Street Freaks by Terry BrooksMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
I feel like I've read this book before. Not in the "it's been so long I forgot about it" way, but in the "I've read something similar so many times that it all feels familiar" sense.
World-building: future cyberpunk. Lots of people with genetic modifications or cyborg parts, robots, and replicants...er, I mean synths. Giant corporations with immense power, conspiring with corrupt governments. Massive economic and social inequality. Environmental collapse, natural resources running out. It's not exactly like the Shadowrun or Blade Runner worlds, but it's close enough that I didn't get any real sense of discovering something new.
Plot: Kid with no clue narrowly escapes powerful forces to hook up with a rebellious group, eventually figures out what's going on and fights back. How many times have we seen this one? And in this particular case, the evil scheme plot device and bad guy behind it are so incredibly obvious from the fairly early chapters that it makes the characters look dumb for not seeing it.
Main Character: Ash, a naive kid at the center of something big, forced to come of age quickly. Spends his time learning about friendship, love, and how crappy the world can be. The plot of countless books, movies, and just about any other media form you care to name. Feels generic.
Style: supposed to be suspenseful. I say "supposed to" because once you recognize the archetype of the story, how much suspense can there really be? Ash isn't going to get killed off. You know he'll have some bad stuff happen, but it'll all work out in the end.
Now, I'm not saying that Brooks has completely failed with Street Freaks. He's a fine author who knows how to write; I didn't throw it down in disgust or anything. But I didn't feel like this book did anything special to set it apart from a ton of others in a similar genre, and it certainly didn't hide things well enough to engender any suspense. I'd much rather be reading sci-fi that's either attempting to break at least a little new ground, or pulls off a surprise. Street Freaks does neither.
