Bluescreen: A Mirador Novel

If you are a gamer who enjoys strong female characters, you'll love this book. Bluescreen was full of exciting tech and nerdy game references (fps and mmo in particular; the author said he was inspired in particular by League of Legends) that made me particularly gleeful. The cast was diverse - the lead character, Marisa, is of Mexican heritage, while there are also Chinese and Indian characters who are fully developed with their own agency. Sahara, one of Marisa's best friends, is a lesbian. And all of the girls are smart with technology: while Marisa and Sahara hack, Anja, another one of the group, enjoys modifying hardware. There's definitely no boys-only-STEM-fields here!Aside from the diverse cast, Wells does a great job at world building. Mirador is a barrio in LA, and we get a raw and visceral look at how the world has changed in the future. In particular, the book examines the subject of privacy. It is exceedingly common now for everyone to have a device called a "djinni" implanted into their brain. This device works as a combo cell phone, computer, wallet, gps, house key, etc. Stores scan djinnis as you walk by and display advertising just for you on their windows. Marisa's house checks her in as soon as she walks in the door and alerts her family that she's home. Privacy as we know it is virtually gone.But none of that bothers Marisa until a new drug surfaces in her area, the titular "bluescreen." Much like the bluescreen of death, it crashes your system when plugged into your djinni via a port at the base of your skull. The user experiences "safe, drug free" euphoria for ten minutes while their djinni deals with the crash. But Marisa and her friends discover that when their systems crash, they're open to infection... and it's exceedingly hard to run from danger when your djinni is online and you're open to the world.

good prose, and an intriguing beginning that's spoiled by the sinopsys. The story is something I've always wondered about: if you have computers implanted in your body, what happens when it's infected?This premise is taken to the logical extremes in this book, and it's done well.The characters are all competent, and manage to get out of the troubles they get themselves into (they get in over their heads a lot, much to the chagrin of Marisa's father) in ways that are both exciting and beliavable - not a mean feat, from a writing perspective.I want the next book, and I want it now.

I actually enjoyed this quite a bit but not as much as Dan Wells' other series. Bluescreen is a solid start to a futuristic trilogy and lays down some great foundation for what's to come. I zoomed through this book for one reason, it is so fast paced that it felt like someone cut the brakes off a car and I lost control.I mean seriously this book starts and takes off at a break-neck speed. That is great and all, however it didn't give the story room to breathe. I never felt really connected to the characters or the world. That is pretty sad knowing that it takes place in our world some 30 years in the future. The characters were on the decent side of things. I liked them but I didn't find myself really caring for any of them. Again this story moved so fast that it really glosses over some aspects of certain characters like what makes them tick, motivations, etc. So you don't really get a solid feel for them but it's there. The plot was alright in that it was very straight forward and easy to follow. Having this plot be so fast paced helped in that retrospect and I liked the bread crumbs that were laid down for the next book.All in all I really did enjoy my time with this book and I see a lot of potential. I just want to see the story and world be a little more fleshed out.

Bluescreen is my favorite of Dan Well's books so far, and I really liked the Partials trilogy.While I absolutely love the worldbuilding -- the tech, the city, the political/economic intrigue -- honestly, my favorite part about Bluescreen is the realness of Marissa's family, particularly her relationships with her father, her older brother Chuy, and her younger sister Pati. Her Dad is tough, but a bit absent. The technology of the djinnis has let families feel like they are more connected than they are while allowing teens, like Marissa, lie much more easily (if they have some technical knowledge). He's also busy working hard to keep their family afloat. I get the sense that he turns a bit of a blind eye to Marissa's running around because he doesn't want a repeat of Chuy, and if he ignores it, he doesn't have to address it. Of course, everything's getting turned topsy-turvy​ in Marissa's world, and he can't ignore it forever.I'm really hoping (and expecting) for more Chuy in future books, as he represents a conflict at the core of Marissa's soul -- when does doing what is right mean doing something that is wrong? I'd also love to see more of the Cherry Dogs in action in VR.One of my favorite books over the last year.

Despite a lot of the book being spent on setting things up for the future books in the series, and some of the characters having convenient knowledge, I enjoyed this book. You can read my full review over on MySF Reviews. -- 3.5 stars (rounded up)

Great book. It has very interesting world building and a cool cast of strong female characters (teen hackers). One of the things I love most about it is the strong familial element to the story. The protagonist is fairly rebellious but still part if a solid loving family (particularly her father). Teens who love gaming or the idea of hacking will likely enjoy.

It was a decent enough book. Started off slow, was literally a slog until nearly halfway through the book when it got better.The twist that [spoiler] was involved in the Bluescreen ring was telegraphed hard, and had absolutely zero impact. The book's climax was done well and was enjoyable from the 80% mark.An okay, but mildly forgettable read. I'm debating whether to pick up the sequel Ones And Zeroes to see if it gets better, but I have other books to read and can't say this left a big impact on me.

Esse livro é de um dos meus gêneros favoritos no mundo, mas que costuma ser bem difícil de encontrar. Eu amo, amo, amo livros de ficção científica que se passam no futuro - mas no planeta terra, - e que são adolescentes, mas não bobos. Muitas vezes, livros desse gênero acabam não sendo tão surpreendentes ou inteligentes ou até mesmo bem escritos quanto eu queria e acabam sempre me deixando com um pé atrás antes de ler - isso quando eu encontro livros nesse gênero, que são super raros. Mas estou bem feliz agora de saber que eu não precisava ter ficado apreensiva, porque esse primeiro livro da série Mirador foi tão incrível quanto eu queria que fosse e ainda mais difícil de largar do que eu esperava.Muita gente fala sobre isso em resenhas dele, mas preciso também mencionar, porque foi uma parte linda da história: sua diversidade. Acho que não tem um único personagem americano branco nesse livro! E, aliás, não fez a menor falta! Além disso, ver que a quantidade de personagens mulheres é bem maior que a de masculinos foi ótimo! Isso é muito difícil de acontecer em livros de outros gêneros, mais ainda para ficção científica. Melhor que isso, só ver que as mulheres são as mais inteligentes e que hackear e arrasar em jogos de computador é a área delas!Eu queria muito, muito mesmo poder começar a ler o segundo livro agora mesmo. Esse primeiro tem um final quase inteiro fechado, com uma ótima abertura para o próximo, mas que não corta nada no meio. Mesmo assim, fiquei tão interessada nessa história e a leitura foi tão difícil de largar, que é bem estranho pensar que vou começar a ler em seguida um livro completamente diferente (isso, porque só tinha comprado o primeiro, com medo de ser uma decepção).Ele teve um dos enredos mais movimentados que encontrei recentemente. Teve bastante reviravolta, bastante envolvimento dos personagens secundários (ainda bem! Não faço a menor questão da história rodar só em volta da protagonista) e várias peças a se encaixarem! Eu raramente sou de tentar adivinhar as coisas e, tá, uma das que aconteceu não chegou a me surpreender, mesmo que não soubesse antes exatamente sua resolução, mas teve muitas outras que me deixaram sem fala! Desde o começo do livro, você se vê no meio de cenas tensas! E essa tensão foi a melhor parte do livro!Se você é como eu, que gosta de ficção científica YA com um pouco de ação e de videogame, vai amar esse livro também! Talvez minha única ressalva seja para comprar o segundo junto, para não ter que sofrer de ansiedade como eu estou sofrendo agora.

Loved the book have to read quite a bit to get to know the characters but when you do it is great

did not like. too many characters introduced to care about any of them enough to go past the first 20 pages. a book needs to draw a reader in not bombard them.