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The Dark Intercept #1
The Dark Intercept
The State controls your emotions. What would you pay to feel free?
In a radiant world of endless summer, the Intercept keeps the peace. Violet Crowley, the sixteen-year-old daughter of New Earth’s Founding Father, has spent her life in comfort and safety. Her days are easy thanks to the Intercept, a crime-prevention device that monitors and provokes emotion. But when her long-time crush, Danny Mayhew, gets into a dangerous altercation on Old Earth, Violet launches a secret investigation to find out what he's hiding. An investigation that will lead her to question everything she's ever known about Danny, her father, and the power of the Intercept.
In a radiant world of endless summer, the Intercept keeps the peace. Violet Crowley, the sixteen-year-old daughter of New Earth’s Founding Father, has spent her life in comfort and safety. Her days are easy thanks to the Intercept, a crime-prevention device that monitors and provokes emotion. But when her long-time crush, Danny Mayhew, gets into a dangerous altercation on Old Earth, Violet launches a secret investigation to find out what he's hiding. An investigation that will lead her to question everything she's ever known about Danny, her father, and the power of the Intercept.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published October 31, 2017
31 people are currently reading
1209 people want to read
About the author
Julia Keller
29 books480 followersJulia was born and raised in Huntington, West Virginia. She graduated from Marshall University, then later earned a doctoral degree in English Literature at Ohio State University.
She was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University and has taught at Princeton and Ohio State Universities, and the University of Notre Dame. She is a guest essayist on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS and has been a contributor on CNN and NBC Nightly News. In 2005, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing.
Julia lives in a high-rise in Chicago and a stone cottage on a lake in rural Ohio.
She was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University and has taught at Princeton and Ohio State Universities, and the University of Notre Dame. She is a guest essayist on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS and has been a contributor on CNN and NBC Nightly News. In 2005, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing.
Julia lives in a high-rise in Chicago and a stone cottage on a lake in rural Ohio.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 82 reviews
November 5, 2017
This book had so much potential but unfortunately, it did not meet my expectations. I wouldn't say my expectations were unrealistic but I was hopeful and looking forward to this read.
The story was slow which can be typical in the beginning when a world requires explanation. World building takes time. However, this novel was not successful in the world building aspect and the story felt slow throughout. The world (or worlds) featured in this novel were left quite vague. There were minimal explanations regarding the events of the Old Earth prior to New Earth, the creation of New Earth, or even details regarding New Earth where the story is mainly located. Due to the lack of background or detail, it left me with a lot of questions and some confusion. One of the main things that brought most of my confusion was the Intercept. Eventually, I feel like I settled on this intervention but originally, I felt that it wasn't described adequately and again, brought about quite a bit of confusion.
As mentioned above, the story felt slow and seemed to drag on at parts. I felt it difficult to maintain focus because I wasn't becoming invested in the story or the characters. It wasn't until the last 50 pages or so that I felt that need to continue reading. There were two major plot twists (one predictable that I saw coming from the beginning and one not) that were the best part of the novel.
I think some people may actually really like this novel but for me, it just was not a success. The dystopian genre can be quite competitive and that is understandable because there is such an abundance of novels within that format. Unfortunately, there would be many other dystopian novels that I would recommend before this one.
**Thank you to Raincoast Books for supplying me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review**
The story was slow which can be typical in the beginning when a world requires explanation. World building takes time. However, this novel was not successful in the world building aspect and the story felt slow throughout. The world (or worlds) featured in this novel were left quite vague. There were minimal explanations regarding the events of the Old Earth prior to New Earth, the creation of New Earth, or even details regarding New Earth where the story is mainly located. Due to the lack of background or detail, it left me with a lot of questions and some confusion. One of the main things that brought most of my confusion was the Intercept. Eventually, I feel like I settled on this intervention but originally, I felt that it wasn't described adequately and again, brought about quite a bit of confusion.
As mentioned above, the story felt slow and seemed to drag on at parts. I felt it difficult to maintain focus because I wasn't becoming invested in the story or the characters. It wasn't until the last 50 pages or so that I felt that need to continue reading. There were two major plot twists (one predictable that I saw coming from the beginning and one not) that were the best part of the novel.
I think some people may actually really like this novel but for me, it just was not a success. The dystopian genre can be quite competitive and that is understandable because there is such an abundance of novels within that format. Unfortunately, there would be many other dystopian novels that I would recommend before this one.
**Thank you to Raincoast Books for supplying me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review**
October 25, 2017
I went into this book with really high expectations because I love dystopian novels! However, I was disappointed that this book fell flat for me. The book started off very promising, but unfortunately, it did not develop in the way I was hoping.
The idea of the world really intrigued me, but I felt like there wasn't much world building. I was left a little confused as to how certain things in the world were created and what the purpose was. I was hoping for more information throughout the story. I also wish the book would have had a more consistent pace. I felt like a majority of the book was slower paced and then the ending felt very rushed. I was hoping for more of a high stakes pace throughout the entire novel.
I didn't hate the character, but I do wish they would have had more character development throughout the story. They were all fine! They had some characteristics that I really admired and I hope the author develops those characteristics more in book two. The only character that I really didn't like was Danny. Danny was TERRIBLE. He treated the main character, Violet, like complete trash. I could not get behind their romance AT ALL. I could not understand how Violet stood up for him and still had feelings for him. HE IS TRASH! DUMP HIM!!!
Overall, this book just did not hit the mark for me. I would be intrigued to see what happens in book two because I think this series has potential to become extremely enjoyable for me.
2 / 5 Fangs
*This ebook was given to me in exchange for an honest review. *
MrsLeif's Two Fangs About It
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The idea of the world really intrigued me, but I felt like there wasn't much world building. I was left a little confused as to how certain things in the world were created and what the purpose was. I was hoping for more information throughout the story. I also wish the book would have had a more consistent pace. I felt like a majority of the book was slower paced and then the ending felt very rushed. I was hoping for more of a high stakes pace throughout the entire novel.
I didn't hate the character, but I do wish they would have had more character development throughout the story. They were all fine! They had some characteristics that I really admired and I hope the author develops those characteristics more in book two. The only character that I really didn't like was Danny. Danny was TERRIBLE. He treated the main character, Violet, like complete trash. I could not get behind their romance AT ALL. I could not understand how Violet stood up for him and still had feelings for him. HE IS TRASH! DUMP HIM!!!
Overall, this book just did not hit the mark for me. I would be intrigued to see what happens in book two because I think this series has potential to become extremely enjoyable for me.
2 / 5 Fangs
*This ebook was given to me in exchange for an honest review. *
MrsLeif's Two Fangs About It
September 25, 2017
I received this free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Violet is the sixteen year-old daughter of the founding father New Earth and she has lived a life of prosperity, peace, safety, and comfort. Life is easy thanks in part to the Intercept, a crime prevention device that monitors your thoughts and emotions and can potentially use them against you in order to keep the peace for all on New Earth. When Danny, her long time crush gets into a dangerous situation down on Old Earth, Violet decides to secretly begin investigating. Her findings lead her to question everything she knows about Danny, her father, and the Intercept.
I was really looking forward to to reading The Dark Intercept by Julia Keller. Unfortunately, it didn't really work for me. This is actually one of those stories where I preferred the concept to the final execution. Basically, it's a YA sci-fi dystopian that deals with the issue of the state controlling your emotions and thoughts. Think 1984, except instead of Big Brother you have the Intercept. The Intercept monitors everything - if you try to commit a crime, it makes you relive your worst memory and feel all of emotions that went along with it. It's pretty effective that way at stopping crimes - and it's a government approved program. Sounds pretty intriguing, doesn't it? I was totally expecting something along the lines of 1984, Minority Report, and a dash of the Dementors from the Harry Potter series. The first half seemed fairly promising as it begins to set up our characters and the world although at a slower pace. By the end, though, I realized I wasn't invested in the characters and there's not enough development in the individuals, or when it building their relationships. I was also disappointed with the world-building of New Earth, the background on it and Old Earth, and the Intercept itself. Unfortunately, all of these are lacking as well - I should have had less questions regarding each by the time I made it through that rushed ending.
Overall, The Dark Intercept by Julia Keller has a lot of potential to be a good YA sci-fi dystopian in the vein of a couple of classics. It didn't quite work out for me as I felt there wasn't enough world building or character development to really be invested in the long run. You may want to try this series opener if you are looking for a YA novel with the flavor of 1984 or Minority Report. By the way, I have to admit that I was totally waiting for a cat nun to show up!
Violet is the sixteen year-old daughter of the founding father New Earth and she has lived a life of prosperity, peace, safety, and comfort. Life is easy thanks in part to the Intercept, a crime prevention device that monitors your thoughts and emotions and can potentially use them against you in order to keep the peace for all on New Earth. When Danny, her long time crush gets into a dangerous situation down on Old Earth, Violet decides to secretly begin investigating. Her findings lead her to question everything she knows about Danny, her father, and the Intercept.
I was really looking forward to to reading The Dark Intercept by Julia Keller. Unfortunately, it didn't really work for me. This is actually one of those stories where I preferred the concept to the final execution. Basically, it's a YA sci-fi dystopian that deals with the issue of the state controlling your emotions and thoughts. Think 1984, except instead of Big Brother you have the Intercept. The Intercept monitors everything - if you try to commit a crime, it makes you relive your worst memory and feel all of emotions that went along with it. It's pretty effective that way at stopping crimes - and it's a government approved program. Sounds pretty intriguing, doesn't it? I was totally expecting something along the lines of 1984, Minority Report, and a dash of the Dementors from the Harry Potter series. The first half seemed fairly promising as it begins to set up our characters and the world although at a slower pace. By the end, though, I realized I wasn't invested in the characters and there's not enough development in the individuals, or when it building their relationships. I was also disappointed with the world-building of New Earth, the background on it and Old Earth, and the Intercept itself. Unfortunately, all of these are lacking as well - I should have had less questions regarding each by the time I made it through that rushed ending.
Overall, The Dark Intercept by Julia Keller has a lot of potential to be a good YA sci-fi dystopian in the vein of a couple of classics. It didn't quite work out for me as I felt there wasn't enough world building or character development to really be invested in the long run. You may want to try this series opener if you are looking for a YA novel with the flavor of 1984 or Minority Report. By the way, I have to admit that I was totally waiting for a cat nun to show up!
