4.01.2013

Book Review: Coda

Coda by Emma Trevayne

Review by Elena Nasto


Coda, written by Emma Trevayne is a unique book centered on music and dictatorship. The setting takes place in future New York, where years after some horrible war the city is known as the Web. Everything runs on a network, including the people themselves. Instead of money, people have credits, which automatically get used with a swipe of microchips implanted in their wrists. The Web is governed by a group of elite leaders that are part of the Corp and use the citizens to get what they want. They use addicting music to send messages to their brains to keep them in check. No one has heard “real” music, until a group of musicians comes out of hiding and show people how it is like. Once the Corp starts to come up with even more unique ways of brainwashing people, citizens are urged to start a revolution so that they can finally have their freedom back again.
When I first started reading this book, it was extremely confusing and hard to understand because all these new terms such as “choice” and the “Web” were just thrown around with no clear meaning. As the plot unraveled, the setting became much clearer and the idea that music was controlling citizens interested me and made me want to read more. However, as the storyline progressed, it seemed to me as if the book was going to be another Hunger Games, where a whole country revolts against the government. A lot of aspects were just so similar that I felt like the author was just copying Suzanne Collins entirely. For example, someone who commits a crime they get their hearing taken away, much like their tongue in The Hunger Games. Overall, the book was a cool spin on the vision of the future of America.

No comments: