Review BZRK by Michael Grant

Title: BZRK (Dutch edition)
Author: Michael Grant

Published: October 17th, 2012 (Van Goor)

Pages: 294

Source: for review
Series: BZRK #1

Rating: 3.5 stars

Synopsis from Goodreads: 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? 

If you've read the Gone series by Michael Grant you know what kind of stories he writes. BZRK is exactly like that. Most of the time it's wise to have a strong stomach. The story begins with a plane crash into a stadium. People die, burn and brains are splattered across the floor. If you don't like this / can't handle this, please don't read this book, because it's about to get worse.

With BZRK Michael Grant created a very creepy world. The twins Benjamin and Charles Armstrong are making the perfect world. One without cruelties. Through nanobots they manipulate the brains of humans, including the six world leaders as their ultimate goal. The world will function as one. Sadie and Noah are recruited by BZRK, a group who wants to stop the twins. They’re renamed to Plath and Keats and with their nanobots they will fight the Armstrongs.

The story is told from different perspectives. The story is full of tension, but it’s confusing sometimes. At the beginning of the story a lot of characters are introduced and it took me a while before I got them all in the right place. The ending brings all of this together en a lot is made clear. But not everything. There are still a lot of questions unanswered. If you like horror, than this is the book for you!

It took some time for me to get used to the subject, but this is what makes this book so special. I haven’t seen a book about nanobots before. So next to reading a good story I also learned a lot! Don’t let the subject scare you away! It may be confusing at the beginning, but if you love Michael Grant’s style you’ll love it. 

Still looking for a good story for Halloween, this should definitely be on your list!