Mindwalker is a fun science fiction book. This is a fast-paced, tense story I would recommend to both female and male readers. While it’s technically a YA book, some of the themes and story feel more targeted at a New Adult audience. I wasn’t expecting to get invested in this so quickly, but the combination of cool technology and very real danger hooked me from the first couple of chapters. While this isn’t the character-driven type of book I usually go for, the characters were confident and effective at portraying the story the author was trying to write. I didn’t connect with the romance angle; there wasn’t enough depth to really root for their relationship, and it developed too fast, but it did add some emotional tension. I liked the spin on future technology and the dystopia aspect, which made the world interesting without overtaking the rest of the story. With some good plot twists, this was an exciting read!
Content Analysis:
Profanity/Language: 59 religious exclamations; 141 mild obscenities; 33 anatomical terms; 56 scatological words; 10 derogatory names; 19 F-word derivatives.
Violence/Gore: Three instances where a character is threatened with a gun; about 8 brief violent scenes, including hand to hand fighting, gun violence, and minor injuries; character undergoes painful medical procedures; report of characters being shot and killed for trying to escape a country; report of historical nuclear war and other disasters; report of character cutting electronic chips out of the palms of other characters; character considers shooting another; mention of a cult resulting in accidental deaths; report of a character being mind controlled by another against their will; character receives a strong electric shock; characters including children temporarily suffer from radiation poisoning; character sees a video of her friend dying due to technology malfunction, some detail; characters discuss murdering another; characters are injured in an explosion; character has a nightmare of a family member being killed; report of deaths; character is mentally tortured, about two pages; character strangles another, doesn’t kill them; characters simulate a terrorist attack; a fight results in injuries and a death; a character slit’s another’s throat, killing him; failed technology in a person’s brain causes significant physical damage, including burning out their eyes, descriptions of blood and pain; explanation of a character undergoing brain surgery resulting in their body requiring life support.
Sex/Nudity: Mention of a character being naked, not sexual; two mentions of a wet dream; characters make a bet on if another character will make out with a girl or a guy; 7 sexual references; a few instances where characters kiss; characters embrace; character feels attracted to another; characters hold hands; 3 mentions of prostitutes; mention of sex robots; implied that two characters are in a lesbian relationship; mention that an 18-year-old character has had sex multiple times and that it is meaningless to them; characters make out, partially undress, touch arms and waist, about 1.5 page scene, afterwards the scene jumps to them lying together, reports that they had sex, briefly mentioned in conversation; characters have romantic feelings for each other.
Mature Subject Matter:
Suicide; death; terrorists; homosexual relationships; mind control; cults; radiation poisoning; exploitation of children; death of young people.
Alcohol/Drug Use:
Mention of characters drinking; character is hungover; reference to drug addiction; character drinks alcohol.
