Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Humans, Bow Down / James Patterson / 373 pgs

This was my first James Patterson book. Of course, we all know that James Patterson doesn't actually write his own books, so take that for what it's worth. Unless I read one of his Alex Cross novels, I doubt I'll ever know how *he* actually writes. I was curious about this book because I like a good dystopia novel, and I thought it would be nice to read one that wasn't explicitly teen-oriented.

To be honest, I don't know what I just read. The book is over 370 pages long, and yet it has a bunch of pictures, nearly one on every page, depicting the characters and actions going on. I feel like I'm reading a kid's book. The font is quite large. The main characters, Six and Dubs, act like teenagers, but at one point, they're described as "not yet having reached their third decade" which makes me believe they're adults. At the same time, Six, our kick-ass female heroine, remembers events occurring not yet a decade ago, back when she was just a six year old kid. So, color me confused.

The story involves human-made robot hybrids that nearly succeeded in wiping out humanity in a three day war a decade before. Most remaining humans are "reformed" and live as servants to their Hu-Bot overlords, but many others live in refugee camps outside of Denver, in squalor, with little food to eat or other resources. We never hear of what is going on in the rest of the country, or the world, with the story really only taking place in Denver and the mountains around it. When Six and her friend, Dubs, steal a sports car from a Hu-Bot in the city, they bring down the terror of the Hu-Bots upon themselves and the rest of their human friends. Meanwhile, one Hu-Bot, MikkyBo (I am not making that name up), finds herself starting to feel empathy towards the humans. Furthermore, Mikky's brother (yes, Hu-Bots have families) is dealing with some sort of "glitch" which gives him gender dysphoria. An LGBTR relationship that emerges in the last few pages feels really forced too. And yes, I meant to tack on an "R" at the end of LGBT. If you make it to the end of the book, you'll see why.

I can see this becoming a series by the way it ended, but I honestly don't plan on reading any more if there are sequels.

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