Downfall by Louise Carey: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

Downfall by Louise Carey

Downfall concludes Carey’s excellent Inscape trilogy set in post-apocalyptic London that’s been divided between two corporations, InTech and Thoughtfront, that are at constant war over resources and technology. Tanta used to be an InTech posterchild, until she learned the extent with which the corporation controls the minds of its residents with technology, and rose to oppose it with Cole who is the architect of the mind control system.

The previous book ended with InTech uploading an improved version of the programme, which completely wipes out everyone’s personality. Tanta and Cole barely escaped in time, and they are now fugitives hunted by InTech. They must try to remove the improved programme, which is a threat to them too if they return to InTech, and end the mind control system for good.

I had small trouble getting into the book, as it opened with a POV of a side character I didn’t remember, but the story soon gained speed. The book broadened the world a little, showing that there are settlements outside the corporations where people are surviving and even thriving. Their residents are willing to help Tanta and Cole, but in the end, it’s up to the two of them to not only to save the residents of InTech from the corporation, but to save InTech from Thoughtfront too.

Tanta’s and Cole’s friendship continued to be the core of the story, despite Tanta constantly pining after her former girlfriend Reet, who’s now the enemy. I liked the odd dynamic where they are in turn the teacher and the pupil, parent and the protegee. I especially liked how it didn’t turn into a romance. I wasn’t as interested in the other characters in their team. They had their uses, but I was never so attached to them that I would’ve mourned if they had died. Reet was never my favourite to begin with.

The ending was great and not the solution I saw coming. It’s conclusive enough that the trilogy can comfortably and satisfyingly end here, but open enough that if the author wishes to return to her world, there’s room for it. I wouldn’t mind reading more.

I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Outcast by Louise Carey: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

Outcast by Louise Carey

Outcast is the second book in Louise Carey’s Inscape sci-fi series set in post-apocalyptic London, and easily as good as the first book. It’s not as mind-blowing conceptually as the first, but it’s a more enjoyable read—once I got used to the present tense narrative again.

In the first book, Tanta, the main protagonist, narrowly avoided being caught in the political machinations of InTech corporation and revealing that her CorpWard conditioning has been broken. This book finds her as a lowly guard who isn’t given any responsibilities. Cole, the neuroscientist and Tanta’s co-conspirator, is in house arrest doing menial tasks for his former boss.

They’re both balancing on a tight rope, trying to keep up appearances amid constant surveillance of the Inscape. It doesn’t help Tanta that her girlfriend Reet is still conditioned, making Tanta question everything about their relationship, Reet’s feelings included.

Attacks against InTech have led to food shortage and restlessness, and Cole discovers that there’s going to be a corporation wide update to Inscape that will make everyone behave like conditioned CorpWards, but worse. Tanta and Cole need to handle both, which is easier said than done when neither of them is free to act.

Tanta manages to manipulate the situation so that she and Cole are working together again, but it comes with costs. One is that they’re basically exiled from London to a remote outpost. But they are determined to find out who’s attacking InTech and how to stop the update that will turn everyone into mindless puppets. There’s plenty of action and some heartbreak for both along the way before the truth is revealed.

This was a more enjoyable read than the first book—and that was great too. The world was familiar already and no new concepts were introduced, Tanta and Cole were even better together despite the oddness of their partnership, and the plot was more straightforward. The world became larger with new locations, and the new POV character, Fliss, was a great addition. I guessed the bad guy fairly early, but the author still managed to make an impact with the revelation.

The ending left Tanta and Cole in a completely new situation. It’s so intriguing that I absolutely have to find out what happens next.

I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Inscape by Louise Carey: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

Inscape by Louise Carey

Inscape is the debut (solo) novel of Louise Carey, and it’s a great one; interesting, immersive and mature. I received an early review copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The book comes out on January 21st.

The name of the book and the description gave me the notion that Inscape would be some sort of virtual reality scape into which special agents entered their minds at their own risk while their bodies were suspended elsewhere, like in Matrix. That’s not the case at all. The book is set in future London in a world that has suffered a catastrophic event called Meltdown, though what it was and when it was isn’t explained. It’s not really important anyway. The current world is. London is divided into two zones on both sides of the Thames, which is only a dried-up riverbed turned minefield. Each side is ruled by a major technical corporation that have hostile relationship with the other, InTech in the north and Thoughtfront in the south. Everything and everyone is in the service of these corporations.

Inscape is an AR system installed directly in people’s brains and everyone on InTech side is augmented with it; the other side has their own system. Not only does it enhance people’s abilities—or supress them in case of mindless slaves—it also spies the residents. But it’s all perfectly normal as far as Tanta, the main character, is concerned.

Tanta is a CorpWard, an orphan who has been raised by InTech to be of service for the corporation. She is happy to serve, lives to please her superiors and fears their upset. She has been trained as an agent whose job is to prevent the other corporation from operating on her side of the river. She is absolutely loyal to her handler Jen, and will do anything she tells her. Her very first assignment doesn’t go as planned though, which causes her great deal of distress. But she doesn’t need to worry; she’s being given another chance: find out what has been leaked from InTech and by whom. She’s assigned a partner, Cole, a fifty-something neuroscientist with no field experience whatsoever and who suffers from a grave memory loss thanks to an accident with a device that wipes off peoples’ memories.

The first half of the book is a bit slow. We follow Tanta in her new role as an agent investigating the leak. The investigation seems somewhat random and produces results that don’t seem to lead anywhere. But the focus is, for the reader, elsewhere. We learn, unlike Tanta, that she has been carefully conditioned to be a perfect tool for the corporation. She is physically incapable of disobeying orders or being disloyal. She doesn’t understand other peoples’ reactions to her when they fear or pity her. And she doesn’t understand how anyone could betray the corporation by deliberately leaking its secrets.

The pace picks up on the second half. Something happens to break Tanta’s conditioning, after which she has to question who she is and why she is doing what she is. It’s not easy for her, but the process is described well. Nonetheless, she’s determined to finish the assignment given to her. Only, the truth turns out to be even more mind-shattering, not just for her but for her partner Cole as well.

Tanta is a great character and the reader follows her path from a mindless tool to independent thinker with interest. Cole, with his memory loss and timidness, is interesting too, and the two form an unlikely friendship. The characters without their own point of view, like Tanta’s girlfriend Reet, aren’t quite as well-rounded, but they serve a role in Tanta’s change too. The world with its technological wonders is kept simple and no explanations are given to why it has turned the way it is. The reader plunges right in and is taken for a ride. The writing is competent and the pacing is good. And if events fold out a bit too neatly for Tanta and Cole, every plan and operation executed as intended without surprises, it has enough twists and turns that the reader can overlook it. Besides, I like books where nothing bad (relatively speaking) happens to the characters. The book ends with a teaser for the next book and I’m definitely interested in reading that one too.