story is ok but has too much bad language for my taste, It's also a huge ripoff of the Scott Westerfeld Uglies series, Not a fav amp definitely not appropriate for middle school, Good for negative consumerism views, Okay, lets be honest here, From an objective perspective, this is definitely not a book that inspires a lot of excitement, The cover is pretty bland and not indicative of what takes place inside its pages and the current rating on Goodreads stands at a woeful.
. Not something that gives you much confidence, However, the one positive that this book has is the premise, Its quite intriguing, especially on incorporating not only a dystopian flair but futuristic themes which make use of gaming, marketing, and social media.
This book was meant to be a commentary on the growing and encroaching influence social media has on our lives, And it worked, for some parts, The insidious ways the market controls their lives, through the exploitation of the players for sponsors, and the nonrights of the players privacies are very alarming and could make for parallels for our own current times with the use of Facebook, Twitter, etc.
The gamification of their learning environments and the only way to progress was to successfully proceed through levels was especially interesting as its something that was briefly touched on in some of my classes concerning the learning environment and technology, as well as tasks and activity basedlearning.
Her idea was well and thoroughly implemented although it is distracting and confusing for much of the narrative,
The real positive of this book, I think, was the mystery element and the discovery of who The Unidentified were as well as the culprits behind the prank at the beginning of the story.
I liked how this was slowly unraveled in layers through Kids desire and need to know, While shes not exactly a brilliant mind, she is practical and looks at things through logical analysis to derive at her next decision, conclusion, or answer.
However, while this book attempts to tackle many great things, they all fall flat at the end because I keep saying so what What was the point of the players actions What was the underlying message the author was trying to make, because its quite obvious theres a goal behind the story set up.
And, coming from an academic mind, when you set up your articles or research questions you have to somehow draw conclusions or implications from your data with what you have.
So what was the authors I dont remember the ending at all but I remember it being anticlimactic, disappointing, and inconclusive, You cant just set up a premise without follow through, And this is what really made the book fail for me,
Sure there are great, great ideas in this book, some of which I really liked but the execution was lacking and it left me asking, “what if” The Unidentified starts off with a great concept not only for a novel, but I think maybe in real life too.
Schools resemble shopping malls, and students play them like a video game, They rack up points for things like screen time and workshops, and they pass through levels in various subjects dictated by their wants and needs.
The problem is that like with most large organizations, rules start taking over, there is a control issue, and the fact that the whole thing is financed in the name of marketing doesn't help anything.
There is a lot going on in this book, and I wasn't really happy with the multiple twists and turns in the plot or with the ending.
I felt like the author was trying to make a point but got sidetracked too much and never really made it, Of course, that might not have been her intention, but either way I was not satisfied,
The was a shorter novel written for the young adult audience, and I have been seeing more and more books like this, books with good premises that just seem to need a good editor to make them great.
I hope this isn't a new trend in books for teens, I would rather see fewer high quality works being published than things that feel half done, Kid is a really great character, She is just kind of there in the Game she's not obsessed with branding, She doesn't wear the latest clothes, All she cares about is making her music, the one thing that defines her,
And, really, that's kind of a good way to describe this book, There was so much that could have been done with this story, But instead, it's just kind of there,
I wanted The Unidentified to be an edgy, gritty look at consumerism, I was expecting something amazing and stellar and totally different than anything else out there in the YA genre,
I guess I kind of set myself up to be disappointed,
There really wasn't a whole lot of suspense, It wasn't hard for Kid to figure out who the Unidentified are in the school, And when she did, she didn't really do anything with the knowledge,
The Unidentified didn't really do a whole lot, It wasn't this revolutionary group that changed a whole lot of anything, In the end, their big "act of rebellion" was kind of anticlimactic,
Don't get me wrong, This is an okay book, But it just isn't stellar,
You can read my complete review sitelinkon my blog, sitelink theunreadreader. com
Not good, Not awful. Just boring.
I'm not really sure what else to say about The Unidentified except that I had to force myself to finish it, and the ending left me feeling disappointed that I had even bothered.
The slow beginning was torturous, and the story never really picked up, At first I thought the idea of a school sponsored by corporations sounded different and kind on interesting, But as I read, the whole thing fell apart, I couldn't support the concept, even in fiction, It was just too far fetched, and it didn't make sense as to why parents would even consider sending their kids to a school that basically makes their children addicted to video games and excessive consumption of products.
The personality of the main character, Katey aka 'Kid,' didn't translate very well into making her a notable being, She was insecure yet shallow, loyal yet fickle, Is this typical of teen behavior Sure, it could be, but it didn't help me like Kid much,
The character I did like the most was Kid's best friend/kindof love interest when she bothered to notice him, Mikey.
He seemed to march to the beat of his own drum playing, Plus, he was pretty funny,
Other humorous bits included the hashtag messages from corporate sponsors and the ed messages from Kid and friends, Basically, it was Twitter reinvented for the 'future, ' In the Game that they call school, the students spend more time checking their intouch than actually studying,
I did pick up a favorite new phrase from the book, "Oh My Google!" Does this mean that in the future that Google becomes more all knowing than God Or has it already
Overall, the writing was good, but the story was not for me.
