Mystery

I'm quite impressed with Westerfeld's writing style: evocative without being overly verbose, clean dialogue that suits the characters. The narration and dialogue were clever without being cloying, which was a neat trick to pull off when the whole subtext to the books about "cool" and the people who define it. I almost gave this a five-star rating, but felt the very end of the book didn't quite live up to the previous 90% of it. Still, I will definitely be reading more of Westerfeld books. [UPDATE: Just found out that Westerfeld wrote Leviathan, the new steampunk YA novel. That's gonna be next on my list.] ( )

Set the time machine for today! The main character is a Cool Hunter on the watch for emerging fashions. He blows apart a marketing session by inviting an Innovator, a girl who starts fashions instead of following them. Then someone disappears and fashion gets deadly.

I really like how the plot charges ahead while peeling back the facade of marketing and fashion. The language has a now, post-modern shine (is post-modern already passé?) decorated with brand names. Even the cool hunting protagonist is nearly a brand name, Hunter Braque. He makes an aside early on about mentioning brands when he avoids saying “Google” because it is just too common.

This book even started a meme, the "missing black woman formation", called out in the first chapter. More info here: http://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/2008/01/mbw-formation/

It’s good this book is short, because both my son and my wife had to finish it in one sitting.
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This was a favorite in high school, and I still really like it, but it has definitely aged over the ten years since it was published! I suppose it was inevitable that a book about whats current and trendy would become dated so fast (although various reference to Nokia phones probably didnt help). Even though the specific references arent current and some of the plot points wouldnt happen today thanks to youtube tutorial videos, the ideas about fashion, tech, and trends are still pretty relevant. Its also just fun to read, poo-sham will be hilarious forever as far as Im concerned. ( )

This book reminded me of "Ready Player One", with less silly action scenes (which were the best part of that book) and cyberpunk influence. Maybe it was the pop culture references and branding, or the self-conscious examination of "cool" and teenaged melodrama. ( )