BZRK (2012)

Normally, I enjoy Michael Grant stories but this one was difficult to finish, so I didn't. ( )

I stayed up late to finish this and I really wish I hadn't bothered. In fact, I'm very surprised I managed it.

This book was a huge disappointment. This is because I had high expectations of [a:Michael Grant|1599723|Michael Grant|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1216331499p2/1599723.jpg] after reading his imaginative [b:Gone|2536134|Gone (Gone, #1)|Michael Grant|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266904868s/2536134.jpg|2543657] series, full of exciting characters with mutant powers that draws interesting comparisons between the struggling society created by the kids and our own world. Grant's books have never been perfect to me, I have often complained about the lack of a decent female character who could be strong, realistic and not annoy the hell out of me. That's what was so bad about [b:Bzrk|11503582|BZRK|Michael Grant|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1318378370s/11503582.jpg|16439262], because it did have this.

When I was first introduced to Sadie McLure, I was thinking "YEEESSSS!!!" inside my mind because the author had finally delivered a female lead that was intelligent, kickass and not simply the sidekick or girlfriend of the male self-sacrificing hero. She was all these things... but Sadie was also as flat and boring as any character I've read after a few chapters. The book does start well, not just with the introduction of the characters, but with the dramatic plane crash that opens up a bizarre science-fiction mystery which involves secret corporations that are trying to take over the world. Exciting stuff. Well, for a while, that is.

Boredom is my biggest complaint about this book. The sci-fi aspect is well thought-out and conceivable, perhaps this novel just really is too much of a boy book (whatever that really means), I like my sci-fi with something a bit more human to balance it out: easily relatable characters, humour, even romance... [b:Bzrk|11503582|BZRK|Michael Grant|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1318378370s/11503582.jpg|16439262] failed to successfully deliver any of these. Unfortunately, I'll just stick to finishing the [b:Gone|2536134|Gone (Gone, #1)|Michael Grant|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266904868s/2536134.jpg|2543657] series, though I'm not sure how that's going to cope with two more books on the way - sometimes authors just don't know when to quit (I'm looking at you, [a:Richelle Mead|137902|Richelle Mead|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1270374609p2/137902.jpg]).
( )

Book Recommendation by Jason Hong Year 8
The book BZRK (Berserk) written my Michael Grant, New York Times best-selling author, ramps up action and suspense to a whole new level of excitement.
With his success from Animorphs and the GONE series, Michael Grant is emerging as a force in young adult literature. Do you like action-adventure thrillers? If so this will be the perfect book for you! I will totally recommend this book for anyone who is mature enough to read it. It does contain blood and violence but that’s what will blow out your mind. The book contains 407 pages, but that 407 pages will feel like you’ve only read 100 pages or so because it is jam packed, with action!
The book starts off when war rages on the battleground, a war between Armstrong Fancy Gifts Corporation, headed by the conjoined Armstrong twins, and BZRK, a guerrilla group of young hackers.
The main characters are the Armstrong twins, Benjamin and Charles. The conjoined twins have a goal, a goal to turn the world into their vision of Utopia. No wars, no conflict, no hunger and no free will.
The book entices readers due to endless amount of twists’ in the plot. The book is a Sci-Fi book but with a major different point of view. The battleground is situated in the human’s brain. Instead of the story being located externally, it is located internally which makes this book totally different to other Sci-Fi novels.
I was definitely not a book lover in my entire life, but now I have realized that books are exciting to read. I won’t give much away of the story as I will go on forever. Basically I will persuade you go to your local library store today and grab the book (BZRK) as I have full confidence that you will love this book. I will rate this 9.5/10

Sadie and Noah, after family tragedies, are recruited by BZRK, a covert group engaged in nano-level biological warfare with the Nexus Humanus led by the conjoined Armstrong Twins. The narrative buzzes back and forth between different Twitchers and BZRKers. It's a gritty, tough, violent world based on manipulating other people's brains sometimes at the expense of one's own sanity. It took me awhile to make sense of this world. It started to hook me in toward the end of the book. ( )

Publishers Weekly
In Grant's (the Gone novels) launch of a SF spy series, when Sadie McClure's father and brother are killed in a gruesome plane crash, she is pulled into the titular secret organization her father ran, fighting a war on the nanotechnological level to save humanity. All members of the organization take names of people who famously went insane, so the newly-minted Plath gets teamed with (and romantically linked to) fellow recruit Keats. As they finesse their skills of observation and precision, and learn the art of emotional detachment, they are also trained to operate their "biots," biomechanical extensions of themselves. The organization uses the biots to fight the Armstrong Fancy Gifts Corporation. Silly name aside, the latter organization has no scruples (their top recruit, Bug Man, is a rapist and murderer). Grant doesn't shy from moral compromises and brutal violence—heroes and villains alike suffer death and dismemberment—but he also draws into sharp focus the psychological toll that these events take on the characters. An entertaining, smart thriller with a conclusion that points to the next installment. Ages 14–up. ( )