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Head On A Novel of the Near Future Lock in John Scalzi 9780765388919 Books

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Head On A Novel of the Near Future Lock in John Scalzi 9780765388919 Books

As easy as this book is to read, it's that easy to forget. Thus, it's a double edged sword.

On the one hand, the snappy, witty dialogue and eschewing of exposition-heavy scenes makes for a book that is easy to pickup and put down. This is a novel that's great to read to pass time or to relax with, and the speculative fiction is well-grounded in a way where it all seems like part of a believable near-future.

On the other hand, I literally just finished this book and am already forgetting the plot. The problem is that as fun and easy as Scalzi's works are to read, they're not memorable because he often offers little to no sensory information. And I'm not talking about him not painting big, vivid portraits come to life; he doesn't ever describe any of the people, what the threeps look like, what nearly anything looks like. This means that probably 80% of the book is dialogue, and the rest is just the conjunctions that bridge the dialogue. There's almost no meat to the story fpr you to reallg digest and appreciate, despite how entertaining the dialogue might be.

So as a pallette cleanser between bigger embarkments, this book is great. Otherwise, a month from now, I won't remember nearly a thing about this book.


Tags : Head On: A Novel of the Near Future (Lock in) [John Scalzi] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <b> As much as Scalzi has the scientific creativity of a Michael Crichton, he also has the procedural chops of a Stephen J. Canell to craft a whodunit with buddy-cop charm and suspects aplenty―most of them in someone else's body. ― USA Today</i></b> John Scalzi returns with Head On,John Scalzi,Head On: A Novel of the Near Future (Lock in),Tor Books,076538891X,Science Fiction - Action & Adventure,Science Fiction - Cyberpunk,Thrillers - Crime,Beheading,Competition (Psychology),Epidemics,Epidemics;Fiction.,Psychological fiction,Science fiction,Sports stories,Thrillers (Fiction),Virtual reality,Virtual reality;Fiction.,Virus diseases,Virus diseases;Fiction.,110301 Tor Trade-Tor Hardcover,AMERICAN MYSTERY & SUSPENSE FICTION,AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY,FICTION Science Fiction Action & Adventure,FICTION Science Fiction Cyberpunk,FICTION Thrillers Crime,Fiction,Fiction-Science Fiction,FictionScience Fiction - Cyberpunk,FictionThrillers - Crime,GENERAL,General Adult,Monograph Series, any,Psychological fiction,Science Fiction,Science Fiction - Action & Adventure,Science Fiction - Cyberpunk,Science Fiction Cyberpunk,Sports stories,Thrillers (Fiction),Thrillers - Crime,Thrillers Crime,United States,Virtual reality,Virtual reality;Fiction.,Virus diseases,Virus diseases;Fiction.,cyberpunk; cyberpunk books; cyberpunk novel; cyberpunk science fiction; science fiction adventure; science fiction adventure books; adventure science fiction; science fiction action adventure; science fiction books; science fiction and fantasy books; sci fi thrillers; science fiction thrillers; thriller sci fi; award winning authors; best science fiction novels; bestselling authors; fbi agents; fbi characters,FICTION Science Fiction Action & Adventure,FICTION Science Fiction Cyberpunk,FICTION Thrillers Crime,FictionScience Fiction - Cyberpunk,FictionThrillers - Crime,Science Fiction Cyberpunk,Thrillers Crime,American Mystery & Suspense Fiction,American Science Fiction And Fantasy,Fiction

Head On A Novel of the Near Future Lock in John Scalzi 9780765388919 Books Reviews

I'm not really sure what to make of John Scalzi's writing these days. He has won three Hugos - Best Fan Writer, Best Related Book, and Best Novel. He won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. He has won other awards and been finalists for many others. His most recent appearance on the Hugo ballot was this year in San Jose at Worldcon 76 for THE COLLAPSING EMPIRE. He continues to be popular. So why am I getting this nagging feeling that he's starting to go through the motions?

HEAD ON is a standalone sequel to 2014's LOCK IN. Just before I wrote that last sentence I reread my review of that book. It turns out I feel the same way about HEAD ON as I did about LOCK IN.

There's a violent new sport in town played by Haden's controlling threeps called Hilketa. Hilketa is a team sport, the object of which is to score more goals than your opponent. Sounds pretty normal and boring, right? I mean, we've seen it before. Well, to score a goal a player must rip the head off of an opponent and carry it through a set of goal posts. Okay, that's a lot more interesting than the run of the mill goal scoring game, as long as you're into that whole ripping off the the head thing. Anyway, this "sport" gives the Haden population something of their own they can do. The sport's popularity is on the rise, and the league is looking not only to expand within the U.S., it's looking to start leagues overseas.

