Human.4 Review

Author: Mike A. Lancaster
Release Date: March 8, 2011
Publisher: EgmontUSA
Most appropriate for ages: 12+
How I got it: For review from publisher 

Kyle Straker volunteered to be hypnotized at the annual community talent show, expecting the same old lame amateur acts. But when he wakes up, his world will never be the same. Televisions and computers no longer work, but a strange language streams across their screens. Everyone’s behaving oddly. It’s as if Kyle doesn’t exit. Is this nightmare a result of the hypnosis? Will Kyle wake up with a snap of fingers to roars of laughter? Or is this something much more sinister? 

Narrated on a set of found cassette tapes at an unspecified point in the future, Human.4 is an absolutely chilling look at technology gone too far. 

I...I'm not entirely sure how I felt about this book.

But I think I liked it.

...Think.

When you first begin Human.4, you are told that this is the story of Kyle Straker, and that we first hear his story through some tapes he recorded, and now it's been recorded into a book form far into the future. This means that we see notes interrupting the story about what, exactly, Kyle is talking about. You'd think that this would interrupt the flow of the story, but actually this was my favorite part of Human.4. It was chilling to see people try to explain and understand normal things about today's society and customs.

Unfortunately I was very disconnected to this book. I was indifferent to the characters and the story, though I don't think it helped that I thought I'd had everything figured out like fifty pages in...

It was towards the end, when I discovered that I was wrong, that I really began to enjoy Human.4. I ended up closing the book, looking at it, and saying, "That was cool."

So if you're looking for a quick sci-fi, I would not turn you away from Human.4. While I didn't love it with all my heart or anything, it left me thinking and curious.

Plot: Pretty fast-moving.

Charcters: Sadly I was very disconnected to them.

Writing: Like I mentioned, we are told the story through tapes recorder by Kyle, so they're written how he speaks. So there wasn't really a chance for the author's writing to shine.

Ending: Appropriate.

Kid friendly? Yeah. It was chilling, but yes.

Overall:

I was more than willing to strike up a conversation with someone while reading...until the end.

I thought Human.4 was going to be a complete dud, and while it wasn't the perfect book for me, it had some really cool qualities to it that were revealed in the end.