March 31, 2021
The set-up for the story is awesome. Unfortunately, the main character, Violet, is completely pre-occupied by her lust for a cop who acts suspiciously throughout most of this story. The first scene in this story is Violet saving the cop, Danny, from being killed on old earth. I honestly expected the bad guy he was chasing to end up being the love interest. I guess I read too many books where that happens.
Danny is not the bad guy per se, but I felt him guilty of something throughout most of this book. I didn’t get what she saw in Danny. It wasn’t until almost the end of this story that I actually warmed to him.
There were vividly described scenes in this story. I also think the story moved at an excellent pace. The world was not well described. New earth, for all its perfection gets hardly any description. I have no idea what it looks like except that it is cleaner than old earth. Old earth is pretty well described but since most of the story takes place on new earth that didn’t help me much.
I still don’t understand how a whole bunch of citizens of earth left so many people behind to fend for themselves. Maybe I do, but it reminded me of WWII a little but without the Gestapo to threaten people. This society has the intercept to keep the new citizens in check way before protesting. The thing is that the intercept came into play after half the population left the other half to die in old earth. Violet doesn’t even remember old earth, so we can’t really blame her. Danny is a recent addition to new earth so he misses it.
Violet’s character felt a bit flat to me. She has a best friend and we do get a little of her story, but mainly she is there to move Violet and the story forward. Danny and Violet have a non-existent relationship until Violet decides to spy on Danny to find out why he keeps going to old earth.
The ending contained a twist that just killed would have my enjoyment of this story, had I not already had issues with it. Side characters, that really had minimal involvement in the story suddenly become key players. I really disliked the ending of this story because it felt so off from the rest of it. The intercept plays a role but betrayal is an even bigger role. Although this is the first in a series, it could be a stand alone since it tells a complete story. I doubt I will continue reading this series.
November 12, 2017
There were a few books this year that I picked up because of their amazing-sounding Blurb. New Earth and Old Earth, Sci-fi and Dystopian, this new perfect life where noone can ever harm you, where there are no crimes, no illnesses, no hunger.
Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to my expectations.
There wasn’t a single character that I liked or deserved any sort of sympathy from me. Violet seemed unbelievably shallow, her father only had one trait – “make the world a better place no matter what”, and the rest of the characters weren’t developed enough for me to form any sort of opinion on them.
Violet constantly talked about her love interest, throughout the whole book and then NOTHING HAPPENED, the relationship didn’t go anywhere. If you read this book, you might disagree and say: Hey, some major events unraveled by the end of the book and Violet had her moment with Danny. And that is true, but it felt weird, considering the circumstances.
The concept was poorly executed, in my opinion, and deserved a little bit more depth and details. The characters deserved to have other conversations than “What is Danny up to”.
I liked the idea of the New Earth and the control over people’s emotions to prevent any crime, no matter how small it might be. I loved the idea of the Rebellion and a group of people fighting against the government, fighting to keep their emotions to themselves. And I wish it would have been written better, would have focused more on a core rather than someone’s love interest.
There wasn’t a single character that I liked or deserved any sort of sympathy from me. Violet seemed unbelievably shallow, her father only had one trait – “make the world a better place no matter what”, and the rest of the characters weren’t developed enough for me to form any sort of opinion on them.
Violet constantly talked about her love interest, throughout the whole book and then NOTHING HAPPENED, the relationship didn’t go anywhere. If you read this book, you might disagree and say: Hey, some major events unraveled by the end of the book and Violet had her moment with Danny. And that is true, but it felt weird, considering the circumstances.
The concept was poorly executed, in my opinion, and deserved a little bit more depth and details. The characters deserved to have other conversations than “What is Danny up to”.
I liked the idea of the New Earth and the control over people’s emotions to prevent any crime, no matter how small it might be. I loved the idea of the Rebellion and a group of people fighting against the government, fighting to keep their emotions to themselves. And I wish it would have been written better, would have focused more on a core rather than someone’s love interest.
July 15, 2017
I received an ARC of this book for an honest review from Netgalley. Thanks Netgalley!
I really enjoyed the first half of this book. The story was compelling, I liked the characters, the world, all of it.
And then...
it all fell apart and was a complete mess.
The second half was so rushed and confusing and there was no development of relationships with characters or anything. Yikes.
I rate the first half 3 stars and the second half 2 stars.
Full review here:
https://eggreader.wordpress.com/2017/...
I really enjoyed the first half of this book. The story was compelling, I liked the characters, the world, all of it.
And then...
it all fell apart and was a complete mess.
The second half was so rushed and confusing and there was no development of relationships with characters or anything. Yikes.
I rate the first half 3 stars and the second half 2 stars.
Full review here:
https://eggreader.wordpress.com/2017/...
March 27, 2018
Two worlds, within one world. One for those of privilege, both intellectual and financial; the other the remnants of our broken planet left behind. The Dark Intercept starts out with an interesting concept that there is a world within the atmosphere of the Earth that is entirely enclosed and perfectly balanced out with human existence. The problem? Not everyone can fit... and so some are left behind on 'old Earth' who despise those whom got upgraded, those whom destroyed it all and wouldn't even try to fix it.
Our lead teenage gal is an interesting character, even if much of her personality seemed a bit soft to me at first. As the privileged daughter of the inventor of New Earth she has more power and influence than even she realizes most of the time. That is until it’s really perfect for her to use it...
Convenience
Yes I know if you've read a lot of my reviews I say similar things. But here's the thing; cheap, convenient or just too easy situations drive me insane. They are a sign of a poor ability to create elaborate (but easy to follow) plots that truly have the reader believing every moment of the story and each characters decisions.
There is a large turning point in the story (about 75% through) that had me so enraged at how simple it was (and shouldn’t have been), I had to switch books I was reading at the time to cool off before returning to The Dark Intercept.
Not All Bad
That said, Julia Keller's writing is not all bad. Her development of characters and even plot is not so bad at all. I could definitely see some moments of brilliance shine through. But as we near the end these great moments taper off and become the landscape upon which weaker ideas, plot and reactions from characters were built upon.
Overall
It's really too bad that The Dark Intercept doesn't have more of what I really wanted; better foreshadowing and more twists and turns that weren't written in just because a character can say something like 'I'm so-and-so and therefore I can do this banned activity or gain access to this secure area'. There's no creativity or overall brilliance in this type of storytelling. Clever situations and solutions are a much better way to gain your readers attention and get buy in.
I'd like to see the characters grow alongside the story and with the reader as we progress. While the concept of the Intercept and it's ability to 'control' people on New Earth is cool and all it just wasn't enough to keep my interest.
For this and more of my reviews please visit my blog at: Epic Reading
Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.
Our lead teenage gal is an interesting character, even if much of her personality seemed a bit soft to me at first. As the privileged daughter of the inventor of New Earth she has more power and influence than even she realizes most of the time. That is until it’s really perfect for her to use it...
Convenience
Yes I know if you've read a lot of my reviews I say similar things. But here's the thing; cheap, convenient or just too easy situations drive me insane. They are a sign of a poor ability to create elaborate (but easy to follow) plots that truly have the reader believing every moment of the story and each characters decisions.
There is a large turning point in the story (about 75% through) that had me so enraged at how simple it was (and shouldn’t have been), I had to switch books I was reading at the time to cool off before returning to The Dark Intercept.
Not All Bad
That said, Julia Keller's writing is not all bad. Her development of characters and even plot is not so bad at all. I could definitely see some moments of brilliance shine through. But as we near the end these great moments taper off and become the landscape upon which weaker ideas, plot and reactions from characters were built upon.
Overall
It's really too bad that The Dark Intercept doesn't have more of what I really wanted; better foreshadowing and more twists and turns that weren't written in just because a character can say something like 'I'm so-and-so and therefore I can do this banned activity or gain access to this secure area'. There's no creativity or overall brilliance in this type of storytelling. Clever situations and solutions are a much better way to gain your readers attention and get buy in.
I'd like to see the characters grow alongside the story and with the reader as we progress. While the concept of the Intercept and it's ability to 'control' people on New Earth is cool and all it just wasn't enough to keep my interest.
For this and more of my reviews please visit my blog at: Epic Reading
Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.
August 22, 2018
"The Dark Intercept" was an ok science fiction novel that I feel could have been much better had it been shorter. There were too many info dumps that, instead of clarifying things, made it all seem muddled. Hopefully the second in the series will keep the technology explanations more succinct. I'm willing to give the sequel a try.
This review is based upon a complimentary copy provided by the publisher.
This review is based upon a complimentary copy provided by the publisher.
November 6, 2017
Update 11/6/2017:
So apparently Danny is only 20, which I suppose is better than 22 but still?? He is an adult. She is a minor. Still not okay lmao I can't wait to die
Original Review:
I have so many thoughts about this book and not very many of them are good. There are spoilers ahead but I'll tag them.
First off, I think the concept for The Dark Intercept was perfect and terrifying. It reminded me of a cross between the Giver and 1984, and the first few chapters were sufficiently riveting for me to start really getting into it. I also really enjoyed the excellent and unique writing style, which was kind of prose-y but in a pleasant way. I had a lot of quotes marked while I was reading. Unfortunately, the concept and the writing were kind of the only things that worked for me, and there was quite a lot that didn't.
First, the characters. None of them were three-dimensional at all. Violet, the main character, reeeeaaaaally annoyed me, because she a) used people, and b) never grew a spine. Like, ever. I used to think that those two qualities were mutually exclusive, but I was wrong. The entire book was either her having no consideration for the people around her and their wants/needs, or just doing whatever Danny told her to do.
Also, side note before I forget: Danny was a real schmuck. The ENTIRE book he treats Violet poorly, and excuses his own crappy, selfish actions with "you just need to trust me!!!1!1!!," and Violet.... did??? And she constantly stood up for him???? She is treated badly this entire book by Danny but she just takes it and is still in love with him. Ugh. There’s even parts of the book where she dreams about telling her mom about Danny and how much she loves him and how good of a person he is, but I’m 100% sure if her mom was there she would be like “girl, you need to drop him. He’s not good for you. He doesn’t trust you. He doesn’t love you. Drop. Him.” Danny is such a freaking prick that he gets an entire paragraph designated to how much of an idiot he is. Screw you, Danny. Butthead.
