Little Brother - Homeland

Sequel to Little Brother, an excellent book; this was not quite so good, but still very interesting if you want to read about an all-too-realistic and somewhat grim future of the USA where organizations like Homeland Security and ICE have far too much power, children can be detained for no reason, and mass surveillance is an ongoing problem. Yeah, despite being a YA book in audience target and writing style, it's pretty heavy (and technical) in detail.

The book continues the story of Marcus Yallow, former teen hacker, and now unemployed dropout as the economy crash and the repercussions from his teen hacker infamy have made him near unemployable and also impacted his parents' jobs too. Follow Marcus from Burning Man into the receipt of a darknet trove of wikileaks style information on government corruption and abuses, his agonizing over whether to release it, and ongoing cat and mouse games as the Bad Guys implicated in the documents start to realize it's out there and Marcus is probably involved.

Like I said, interesting subject material, a lot of relevant but technical information, and YA level writing. Did I really need quite all that detail? Probably not, particularly not a whole page-ful of instructions on how to make cold brew coffee and why it's the best thing ever; Doctorow slips a bit too easily into preaching about his favourite topics that may not really be relevant, or needed in quite as much detail, by the actual plot. A lot of the plot is either Marcus agonizing over what to do, while his friends/girlfriend telling him an idiot, generally correctly; or watching him react to things happening to him rather than being proactive. The plot depends on an awful lot of coincidences, too; so you just happened to stumble into a tent occupied by Wil Wheaton and other Important Internet Guys in the middle of burning man? (Also, am I the only one who already knew it was going to be Wil Wheaton before he was even named? Yeah, he's a cool nerd rebel these days, but Ready Player One already did that, 5+ years ago.) And then these cool guys you play D&D with just happen to give you a job with a independent politician who just happens to be the only good politician out there and you just happen to be in the right place and time to see your friends kidnapped by the Bad Guys and how lucky they just happen to have given you all the darknet docs just before that ... The ending is the biggest deus ex machina of all, completely out of Marcus's hands and control and seemed a bit of a cop out.

Still, interesting and very relevant subject matter and an enjoyable read, just squint a bit and don't look too hard at the list of coincidences or sturdiness of plot.

Disclaimer: I got interested in this book because it is what Edward Snowden is packing up on his back in a scene of CitizenFour. I was really curious about what would be Snowden's reading material. I wasn't disappointed.

Homeland is fun and enriching. I would say it is a handbook of sorts to modern day society, disguised as a young adult novel. In it the characters deal with a huge dump of information that needs to become public, and how to go about and do it without ruining their personal lives too much. No wonder Ed Snowden was interested.
I am not going to spoil it, but must say I was a bit dissatisfied with the way it ends. It is a bit anti climactic, specially considering how exciting the build up to it is.
Nevertheless, it introduces the reader to a whole world of ideas and possibilities, from hacking to making to drones to being private and most importantly, to courage and bravery in the face of a world that every day looks more like a tyranny, even if it is justified in "preserving freedom".

I think this is an important book, and together with Little Brother are my current de facto recommendations to everyone that wants to have a good time and learn stuff and become empowered at the same time.

Cory Doctorow sets up an intriguing premise in Homeland, the direct sequel to his book, Little Brother. Instead of combating unconstitutional surveillance from Carrie Johnstone and the DHS's California branch, Doctorow forces Marcus to either question his own politics--landing a job with independent candidate, Joe Noss, and his campaign--or figure out how to leak out the documents Masha gives him at the Burning Man festival. With the debate surrounding last year's leaked NSA documents 2010's Wikileaks story, Doctorow wasted no time writing and publishing Homeland to continue those discussions while continuing Marcus's hacking and encryption endeavors.

I loved this set up, and Marcus's time at Burning Man with Ange and some cameo appearances got me excited about how the conflict would play out. Unfortunately, the story began to drag itself out. At some parts, I was wondering when the narrative would kick itself back into full gear. The info-dumps on various encryption methods and mathematical theories, while necessary, took me out of the story. Even if Little Brother was guilty of the same issue, Doctorow weaved them into the story more cohesively and even easier for a reader, possibly unfamiliar with the nuances of hacking, to understand.

It goes without saying that Homeland's afterwords and bibliography serve as great resources regardless whether or not one reads the book.