ARA Review by drewhead118 of World, Incorporated

[drewhead118]

[Following is an OnlineBookClub.org ARA Review of the book, World, Incorporated.]

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3 out of 5 stars

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World, Incorporated follows the troubled Agent Sliver in his day-to-day employ of the hyper-powerful titular company, World, Inc. Equal parts assassin and errand boy, Sliver is sent on transcontinental missions to advance his employer’s geopolitical aims—but when Sliver bumps into something unexpected at the end of a job, his career takes a turn as everything he thought he knew is thrown into question. Now armed with new allies and secrets, Sliver has to decide where his true allegiances lie… when every decision has its consequences, who, exactly, is paying?

Overall, I found the novel to be charming and enjoyable, but not without its faults. The worldbuilding and setting of World, Incorporated is easily the highlight. Author Tom Gariffo has constructed a slip into corporate dystopia that feels at once plausible and immediate. It’s the type of fiction that almost may make the reader feel a little uncomfortable at its familiarity to the real world… sometimes, it feels like we’re slowly tottering on the edge of seeing such supercorporations in the present-day era. The way that Gariffo describes the companies’ rise through in-text montage of articles is very well done. Some might find the number of those clips to be excessive, but that is precisely the type of rich worldbuilding detail that I love. It felt realistic, deeply conceived, and gave the rest of the novel a backdrop of seriousness.

The characters have good banter with one another (I particularly enjoyed most of Franklin’s lines), but most of the supporting cast seem to have single-note personalities. I also found myself wishing that Fellrock, one of the novel’s main antagonists, had more personality in his scenes… we get little characterization beyond “is CEO.”

The plot itself is largely episodic at first, with individual chapters chronicling the various missions that Sliver is sent on. This format keeps the plot moving along at a steady clip, almost giving it an “adventure of the week” feel from classic sci-fi TV. Each of his missions are suitably varied, keeping the story fun and engaging, but there were times that I felt certain developments and decisions were a little illogical. In one scene, Sliver is to make a certain assassination look like it was done by a student. He spends time and energy hiding in the lecture hall crowd and ranting as a disgruntled student might, but then he chooses to escape via rocket boots through the ceiling—something that no reasonable student would have. I also remember rolling my eyes at a scene that featured an airship crashing in the desert as it was flying halfway around the world... by total chance, the plane lands right next to a bunker of secret allies of Agent Sliver. Those, and a half dozen other developments like it, start to strain suspension of disbelief.

Overall, I’d give World, Incorporated three out of five stars. I might have given it four as an imperfect enjoyable ride, but there were several editing stumbles—dozens of missed commas at the ends of quotes, a few subject-verb errors, a handful of run-ons, and a couple sentence fragments. Still, this is far, far better than the types of books given two stars. If you can look past the typos and sometimes-too-convenient plot developments, the story itself is still fun, and the rich and flavorful worldbuilding leave a strong impression overall. Franklin and Sliver make a memorable duo, and the corporate dystopia that Gariffo created is contemporarily relevant. Fans of dystopia and sci-fi should find plenty to enjoy, and Gariffo leaves the end open enough for a sequel, yet resolved enough to walk away with a satisfying sense of closure.

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