The romance was another part of the book that I found really problematic, until the very end, when it was just a little problematic (but, at least, significantly less cliché than before!). The way I saw it while reading, there were two possible romance paths this book would take, both equally terrible, unhealthy YA tropes: a) Violet would let Danny walk all over her because "she loved him!!!!!11!!!1!!111!!!!" and he would eventually turn out to be a "nice" guy and they would fall in love and Violet would forget all about the way he treated her before (moral of the story: girls, if a guy treats you like crap, you should stay with him because he could be a good guy underneath!), or b) Violet would realize that Danny was a real butthead and proceed to fall in love with this dude named Reznik, this coworker that has a huge crush on her and always asks her out (moral of the story: girls, if a guy won't leave you alone even after you've made your intentions clear, you should just go out on a date with him already!! You may actually like what you find!). B definitely didn’t happen, but A??... well, uh, kind of. I’ll talk about that next.
*Just gonna tag this entire next paragraph as romance arc spoilers, but I’m also talking about unhealthy relationships in YA sooo you should probably read it unless you, like, really hate spoilers*
Listen. Every time I read a book where a male love interest treats the main girl like crap, all I want in the end is for the girl to grow a pair and say, "yeah, I know you think it was for my own good or whatever, but you actually acted like a crapbag and you were really mean to me so you know what? I'm not interested in you anymore." This rarely happens in YA. When it does, the main girl usually falls into the arms of her guy friend who has been in love with her for years, which is equally problematic (see: above morals). So, when the romance arc resolved itself, and Violet ended up with neither Danny nor Reznik, I was kiiiind of happy with Violet?? and the romance aspect of the book?? But also really not. I mean, yeah, she doesn't fall back into "Danny's" arms, but.... she does forgive him..... and they become friends.... and will probably start dating again. So disappointing. The Dark Intercept was inches away from breaking out of a lot of those toxic tropes, but it inevitably fell back into one of them, which made me really angry and sad because it was literally so. freaking. close.
*End of romance spoilers*
Oh, yeah. One other good thing with The Dark Intercept were the bomb. as. heck. plot. twists. I'm kind of glad I held on through my internal screaming of the first 70% of the book because it was almost worth it for how the plot picked up in that last 30%. I truly did not see what was happening coming, in a good way.
Oh, and one more thing about Danny The Butthead: As far as I could tell, the book lists no specific age for him. So, I tried to do my own calculations. Let’s see…. if Danny is a cop, and the other characters constantly refer to him as a man instead of a boy, and he acts less like a teenage boy and more like an adult, and then I would put Danny at about 22 (at the very LEAST). Violet is 16. Not okay. Now, I may be totally off on what Danny's intended age is, but the book gave no indication or even implied that he was around the same age as Violet. I don’t know. I may be totally off the mark because I zoned out for awhile in the middle. But if he is close to Violet’s age then that is pretty unrealistic that a guy could be a crazy smart/mad scientist AND a professional cop by the time he’s, like, 17. Whatever. It’s just, whenever I read a book where the male love interest has a real job that you need actual years of training for and they act like an adult then I really need that specification of how old they actually are so I can know whether to blacklist the book or not.
In conclusion, I wouldn't really recommend The Dark Intercept to anyone. Fresh concept and first-rate writing don't really make up for flat characters and toxic YA tropes. I'm so tired of this.
So apparently Danny is only 20, which I suppose is better than 22 but still?? He is an adult. She is a minor. Still not okay lmao I can't wait to die
Original Review:
I have so many thoughts about this book and not very many of them are good. There are spoilers ahead but I'll tag them.
First off, I think the concept for The Dark Intercept was perfect and terrifying. It reminded me of a cross between the Giver and 1984, and the first few chapters were sufficiently riveting for me to start really getting into it. I also really enjoyed the excellent and unique writing style, which was kind of prose-y but in a pleasant way. I had a lot of quotes marked while I was reading. Unfortunately, the concept and the writing were kind of the only things that worked for me, and there was quite a lot that didn't.
First, the characters. None of them were three-dimensional at all. Violet, the main character, reeeeaaaaally annoyed me, because she a) used people, and b) never grew a spine. Like, ever. I used to think that those two qualities were mutually exclusive, but I was wrong. The entire book was either her having no consideration for the people around her and their wants/needs, or just doing whatever Danny told her to do.
Also, side note before I forget: Danny was a real schmuck. The ENTIRE book he treats Violet poorly, and excuses his own crappy, selfish actions with "you just need to trust me!!!1!1!!," and Violet.... did??? And she constantly stood up for him???? She is treated badly this entire book by Danny but she just takes it and is still in love with him. Ugh. There’s even parts of the book where she dreams about telling her mom about Danny and how much she loves him and how good of a person he is, but I’m 100% sure if her mom was there she would be like “girl, you need to drop him. He’s not good for you. He doesn’t trust you. He doesn’t love you. Drop. Him.” Danny is such a freaking prick that he gets an entire paragraph designated to how much of an idiot he is. Screw you, Danny. Butthead.
The romance was another part of the book that I found really problematic, until the very end, when it was just a little problematic (but, at least, significantly less cliché than before!). The way I saw it while reading, there were two possible romance paths this book would take, both equally terrible, unhealthy YA tropes: a) Violet would let Danny walk all over her because "she loved him!!!!!11!!!1!!111!!!!" and he would eventually turn out to be a "nice" guy and they would fall in love and Violet would forget all about the way he treated her before (moral of the story: girls, if a guy treats you like crap, you should stay with him because he could be a good guy underneath!), or b) Violet would realize that Danny was a real butthead and proceed to fall in love with this dude named Reznik, this coworker that has a huge crush on her and always asks her out (moral of the story: girls, if a guy won't leave you alone even after you've made your intentions clear, you should just go out on a date with him already!! You may actually like what you find!). B definitely didn’t happen, but A??... well, uh, kind of. I’ll talk about that next.
*Just gonna tag this entire next paragraph as romance arc spoilers, but I’m also talking about unhealthy relationships in YA sooo you should probably read it unless you, like, really hate spoilers*
Listen. Every time I read a book where a male love interest treats the main girl like crap, all I want in the end is for the girl to grow a pair and say, "yeah, I know you think it was for my own good or whatever, but you actually acted like a crapbag and you were really mean to me so you know what? I'm not interested in you anymore." This rarely happens in YA. When it does, the main girl usually falls into the arms of her guy friend who has been in love with her for years, which is equally problematic (see: above morals). So, when the romance arc resolved itself, and Violet ended up with neither Danny nor Reznik, I was kiiiind of happy with Violet?? and the romance aspect of the book?? But also really not. I mean, yeah, she doesn't fall back into "Danny's" arms, but.... she does forgive him..... and they become friends.... and will probably start dating again. So disappointing. The Dark Intercept was inches away from breaking out of a lot of those toxic tropes, but it inevitably fell back into one of them, which made me really angry and sad because it was literally so. freaking. close.
*End of romance spoilers*
Oh, yeah. One other good thing with The Dark Intercept were the bomb. as. heck. plot. twists. I'm kind of glad I held on through my internal screaming of the first 70% of the book because it was almost worth it for how the plot picked up in that last 30%. I truly did not see what was happening coming, in a good way.
Oh, and one more thing about Danny The Butthead: As far as I could tell, the book lists no specific age for him. So, I tried to do my own calculations. Let’s see…. if Danny is a cop, and the other characters constantly refer to him as a man instead of a boy, and he acts less like a teenage boy and more like an adult, and then I would put Danny at about 22 (at the very LEAST). Violet is 16. Not okay. Now, I may be totally off on what Danny's intended age is, but the book gave no indication or even implied that he was around the same age as Violet. I don’t know. I may be totally off the mark because I zoned out for awhile in the middle. But if he is close to Violet’s age then that is pretty unrealistic that a guy could be a crazy smart/mad scientist AND a professional cop by the time he’s, like, 17. Whatever. It’s just, whenever I read a book where the male love interest has a real job that you need actual years of training for and they act like an adult then I really need that specification of how old they actually are so I can know whether to blacklist the book or not.
In conclusion, I wouldn't really recommend The Dark Intercept to anyone. Fresh concept and first-rate writing don't really make up for flat characters and toxic YA tropes. I'm so tired of this.
November 13, 2017
***3.5 stars***
Full review can also be viewed on Lair Of Books:
https://lairofbooksblog.wordpress.com...
My Review:
The dark Intercept caught my attention with its interesting concept & cool cover depicting a sleek new planet suspended above another that is gray & ominous. In a world filled with violence, crime, sickness, and hopelessness; science & technology have provided a way out. Not everyone however has been granted access into New Earth, that right has been reserved only for the privileged elite. Everyone else has been left behind on Old Earth to fend for themselves. The invention of the Intercept has made it so that there is no need for law enforcement to be present at all times. Every single human being both on Old Earth & New Earth have had a chip inserted in their arm & emotions have been weaponized as a method of control over the populace. Every single emotion is digitally recorded by the Intercept & law enforcement is called the minute it picks up on any nefarious actions. Criminals caught in the act are subjected to the Intercept while it selects your most painful memory on record & replays it for you so vividly it’s as if you are re-living the moment over & over again until left in crippling agony. I found this alone to be a scary concept simply because the implementation of chipping in humans isn’t far fetched in real life today, as a matter of fact you may have heard of one company in Wisconsin who has embedded them in their employees. In The Dark Intercept, we have a population that has been entirely abandoned to its own devices on Old Earth & it’s pretty much survival of the fittest down there.
We get introduced to 16 year old Violet who works at an office monitoring The Dark Intercept for any signs of malicious activity. Whenever the Intercept picks up on criminal activity, Violet initiates the feed of painful memories/emotions to the criminal. Violet is also the daughter of the man who created New Earth & because she is able to see the live feed of Old Earth, has a deep appreciation for the Intercept. This is why Violet can’t understand why Danny, a guy she has feelings for, can’t seem to stop himself from going down to Old Earth despite orders not to. Danny works for law enforcement on New Earth but unlike Violet, he was born on Old Earth & has plenty of secrets to hide. For the majority of this book we follow Violet as she tracks Danny’s moves on Old Earth in an attempt to discover his motives. I really wish this has been multiple POV, I was very interested in Danny & a few of the other supporting characters. I also didn’t really see much chemistry between these two characters in a romantic sort of way particularly because Violet came off as very immature in contrast to Danny who is in his early 20’s. Since that didn’t really go anywhere, I’m hoping it stays that way and that instead we see a platonic relationship between these two characters. Less focus on Violet tracking every move Danny makes & more on the characters in the shadows is what I’d like to see in the sequel.
Along with multiple POV’s I also would’ve liked Old Earth to have been a bit more fleshed out. We do get introduced to a woman on Old Earth & there is mention of a group of teens who stick together in survival mode by any means necessary but it’s not really as fleshed out as New Earth. There is one character in particular who goes by the alias Tin Man that I was REALLLLLY interested in & would’ve loved to see more story on. I love stories where the oppressed fight back against a system that’s broken & for a minute there I had some guesses as to who would helm the revolution if there were to be one. I’m hoping to see some of these predictions come true in the next installment *fingers crossed*.
