Toys

Dear Reader,

Remember when you were in school, and in the first or second English class of the year the teacher told you that you will have to read two books over the school year, and then you will have to write a book report on the books you read?  Remember how the entire class dropped their hands to the desks “thump”, then almost in unison the groans and moans of ‘do we have to” followed by “they better be easy books” and one or two might say “right, and how will that help me in the future”.  Although amongst the moaners and groaners, I think that in every school and every English class there were one or two kids who would just smile to themselves and think “whoopee we get to read and write book reports”

I was not one of those kids, I hated having to do book reports, I would drop my hands to my desk “thump”, then moan and groan, and hope to hell that the books were easy to read, and that the report did not have to be a long one.

Apparently someone knew something that I surely had no clue about, they made us read  books, and write reports, “against our better judgment of course”, and here we are, in the future, doing exactly what I never figured I would ever have to do again (voluntarily even) once I escaped from school.  How interesting our lives can become, The decisions we make, using the skills we were forced to learn, by a bunch of people, (adults, parents) who had no idea what it was like to be a kid during the time we were growing up. Sound familiar?

So here is my take on Toys, by James Patterson, I hope I get a good grade.

Toys is set in the future, our future, it is "a brave newworld”, (remember that one from grade 8) that Patterson brings us to, he creates our future as it has been seen by anyone who would consider themselves a sci-fi geek.  In Patterson’s future the world is united in country, but split in inhabitants.  Ok, let me explain further, (remember in school you would always use more words than necessary to fill up the pages), In Toys there are two factions of people, similar to the haves and the have knots, we have the human “Elite”, who have all the power, and all the toy’s, they are also the humans that have been enhanced, mentally and physically, augmented with electro-mechanical implants and genetic enhancements.  They are smarter (their opinion), faster, and richer, than those who originally created them.

The creators of the ‘Elite” were and are the humans, us, the other half of the, them and us, we are the have knots.  We, being the humans, because the reader must choose what side they want to be on, have nothing, no power, no voice, no choice, we are the servants and  the homeless.

Now the Elite are planning to purge the world of those who they deem to be unworthy, guess who, that’s right, they plan to purge the world of the humans, they have been at war with the humans, hunted the humans, and controlled them long enough, it’s time.

Time indeed, the Elite have lasers, trackers, flying cars, super speed, agility, and clones, yes clones to do the dirty work.  What do the humans have, what do WE have that could even start to have an impact on the great and mighty Elite, well, let me tell you.

Remember John Wyndham's novel The Chrysalids, where the people with the abnormalities are banished, what grade were you in when you read it?  I think I was in grade 8.  In Toys it looks like the abnormal people are the one’s taking over the world and banishing, eliminating in this case, the normal humans, do you remember how it ended?

So back to the book at hand, where were we, oh yes, what could the lowly humans possibly have to fight against the Elite, what hope, well how about the original human designers of the Elite, would they help? They might?  After all the Elite are only in their first generation, gestating in their test tubes for 2 years, and young as a species goes, and of course they do live longer. So the smart humans who developed the technology to transform the humans into the Elite should be able to help out, sometimes parents can even get their kids to help out around the house, so to speak.

Toys was an easy read, Patterson creates short chapters, which makes the reader want to know what’s next.  The main character Hays Baker, is touted as the next James Bond or Jason Bourne, according to the book cover, I’m not sure about that, it was good, but the Bourn novels are better.

Thanks for the book A.T. I look forward to reading the next Hays Baker novel if Patterson decides to make a series out of the character.

bfn Brian