Love The Hunger Games? Action-adventure thrillers with a dystopian twist? BZRK (Berserk) by Michael Grant, New York Times best-selling author of the GONE series, ramps up the action and suspense to a whole new level of excitement.
Set in the near future, BZRK is the story of a war for control of the human mind. Charles and Benjamin Armstrong, conjoined twins and owners of the Armstrong Fancy Gifts Corporation, have a goal: to turn the world into their vision of utopia. No wars, no conflict, no hunger. And no free will. Opposing them is a guerrilla group of teens, code name BZRK, who are fighting to protect the right to be messed up, to be human. This is no ordinary war, though. Weapons are deployed on the nano-level. The battleground is the human brain. And there are no stalemates here: It’s victory . . . or madness.
BZRK unfolds with hurricane force around core themes of conspiracy and mystery, insanity and changing realities, engagement and empowerment, and the larger impact of personal choice. Which side would you choose? How far would you go to win?
Praise for BZRK:
“YA fiction at it’s best. … It's a combination science fiction/adventure/thriller all written brilliantly to entice the reader into a terrifying world.” –Examiner.com
“Squeamish as I am, Grant has me hooked with the compelling characters that populate the Go BZRK storyworld.” –Michael Anderson, WIRED magazine
“Grant utilizes contemporary themes and memorable characters, along with the possibilities of emerging technology to craft aningenious world not too far removed from our own. … The intelligent presentation will likely appeal to a broad audience.” –PopCultureGuy
“If you are anything like me then BZRK will blow your mind. … BZRK is very different from pretty much any YA book out there at the moment, and the closest I can come to expressing how it is continuing to play on my mind almost two weeks later, is to liken it to William Gibson's Neuromancer which had a similar effect on me many years ago. BZRK is a gamechanger for YA literature.” –The Book Zone
“This novel is full of the intricacies of the human body and non-stop action on all fronts. … An intricately written science fiction thriller, BZRK offers an in-depthlook into a war raging deep within the human body.” –Deseret News
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful.
Confusion turns a clever concept into a disorganized mess
By thehydrogenpoptart
First Sentence: A girl sat just three chairs down from Noah talking to her hand.How I Acquired the Book: Borrowed from my town's library.The Review: I went into BZRK not knowing at all what it was about. The only reason why I read it was because Michael Grant had written it, and his Gone series was good enough that I would pick this book up on seeing his name alone.BZRK, though, didn't clear up any of the what-is-this-about confusion at all in the first 100 pages or so. Then, when it sort of does, it does so in a confusing manner. BZRK is a cool idea, though, I will give Mr. Grant that. But he just has trouble explaining the whole computer-bot-war thing, and that's unforgivable, because the foundations of a story should always be laid strongly.The characters do not save the plot, either. Noah and Sadie held lots of promise in the beginning, especially Noah's first emotionally charged chapter, but by the end of the book we do not get to know them any better than in the beginning. Strangely, the main characters were the weakest ones. The antagonists were interesting, Nijinsky was OK, and Vincent was OK as well.All in all, I just did not enjoy BZRK that much. I had to force myself to go on, hoping against hope that there'd be an epic ending. That's another complaint I have- it doesn't really end, and plans for a sequel have not been announced. I would not recommend BZRK to anyone, unless they have read every single other Young Adult book there is.-reviewed by a teenager. (I apologize for any teenagery and/or snarky comments in this review, if they have offended you. I understand they can be very annoying, just like teenagers themselves. In any case, thanks for dealing with them and thanks for reading this review.)
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful.
Fantabulously Gripping!
By anaavu
Originally posted on my blog: [...]A truly interesting thing about BZRK is its marketing campaign. There were various websites created - gobzrk.com, NexusHumanus.com, DeathorMadness.com, and SocietyTwins.com - which are interrelated with the book's content, video games (there's a free iPhone app!) and fan fiction has already started popping up.Plot:Everything about BZRK blew me away starting with the completely original plot. A group of unlikely heroes save the world from destruction. Overdone? Not even close. Twins Charles and Benjamin are joined at the hip (literally) and embarrassed by their deformity, they decide to make the world a better place - where people would not have to feel pain or sorrow because their emotions would be controlled for them. They have a benign goal in mind (or do they?) but a different organization, the BZRK, believes that they are going about it wrong.They believe humans should retain their free will. The war goes on - not in a battlefield - but inside the minds of ignorant humans ("down in the meat" as they say) with the help of the most powerful armies: nanobots.The whole novel was such a thrilling ride, I honestly didn't realize I had turned the last page until I tried vainly to scratch out another page. It was that good.Characters:All the agents use codenames throughout the book which would seem to make it harder to connect to the characters but it just made me all the more curious to find out their real names because knowing a person's real name is sort of the end-all of understanding the character.Still, if you are uncomfortable with code names such as Bug Man, there is a glossary in the back explaining each's role and true name. I found the characters very believable and it was easy to feel for them and understand their emotions.Narration/Tone:One of my favorite things about BZRK was its fast pace. Grant condensed a lot within his 386 pages. You were shown how many of the young members joined BZRK and each character was given a little time for his backstory. The two main characters were recruited and taught the basics of the trade, they even got a nice little romance going, and the team almost beat the evil geniuses. There was not a single dull moment in the book. Even the romance was gone within a snap of a finger.The mood throughout the novel is very dark, often desperate sort of like a dystopian (and you all know how much I adore those). There is a lot of humor in the book, but it's the ironic dark kind. Another thing I enjoyed very much.Romanciness:The romance was just the right amount and very nicely done. It was a small element in the story, just the way I like it. And the characters didn't just suddenly start loving each other due to some unexplained attraction. Two people thrown in horrific circumstances find comfort in each other - it's all very appropriate and natural. It does turn into more though I promise, they like each other lots 'Cover/Title:To be honest, it was the author who caught my attention with this one, not any cover or title. And really, there isn't anything particularly attractive about its cover. It's very simple and to the point. It's inside you find the real gold.Word of caution:If you're a little squeamish, you'd better not pick this book up. Since agents' (twitchers') nanobots go down into people's brains to control/fight, etc, there is plenty of detailed explanation of them squeezing in through the eye or slogging through mounds of makeup of creeping through scaly skin. There is also violence and such. It is most definitely a boy book and pick this book up if you're comfortable with graphic descriptions (no sex scenes or anything).BZRK easily comes into my top three so far this year. Fantastic edgy thriller!FYI, it has been optioned by Sony Pictures! Yahoo-ey!I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful.Brains in beer cups -- no thanks
By Clay Kallam
"BZRK" (Egmont, $17.99, 386 pages) buries a good idea under a mountain of gratuitous.There is gratuitous violence, gratuitous gore, gratuitous plot complications and a gratuitous, given my limited enjoyment of "BZRK", apparent sequel.Sadly, hidden inside the written-for-movies (blood spattering, explosions, incredible escapes) is the germ of a pretty good book. Michael Grant's conceit is that nanobots (tiny robots) and biots (nanobots that allow humans to see through them, though not without danger) can be inserted into someone's brain and allow a clever operator to literally re-wire the unsuspecting victim's emotions.To put it simply, a lot more could have been done with this premise than you'll get in "BZRK." But if you like exploding pieces of brains dropping into beer cups at football games, you'll like this book a lot more than I did.