In terms of writing, the second half of The Dark Intercept was definitely stronger than the first. I found myself flipping pages a bit faster when plot twists were introduced but also found that I had reached the end by the time my interest was at its most highest. Above all, what I liked most about the Dark Intercept is perhaps the potential for conversation it opens up on the ramifications of human chipping. This may be a YA Sci-Fi but a lot of what was going on doesn’t seem far fetched anymore in the real world of today. Overall, The Dark Intercept presents an interesting concept with some flaws in terms of world building/character development however, the Big Brother element hooks you in & the plot twists make for an entertaining read, I gave it 3.5 stars.
*HUGE thanks to Tor Teen and Julia Keller for the arc copy of The Dark Intercept in exchange for an honest review.
Full review can also be viewed on Lair Of Books:
https://lairofbooksblog.wordpress.com...
My Review:
The dark Intercept caught my attention with its interesting concept & cool cover depicting a sleek new planet suspended above another that is gray & ominous. In a world filled with violence, crime, sickness, and hopelessness; science & technology have provided a way out. Not everyone however has been granted access into New Earth, that right has been reserved only for the privileged elite. Everyone else has been left behind on Old Earth to fend for themselves. The invention of the Intercept has made it so that there is no need for law enforcement to be present at all times. Every single human being both on Old Earth & New Earth have had a chip inserted in their arm & emotions have been weaponized as a method of control over the populace. Every single emotion is digitally recorded by the Intercept & law enforcement is called the minute it picks up on any nefarious actions. Criminals caught in the act are subjected to the Intercept while it selects your most painful memory on record & replays it for you so vividly it’s as if you are re-living the moment over & over again until left in crippling agony. I found this alone to be a scary concept simply because the implementation of chipping in humans isn’t far fetched in real life today, as a matter of fact you may have heard of one company in Wisconsin who has embedded them in their employees. In The Dark Intercept, we have a population that has been entirely abandoned to its own devices on Old Earth & it’s pretty much survival of the fittest down there.
We get introduced to 16 year old Violet who works at an office monitoring The Dark Intercept for any signs of malicious activity. Whenever the Intercept picks up on criminal activity, Violet initiates the feed of painful memories/emotions to the criminal. Violet is also the daughter of the man who created New Earth & because she is able to see the live feed of Old Earth, has a deep appreciation for the Intercept. This is why Violet can’t understand why Danny, a guy she has feelings for, can’t seem to stop himself from going down to Old Earth despite orders not to. Danny works for law enforcement on New Earth but unlike Violet, he was born on Old Earth & has plenty of secrets to hide. For the majority of this book we follow Violet as she tracks Danny’s moves on Old Earth in an attempt to discover his motives. I really wish this has been multiple POV, I was very interested in Danny & a few of the other supporting characters. I also didn’t really see much chemistry between these two characters in a romantic sort of way particularly because Violet came off as very immature in contrast to Danny who is in his early 20’s. Since that didn’t really go anywhere, I’m hoping it stays that way and that instead we see a platonic relationship between these two characters. Less focus on Violet tracking every move Danny makes & more on the characters in the shadows is what I’d like to see in the sequel.
Along with multiple POV’s I also would’ve liked Old Earth to have been a bit more fleshed out. We do get introduced to a woman on Old Earth & there is mention of a group of teens who stick together in survival mode by any means necessary but it’s not really as fleshed out as New Earth. There is one character in particular who goes by the alias Tin Man that I was REALLLLLY interested in & would’ve loved to see more story on. I love stories where the oppressed fight back against a system that’s broken & for a minute there I had some guesses as to who would helm the revolution if there were to be one. I’m hoping to see some of these predictions come true in the next installment *fingers crossed*.
In terms of writing, the second half of The Dark Intercept was definitely stronger than the first. I found myself flipping pages a bit faster when plot twists were introduced but also found that I had reached the end by the time my interest was at its most highest. Above all, what I liked most about the Dark Intercept is perhaps the potential for conversation it opens up on the ramifications of human chipping. This may be a YA Sci-Fi but a lot of what was going on doesn’t seem far fetched anymore in the real world of today. Overall, The Dark Intercept presents an interesting concept with some flaws in terms of world building/character development however, the Big Brother element hooks you in & the plot twists make for an entertaining read, I gave it 3.5 stars.
*HUGE thanks to Tor Teen and Julia Keller for the arc copy of The Dark Intercept in exchange for an honest review.
October 30, 2017
'The Dark Intercept' is a bold and imaginative first book in an exciting YA science fiction series that fans are definitely going to love. The plot of the story was very in depth and original, which is hard to come by anymore. I really liked learning about this future the author created and about both the New Earth and the Old Earth. And then there's the whole Intercept topic, which is a huge part of the story. I loved learning about the Intercept - how it came to be, what it does, what it's supposed to do, and what it can be capable of, among others. It really made me sit back and think about what life would be like if something like this was in our world today. It's a fascinating and horrifying thought and one that can be argued for both the positive and the negative. I'm looking forward to learning more about the Intercept and the world the author has created for the series.
The characters were pretty well rounded with distinctive traits and flaws, which made them realistic. I had a personal issue with the writing style, however. I strongly prefer the first person point of view, and this book is told from the third person. I never seem to connect with the characters as deeply (or barely at all) when the writing isn't done in the first person. It's my own quirk and has nothing to do with the author's writing or the book itself. Just my personal preference. But it always has a pretty big impact on my reading experience, and this was no exception. The plot was full of action, suspense, and tons of questions. Eventually, the answers are given to us - so there really weren't any big cliffhangers (which I'm grateful for). I thought the main plot of Danny and Violet along with their secrets was interesting and I liked watching them work through everything together while watching their relationship grow and change. Overall, I think this was a fantastic start to a promising new series that fans of science fiction and dystopias are going to want to pick up.
Disclosure: I received a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
The characters were pretty well rounded with distinctive traits and flaws, which made them realistic. I had a personal issue with the writing style, however. I strongly prefer the first person point of view, and this book is told from the third person. I never seem to connect with the characters as deeply (or barely at all) when the writing isn't done in the first person. It's my own quirk and has nothing to do with the author's writing or the book itself. Just my personal preference. But it always has a pretty big impact on my reading experience, and this was no exception. The plot was full of action, suspense, and tons of questions. Eventually, the answers are given to us - so there really weren't any big cliffhangers (which I'm grateful for). I thought the main plot of Danny and Violet along with their secrets was interesting and I liked watching them work through everything together while watching their relationship grow and change. Overall, I think this was a fantastic start to a promising new series that fans of science fiction and dystopias are going to want to pick up.
Disclosure: I received a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
December 15, 2018
BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 3.5/5
July 16, 2018
The Intercept is a computer program that monitors and potentially controls people's emotions. The control is done by showing the person one of their memories which evoked a strong emotion, perhaps disabling a criminal on the run. I would think that the person would become somewhat immune to this kind of mind-jacking, especially if they know which memories are likely to be used. Each person has a chip implanted in them and they are not allowed to remove it.
The New Earth is floating above the old Earth in handwavy, alloys, quantum physics manner. Our guide, Violet, is the daughter of the man considered responsible for its creation, and she fancies the policeman who is the brother of the man considered to be the creator of the Intercept. Very cosy, except the cop hardly talks to her, having far more important matters on his mind than a moping teenager. The policeman's story doesn't ring true at the end to my mind.
I was quite distressed that in spite of all the degredation and slums we see down below, nobody on New Earth is thinking of doing anything about the problems. No mention of how the despoliation came about, what has gone extinct, whether there can be remedies, how people left behind get food and water. They're above all that, so it doesn't matter, except to the occasional person who deals with recent immigrants. Naturally, there's a revolution brewing.
This is an exciting tale with lots of camera surveillance, young people going against what the previous generation painstakingly established, explosions and abductions. Due to violence and unpleasant scenes, I consider this suitable for mature teens and adults. I suggest the tale can be taken as an allegory for today's young people providing all their lives to computer giants on social media, with associated advertising and attempted voter manipulation.
I downloaded an e-ARC from Fresh Fiction. This is an unbiased review.
The New Earth is floating above the old Earth in handwavy, alloys, quantum physics manner. Our guide, Violet, is the daughter of the man considered responsible for its creation, and she fancies the policeman who is the brother of the man considered to be the creator of the Intercept. Very cosy, except the cop hardly talks to her, having far more important matters on his mind than a moping teenager. The policeman's story doesn't ring true at the end to my mind.
I was quite distressed that in spite of all the degredation and slums we see down below, nobody on New Earth is thinking of doing anything about the problems. No mention of how the despoliation came about, what has gone extinct, whether there can be remedies, how people left behind get food and water. They're above all that, so it doesn't matter, except to the occasional person who deals with recent immigrants. Naturally, there's a revolution brewing.
This is an exciting tale with lots of camera surveillance, young people going against what the previous generation painstakingly established, explosions and abductions. Due to violence and unpleasant scenes, I consider this suitable for mature teens and adults. I suggest the tale can be taken as an allegory for today's young people providing all their lives to computer giants on social media, with associated advertising and attempted voter manipulation.
I downloaded an e-ARC from Fresh Fiction. This is an unbiased review.
November 30, 2017
a little more than half way through, and i have tried to make myself care way too hard. unfortunately, this one is a little all over the place...
full rtc
full rtc
May 4, 2023
Honestly this was...not good. But it was entertaining.
February 28, 2018
I do love a good dystopian novel. They keep coming and going 'out of fashion', and they are definitely a hit or miss when it comes to the plot because of how formulaic they are, but I do love reading them and reading about how bad some authors think our world is going to turn out to be. How cheerful...
The State controls your emotions. What would you pay to feel free?
In a radiant world of endless summer, the Intercept keeps the peace. Violet Crowley, the sixteen-year-old daughter of New Earth’s Founding Father, has spent her life in comfort and safety. Her days are easy thanks to the Intercept, a crime-prevention device that monitors and provokes emotion. But when her long-time crush, Danny Mayhew, gets into a dangerous altercation on Old Earth, Violet launches a secret investigation to find out what he's hiding. An investigation that will lead her to question everything she's ever known about Danny, her father, and the power of the Intercept.
