but to know that grammatical errors detract from the reading experience is disappointing. I will pick it up maybe sometime in the future. Thanks!
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JHuschle519
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Post by JHuschle519 »

Debjani Ghosh wrote: 23 Oct 2018, 00:50 Great review. I had heard rave reviews of this book but to know that grammatical errors detract from the reading experience is disappointing. I will pick it up maybe sometime in the future. Thanks!
The grammatical errors were definitely a distraction, but I do think the plot makes it worth struggling through. Thanks as always for your comment!
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