Wednesday, December 6, 2017

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Want by Cindy Pon



Want is a Dystopian YA novel by Cindy Pon, taking place in a near-future Taiwan where pollution has gotten so bad around the world that the true of the sky is now a myth and air pollution reduces the life expectancy of those who breathe the air significantly.  This situation is made worse by the fact that income inequality has only increased in this future, to the point where the Rich literally live in different spaces with "regulated air" and don't interact with those who have less except when they can be covered in protective suits.  It's in this environment that Pon tells a tale of a group of friends attempting a plot, partially out of revenge, partially out of the idea of trying to do something to help the world, only to possibly get sidetracked by a forbidden love.

Fair warning: if you're looking for dystopian fiction here that tells a tale of grey; you're not going to find that in Want.  The bad guys are clearly evil and the good guys are clearly good in this book, and the book lacks very much that could fall in that in-between area.  That said, despite the lack of moral ambiguity, the book actually works thanks to some really sharp writing and dialogue.  So if you're looking for a book that combines a dystopian setting, an infiltration/heist plot, and a romance element (and that' s YA), Want's a pretty a good book to read. 

Pre-Jump Disclaimer: I read this book as an audiobook, so if I misspell some names, that's the cause.  The audiobook reader is high quality, giving each character a unique recognizable voice without sounding exaggerated and helping the dialogue pop, so I recommend it if you are looking for a book in that format.

-----------------------------------------------Plot Summary----------------------------------------------------
In a dystopian near-future, where pollution makes the very air around the world toxic enough to greatly reduce life expectancy, and the gap between the haves and have-nots has grown such that the rich actually live in separate spaces, with regulated air and protective suits, Taiwan is particularly bad.  Taiwanese teen, Zhou, hates the rich "You"s (pronounced "Yo") who live seemingly in a separate world from the poor "Mei"s, and along with his friends he tries to help an Environmental scientist try to promote pro-environment laws which could help the entire world.

But when their mentor is assassinated through the efforts of Jin, the richest You in Taiwan and the creator of the special suits that all the Yous wear, Zhou and his friends plot revenge.  While the team is young, each member has their own special skills: Lingyi is the team leader and a brilliant hacker; Iris is not only Lingyi's lover but is basically ninja-like in her sneaking and fighting abilities; Arun is a brilliant medical scientist; and Victor is a brilliant entrepreneur and socializer, who can acquire nearly anything the team needs.

And then there's Zhou - seemingly the least capable of the team, with his only unique skills being his wry humor and voracious reading, but who is by far the most risk-taking of the team (being the only team member with no family to speak of).  The first step in their plan?  Zhou kidnapping a You girl for a substantial ransom.  Their second step is for Zhou to use the money to impersonate a You boy, and get close to Jin's daughter Daiyu, so that he can infiltrate Jin's company and destroy it.  There's only one problem: without realizing it, the girl Zhou kidnapped turns out to be Daiyu.....and while Zhou is supposed to get close to her to gain access, he's actually falling in love with her.

Can he really follow through on the plan of using Daiyu?  Or might she remember his kidnapping and get him and his friends killed?
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Want is a book with a plot that seems relatively ordinary (despite an excellent setting) but really works thanks to some amazing characters and dialogue.  While the book is narrated entirely by Zhou, both he and his friends are amazing characters, even though they don't really get as much screen time as you'd expect.  It's an impressive piece of work - I really loved each of them in their own different ways, even though each of their abilities probably seem farfetched if you think too deeply about them.

And Zhou himself is a wonderful lead character and narrator.  He's relatable and quick-witted and very easy to root for, even if the very first thing he does in the book is kidnap a rich girl for ransom and then drug her so she'll forget her first ever experiences in a real garden and mountain.  This whole book depends upon the reader buying into his conflict, and Pon really sells it well.  And his internal monologue and external dialogue are filled with gems that cracked me up from time to time, even if this isn't meant to be a humorous book overall.

The only character who gets much screen time who I'm not sure really worked is Daiyu, the love-interest.  The book tries to make her real intentions ambiguous, as well as keep it seeming like she doesn't really know how evil her father is, but her father (more on him in a second) is so comically evil it's hard to believe she doesn't see it.  The reveal regarding her at the end does make a lot of the prior parts of the book make sense, but only makes her seeming lack of knowledge about her father even more confusing.

And there's the villain, Daiyu's father Jin, who is almost comically evil.  Seriously, midway through the book (minorest of spoilers here, sorry), Jin even releases an artificially-created virus into the population in order to create a greater demand for his technology....it's meant to be a serious situation, but I couldn't help but laugh.  Again, the book works despite Jin being so damn evil and the book not really involving any forms of grey, but it makes him kind of a caricature of a villain.

There's a sequel to Want coming out in about a year, which I will probably pickup.  I hope it doesn't sound like I was too negative above - I enjoyed this book quite a bit, despite the black and white nature of the conflict, thanks to the excellent characters and dialogue.  It just maybe isn't what it could be.

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