Because of my love for dystopians, I was really looking forward to reading The Dark Intercept. It had all of the things that I look for when reading a dystopian. Unfortunately, this book just wasn't for me and it definitely a book where I preferred the concept to the final product. The concept is brilliant: there's a machine that manages crime by making you relive your worst memory over and over again, it keeps track of all your emotions... But it just didn't cut it for me...
The main reason why I feel like this book didn't work out is because of the world-building (or lack of). There just wasn't any. Why was New Earth built? What happened to Old Earth? Why did they feel like the Intercept had to be used if all of the 'good' people had moved to New Earth? How did they choose who to migrate up to New Earth? HOW was New Earth built? These are all questions that I was asking myself as I reading this book, and I was hoping that I would get answers to the questions but I never did. The world building was just so VAGUE. If you're going to have a 'new world', then you need to answer the basic questions. Readers need to know what happened to the old world in order for a new one to be built. They may seem like really picky things, but in order for world building to actually take place, the reader needs to understand what has happened.
Also... the pacing... God, it was dreadful. The whole book (apart from the last 50 or so pages) was sooooooo slllloooooowwwwww. It seemed like a massive chore to get through the book and I had to really motivate myself to read about 10% each night. The last 50 pages were awesome. There were plot twists and PROPER ACTION and just what I wanted, and it's what the whole book needed to stop it from being a 1 star book. Those last 50 pages is what made me give this book 2 stars. Even though the ending was rushed and was mega fast (compared to the rest of the book), I was glad to finally have some action taking place.
There is a second book coming out in November 2018 called Dark Mind Rising... Will I read it? I don't know... I'm intrigued as to whether Julia Keller can make this world better and answer the aforementioned questions, but it's not exactly a book that is anywhere near the top of my TBR.
Disclaimer: this book was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review
The State controls your emotions. What would you pay to feel free?
In a radiant world of endless summer, the Intercept keeps the peace. Violet Crowley, the sixteen-year-old daughter of New Earth’s Founding Father, has spent her life in comfort and safety. Her days are easy thanks to the Intercept, a crime-prevention device that monitors and provokes emotion. But when her long-time crush, Danny Mayhew, gets into a dangerous altercation on Old Earth, Violet launches a secret investigation to find out what he's hiding. An investigation that will lead her to question everything she's ever known about Danny, her father, and the power of the Intercept.
Because of my love for dystopians, I was really looking forward to reading The Dark Intercept. It had all of the things that I look for when reading a dystopian. Unfortunately, this book just wasn't for me and it definitely a book where I preferred the concept to the final product. The concept is brilliant: there's a machine that manages crime by making you relive your worst memory over and over again, it keeps track of all your emotions... But it just didn't cut it for me...
"Maybe if you carried bad memories around long enough, they started to change how you walked, how you talked. How you thought."
- Julia Keller, The Dark Intercept
The main reason why I feel like this book didn't work out is because of the world-building (or lack of). There just wasn't any. Why was New Earth built? What happened to Old Earth? Why did they feel like the Intercept had to be used if all of the 'good' people had moved to New Earth? How did they choose who to migrate up to New Earth? HOW was New Earth built? These are all questions that I was asking myself as I reading this book, and I was hoping that I would get answers to the questions but I never did. The world building was just so VAGUE. If you're going to have a 'new world', then you need to answer the basic questions. Readers need to know what happened to the old world in order for a new one to be built. They may seem like really picky things, but in order for world building to actually take place, the reader needs to understand what has happened.
Also... the pacing... God, it was dreadful. The whole book (apart from the last 50 or so pages) was sooooooo slllloooooowwwwww. It seemed like a massive chore to get through the book and I had to really motivate myself to read about 10% each night. The last 50 pages were awesome. There were plot twists and PROPER ACTION and just what I wanted, and it's what the whole book needed to stop it from being a 1 star book. Those last 50 pages is what made me give this book 2 stars. Even though the ending was rushed and was mega fast (compared to the rest of the book), I was glad to finally have some action taking place.
There is a second book coming out in November 2018 called Dark Mind Rising... Will I read it? I don't know... I'm intrigued as to whether Julia Keller can make this world better and answer the aforementioned questions, but it's not exactly a book that is anywhere near the top of my TBR.
Disclaimer: this book was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review
November 4, 2017
Violet Crowley is the sixteen year old daughter of the President of New Earth. Many years ago her father founded New Earth as Old Earth was being destroyed by the people and the crime rate was just getting worse and worse.
After creating New Earth Violet’s father came by the knowledge that someone had invented what they called the Intercept. The Intercept was a program that allowed the government to take everyone’s emotions and use them to control crime and to control the people if they needed too.
Violet really didn’t like that someone knew about and recorded all of her emotions but it is all she knows. But she is starting to wake and start asking questions about the Intercept.
A guy that she works with and is in love with Danny has something that he is hiding and Violet wants to know what he is hiding. When she tries to ask Danny about what he is up to he won’t tell her all he ever says is trust me. The not knowing bugs Violet so bad that she decides to investigate what Danny is up to and just may get herself in a whole heap of trouble.
When I read the summary for The Dark Intercept I knew I had to read it. A device that can monitor, record and provoke people’s emotions I had to know how that was possible and how it worked. I really, really love dystopian books and couldn’t wait to read this one. I loved the whole idea of the intercept but I would not like someone having any kind of control over me like that or could actually do something like that to someone. But I did enjoy the story very much.
I really liked Violet she seemed like someone with a lot of compassion for others. I connected with Violet on more levels than one. I could relate to how she felt and how she handled certain things.
I would recommend The Dark Intercept to anyone who likes a good dystopian/science fiction story. The idea or concept of the story is brilliant and I can’t wait to read more about Violet and Danny’s adventures in the next book.
After creating New Earth Violet’s father came by the knowledge that someone had invented what they called the Intercept. The Intercept was a program that allowed the government to take everyone’s emotions and use them to control crime and to control the people if they needed too.
Violet really didn’t like that someone knew about and recorded all of her emotions but it is all she knows. But she is starting to wake and start asking questions about the Intercept.
A guy that she works with and is in love with Danny has something that he is hiding and Violet wants to know what he is hiding. When she tries to ask Danny about what he is up to he won’t tell her all he ever says is trust me. The not knowing bugs Violet so bad that she decides to investigate what Danny is up to and just may get herself in a whole heap of trouble.
When I read the summary for The Dark Intercept I knew I had to read it. A device that can monitor, record and provoke people’s emotions I had to know how that was possible and how it worked. I really, really love dystopian books and couldn’t wait to read this one. I loved the whole idea of the intercept but I would not like someone having any kind of control over me like that or could actually do something like that to someone. But I did enjoy the story very much.
I really liked Violet she seemed like someone with a lot of compassion for others. I connected with Violet on more levels than one. I could relate to how she felt and how she handled certain things.
I would recommend The Dark Intercept to anyone who likes a good dystopian/science fiction story. The idea or concept of the story is brilliant and I can’t wait to read more about Violet and Danny’s adventures in the next book.
April 25, 2022
I really enjoy Keller's crime fiction, so I thought I'd give THE DARK INTERCEPT a go, even though YA sci-fi isn't a genre I read much. The world she creates in this novel is interesting in some ways, but pretty generic in others. Lots of elements of New Earth are contradictory and/or make little sense in a setting as futuristic as this one. As a concept, The Intercept is intriguing, although it never felt truly convincing to me. Violet is likable enough. She's a flimsy heroine, however, because she never actually DOES much. She takes few real risks, makes little happen, and spends the majority of the novel just observing. Female leads in these kinds of novels are usually more exciting! Plot-wise, the story seems to meander quite a bit. The action is fairly slow and there seem to be a lot of side trips down memory lane that don't add much to the story. I definitely wanted more from this book—more originality; better world-building; more complex characters; and a tighter, more action-filled storyline. I do have to say that I buzzed through this book in a day, which means something about it worked for me. Still, though, I never became invested enough in the story to want to continue with the series. I'll stick with Keller's murder mysteries, thank you very much.
October 10, 2017
Whenever I'm lucky enough to snag ARCs, I always try to post something about them somewhere on the internet, so I guess... here goes.
The thing about this book is that it was a great concept. The idea was solid. Far future science has figured out how to turn emotions into a weapon that stops all crime but also controls people. It's like...weaponized Big Brother. I am not sure I can call the idea original, but it's a least marginally interesting. But it turned out to be the kind of dystopia I just can't really get behind: small group of people think they are better than others, move away from the general populace, and then use violence to stop said general populace from...doing violence. I think I would have been more invested if that small group of people who decided to move to New Earth and start over had been someone other than the rich and powerful, and if those left behind on the radiation-soaked, crimeworld of Old Earth were not, you know, the poor and presumably-though-never-confirmed non-white people. That trope is getting a little stale in YA.
Speaking of YA, I'm not...actually 100% sure this is YA? The concept certainly is, and the content is pretty heavy and dark, particularly some of the descriptions of what future weapons can do to people (anything called a "slab gun" that can melt people's legs off can't be pretty in its prose descriptions). But the style, the syntax just seemed a bit...juvenile. There were a lot of short, choppy sentences all lined up one after the other, a lot of obvious emotions spelled out for readers who can figure it out on their own. None of the dialogue felt like 16- or 18-year-olds talking. I don't want to say this book is Middle Grade, because based on the content, it most definitely is not. But based on syntax and word choice? I just felt like I was slogging through a lot of Telling Not Showing, which can just get exhausting after a while.
The end of the book fell hardest on this for me. Everything wrapped up way too quickly, too disjointedly. There was a series of betrayals that fell flat like dominoes--two of the betrayals were intrinsic to the plot, but the characters were not ones directly connected to or cared about by the main character, and the third betrayal was more of a secret-reveal played off as a grievous and terrible betrayal to which the main character seemingly overreacted. All of this was neatly cleaned up in a matter of a few pages. A few pages where the author TOLD us what happened, succinctly and clinically, instead of showing us, instead of letting the main character or the readers experience it. For all that the book was about emotions, experiencing emotions, cataloguing emotions...there was not a lot of feeling in the book. Not a lot of investment. We just weren't given the chance to feel anything, because the author found telling us everything to be so much more fun.
And though I hesitate to spoil the ending, let me just say this:
Ultimately, this book was full of weak characters, a questionable syntax, a totally useless romance plot that I don't even want to begin to get into, and an unfortunately wasted premise. The best thing I can say for it is that, considering the syntax, it's a quick read. You certainly won't get bogged down in any sort of character development or interesting plot twists. Ugh, I hate giving bad reviews of ARCs. But this one, despite such an interesting premise, is just...not worth the time.
