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Review of Terms of Service

Posted: 29 Jan 2023, 12:38
by Renee Pendergast
[Following is a volunteer review of "Terms of Service" by Craig W. Stanfill.]
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5 out of 5 stars
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Terms of Service: Subject to Change Without Notice by Craig W. Stanfill is an interesting take on an Orwellian setting. In a time run by a controlling government that can watch your every move and hear your every word, Kim lives quite the ordinary life. Work, dates, and gatherings with friends take up her time. When an old friend from high school moves back, Kim’s life takes a curious turn. Kim is about to find out truths she never wanted to learn, with no way to turn back.

Although the author claims this book starts off slow, I quite enjoyed the world-building of the first few chapters. I enjoyed getting to know the main character before being thrown into the plot. It also helped with learning the rules of a society that is so different from our own. The writing style is very fluid, with many complex sentences so as not to bore a more advanced reader. The author also uses occasional poetic sentence structure, which is a welcome change when trying to drive a point home to the reader.

There is quite a bit of drug and alcohol use in this book, which I found to be overused. Although never explicitly mentioned, the main character seems to be a borderline alcoholic, as she cannot fall asleep without copious amounts of vodka. With an Orwellian style setting that features a “Big Brother” type of government, I would have expected more of a crackdown on non-social drinking. Since the book features technology through the use of home appliances choosing food and drink for meals, it would have been easy to give the main character the need to hide her personal stash of alcohol, showing her addiction.

I would rate this book 5 out of 5 stars. The plot is intriguing, the characters are relatable, and the writing is extremely fluid. The book sets up the world very well in the beginning for readers to fully understand what society is like before getting into the plot. The book is also very well edited. I also feel that, having compared it to an Orwell novel, the book accomplished what the author set out to achieve.

Although there are some mature situations, I would recommend this book to high schoolers and adults of all ages. I would especially recommend this book to fans of authors such as George Orwell, Ray Bradbury, and Isaac Asimov due to the similarity of government shared by these authors, and the implementation of robots/artificial intelligence used in the futuristic societies they write.

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Terms of Service
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