Review: Proxy by Alex London


Proxy
Alex London
Series: Proxy, #1
Release Date: June 18th, 2013
Publisher: Philomel
Rating: 3.5 stars
Word Rating: Almost
Reviewed by: Kate

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Knox was born into one of the City’s wealthiest families. A Patron, he has everything a boy could possibly want—the latest tech, the coolest clothes, and a Proxy to take all his punishments. When Knox breaks a vase, Syd is beaten. When Knox plays a practical joke, Syd is forced to haul rocks. And when Knox crashes a car, killing one of his friends, Syd is branded and sentenced to death.

Syd is a Proxy. His life is not his own.

Then again, neither is Knox’s. Knox and Syd have more in common than either would guess. So when Knox and Syd realize that the only way to beat the system is to save each other, they flee. Yet Knox’s father is no ordinary Patron, and Syd is no ordinary Proxy. The ensuing cross-country chase will uncover a secret society of rebels, test both boys’ resolve, and shine a blinding light onto a world of those who owe and those who pay. Some debts, it turns out, cannot be repaid.


This book came very close to being extraordinary. The plot, the politics, the characters, the humor--it's all lovely in theory. I just wish the execution had been better. I wanted the author to dig deeper almost every step of the way.

I'm gonna talk for a minute about the things that bothered me:

The Humor: This just didn't work for me at all. I understood how, in theory, the jokes could be considered funny, but it felt... You know what it reminded me of? It reminded me of the pilot of a comedy tv show, when the actors are still settling into the characters, and they and the writers haven't quite figured out what works for the voices of the characters. There was just something slightly...off. And the wink-wink future jokes, like saying "The Arctic will freeze over," as though that saying has replaced "Hell will freeze over..." I don't know, guys. (There was one moment that stuck out for me as genuinely funny: Syd has a crush on another boy, and he gets embarrassed when people see a bad photo of the boy. It's really honest and kind of charming.)

The Name Thing: In this world, poor kids aren't properly named--they're assigned names from a database of literary characters. I don't--hmmm. I'm not sure why this decision was made. It's weird and gimmicky. I get the tip of the hat to great works of literature, and I understand why Sydney Carton was a desirable choice for our hero, plot-wise. It just didn't work for me. I have theories but they contain massive spoilers.

Narrative Mode: We bounce back and forth, alternating by chapter, between two third-person limited perspectives--one focusing on Syd, the other on Knox. But occasionally, like when the characters first meet, we alternate between the two by paragraph, and holy cow is that ever jarring.

Grammar: There are a lot of typos and grammatical mistakes, and that's annoying if you consider that this book was published by Penguin.

The World: It doesn't feel lived-in. It feels kind of hastily cobbled together, like the author was in a hurry to finish writing and wasn't able to take the time to just sit and breathe in the world he'd created.

The Handling of Sensitive Issues: Knox likes to hit on ladies and sleep around, but he's kind of de-clawed from the very beginning in what feels like an attempt to make him likable. It made me feel manipulated. The other issue that is kind of weirdly tiptoed around is Syd's homosexuality and everyone's reaction to it. I think my issue with the portrayal here may be 100% attributable to my love of China Mountain Zhang, an absolutely perfect novel that follows a homosexual character through a future culture in which being gay is not tolerated. It did all feel a little wishy washy, though.

The One Girl: Only one of the important, named characters (there are maybe eight?) is female. She's a good character, but come one. This story doesn't take place in a frat house or on a military base; there's no excuse for such an oversight.

Logic: There's a big twist at the end that really upset me for IF THAT WAS THE CASE WHY DID NO ONE DO IT SOONER reasons.

I wanted to get the negative out of the way first so I could focus in on what I thought were the real strengths of the novel, and there are several things that really delighted me.

Diversity: Syd, one of our heroes, is both homosexual and brown-skinned. His awesome landlord/mentor is Jewish. London filled this story with people from a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and it made the novel feel fresh and modern. Books full of straight white men feel like relics to me.

The Love Stories: I won't get specific because it's all so massively spoilery, but this stuff doesn't follow anything like the usual pattern, and I found it to be enormously refreshing.

Advertising: The characters are just constantly bombarded with targeted ads--like what you see on Facebook and Amazon, but with the added humiliation of their being projected for everyone to see like in Minority Report. Very, very fun.

The Explanations About Technology: We're given just enough info to keep things from getting confusing, and the information stream is cut off when things start to get boring. Very nicely done.

The Proxies: Scenes in which these futuristic whipping boys are tortured are horrifying without crossing a line into grotesque. And the idea of a two-hander about a rich kid and his personal whipping boy is pretty brilliant.

Religion: The way it is used (or not) feels modern, and I'm hoping some of it was foreshadowing things that will happen later in the series.