The thing about this book is that it was a great concept. The idea was solid. Far future science has figured out how to turn emotions into a weapon that stops all crime but also controls people. It's like...weaponized Big Brother. I am not sure I can call the idea original, but it's a least marginally interesting. But it turned out to be the kind of dystopia I just can't really get behind: small group of people think they are better than others, move away from the general populace, and then use violence to stop said general populace from...doing violence. I think I would have been more invested if that small group of people who decided to move to New Earth and start over had been someone other than the rich and powerful, and if those left behind on the radiation-soaked, crimeworld of Old Earth were not, you know, the poor and presumably-though-never-confirmed non-white people. That trope is getting a little stale in YA.
Speaking of YA, I'm not...actually 100% sure this is YA? The concept certainly is, and the content is pretty heavy and dark, particularly some of the descriptions of what future weapons can do to people (anything called a "slab gun" that can melt people's legs off can't be pretty in its prose descriptions). But the style, the syntax just seemed a bit...juvenile. There were a lot of short, choppy sentences all lined up one after the other, a lot of obvious emotions spelled out for readers who can figure it out on their own. None of the dialogue felt like 16- or 18-year-olds talking. I don't want to say this book is Middle Grade, because based on the content, it most definitely is not. But based on syntax and word choice? I just felt like I was slogging through a lot of Telling Not Showing, which can just get exhausting after a while.
The end of the book fell hardest on this for me. Everything wrapped up way too quickly, too disjointedly. There was a series of betrayals that fell flat like dominoes--two of the betrayals were intrinsic to the plot, but the characters were not ones directly connected to or cared about by the main character, and the third betrayal was more of a secret-reveal played off as a grievous and terrible betrayal to which the main character seemingly overreacted. All of this was neatly cleaned up in a matter of a few pages. A few pages where the author TOLD us what happened, succinctly and clinically, instead of showing us, instead of letting the main character or the readers experience it. For all that the book was about emotions, experiencing emotions, cataloguing emotions...there was not a lot of feeling in the book. Not a lot of investment. We just weren't given the chance to feel anything, because the author found telling us everything to be so much more fun.
And though I hesitate to spoil the ending, let me just say this:
Ultimately, this book was full of weak characters, a questionable syntax, a totally useless romance plot that I don't even want to begin to get into, and an unfortunately wasted premise. The best thing I can say for it is that, considering the syntax, it's a quick read. You certainly won't get bogged down in any sort of character development or interesting plot twists. Ugh, I hate giving bad reviews of ARCs. But this one, despite such an interesting premise, is just...not worth the time.
May 18, 2018
Really enjoyed this book which as of right now can be read stand alone. I am excited however to see the story continue in the next book if I get the opportunity to read it as I did with this one.. Julia Keller has taken a subject I wouldn't normally have read and made it quite interesting and opened my mind to another genre of books.
November 7, 2019
Actual rating: 3.5/5 stars.
A gripping read; The Dark Intercept is a light science fiction novel, with elements of mystery, romance, and action. A great book if you want to devour a book in one sitting, or if you need a quick pallet cleanser between heavier reads.
Book Breakdown:
Ever wonder what the future holds? What happens when the population overwhelms the planet and people’s greed takes over? Julia Keller imagines an interesting solution, but of course no paradise is without its flaws. The Intercept is a program to help law enforcement keep people in line, using individuals’ emotions as weapons against them when necessary. But Violet sometimes feels that emotions should not be exploited in that way, as do the Rebels of Light, though they have very different ways of expressing their thoughts on this matter.
This novel, divided into 3 parts, is a nice sci-fi action novel that delivers more plot twists than expected, but does so in a very natural and clever way. The pacing is a little slow at the beginning, but it really picks up in parts 2 and 3 – hang in there! (Seriously, my thoughts from the last third of the book consisted mainly of “Whoa!”, “What?!” and “Wow”!)
While the characters are not particularly complex or unique, they all fulfill their roles perfectly and fit together harmoniously. The novel also poses some interesting musings on the power of feelings, both good and bad ones – turns out good feelings can be painful too; figure that one out… or read the book and Keller will spell it out for you! ;)
In my opinion:
Keller seems to have aptly followed the standard recipe for a light sci-fi novel. Her concept is interesting; an ideal world where your emotions are used to control you, and on top of that two Earths, one basically unliveable and the other perfectly manicured. Keller also does an amazing job throughout the Dark Intercept of vividly portraying the two worlds – through visual, olfactory and emotive domains – and the extreme differences between them.
So, why only 3.5 stars? Well, first while I enjoyed this novel, Olivia also tried to read it and gave up, TWICE! I guess it’s not for everyone. Also, the choice to make Violet the daughter of the president of New Earth felt sort of wasted, she cashed in on it once and then was dragged into a mess at the end because of her father, but other than that she didn’t feel like the daughter of the most important guy in the world… Furthermore, . The Dark Intercept is apparently part of a series, but really I can’t imagine what is left to address, the novel pretty much wraps everything up. The little bit of cliffhanger feels more like a sentimental add on than an actual TBC…
Final thoughts
The novel was good as a standalone, I’m not going to seek out any follow-ups; while I have some qualms about the ending, I feel that now that it’s written as such there isn’t anything more to say.
Check out more reviews at dreamteamreads.com!
A gripping read; The Dark Intercept is a light science fiction novel, with elements of mystery, romance, and action. A great book if you want to devour a book in one sitting, or if you need a quick pallet cleanser between heavier reads.
Book Breakdown:
Ever wonder what the future holds? What happens when the population overwhelms the planet and people’s greed takes over? Julia Keller imagines an interesting solution, but of course no paradise is without its flaws. The Intercept is a program to help law enforcement keep people in line, using individuals’ emotions as weapons against them when necessary. But Violet sometimes feels that emotions should not be exploited in that way, as do the Rebels of Light, though they have very different ways of expressing their thoughts on this matter.
This novel, divided into 3 parts, is a nice sci-fi action novel that delivers more plot twists than expected, but does so in a very natural and clever way. The pacing is a little slow at the beginning, but it really picks up in parts 2 and 3 – hang in there! (Seriously, my thoughts from the last third of the book consisted mainly of “Whoa!”, “What?!” and “Wow”!)
While the characters are not particularly complex or unique, they all fulfill their roles perfectly and fit together harmoniously. The novel also poses some interesting musings on the power of feelings, both good and bad ones – turns out good feelings can be painful too; figure that one out… or read the book and Keller will spell it out for you! ;)
In my opinion:
Keller seems to have aptly followed the standard recipe for a light sci-fi novel. Her concept is interesting; an ideal world where your emotions are used to control you, and on top of that two Earths, one basically unliveable and the other perfectly manicured. Keller also does an amazing job throughout the Dark Intercept of vividly portraying the two worlds – through visual, olfactory and emotive domains – and the extreme differences between them.
So, why only 3.5 stars? Well, first while I enjoyed this novel, Olivia also tried to read it and gave up, TWICE! I guess it’s not for everyone. Also, the choice to make Violet the daughter of the president of New Earth felt sort of wasted, she cashed in on it once and then was dragged into a mess at the end because of her father, but other than that she didn’t feel like the daughter of the most important guy in the world… Furthermore, . The Dark Intercept is apparently part of a series, but really I can’t imagine what is left to address, the novel pretty much wraps everything up. The little bit of cliffhanger feels more like a sentimental add on than an actual TBC…
Final thoughts
The novel was good as a standalone, I’m not going to seek out any follow-ups; while I have some qualms about the ending, I feel that now that it’s written as such there isn’t anything more to say.
Check out more reviews at dreamteamreads.com!
November 4, 2017
Goodreads Synopsis:
The State controls your emotions. What would you pay to feel free?
In a radiant world of endless summer, the Intercept keeps the peace. Violet Crowley, the sixteen-year-old daughter of New Earth’s Founding Father, has spent her life in comfort and safety. Her days are easy thanks to the Intercept, a crime-prevention device that monitors and provokes emotion. But when her long-time crush, Danny Mayhew, gets into a dangerous altercation on Old Earth, Violet launches a secret investigation to find out what he's hiding. An investigation that will lead her to question everything she's ever known about Danny, her father, and the power of the Intercept.
My Review:
I received an arc of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I chose this book specifically because I like books about technology and the future. The cover is eye catching and the description sounded intriguing and I'm glad I read it.
What's more important? Safety or freedom? Violet is a sixteen year old girl with a job working for the government helping pilot the intercept, a massively important piece of technology that not only keeps track of everyone's emotion on new and old earth, but can use their worst and best memories and feelings against them rather than using physical violence when say, arresting someone. This tech is implanted in every citizen, and along with the camera's, easily surveys their little world.
It starts off with Violet watching a police chase with her friend Danny, down on Old Earth, through her computer with her work partner Rez, on New Earth. The perp is attacked and "intercepted" at the end of the chase, by intercepted meaning using the computers Violet and Rez are able to use the Intercept and implant an old and very painful memory into his head to completely shut him down. But Violet always feels weird about her job. Most of her thoughts throughout the book are about whether or not this is actually the right thing to do or not, to keep everyone safe by being literally inside their heads and tracking their emotions, or to let people have free reign of their own bodies.
Overall I really enjoyed this book and I'm glad I picked it to read next. Although I finished it a couple days after I received the copy, I waited to upload my review to the internet as the publisher requested. It's action packed and sucked me right into the story from the moment I started reading it. It kept me on the edge of my seat wondering what would be happening next. I couldn't put it down. The characters are lifelike and although they're in a Utopia hovering over top an apocalyptic wasteland, I think they really seem like people you could know and react realistically to their situations. The world they live in is so interesting. I definitely recommend you check it out for yourself if you haven't already.
Here's a link to the book on amazon, and another link to the authors twitter.
https://www.amazon.ca/Dark-Intercept-...
https://twitter.com/DarkIntercept
Thanks for reading! Check out this review and more at my blog.
(Radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com)
The State controls your emotions. What would you pay to feel free?
In a radiant world of endless summer, the Intercept keeps the peace. Violet Crowley, the sixteen-year-old daughter of New Earth’s Founding Father, has spent her life in comfort and safety. Her days are easy thanks to the Intercept, a crime-prevention device that monitors and provokes emotion. But when her long-time crush, Danny Mayhew, gets into a dangerous altercation on Old Earth, Violet launches a secret investigation to find out what he's hiding. An investigation that will lead her to question everything she's ever known about Danny, her father, and the power of the Intercept.
