Stand Alones: Little Brother by Cory Doctrow

Little Brother is a book that got to me so much that I put it down as one of my favorite books on a list when asked for my favorite books. It was a very limited list and it included only books I truly could or have read again and again. By the way there is absolutely no excuse to not read this book as it is available for FREE download on the author's site. http://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/ (link for downloads)

 Book Summary:
Take the fear and panic of the post 9/11 world. Add teenagers who happen to be caught in the middle of a second attack. And finally after being released by Homeland Security one of them is not released and still imprisoned. You have the very basic set up for Little Brother. That is a generalized version of the first 80 pages or so. That being said I will not say much about the other 300 pages that follow only that it is a high computer science based story with themes of privacy, rebellion, terrorism, and much more.

Why Stand Alone:
 This book works very well as a stand alone. The book starts right where it needs too, right before a 9/11 type attack, and continues on to give a great amount of character building and plot that revolves around the themes of the book. Like most stand alone books to add a sequel would be riddiculus.

 Prequel/Sequel:
 A prequel or sequel would not work as the book starts at the right place and ends with a nice summarization of the themes. However I think that companion books would work. These could show other places in the United States after the attacks. While I don't think it will happen and don't particularly want it to happen if it did I would at least give it a chance if the author decided to write them. 






Adaptatation: 
Their is no movie or definitive movie plans. The movie rights have been optioned and there is a play adaptation of this novel. 


Recommendation: As I said before this is among my favorite books. However while I think everyone should read it a warning to all before attempting. This is a very very "hard" science fiction book. By that I mean that science takes a primary role in the story and is very detailed. While I found the pages of detailed science in the story amazing some may not. If you think you can stand the science or if you like the science read this book. If you can enjoy the characters and don't mind dealing with the science read this book. However if the science descriptions will bore you and you will give up and skip over them, skip this book. Read something else instead. 


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