Proxy is genuinely good, and I think it's worth noting that my issues with this book are pretty similar to those I had with Marie Lu's Legend.  That book's sequel, Prodigy, is one of my favorites of 2013, so it may just be that sometimes authors, no matter how talented, need a chance to settle into the world. I'm excited to see what he'll do with the sequel next year.

21 comments :

  1. What a disappointment, though I can't say I was very interested in Proxy to begin with. I haven't encountered any books with not-funny humor, and I don't think I ever want to change that. That example you gave... *cringe* I'm sorry this didn't work out for you, Kate, but thanks for such a helpful review!

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    1. For some reason this was marked as a 2 star read for me--I actually gave it 3.5 stars. It's really not bad, but if you have a limited book budget you might wanna wait and see if people say the second book is better.

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  2. This book intrigues me, but I'm so on the fence because many say it's a bit of a disappointment.
    I really like your review, Kate! It's very thorough.

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    1. Ha, thanks. I had a lot to say about this one. And I don't know if you saw it while it was at 2 stars--I actually rated this 3.5 stars.

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  3. Oh wow! This is very in depth, and I love the way you laid everything out. Of course, I'm hoping to disagree with you since I have a copy, but, either way, lovely review!

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    1. Did you see that I actually rated this 3.5 stars? I'm pickier about science fiction than I am any other genre because I'm really passionate about it (and my husband writes within that genre, so I see soooo much of it), so you should definitely not avoid reading this because I gave it 3.5 stars.

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  4. "But occasionally, like when the characters first meet, we alternate between the two by paragraph, and holy cow is that ever jarring." - True. I don't know if I've ever read a book where I like the way this happens.

    "The One Girl: Only one of the important, named characters (there are maybe eight?) is female. She's a good character, but come one. This story doesn't take place in a frat house or on a military base; there's no excuse for such an oversight." There's really only one important female character???

    "London filled this story with people from a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and it made the novel feel fresh and modern." Yes, and I wish there were more books like that.

    "Advertising: The characters are just constantly bombarded with targeted ads--like what you see on Facebook and Amazon, but with the added humiliation of their being projected for everyone to see like in Minority Report. Very, very fun." Sounds like it.

    I love your reviewing style, and I hope that you too enjoy the sequel for this book :).

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    1. Yeah, I don't think it passed the Bechdel Test, which is such a basic, tiny thing to ask of a writer. I'm too much of a feminist not to be bummed by books that do that.

      But the ethnic diversity was cool. And yay for gay characters.

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    2. Also, the sudden, jolting switch from the perspective of one character to another is just awful.

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  5. This sounds really interesting, but I do tend to have a hard time getting into books written in third person. I just always feel so disconnected from everything. (I have really enjoyed a few though) I think this would be a book that I want to try even with the way it's written. I love that it seems to put diversity of characters into it. I am also really interested in the love thing. Awesome review!!

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    1. Thank you!

      I think you may have less of a hard time with it here, because while the characters aren't telling the story, you are in their heads when the writing is from their perspective.

      I actually tend to prefer third-person omniscient--maybe because I'm an actor and that's how scripts are written?

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    2. It really does depend on how it's written. I think that the way you describe this I would like it. I just tend to like first person better because it's easier to connect. After your review I am definitely more likely to give this one a try.

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    3. Yeah, the way this is written won't be a turn-off for you; it feels almost like first-person.

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  6. When I first read the description, I thought it sounded an awful lot like The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman. Considering that one of the characters here is named Syd, I wonder if the author wasn't tipping his hat -- consciously or subconsciously -- to Fleischman. I'm sure Proxy is a lot darker, though; The Whipping Boy is a children's book.

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    1. I've not read that book--is it good? I love literature on that subject.

      Proxy has the same weird thing as Legend by Marie Lu in that the writing is sometimes really simple in a way that makes it feel middle grade-ish, but the subject matter is dark (one of the main characters engages in promiscuous sex and casual drug use). Does that make sense?

      The ending is dark and cool, though.

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  7. It's surprising that there were a lot of typos and grammar issues in a Penguin book. The pros to this book are interesting. A homosexual, brown skinned character? That's awesome. This is on my TBR list, but I don't know how soon I'll get around to it. Great review!

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    1. Hoo boy. I am on my iPhone and accidentally deleted my response to you.

      I think if you go into this not expecting it to be SOOOO super awesome (which was how I approached it) you'll like it.

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  9. I thought this book was pretty cool and I really loved the literary naming thing-I am wondering what your theories were. I just thought it was a heavy-handed way to work in Sydney Carton and I only wish we had gotten more examples.

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    1. I felt the same way Re: Sydney Carton. I thought it was kind of a dumb idea, and it made me think less of the book.

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