My Review:
I received an arc of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I chose this book specifically because I like books about technology and the future. The cover is eye catching and the description sounded intriguing and I'm glad I read it.
What's more important? Safety or freedom? Violet is a sixteen year old girl with a job working for the government helping pilot the intercept, a massively important piece of technology that not only keeps track of everyone's emotion on new and old earth, but can use their worst and best memories and feelings against them rather than using physical violence when say, arresting someone. This tech is implanted in every citizen, and along with the camera's, easily surveys their little world.
It starts off with Violet watching a police chase with her friend Danny, down on Old Earth, through her computer with her work partner Rez, on New Earth. The perp is attacked and "intercepted" at the end of the chase, by intercepted meaning using the computers Violet and Rez are able to use the Intercept and implant an old and very painful memory into his head to completely shut him down. But Violet always feels weird about her job. Most of her thoughts throughout the book are about whether or not this is actually the right thing to do or not, to keep everyone safe by being literally inside their heads and tracking their emotions, or to let people have free reign of their own bodies.
Overall I really enjoyed this book and I'm glad I picked it to read next. Although I finished it a couple days after I received the copy, I waited to upload my review to the internet as the publisher requested. It's action packed and sucked me right into the story from the moment I started reading it. It kept me on the edge of my seat wondering what would be happening next. I couldn't put it down. The characters are lifelike and although they're in a Utopia hovering over top an apocalyptic wasteland, I think they really seem like people you could know and react realistically to their situations. The world they live in is so interesting. I definitely recommend you check it out for yourself if you haven't already.
Here's a link to the book on amazon, and another link to the authors twitter.
https://www.amazon.ca/Dark-Intercept-...
https://twitter.com/DarkIntercept
Thanks for reading! Check out this review and more at my blog.
(Radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com)
November 9, 2017
This book is the kind of book I like to read curled up with a cup of coffee in my hand ready for some excitement in my brain while in the comfort of my home. Being of one of my all time favorite genres dystopian I really and truly loved this novel!
The concepts of how humans destroy and rebuild themselves in different situations and always find a way to have hope is what I love about dystopians. Humans are emotional and hugely flawed and it’s so cool to think about how someone would act in any given situation. Or even how I would act.
Imagining Old Earth being this desolate, dirty, and destructive place where death is an every minute occurrence and people are at each other’s throats for any grain of food is an awful, but not too unimaginable reality. There are places on earth today where people are starving and doing anything they can for a few pennies here or there to get enough food to feed their families. It’s why I find books like this to be so good and so necessary because they show not only what could be but also what is in a very real way.
What I also loved about this book was the Intercept itself. A machine that takes every single emotion you have and the moment that caused it in order to be used against you in an intervention should you commit a crime. The second I learned about what the Intercept was I knew I had to read this book and I am so glad I did. It is truly a fun ride.
However, it wasn’t just the dystopian elements that I loved about the book, but the characters themselves. They were all flawed and had so many different emotions and motives for their actions. While I wish I got more of the rebels side of the story it was interesting to see the choice of Violet as the main character and how her choices affected the outcome of the story. Plus, I did enjoy the romance in the story. It kept me on my toes that’s for sure.
The Dark Intercept is a riveting dystopian novel that will make you fill with wonder. It’s a novel that has me dutifully awaiting its sequel.
The concepts of how humans destroy and rebuild themselves in different situations and always find a way to have hope is what I love about dystopians. Humans are emotional and hugely flawed and it’s so cool to think about how someone would act in any given situation. Or even how I would act.
Imagining Old Earth being this desolate, dirty, and destructive place where death is an every minute occurrence and people are at each other’s throats for any grain of food is an awful, but not too unimaginable reality. There are places on earth today where people are starving and doing anything they can for a few pennies here or there to get enough food to feed their families. It’s why I find books like this to be so good and so necessary because they show not only what could be but also what is in a very real way.
What I also loved about this book was the Intercept itself. A machine that takes every single emotion you have and the moment that caused it in order to be used against you in an intervention should you commit a crime. The second I learned about what the Intercept was I knew I had to read this book and I am so glad I did. It is truly a fun ride.
However, it wasn’t just the dystopian elements that I loved about the book, but the characters themselves. They were all flawed and had so many different emotions and motives for their actions. While I wish I got more of the rebels side of the story it was interesting to see the choice of Violet as the main character and how her choices affected the outcome of the story. Plus, I did enjoy the romance in the story. It kept me on my toes that’s for sure.
The Dark Intercept is a riveting dystopian novel that will make you fill with wonder. It’s a novel that has me dutifully awaiting its sequel.
December 8, 2024
This is a rare four-star review from me for an author whose books I usually love. Perhaps it's because this is science fiction rather than mystery, perhaps because it seemed to be written for the young adult market rather than a 67 year-old. Keller's fine writing style is intact but some of her descriptions seem to go on a bit more than needed, and the romance thread seemed predictable, as if included to keep the young readers happy.
The concept is fascinating: earth falls into an uninhabitable hellhole, but Violet Crowley's father Ogden designed and engineered a New Earth which is suspended somehow over Old Earth. Travel to and from is strictly regulated; inhabitants of New Earth seem to have been those deemed appropriately qualified for life there while many others were left behind on Old Earth. New Earth is kept orderly and neat and crime-free because of something called the Intercept, a huge database of everyone's unique emotions that are deployed (via implanted chip) as weapons when someone veers into bad behavior. About to rob that store? You'll get zapped with that nasty memory of your dog getting hit by a car and you'll feel all over again the anguish of not being able to help Fido....
But is it a good thing to have AI collecting very personal emotional responses to turn them back on you as a behavior modification tool? Some people seem to think it isn't.
It's an interesting idea and one that seems plausible. What I couldn't wrap my head around was New Earth. How was it created in such a short (relatively short, it seemed to me) period of time? How did it work? I didn't need much detail on this, but whenever crossing from one Earth to the other got mentioned or references to Ogden's creation of it came up, I wondered. And that was distracting enough to keep me fully immersed in the world of the book.
Of course, I'm a neophyte sci-fi reader so it's entirely possible this is my error in reading the book. And it wasn't enough to keep me from ordering the next book in the series (which hopefully will give me more info).
The concept is fascinating: earth falls into an uninhabitable hellhole, but Violet Crowley's father Ogden designed and engineered a New Earth which is suspended somehow over Old Earth. Travel to and from is strictly regulated; inhabitants of New Earth seem to have been those deemed appropriately qualified for life there while many others were left behind on Old Earth. New Earth is kept orderly and neat and crime-free because of something called the Intercept, a huge database of everyone's unique emotions that are deployed (via implanted chip) as weapons when someone veers into bad behavior. About to rob that store? You'll get zapped with that nasty memory of your dog getting hit by a car and you'll feel all over again the anguish of not being able to help Fido....
But is it a good thing to have AI collecting very personal emotional responses to turn them back on you as a behavior modification tool? Some people seem to think it isn't.
It's an interesting idea and one that seems plausible. What I couldn't wrap my head around was New Earth. How was it created in such a short (relatively short, it seemed to me) period of time? How did it work? I didn't need much detail on this, but whenever crossing from one Earth to the other got mentioned or references to Ogden's creation of it came up, I wondered. And that was distracting enough to keep me fully immersed in the world of the book.
Of course, I'm a neophyte sci-fi reader so it's entirely possible this is my error in reading the book. And it wasn't enough to keep me from ordering the next book in the series (which hopefully will give me more info).
November 7, 2017
Dystopian Books are my all time favorite reads, so I just knew I would fall for this story from the first page to the very last.
Old earth is in shambles because of all the wars and destruction. Something has to be done. So Violet's father created a New Earth, where everything is clean, everyone is healthy and living in a utopia. However, Crowley needed something to help keep the peace and tranquility. Rumors started about an invention that will collect all emotions...and this invention could push emotions back to the person, controlling them. This is how Kendall and Danny Mayhew was allowed admittance into New Earth.
The Intercept is thought to be foolproof. All emotions are collected and stored to use against a person if needed. But as everyone knows, nothing is foolproof.
Violet's crush Danny has secrets.
And she is on a mission to find them out.
Rebels want to take down the Intercept.
You don't know who you can trust.
This creative world was fascinating to read and experience. It had quite a few unexpected twists that caused quite an impact on the story. It was fast paced with a massive amount of suspense. I really enjoyed learning more about the characters and their stories. I would have enjoyed learning a little more about how Old Earth came to a crumbling mess, however I found it interesting and disturbing at the same time how the two worlds exist. Old Earth is dark and cruel and suffering, which makes this world feel real with despair. Mixed in with this dystopian world, is the Science fiction imagination how New earth was created and how the Intercept came to be. That creative imagination alone makes for a great read. (How do authors come up with this stuff??)
The story ends beautifully with no cliffhanger, so you have that feel of closure at the end. I highly recommend this book. If you enjoy a creative imagination with TONS of emotion, you will get a thrill out of this read.
Old earth is in shambles because of all the wars and destruction. Something has to be done. So Violet's father created a New Earth, where everything is clean, everyone is healthy and living in a utopia. However, Crowley needed something to help keep the peace and tranquility. Rumors started about an invention that will collect all emotions...and this invention could push emotions back to the person, controlling them. This is how Kendall and Danny Mayhew was allowed admittance into New Earth.
The Intercept is thought to be foolproof. All emotions are collected and stored to use against a person if needed. But as everyone knows, nothing is foolproof.
Violet's crush Danny has secrets.
And she is on a mission to find them out.
Rebels want to take down the Intercept.
You don't know who you can trust.
This creative world was fascinating to read and experience. It had quite a few unexpected twists that caused quite an impact on the story. It was fast paced with a massive amount of suspense. I really enjoyed learning more about the characters and their stories. I would have enjoyed learning a little more about how Old Earth came to a crumbling mess, however I found it interesting and disturbing at the same time how the two worlds exist. Old Earth is dark and cruel and suffering, which makes this world feel real with despair. Mixed in with this dystopian world, is the Science fiction imagination how New earth was created and how the Intercept came to be. That creative imagination alone makes for a great read. (How do authors come up with this stuff??)
The story ends beautifully with no cliffhanger, so you have that feel of closure at the end. I highly recommend this book. If you enjoy a creative imagination with TONS of emotion, you will get a thrill out of this read.
August 24, 2018
(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)
When the state controls your emotions, how hard will you fight to feel free?
