Burning Times

I seem to have read quite a few books this year where questions were raised about technology and how it was used on a world stage, especially in relation to everyday use, privacy issues, etc.

It made reading the book very interesting and thought provoking.

I really enjoyed this. My only disappointment, and the reason for knocking off a star, was the ending. I suppose it was because the ending was not the one I'd hoped for.

That aside, the book was very well written and I was very invested with our main characters.

I haven't read the first book, so I'm going to have to go back and read that one.

Thank you to PH and Dave Eggers for the chance to read this book.

Much like The Circle this is deliberately over exaggerated. I think part of the issue I found with it was that I didn't find the satire very funny and the whole thing seemed rather unworkable in real life. This could have done with some editing too, a great chunk in the middle completely abandoned the plot for ever more ludicrous schemes dreamt up by the protagonist and lapped up by her colleagues. It's undeniably clever, but I thought it lacked substance; it's just Dave repeatedly hitting you over the head with his ‘tech bad' hammer. Plus I absolutely hated the nod and a wink references to current events and even the film version of The Circle.

This successor to the circle lost its way after a promising beginning. The never-ending society destroying apps became increasingly depressing, making the book hard to get through. I felt sorry for Delaney, who, despite her good intentions, was getting slowly boiled like the rest of society. Let's hope technology never gets this entangled in our lives, he wrote as he entered a review on one of the jungle's websites.