Spending time partying on the moon and riding around in his "upcar," Titus is an average teen of the future, complete with a computer chip implant -- the "Feed" -- that lets corporate marketers and government agencies broadcast directly into his brain. Then Titus meets Violet, and an anti-Feed hacker shuts down their Feeds for a short time; but when Violet's Feed is seriously damaged, she begins spouting some radical ideas.
There are very few books I put down for just being horrible. Many times I am able to see the good things, even if there are few: I detested Beautiful Creatures, but I loved the character of Macon Ravenwood. I couldn't stand Far North, but I felt the setting was accurately portrayed, and somewhat made up for the excruciating lack of plot.
Not Feed.
Feed takes place at some unknown time in the future, a time where the majority of people have "Feeds-" a chip implanted in your head that allows your brain direct access to the internet.
It also allows agencies and advertisements direct access to your brain.
Just let that sink in. That annoying Super Bowl ad that just won't get off your TV? In your brain. Twenty. Four. Seven. The McDonalds "Filet Fish" jingle? Constantly. Replayed. No way to turn it off.
Okay, so it's a fairly interesting premise.
At the beginning, I did not know what our main character's name was. "He" is taking a vacation on the moon. The author throws you directly into the world, complete with a large amount of slang term that will never actually be defined in the chapter, or the book, to be honest. For about fifty pages, I honestly thought the guy's name was "Unit." ("Unit" turns out to be some slang similar to "dude," despite the fact that "dude" is also used, which leads me to believe they are interchangeable?)
So, our main character, our "Unit," is attempting to figure out with his friends what to do on this weird thing called the Moon. They're incredibly bored, and so end up heading to the bar. There he meets the first intelligent being in this book, and her name is Violet. (insert "Unit" swoon here.) All's going well until they go out dancing, and some strange old man hacks their Feeds. The police come, and plot begins.
Around page one-hundred and fifty, I still didn't know "Unit's" name. So, naturally, I looked it up on the Internet. "Titus," that's interesting.
So what I'm trying to say here:
I didn't like Feed.
Not at all.
The slang, which could have been interesting had it been done properly, was confusing and unhelpful. The voice of "Titus" sounded like some strange mix between a modern-day valley girl and a whiny futuristic boy. The word "like" was incorporated infinitely more than it should have been. There was very little amount of character development. Titus starts the story as a bratty teenager, and he ends it as a bratty teenager. His friends are incredibly flat. Violet and her father, the only mildly interesting characters, seem to have little impact on Titus' life.
I was honestly hoping for a revolution book.
I was hoping this strange world of Brain Internets was a terrifying dystopian setting, set perfectly for our main character to rise up against the power that be.
Instead, I get a plot which could have easily taken place modern-day, the main character being a snobby billionaire's kid and the antagonist being cancer.
I feel like this world has such possibilities, but the plot was awkwardly developed and the characters were Ew.
My rating:
one out of five stars
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