In a radiant world of endless summer, the Intercept keeps the peace. Violet Crowley, the sixteen-year-old daughter of New Earth’s Founding Father, has spent her life in comfort and safety. Her days are easy thanks to the Intercept, a crime-prevention device that monitors emotion. But when her long-time crush, Danny Mayhew, gets into a dangerous altercation on Old Earth, Violet launches a secret investigation to find out what he's hiding. An investigation that will lead her to question everything she's ever known about Danny, her father, and the power of the Intercept.
In speculative fiction, there are two things that are a must for me: detailed world-building and strong character development. They are two hallmarks of great storytelling. Sadly, for me, they were both lacking in this book.
Don't get me wrong - the plot was there. In fact, it was a very interesting idea that seemed to come together very well. From a plot POV.
However, the world-building was vague, at best. I didn't get the feeling that I knew the ins and outs of New (or Old) Earth - I don't know if the author was planning to use more of the world in future books so didn't bother to share here but it felt a bit thin...
The characters, well, the less said about them the better, I would think. Violet was shallow and whiny and didn't stop talking about Danny; Danny treated Violet like crap and she was okay with that; the rest of the characters weren't sufficiently built-out to form any real kind of impression of them.
Would I recommend this? Oddly, yes. It is the first in a series and it may be worth investing in the first for a bigger payoff later in the series.
Paul
ARH
When the state controls your emotions, how hard will you fight to feel free?
In a radiant world of endless summer, the Intercept keeps the peace. Violet Crowley, the sixteen-year-old daughter of New Earth’s Founding Father, has spent her life in comfort and safety. Her days are easy thanks to the Intercept, a crime-prevention device that monitors emotion. But when her long-time crush, Danny Mayhew, gets into a dangerous altercation on Old Earth, Violet launches a secret investigation to find out what he's hiding. An investigation that will lead her to question everything she's ever known about Danny, her father, and the power of the Intercept.
In speculative fiction, there are two things that are a must for me: detailed world-building and strong character development. They are two hallmarks of great storytelling. Sadly, for me, they were both lacking in this book.
Don't get me wrong - the plot was there. In fact, it was a very interesting idea that seemed to come together very well. From a plot POV.
However, the world-building was vague, at best. I didn't get the feeling that I knew the ins and outs of New (or Old) Earth - I don't know if the author was planning to use more of the world in future books so didn't bother to share here but it felt a bit thin...
The characters, well, the less said about them the better, I would think. Violet was shallow and whiny and didn't stop talking about Danny; Danny treated Violet like crap and she was okay with that; the rest of the characters weren't sufficiently built-out to form any real kind of impression of them.
Would I recommend this? Oddly, yes. It is the first in a series and it may be worth investing in the first for a bigger payoff later in the series.
Paul
ARH
September 10, 2018
I'd give this one a 3.5 because it raises several questions about how far the government should be allowed to intrude into the emotional lives of its citizens even when it has the good of the whole group in mind. But some of the events near the conclusion marred my enjoyment of this book set far in the future. At its heart, it's a dystopian novel about the great divide between the haves and the have-nots. Sixteen-year-old Violet Crowley, the daughter of the President of New Earth, is one of the privileged ones. As Old Earth had become increasingly dangerous and unhealthy, he came up with the idea of two Earths, the original one where the environment is being destroyed, and crime, drugs and poverty are the norm, and the other one is a haven for those with money and essential skills. To insure that New Earth remains safe from the ravages of the citizens' former home, the government uses a device called the Intercept--think the Internet but taken to extremes--to monitor and capture individuals' emotions, using those emotions later as punishment or to motivate would-be criminals to confess. Violet has no reason to question the status quo until her crush on a cop, Danny Mayhew, leads her to some disturbing discoveries about the Intercept and the conflict between emotions and intelligence. The book makes readers think about just how far governments should be allowed to keep a watch on its citizens and whether it is ever right to sacrifice freedom and self-determination for the security of a nation. Anyone paying attention to recent political events can attest to the book's relevance and wonder just how far away this sort of future might be. It makes me want to avoid the Cloud and all online activity, even this review. YIKES! The future seems to be closer every day.
August 9, 2017
This book seemed promising - it features a world where your emotions are "owned" by a government-approved program, where this sort of government control allows its denizens lives of comfort and safety. So basically, it's a world where Big Brother is actually keeping track of your movements/emotions/intents and has the ability to interfere, rendering you useless with your most intense memory/emotions if you ever show any intent/motive to commit a crime, so the police can scoop you up and toss you into a jail cell. No judge or jury needed to convict you of your crimes.
And our MC, Violet, whose dad designed New Earth (which is supposed to basically be paradise), finds herself in the middle of a war between people who believe in Intercept and those who rally against it. And the ultimate question, for Violet, becomes this: who has the right to your emotions? You... or the government?
Ultimately, while I enjoyed the book, I felt that this world didn't feel as in-depth as it could have been. The 'Old Earth' section just wasn't believable to me, the third and fourth sections were rushed and sloppy (plot was rushed, character development not quite there), and I don't quite agree with how the book ended. However, I did like Violet's relationships with her dad and her artist BFF and how it showed that no matter how complex our world becomes, it doesn't necessarily take away from what makes us human, which is the bonds we develop with other humans.
Note: This e-ARC was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. But thank you Tor Teen!!!
Rating: 3.5/5
And our MC, Violet, whose dad designed New Earth (which is supposed to basically be paradise), finds herself in the middle of a war between people who believe in Intercept and those who rally against it. And the ultimate question, for Violet, becomes this: who has the right to your emotions? You... or the government?
Ultimately, while I enjoyed the book, I felt that this world didn't feel as in-depth as it could have been. The 'Old Earth' section just wasn't believable to me, the third and fourth sections were rushed and sloppy (plot was rushed, character development not quite there), and I don't quite agree with how the book ended. However, I did like Violet's relationships with her dad and her artist BFF and how it showed that no matter how complex our world becomes, it doesn't necessarily take away from what makes us human, which is the bonds we develop with other humans.
Note: This e-ARC was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. But thank you Tor Teen!!!
Rating: 3.5/5
November 10, 2017
I gave it a 3 1/2 stars
Note: This review contains NO spoilers
After reading the synopsis, I was intrigued at the concept of this story. Imagine a crime-prevention device collecting and controlling emotions. Hmmm... It somewhat reminded me of movie, Minority Report. The device serves to prevent crime...right?!? Hmmm... There seems to be secrets behind trying to control people/society.
Anyways, the plot twists were interesting enough. The characters were somewhat well written; however, the world-building/setting seemed muddled. Don't get me wrong, description of these two worlds started off well enough to get me interested, but then, it went downhill from there. Dialogue among characters seemed forced and awkward. I didn't feel much chemistry with them. Moreover, I disliked one particular character trait, namely, Violet as she continued to pine over Danny. It was pretty evident from the start. Well, I better not say anymore on that. I try not to spoil it for those that have not read the book yet.
All in all, The Dark Intercept has an interesting concept that is reminiscent to that Steven Spielberg film Minority Report which was based on a story by science fiction writer Philip K. Dick. The story was definitely thought-provoking; however, the writing could have been better. It needs more work on the world building and character development. But, I wouldn't count this read out. This idea, just like Minority Report, is something to really think about... It's as if, "what if it really happened?" kind of thoughts.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy for an honest review, all is my own opinion
Reviewer: Jasmine
Note: This review contains NO spoilers
After reading the synopsis, I was intrigued at the concept of this story. Imagine a crime-prevention device collecting and controlling emotions. Hmmm... It somewhat reminded me of movie, Minority Report. The device serves to prevent crime...right?!? Hmmm... There seems to be secrets behind trying to control people/society.
Anyways, the plot twists were interesting enough. The characters were somewhat well written; however, the world-building/setting seemed muddled. Don't get me wrong, description of these two worlds started off well enough to get me interested, but then, it went downhill from there. Dialogue among characters seemed forced and awkward. I didn't feel much chemistry with them. Moreover, I disliked one particular character trait, namely, Violet as she continued to pine over Danny. It was pretty evident from the start. Well, I better not say anymore on that. I try not to spoil it for those that have not read the book yet.
All in all, The Dark Intercept has an interesting concept that is reminiscent to that Steven Spielberg film Minority Report which was based on a story by science fiction writer Philip K. Dick. The story was definitely thought-provoking; however, the writing could have been better. It needs more work on the world building and character development. But, I wouldn't count this read out. This idea, just like Minority Report, is something to really think about... It's as if, "what if it really happened?" kind of thoughts.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy for an honest review, all is my own opinion
Reviewer: Jasmine
January 31, 2019
When I start reading a dystopian book that relies on some technology to keep it the way it is, the biggest question I ask is why. Why would someone make this tech, why would it be seen as helpful? There was no real answer here. There's not only no fake science behind it, there's no logical motivation that would lead to recording all emotions and thinking that would make a real difference.
There were multiple weaknesses in this book beyond that, though. One of them is how the book is written in first person, in the head of the narrator, but they withhold information they'd be thinking about - notably her concern that her crush was on drugs. That should have been foremost in her mind but the author got manipulative to create artificial tension. We would have had plenty of tension wondering about drugs along with her, but instead the narrative tried to pull a bait and switch and it felt cheap. Then there's the secret meeting between anonymous people with no real pov character, just a leap to third person instead of starting with the narrator. The scene does nothing to help the story. It feels empty and like the author had no faith in her story as it was so she had to paste in a scene that didn't fit to increase tension that wasn't really building.
Finally, this book commits one more cardinal sin. There is no resolution of any sort to be found, no progress is made by any character with any goals, and there are no real developments. It is set up purely for a sequel with no attempt at being its own book, and not enough to this book itself to warrant me reading the second one.
There were multiple weaknesses in this book beyond that, though. One of them is how the book is written in first person, in the head of the narrator, but they withhold information they'd be thinking about - notably her concern that her crush was on drugs. That should have been foremost in her mind but the author got manipulative to create artificial tension. We would have had plenty of tension wondering about drugs along with her, but instead the narrative tried to pull a bait and switch and it felt cheap. Then there's the secret meeting between anonymous people with no real pov character, just a leap to third person instead of starting with the narrator. The scene does nothing to help the story. It feels empty and like the author had no faith in her story as it was so she had to paste in a scene that didn't fit to increase tension that wasn't really building.
Finally, this book commits one more cardinal sin. There is no resolution of any sort to be found, no progress is made by any character with any goals, and there are no real developments. It is set up purely for a sequel with no attempt at being its own book, and not enough to this book itself to warrant me reading the second one.
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