Still, if you enjoyed it, I'd like to hear your thoughts, Pros: good writing, fast paced, nifty concept, true to life high school atmosphere
Cons: takes a while to understand the school/game setting, plot twists were often obvious
For Parents: there's a little swearing, minor violence, no sex
In a future where corporate sponsors run school as a game, a group of kids wants to reclaim their privacy as the Unidentified.
Katey Dade kidzero is in the pit when the Unidentified pull off their first publicity stunt, Her interest in the act propels her into the limelight, where she has no desire to be, and forces her to make important decisions regarding her future.
A refreshing change from the weightier, more violent YA books I've read recently The Hunger Games, Chaos Walking, this is a quick, entertaining book.
Told from Kid's POV, it captures the ups and downs of high school perfectly, I could easily imagine a future where schools are run by corporations sponsoring events and certain 'in' students, And the willingness of the kids to have public lives is something facebook attests to today,
The plot focused on Kid's desire to remain low key despite the advantages depending on your outlook of being branded, The language is easy despite a few futuristic curses and expressions Oh Google, There's minor swearing, a tiny amount of violence and no sexual content for parents to be concerned about,
The game took a while to take shape,
Mariz drops you into the story with no preparation, I liked trying to figure out how the game worked but some readers may find it a chore to piece together what's going on.
Ultimately it's a well told story about the importance of choosing friends wisely, of privacy and the freedom to be yourself.
I won this book in a FirstReads Giveaway,
I chose this book because the premise intrigued me,
At first glance, the plot and setting seemed futuristic and scifi,
But in todays technological environment where many educational options are available, it didnt seem so farfetched, With the advent of DVR's and TiVo, consumers are now
able to skip ads while watching their favorite TV shows so corporations and the parties they contract to market and promote their products have to come up with ingenious and innovative ways to increase exposure and sales revenue.
Product placement is one option, In this novel, nationwide, corporations have taken on the responsibility of education for their own selfserving ends,
In the Game, the students themselves become potential brand ambassadors, Being branded has its pros and cons, Branded students are the elite and, in addition to free merchandise, gain access to VIP privileges and social events, But they are constantly monitored and find it increasingly difficult to trust anyone,
I am reminded of George Orwellsand, at the same time, there are familiar elements that readers, especially YAs, will identify with such as:
, cliques and outcasts
. popularity
. gossip
. jealousy/backbiting
. cyberbullying
that will always be present,
The book got off to a slow start, picked up somewhat in the middle, only to come to a rushed and inconclusive end.
I practically had to force myself to finish it,
You know, THE UNIDENTIFIED had a good premise but the overall execution ended up being rather ho hum for me.
At the end of the day it was about the social outcast coming to grips with the social strata in her school with the end result being the nonconformists conforming to the nonconformists' conformity.
I was actually kind of disappointed, I'm not really sure what I was expecting but I know it was definitely something a little more than a higher tech Heathers which is an awesome movie, THE UNIDENTIFIED, not so awesome of a book.
Kid is your standard I DON'T WANT TO FIT IN chick that purposely goes out of her way to not blend in with the crowd.
Too bad for her that has the adverse effect and her nonconformist attitude gets picked up by the mall/school sponsors as the new uncool cool.
Really, a bit on the lame side, The antipopular popular. Kid then gets branded and her best friend totally hates her for it because BEST FRIEND has been trying soooooooooo hard to get branded aka sponsorship and free stuff with access to a VIP lounge whereas Kid obviously bucked the system.
A boy gets involved that equally contributes to the screwing up of things because her other best friend, Ducky Mikey, totally digs her but, of course, doesn't say anything until it's too late and then holds it against her.
Brilliant.
Kid makes an effort to seek out The Unidentified, whom I originally thought to be this epic paramilitary group that could exist in Red Dawn or something but it turns out they're just the school freaks with weird hair that buck the system even more than Kid.
More disappointment. I saw The Unidentified "twist" coming almost as soon as it entered simply because it played out exactly as what it was, But whatever.
The more I write about THE UNIDENTIFIED the more annoyed by it I become, For a book that plays at being covert and espionageish is ended up being completely dull and nothing more than your standard high school fare set in a slightly futuristic mall setting with some video games for classes.
The world itself was probably the most unique part of the story: the government ran out of money for education so it started being subsidized by private companies and the whole system ended up being one giant ad campaign with students vying to be each company's number one star.
It's also a world with a lot of antikid laws like curfews, a lack of regard for the first amendment where kids aren't allowed to congregate anywhere, walk anywhere, simply because they may cause trouble.
But that latter part isn't touched on too much, Kid doesn't really go out into the world but once and it's intricacies are offhandedly mentioned as she looks for people, The story world is pretty strictly confined to the mall, But outside of that, it's the same story repeated ad infinitum, There was nothing about that aspect that stood out to me,
In my opinion file this one into the copycat category, Not really dystopian simply because the world isn't anywhere near built up enough to grasp onto that genre but it's slightly unsettling, Education going into the private corporation sector for funding is slightly horrifying, But the story itself is a rehash, playing out like yet another teen movie with this epic We Are The Teen World ending and not much standing it out against the rest.
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Pick Up The Unidentified Put Together By Rae Mariz Displayed As EPub
Rae Mariz