Review 62: Vox

Vox by Christina Dalcher
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

I listened to this book on audio and it propelled me forward with such strength that I could not stop the book. Now that it is all over, looking back well, the book was not so fantastic.

The first problem is that the basic plot has been done before. Sure there are some twists to it, but it is not anything new. I normally do not compare to other books, but this one lends to that too easily. First you take The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. Then add a bit of All Rights Reserved by Gregory Scott Katsoulis for limiting speech, but just women. Then you throw in (nearly any) medical thriller, say Next by Michael Crichton.

This book is a dystopian future where the Christian right goes way overboard on their "Purity" movement and wants women at home and not speaking. The main character was a neuro-linguistic scientist that happens to have a "cure" for aphasia, which the President's brother gets from a ski accident.

Part of the problem with the book is way too many people seem to be getting aphasia from various reasons. Lacks believably. The thriller part, the action, was overdone. The main problem really is that the story line just doesn't hold up well enough. Not really. The romance? That was incongruous and didn't belong.

Best to stick with Atwood's book, it was done much better. This book is too similar in idea that no need to branch out further. Unless you just must have more.


Book rating: 2.5 stars, rounded up because yes, I was hooked in.