Little Brother

Absolutely fantastic.

My first Cory Doctorow book. It reads like a technoparanoiac's fanfic about a slightly-counterfactual near-history, mashing up Anonymous and Occupy. This is one of those YA novels that is hard for adults to appreciate. I did not find it enriching to read a 17-year-old's rants about LARPing, city planning or basic crypto principles. It's also sort of distracting how the story seems to take place around 2008 (when the book was first published) so the technology described in it sounds just slightly obsolete. However, overall, the story moves fast and is fairly entertaining. I imagine it'd make a pretty good movie.

There's a lot to like in this story about a teen trapped in 1984ish hell courtesy of the Department of Homeland Security. Accurate descriptions of technology. A believable telling of our near future. Revolting against ‘The Man.' LARPing. Vampire LARPing. Vampire LARPing in San Francisco. I could go on.


The main character, Marcus, is written a little too perfect to be believable. Still, would recommend to geeky teens or teens looking for a good book written from a male POV.