Blake Crouch always makes me think. I loved Dark Matter, even though my brain felt like it might explode. Even more so with Recursion. So I went in to Upgrade expecting the same level of mind boggling-ness.
From Goodreads:
At first, Logan Ramsay isn’t sure if anything’s different. He just feels a little . . . sharper. Better able to concentrate. Better at multitasking. Reading a bit faster, memorizing better, needing less sleep.
But before long, he can’t deny it: Something’s happening to his brain. To his body. He’s starting to see the world, and those around him—even those he loves most—in whole new ways.
The truth is, Logan’s genome has been hacked. And there’s a reason he’s been targeted for this upgrade. A reason that goes back decades to the darkest part of his past, and a horrific family legacy.
Worse still, what’s happening to him is just the first step in a much larger plan, one that will inflict the same changes on humanity at large—at a terrifying cost.
Because of his new abilities, Logan’s the one person in the world capable of stopping what’s been set in motion. But to have a chance at winning this war, he’ll have to become something other than himself. Maybe even something other than human.
And even as he’s fighting, he can’t help wondering: what if humanity’s only hope for a future really does lie in engineering our own evolution?
Intimate in scale yet epic in scope, Upgrade is an intricately plotted, lightning-fast tale that charts one man’s thrilling transformation, even as it asks us to ponder the limits of our humanity—and our boundless potential.
Thoughts
While my brain did hurt some during the scientific explanations, I had a pretty good grasp of it all. I think that’s why it didn’t pack as much of a punch for me as the previous books.
I felt somewhat removed from Logan and had a hard time becoming invested in his (and the world’s) dilemma. The idea of the story is intriguing and somewhat terrifying in theory, but I didn’t internalize that terror or feel convicted that his was the right path forward.
All in all, I think it was a solid 4 stars. The ending pushed the rating up a bit – the emotion finally kicked in those last few pages!
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys having their brains bent a bit while the world hangs in the balance.
“It is a supremely cruel thing to have your mind conjure a desire which is is functionally unable to realize.”
Blake Crouch
I read this book on an e-reader through my library and the CloudLibrary app.
