4 out of 4 stars
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World, Incorporated: A Modern Dystopia
This story takes place in 2062. By this time, all world governments, including the United States government, have been overtaken by super corporations like Multinational and World, Inc. The vast majority of people on Earth are passive consumers of corporations, and even religion has been tailored to fit the marketing of super corporations. Independent thinking is considered a threat, and super corporations like World, Inc. hire assassins to kill professors, reverends, and anyone else who promotes independent thinking.
Agent Sliver is an assassin who works for World, Inc. Even though he is used to doing his job mechanically, he begins to question the purpose for some of his assignments. This story is about Agent Sliver learning that he may not be the killing machine his boss Fellrock wants him to be. As Agent Sliver encounters more victims, he has to decide if he wants to continue working as an assassin, or if he wants to run the risk of thinking independently in a world where his every move is being tracked.
Aside from the high levels of technology mentioned in this book, there is also a 1984 theme in the sense that “Big Brother is Watching” every living person on Earth in this story. This can be read as a stark reminder of what will happen if we continue to over monitor everyone through surveillance.
Overall, this story is full of interesting technology, great action scenes and strong character development. I would recommend this story to anyone who enjoys reading futuristic sci-fi novels with fast paced action scenes between characters.
My favorite part of this story was the way Agent Sliver began to question his assignments, because he went from having no remorse to wondering whether some of his victims should be killed at all. My least favorite part was Chapter 4, because this was full of articles that documented how much the world had changed from 2025 to the 2050’s, yet I did not have enough background knowledge of the major changes to understand exactly why certain authors of the articles took the stances they did on certain issues. I would have liked at least one introductory paragraph from Agent Sliver before reading the articles so that I could frame the perspectives and sources a little better while reading.
Aside from several small grammatical errors, I could not put this book down. The story was full of fast paced action scenes, unexpected twists and turns, and there were strong explanations for Agent Slivers motives. I greatly appreciated the time the author took to not only explain Agent Slivers motives, but also the motives of all those around him including his boss, Fellrock. I would give this book 4 out of 4 stars for the strong warning of what our world could become if we are nothing more than passive consumers, as well as the strong character development in the way Agent Sliver began to question what it means to be human.
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World, Incorporated
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