At almost the halfway point, I can't believe I'm throwing in the towel, but I really can't stand this book another minute. The Feed is, to put it simply, an exceptionally elaborate and advanced form of social media. In this new world, we follow Tom, the son of the Feed's inventor, and his wife Kate as they attempt to survive with no knowledge of how to perform the necessary manual labors to live, how to read the few books that do remain, or even how to access their own memories without trying to use the unconnected Feed. Waste of time. But instead of on an iPhone or a laptop, it’s all ingrained in your head and you can access anything, anyone and everything instantaneously. It has the ability to beam realistic manufactured images directly into people’s brains. I found this book to be really dull. It’s utterly cliché. For me the book just didn't live up to its expectations. There were many times I wasn't sure what was going on. It was a three-star book for the second half of this story, and no higher than a 1.5 for the first *150 pages. * Ultimately, since it ended better than it began, I'm going with the higher rating instead of the average of those two ratings (2.25 to be technical). The ideas involved are cliché and predictable. The author is lousy at description; he does not help me to visualize this landscape. But a world where all politics can be reduced to pro-tech or anti-tech feels thin and blinkered, not just about racism or sexism, but about the ways in which technology can actually be dangerous, and the ways it extends into all aspects of our lives. As they spend the evening in a restaurant, Tom is trying to persuade his wife Kate to switch off her Feed, if only for a few minutes. "The days harden. Either way, this book is less about the technology of "the Feed" (which was a bit surprising, given how much that aspect is forefront in the summary) and more about questioning the nature of identity, humanity and relationships. The new Amazon television show The Feed, debuting on Nov. 22, illustrates with unusual, unfortunate clarity how aggressive hipness can be its own form of naïveté. It’s addictive and life-altering and it’s gone so far that most humans can’t function without it. The novel portrays a near-future in which the feednet, a huge computer network (apparently an advanced form of the Internet), is directly connected to the brains of about 73% of American citizens by means of an implanted device called a feed. So when I saw the blurb for The Feed I thought it sounded like a book that we would both enjoy. * Ultimately, since it ended better than it began, I'm going with the higher rating instead of the average of those two ratings (2.25 to be technical). Then one day, it collapses and everyone is offline. On The Feed, Tom’s brother Ben (Jeremy Neumark Jones) uses a creepy app that lets him create VR fetish porn featuring his estranged wife. Black Mirror’s “Men Against Fire” is about the way tech can be used to justify and enable violence against marginalized groups. The idea is that society as we know it has people connected to "The Feed." The series wants to engage with present dangers through a metaphor, but it isn’t convincing. The idea for this book is a great one and it really intrigued me when I read the synopsis, however I did not enjoy this book! Nick Clark Window's debut novel, The Feed, is a post-apocalyptic 'thriller' where society's reliance on the Feed- basically a computer chip that is implanted in the brain, making real life communication and reading, among other things, obsolete- is to such an extent that when it mysteriously collapses, the world is brought back to an uncivilized and crude state. I just can’t get it out of my head…..unlike “The Feed” itself which is the root cause of all the problems in this brilliant book! Welcome back. These characters? And am I correct that Tom remembers nothing about their journey etc? Sylene, with all Kate's memories, including the location of Claire's camp. New tools are just new tools. Bottom line: this book felt like two different books between the first half and the second, and it's likely that if you enjoy one you won't much like the other. The story although interesting is a little ridiculous. New technology has in fact sparked violence in southeast Asia — but not because the people in that part of the world are militant Luddites. The mission is controversial because the country relies on tourism from people escaping the Feed’s reach. Scientific genius/megalomaniac Lawrence Hatfield (David Thewlis) has invented a kind of mental internet called the Feed. Start by marking “The Feed” as Want to Read: Error rating book. But weirdly enough we had quite different reactions to it and not what you would expect from our usual preferences! We’d love your help. Meredith shares some racist stereotypes about the instability and violence of countries in the region, then has her stereotypes confirmed when she barely escapes from ominous crowds of anti-Feed rioters. It was a three-star book for the second half of this story, and no higher than a 1.5 for the first *150 pages. Left me vaguely tearful. The Feed was addictive, and once you had it, you never wanted to be without it. Better than “EFF this book” which does have the virtue of succinctness. As always this review can also be found on my blog The Tattooed Book Geek: So anyone who thought Tyrell Johnson had to dodge many Cormac McCarthy comparisons along the denuded road of his early 2018 novel. Nick Clark Window's debut novel, The Feed, is a post-apocalyptic 'thriller' where society's reliance on the Feed- basically a computer chip that is implanted in the brain, making real life communication and reading, among other things, obsolete- is to such an extent that when it mysteriously collapses, the world is brought back to an uncivilized and crude state. Shelves: netgalley, sff, first-novels, near-future-soft-sf, 2018-release, read-on-kindle The prologue of The Feed is a snapshot of future society just as it begins to crumble. The Feed is, to put it simply, an exceptionally elaborate and advanced form of social media. Lawrence’s son Tom (Guy Burnet), a Feed therapist, is skeptical. This novel is filled with philosophical questions pertaining to technology and progress, as one might expect, but also to humankind's interactions with each other and the Earth they live on. But a series where all the headlines are tech panic seems less so. Scientific genius/megalomaniac Lawrence Hatfield (David Thewlis) has invented a … Refresh and try again. In this new world, we follow Tom, the son of the Feed's inventor, and his wife Kate as they attempt to survive with no knowledge of how. Perhaps because of the absence of chapters (instead, we have scenes with breaks, and some of the scenes are pretty long), which was a bit of a turn-off for me. But The Feed can’t imagine it, because in its world, the only politics is pro- or anti-Feed, which means Breitbart and other old school hate-mongers don’t exist. No one’s going to fix Brexit. I would have liked to learn more about the feed and how it came into existence as I think that was a really interesting aspect that should have been developed more. The Feed does not create any physical sensation, its an implant, bio-tech with no battery source, the human is the power source. But imagining a world where the web is our biggest problem means imagining a world that looks like a utopia compared to the world we have now. Then one day, it collapses and everyone is offline. I've read a lot of horror books and not really been scared but whilst this doesn't fit that category social media is everywhere and the idea of an apocalypse occurring when everything is switched off is something I can actually see happening and find quite scary. I only managed to really start enjoying this book after reading 150 pages. Instead, technology made it easier to enable and weaponize preexisting prejudice. The premise is too unbelievable and implausible, the characters too difficult to care about. Tech-paranoia narratives often present as dystopias — sometimes apocalyptically so, as in the Terminator franchise, in which the machines are literally out to destroy humanity. She found it. I promised my daughter recently that I would try to read more books in her preferred genre and she would then agree to read a few more psychological thrillers! The characters are predictable and unlikeable. The sixth episode of Watchmen, which airs Nov. 24, is about the effects of advanced tech in the hands of racist demagogues. Turning off your feed and "going slow"— living in the moment and talking aloud— wasn't easy. Tech paranoia as a genre is obsessed with being up-to-the-nanosecond.