Review: Human.4

I picked up Human.4 not quite knowing what to expect and was pleasantly surprised. The story kept me engaged and before I knew it, I finished the book in a few hours (it's short). It was also an added treat to find out the book is set in England. You may as well know now, I am an anglophile. Anyway...

It's rare that a book comes out for young adults that truly represents the sci-fi genre. No vampires, fairies, or amazonian girls skilled in weaponry, etc. Just science fiction. The oldest thing you'll find in this book is a set of transcribed tapes that Kyle Straker recorded telling his horrifying story. The narrative is filled with the perfect amount of tension and the side notes in the story add the humor, especially if you're a sci-fi geek. Stargate SG-1 reference anyone?

One complaint I have is that it was too short. I wanted to know more about the new world and about the characters and just...how? You'll understand the "how" question after you read the book. BUT I realize that the shortness of the book is also a positive. There is no filler, every scene is important, and everything happens for a reason. If it was any longer, the tension that is the book would start to lag. My last complaint is that no matter how humorous the side notes are, it distracted me from the story a few times. Especially when it shows up in the middle of a chapter. Other than those things, the book was thoroughly entertaining.

What I learned: don't ever volunteer to be hypnotized and that I should worry about the progression of technology.

Good luck to my children's children's children, and so on. I fear for you.