Rave reviews for Little Brother

Little brother by Cory Doctorow is recieving all kinds of rave reviews, like this one by Spider Robinson from the Globe and Mail (Aug. 9, 2008).

"If you only read one science fiction novel this year, let it be this one. If you've never read SF in your life, now is the time to correct that virginity. If you have a family member or friend between 6 and 25 who likes to read, this is the book to give him or her this year. Readers from 26 to 80 will also have a wonderful time - but it's the young ones who need to read this book, and the rest of us need them to do it.... Little brother is a most satisfactory coming of age story, a political awakening story, a sweet but hip love story handled by an expert. It gives me renewed hope for the future of science fiction and of the world"

From the book jacket:

Marcus, a.k.a “w1n5t0n,” is only seventeen years old, but he figures he already knows how the system works–and how to work the system. Smart, fast, and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school’s intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems.But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison where they’re mercilessly interrogated for days.When the DHS finally releases them, Marcus discovers that his city has become a police state where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: to take down the DHS himself.

I'm not going to gush to the same degree as the Globe and Mail's reviewer did, but I was thoroughly entertained by this book. I felt compelled by the character of Marcus, I got lost a little in the technical computer language that ran through the book (but I think any tech savy teen would know exactly what it all meant), and I definately loved the premise of this alternative take on George Orwell's 1984. And I'm happy to say that Cory Doctorow is a Canadian. We need more writers like him - that captivate, challenge and inspire teen readers.

Read on