Review of Terms of Service
-
Gracy Williams
- Book of the Month Participant
- Posts: 19
- Joined: 27 Aug 2022, 01:11
- Currently Reading:
- Bookshelf Size: 14
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-gracy-williams.html
- Latest Review: Singularity by Jayme A. Oliveira Filho
Review of Terms of Service
[Following is a volunteer review of "Terms of Service" by Craig W. Stanfill.]
The book Terms of Service: Subject to Change Without Notice by Craig W. Stanfill is set in a future civilization hundreds of years from now where individualism is highly suppressed. A new language called Panglobal is established, which regulates the use of she/her/hers instead of any gender-conforming pronouns, and individuals who have surrendered to the societal norms use we/us/our as opposed to I/me/my which can only be used by the AI. All of this is put in place in order to keep humanity non-resistant and prevent any kind of "selfist" behavior. Children are not allowed to stay with their birth-givers past the age of 4 and must be handed off to a mentor, who will undoubtedly brainwash the individuals by hook or by crook. Various companies are set up, such as the "Food Company" and the "Clothing Company" which require the customer to follow certain terms of service, and failure to do so might result in severe repercussions. The protagonist, Kim, lives in a nondescript beige house and wears pale beige clothes. She follows the terms diligently and lives the life that is required of her. However, every night she consumes vodka to cope with her past trauma and present loneliness. One fateful day, Kim along with her childhood friend Shan makes a mistake that leads her towards the truth of her nightmares, giving her the courage to stand up for her "selfist" self.
As a science fiction enthusiast, I was utterly fascinated by this dystopian science fiction from the moment I read the description. It is a unique concept in a sea of similar ones. The book is written in a narrative style with clear descriptions of events, which makes it easy to understand and most immersive. There were moments where I found myself annoyed at Kim for doing stupid things, as I could simply picture myself in her shoes, which made the book all the more enjoyable. I found that despite all the differences, the present world and the future world share substantial similarities. For instance, homosexuality is frowned upon, and homosexuals are oppressed and told to get treatment for their deviance. Moreover, both worlds are dominated by a group of diktats that don't care about the people in the slightest. I am most excited about the next instalment in this book series, The Prophecy of the Heron: An AI Dystopia Novel.
I found the book to be exceptionally well edited, without any spelling or grammatical errors. With that being said, this may just be a personal preference, but the absence of punctuation, mostly in the form of commas, bothered me to an extent, especially in sentences that require it. s Such as: "After a couple of hours(,)Kim sensed the need for sleep, so she punched out and went to bed." and "In the course of half an hour(,)the entire world had rearranged itself." In another instance, a question mark: "How’s that for weird." However, I don't consider these much of a grammatical error, as comma placement is more or less subjective.
I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars as I thoroughly enjoyed this reading journey full of anticipation and excitement with a sprinkle of cringe at the protagonist's actions here and there.
This book contains explicit sexual instances, though not in great detail, and the characters depicted regularly rely on alcohol and drugs as coping mechanisms, which might be triggering to some readers. The book contains profanities, such as crap, heck, and hell.
I would highly recommend this book to readers who are fans of science fiction and are interested in dystopian science fiction. It may be hard to follow for first-time readers of science fiction, but it is worth it, in my opinion.
******
Terms of Service
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
The book Terms of Service: Subject to Change Without Notice by Craig W. Stanfill is set in a future civilization hundreds of years from now where individualism is highly suppressed. A new language called Panglobal is established, which regulates the use of she/her/hers instead of any gender-conforming pronouns, and individuals who have surrendered to the societal norms use we/us/our as opposed to I/me/my which can only be used by the AI. All of this is put in place in order to keep humanity non-resistant and prevent any kind of "selfist" behavior. Children are not allowed to stay with their birth-givers past the age of 4 and must be handed off to a mentor, who will undoubtedly brainwash the individuals by hook or by crook. Various companies are set up, such as the "Food Company" and the "Clothing Company" which require the customer to follow certain terms of service, and failure to do so might result in severe repercussions. The protagonist, Kim, lives in a nondescript beige house and wears pale beige clothes. She follows the terms diligently and lives the life that is required of her. However, every night she consumes vodka to cope with her past trauma and present loneliness. One fateful day, Kim along with her childhood friend Shan makes a mistake that leads her towards the truth of her nightmares, giving her the courage to stand up for her "selfist" self.
As a science fiction enthusiast, I was utterly fascinated by this dystopian science fiction from the moment I read the description. It is a unique concept in a sea of similar ones. The book is written in a narrative style with clear descriptions of events, which makes it easy to understand and most immersive. There were moments where I found myself annoyed at Kim for doing stupid things, as I could simply picture myself in her shoes, which made the book all the more enjoyable. I found that despite all the differences, the present world and the future world share substantial similarities. For instance, homosexuality is frowned upon, and homosexuals are oppressed and told to get treatment for their deviance. Moreover, both worlds are dominated by a group of diktats that don't care about the people in the slightest. I am most excited about the next instalment in this book series, The Prophecy of the Heron: An AI Dystopia Novel.
I found the book to be exceptionally well edited, without any spelling or grammatical errors. With that being said, this may just be a personal preference, but the absence of punctuation, mostly in the form of commas, bothered me to an extent, especially in sentences that require it. s Such as: "After a couple of hours(,)Kim sensed the need for sleep, so she punched out and went to bed." and "In the course of half an hour(,)the entire world had rearranged itself." In another instance, a question mark: "How’s that for weird." However, I don't consider these much of a grammatical error, as comma placement is more or less subjective.
I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars as I thoroughly enjoyed this reading journey full of anticipation and excitement with a sprinkle of cringe at the protagonist's actions here and there.
This book contains explicit sexual instances, though not in great detail, and the characters depicted regularly rely on alcohol and drugs as coping mechanisms, which might be triggering to some readers. The book contains profanities, such as crap, heck, and hell.
I would highly recommend this book to readers who are fans of science fiction and are interested in dystopian science fiction. It may be hard to follow for first-time readers of science fiction, but it is worth it, in my opinion.
******
Terms of Service
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
Latest Review: Singularity by Jayme A. Oliveira Filho
