BZRK - Michael Grant

Grant, Michael. BZRK. New York: EgmontUSA, 2012. Print.

Summary: Instead of a written summary for this novel, I have a link to a book trailer I made for BZRK.
https://vimeo.com/54921405

Dystopia: The world of BZRK is a strange one.  Nanotechnology, originally developed to cure diseases, is being used by the super-company Armstrong Fancy Gifts Corporation to control people in order to make them "happy."  By wiring everyone's brains a certain way, the AFGC will eliminate nearly all emotions, making humans impervious to emotional pain, but also incapable of any real happiness.  The rebel group BZRK wants none of this.  The book follows Sadie and Noah, two teens drafted into BZRK.  A band of teenagers, BZRK fights against the AFGC using biots, biological creatures that are connected to their controllers, the twitchers.  Most of the nanobot operators for the AFGC are teens who were incredible video game players, as controlling a nonobot is like controlling a video game.  The fighting takes place inside of people, in the "micro", but also in the "macro."  For this reason, BZRK can get confusing at times, but overall Grant does a good job of letting the reader know where the story is at.

The main dystopian element of this text is the plot from the AFGC.  The world that these characters live in now is not yet dystopian, the world AFGC seeks to create is one of total control.  The seek to provide happiness by eliminating war, poverty and sickness, but also eliminating freedom.  As mentioned earlier, BZRK fights for the "right to be miserable."  They realize that is AFGC is allowed to rewire peoples' brains, they take away the choice that makes people human.  Here comes into play a key element of what I have noticed in most of the dystopias I have read: choice is at the center of it all.  BZRK, in fighting for misery, is actually fighting for choice.  Like the other heroes I have written about, the collective heroes of BZRK recognize the foul play in AFGC's plan, and fight against the control.  BZRK is interesting in that the real fighting in this novel takes place unseen.  Unseen to anyone, nanobots and biots crawl all over, accessing people's brains through their ears and eyes. 

While the dystopian elements of this novel are not all that impressive (it is more of a science fiction novel), what is impressive are the other media elements of this texts.  With a fully functioning website and an app that allows you to control a biot, the electronic media connections for this text are impressive.   The app is mildly entertaining, but it's interesting to get a chance to control a biot!  The website, http://gobzrk.com/, is much more involved.  It offers book trailers, news on BZRK, community boards, a blog, and more.  Definitely worth a look.

This book may not be the best for assigning in your classroom, but I would definitely have it on the bookshelf and make it an option for students.  While the characters in the novel are weakly developed, the world building that Craft does is incredible.  He clearly did his research before writing about the human body and the biots' adventures underneath people's skin.  Students should particularly enjoy exploring the electronic expansions of the story and playing with the app.  The connection to video games will also be enjoyed by some students.