The book starts out at a preseason game that is being used as a showcase for wealthy investors who the league is trying to convince to become owners of new franchises in the U.S. All is going swimmingly well. The crowd is loving the game, and the wealthy investors are being courted by league officials. Then the worst possible thing that could happen did happen a player by the name of Duane Chapman dies on the field during the game. And thus we have the event that starts this novel rolling.

FBI agents Chris Shane, a Haden and the main character of the previous novel, and his partner Leslie Vann are assigned to the case. The obvious question is whether the death is murder or simply an accident.

What, you actually thought this was an accident? It wouldn't be much of a novel if it wasn't a murder, now would it?

There are some interesting things and ideas in play here, and that's not really unusual for a Scalzi novel. Scalzi is using the idea of the marginalization of minorities here. Threep technology is advancing such that "normal" humans will be able to ride in threep just like Hadens can, thus giving them the ability to take over the sport that was meant to be played by Hadens. There is a technology that allows fans of the sport to read the biometric data of any of the players they want during a match, as long as they pay an extra fee (Here we get two ideas for the price of one, where a consumer can pay an extra fee to get content that other consumers cannot - think premium cable channels - as well as the spectators can see what is going on with their favorite players in gory detail - think (and maybe it's a bit of a stretch) bloodthirsty spectators watching battles in ancient Rome. All good stuff.

The rest of it? Well, it becomes a police procedural detailing a murder investigation. There's infidelity, jealousy, doping, drug dealing, conspiracies, and twists. Scalzi uses the ideas and world that he built in LOCK IN to help move the story along, which of course you would expect him to do. But it feels like he thought "How can I use the LOCK IN universe stuff in another novel? Right, I'll do a murder mystery!"

There's really nothing wrong with that. But he's not really exploring anything that hasn't been explored before by him or anyone else. The technology may be a bit different, but the ideas are not. And given today's society, the ideas aren't even that old.

Within the last day or two of me writing this review, Scalzi said on Twitter that he writes for the money. And that's okay. He has to feed his family, pay for his daughter's college tuition, and make sure the cats are happy. And if the best way to do that is to write what he does, good for him. A lot of people can't do that. But he's done better than this, with novels like OLD MAN'S WAR and REDSHIRTS. I'd like to see him get back to that level of quality.

Then again he's popular. Who am I to judge, since I like him too?
I really loved Lock In, so I was excited for a sequel. Head On isn't quite as intense as Lock In, in part because of the more intricate white-collar crime at the center. It's hard to make forensic accounting exciting, but Scalzi manages to at least make it interesting. I also had a little more trouble suspending my disbelief over housemate Tony in another ex deus machina role - how does the FBI function without him? But the expanded world-building was great, and I enjoyed exploring/imagining this near-cousin to our world and how the underlying premise of Haden's Syndrome changes things. I hope to visit again!
I liked this book. I like John Scalzi's writing style. He has some pretty decent writing chops. However, this as a second book in a 'series' of people who are locked in their bodies and use robots called threeps to get around in the world. Not a bad concept, except perhaps the first book was more original and better. The characters are a bit trite...hard-boiled FBI agent and a Harden, someone locked int heir body so they have to use a threep to get around. It does create some interesting story opportunities and Scalzi is taking advantage of those opportunities. But this book, while well written, just seems to lack a certain plot twist. It's not science fiction for sure. It's more like a murder mystery. So if you're looking for SciFi, don't necessarily go here. Personally, I didn't have a problem with that as I sort of knew what the book was going to be like. But the plot is so similar to the first book in the series that I found myself unsurprised and just getting through it...in an enjoyable way, of course.

John Scalzi is a good writer. There's really not any dispute about it. However, his last two books have been a bit formulaic. I suppose if you get to the point where you're writing and you know you'll get 'x' number of orders, it's easy to not take chances with your characters, plot or development. It seems as though that's exactly what John Scalzi did here.
As easy as this book is to read, it's that easy to forget. Thus, it's a double edged sword.

On the one hand, the snappy, witty dialogue and eschewing of exposition-heavy scenes makes for a book that is easy to pickup and put down. This is a novel that's great to read to pass time or to relax with, and the speculative fiction is well-grounded in a way where it all seems like part of a believable near-future.

On the other hand, I literally just finished this book and am already forgetting the plot. The problem is that as fun and easy as Scalzi's works are to read, they're not memorable because he often offers little to no sensory information. And I'm not talking about him not painting big, vivid portraits come to life; he doesn't ever describe any of the people, what the threeps look like, what nearly anything looks like. This means that probably 80% of the book is dialogue, and the rest is just the conjunctions that bridge the dialogue. There's almost no meat to the story fpr you to reallg digest and appreciate, despite how entertaining the dialogue might be.

So as a pallette cleanser between bigger embarkments, this book is great. Otherwise, a month from now, I won't remember nearly a thing about this book.