What’s the best thing that can come from a debilitating illness that renders your body useless? The internet, of course, and a bit of sci-fi neural networking voo-dooery. Which brings us to our story and a future where people are “locked” in by Haden’s syndrome. While most people affected by this illness just experience flu-like symptoms, a small percentage of those afflicted suffer complete physical, but not mental, paralysis. Technology has allowed these individuals, known as “Hadens”, to live productive lives via brain downloads (or […]
My Kind of Mashup
This was my first Scalzi, but not my last. I’ll definitely be checking out more of his work after this. Lock In was an unbelievably fun and inventive read with some fascinating themes. The novel takes place in a future United States where 1.7 million people suffering from Haden’s Syndrome are “locked in.” They are mentally spry and fully aware, but their bodies can’t move or respond. The scientific community responded to this issue by creating new technologies to help locked in people. The first […]
Not my favorite Scalzi, but fun all the same.
If I was rating this book by the world-building alone, it probably would have gotten five stars. The idea of exploring Locked In Syndrome as a world-wide epidemic within a sci-fi framework is sooooo interesting to me. Lots of o’s to exhibit enthusiasm, there. I’m particularly interested in the ways that Scalzi, instead of focusing on the immediate effect of the disease itself, more uses it was a way to create a new social dynamic and class of people. See, due to the high profile […]