iBoy by Kevin Brooks
Sep. 16th, 2010 10:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
As amazing as Spider-Man
As electrifying as The Wire
A sci-fi crime thriller that grips like a vice ...
Before the attack, sixteen-year-old Tom Harvey was just an ordinary boy.
But now fragments of a shattered iPhone are embedded in his brain and it’s having an extraordinary effect ...
Because now Tom has powers. The ability to know and see more than he could ever imagine. And with incredible power comes knowledge – and a choice. Seek revenge on the violent gangs that rule his estate and assaulted his friend Lucy, or keep quiet?
Tom has control when everything else is out of control. But it’s a dangerous price to pay. And the consequences are terrifying ...
16 year old Tom Harvey lives in a run-down council block with his grandmother. His mother died in a hit and run car accident when he was an infant and he’s never met his father. His best friend - 15 year-old Lucy Walker - lives in the same block and her older brother, Ben, is involved with a drug gang on the estate.
When someone drops an iPhone from the balcony of the tower block it hits Tom on the head, penetrating his skull and leaving him in a coma. When he regains consciousness he discovers that bits of the iPhone are still embedded in his brain. Worse, the day he was attacked, Lucy was gang-raped.
As Tom recovers, he discovers that he’s got powers – he can access the internet through his head, generate an electrical field around his body and track people through their mobiles – and decides to discover who attacked Lucy. The more he uses his powers though, the more of a temptation it is to turn vigilante. Soon Tom finds himself in a world of danger, both from the criminals he wants to bring down, and the powers growing within him.
Despite the strained premise, this is a dark and brooding book that combines a superhero story with a gritty, a run down South London council estate. Tom’s struggle to come to terms with what’s happened to him, the powers growing within him and how he will use them is credibly portrayed and there’s a strong, unpatronising theme here about the ultimate futility of revenge.
The writing is gritty and Brooks does a great job of conveying life on the estate and the way in which gang culture operates. The f-word peppers the text, so this might not be suitable for younger readers and Brooks does not stint on getting across the violence.
Where the book didn’t work for me was Lucy’s gang-rape, which had a ‘through the motions’ feel to it while Tom’s statements that her life is ruined seem trite. While the behaviour of others to her ordeal (e.g. distribution of phone footage of it and painting slurs on her front door) is believable, she’s not on the page long enough to get a sense of her feelings about it – only how Tom feels.
Although it’s not perfect, it has a unique twist on the superhero genre and is worth reading for that alone.
The Verdict:
The premise is a little strained, but the idea of setting a super-hero story on a gritty run-down council estate is generally well executed and the central theme of vengeance intelligently discussed in a non-patronising way. Although the gang-rape element to the story didn’t quite work for me, it’s an interesting read. Be warned that the f-bomb gets used frequently in the text (which I liked but may not be suitable for younger readers).
iBoy was released in the UK in July. Thanks to Penguin Books for the ARC.
As electrifying as The Wire
A sci-fi crime thriller that grips like a vice ...
Before the attack, sixteen-year-old Tom Harvey was just an ordinary boy.
But now fragments of a shattered iPhone are embedded in his brain and it’s having an extraordinary effect ...
Because now Tom has powers. The ability to know and see more than he could ever imagine. And with incredible power comes knowledge – and a choice. Seek revenge on the violent gangs that rule his estate and assaulted his friend Lucy, or keep quiet?
Tom has control when everything else is out of control. But it’s a dangerous price to pay. And the consequences are terrifying ...
16 year old Tom Harvey lives in a run-down council block with his grandmother. His mother died in a hit and run car accident when he was an infant and he’s never met his father. His best friend - 15 year-old Lucy Walker - lives in the same block and her older brother, Ben, is involved with a drug gang on the estate.
When someone drops an iPhone from the balcony of the tower block it hits Tom on the head, penetrating his skull and leaving him in a coma. When he regains consciousness he discovers that bits of the iPhone are still embedded in his brain. Worse, the day he was attacked, Lucy was gang-raped.
As Tom recovers, he discovers that he’s got powers – he can access the internet through his head, generate an electrical field around his body and track people through their mobiles – and decides to discover who attacked Lucy. The more he uses his powers though, the more of a temptation it is to turn vigilante. Soon Tom finds himself in a world of danger, both from the criminals he wants to bring down, and the powers growing within him.
Despite the strained premise, this is a dark and brooding book that combines a superhero story with a gritty, a run down South London council estate. Tom’s struggle to come to terms with what’s happened to him, the powers growing within him and how he will use them is credibly portrayed and there’s a strong, unpatronising theme here about the ultimate futility of revenge.
The writing is gritty and Brooks does a great job of conveying life on the estate and the way in which gang culture operates. The f-word peppers the text, so this might not be suitable for younger readers and Brooks does not stint on getting across the violence.
Where the book didn’t work for me was Lucy’s gang-rape, which had a ‘through the motions’ feel to it while Tom’s statements that her life is ruined seem trite. While the behaviour of others to her ordeal (e.g. distribution of phone footage of it and painting slurs on her front door) is believable, she’s not on the page long enough to get a sense of her feelings about it – only how Tom feels.
Although it’s not perfect, it has a unique twist on the superhero genre and is worth reading for that alone.
The Verdict:
The premise is a little strained, but the idea of setting a super-hero story on a gritty run-down council estate is generally well executed and the central theme of vengeance intelligently discussed in a non-patronising way. Although the gang-rape element to the story didn’t quite work for me, it’s an interesting read. Be warned that the f-bomb gets used frequently in the text (which I liked but may not be suitable for younger readers).
iBoy was released in the UK in July. Thanks to Penguin Books for the ARC.
