Lock In

Great book, somewhere between 4 and 5 stars. The plot moved along really well, and I enjoyed the characters. Before I read it, I knew that the main character's gender was never revealed. But I was surprised at how seamlessly the author pulled that feat off. I doubt I would've noticed it if I hadn't known about it before. I did notice in [book:The Android's Dream 7081] that we never learn Sam's gender, but Sam is in the story primarily as someone's partner, while Chris is the point-of-view character here, which I think would be much more difficult to write. So I think this book is interesting from a technical standpoint, although it would also be interesting to learn how readers see this character - do we expect different behaviors from male, female, nonbinary characters? My only complaint about the book is that Chris is overpowered. They (I'll use that pronoun in my review) are kicking ass every few chapters, even though it's only their first week as an FBI agent. Chris is also very talented at getting along with people (so much so that another character compliments them on it), and everyone they meet seems to like them, at least at first. Other than a need for approval, Chris doesn't have any flaws. However, this trait didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book, because it's very plot-driven.I also like all the random lgbt people (well, lgb characters - the premise would lend itself very well to trans characters, but no one is explicitly trans, although there is a line that I think is referring to trans people in general - that some people prefer integrators that don't match their own assigned gender). The gay couple seems much more three-dimensional to me than several of the other minor characters, because we see a little bit of what their relationship is like; actually, they are both kind of awful people. But we don't know anyone's orientation; it's treated like an inconsequential thing. I like near-future sci-fi which is optimistic in this way. The Haden situation parallels a few real-world issues that marginalized groups face or have faced, but the book never feels heavy-handed, although I feared it might go down that road a few times. In fact, when someone else makes a comparison between the Native Americans and the Hadens, Chris shuts them down right away. Some of the facts of life for Hadens are very grim, because of the prejudice they face - for example, that businesspeople have to inhabit a borrowed body sometimes in order to succeed in the business world, because people aren't comfortable not dealing with a “real” person. I don't know if that would be true or not, but it might. As usual with Scalzi's books, I laughed out loud a few times and felt like crying once or twice. Johnny's plot is really, really sad, especially his video, not just because he's dead, but because he was a pawn of evil and powerful people. Scalzi is really good at making the reader think seriously about ethically complex situations, sometimes by showing how badly corporate and government policies can hurt individuals. I'm glad I read this, and I'm looking forward to the sequel.

Executive Summary: Another fun Scalzi book. That shouldn't really surprise anyone at this point.Audio book: I opted for the [a:Wil Wheaton 37075 Wil Wheaton https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1356706649p2/37075.jpg] version of the audio since he's the way I prefer to consume Scalzi books. However thanks to the Audible pre-order sale, I got a free copy of the [a:Amber Benson 27209 Amber Benson https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1231537678p2/27209.jpg] version that I definitely want to listen to at some point now that I've finished.I will say the run time of 10 hours (11 for the Benson version) is a bit deceptive because the last 2hrs and 15mins or so is actually a multiple reader version of the prequel Novella: [b:Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome 21805681 Unlocked An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome John Scalzi https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1397572655s/21805681.jpg 41068587]. I didn't listen to this since I had previously read it on tor.com, but if you haven't, I'd recommend you skip ahead (Chapter 27 I believe) to listen to it first before jumping into the book itself as it gives you more background than the book itself does.Full ReviewI think before last year I hadn't read a single book by John Scalzi. Before 2012 I hadn't even heard of him. Now he's one of my favorite writers and I've listened to just about everything he's written.I tend to read more fantasy than sci-fi. I seem to prefer my sci-fi in TV/movie form instead. Maybe because I like lighter sci-fi, which Mr. Scalzi writes very well. I also love his snarky sense of humor which I think Wil Wheaton does well.This might be my favorite book of his yet. It's not as funny as some of his others, but it's still a lot of fun. I really love the world he built with some hand wavy science fiction that is really just used to set the stage for a murder mystery. He said that he's got an idea for another book in this world if it does well, so everyone go out and buy a copy because I want him to write it!Our protagonist Chris is a rookie FBI agent on their first week with one major difference. They are “Locked-In” to their body since childhood due to a global pandemic. Chris uses a remote controlled robot nicknamed a Threep (after C-3PO) to be present in the world due to being unable to speak or move.Writing the previous paragraph was very difficult because I wanted to keep it gender neutral. Because this entire book is as far as I can tell written that way. Mr. Scalzi probably had an easier time of it than I did because 1) He's an experienced and professional writer and 2) It's written in first person. Still it's an interesting approach to a story.Since I did the Wil Wheaton version (and because I'm a guy myself), I assumed Chris to be a guy, only to realize we never really know if that's true or not.It goes to show that for all the emphasis on racial and gender differences it really doesn't matter when telling a good story. When your protagonist is interacting with everyone remotely with a robot what does gender or race matter? They look like a robot. Chris is a capable FBI agent because of their mind, because when you're Locked-In that's really all that matters.This is another fun and quick read from a master of writing those kinds of stories. Highly Recommended.