Book Review - Mindset: The Complete Series by Zack Kaplan

 

Mindset: The Complete Series by Zack Kaplan is a graphic novel about the perils of mind control. A college student is behind in his college coursework. He asks a teacher’s assistant to let him into the lab to finish an experiment. While working on the experiment, he discovers that certain sounds and lights have the ability to control people.

He decides to create an app with his friends to help people meditate and break their addiction to technology. While our protagonist’s intentions were noble, things take a turn when someone programs the app to control people maliciously.  Will the college student and his friends be able to figure out who is behind the override before it’s too late?

I like reading graphic novels but this was my first time reading one from this genre. The artwork was nicely done and had a bit of a mystery. I usually like graphic novels with a bit more humor to them. It took a bit of time before I got invested in the story. If you like mind-bending, sci-fi thrillers, you might enjoy this graphic novel more than I did.

Book Review - Still Here by Lara Vapnyar

Photo  Source - Amazon

**Disclosure - I received a free uncorrected advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion**

Four immigrant Russian friends are bought together by an act of betrayal. They wade through their complicated relationships with each other and dealing with the drudgery of everyday complications.  Each of the four friends leave their homeland for a better life but they are haunted by death, love, happiness, forgiveness and finding themselves in a digital age.  Vica and Sergey are a couple who are struggle as Sergey loses one job after another. Regina who was once a famous translator is married to a rich tech startup owner, Bob and is dealing with losing a loved one. While, Sergey's best friend is a programmer who is unsuccessfully searching for love and his true self.

Sergey develops an app called "Virtual Grave", which preserves a person's online presence. While, each one of the friends are dealing with loss, they view his app as a waste of time. However, it sparks a debate within the group on how someone's death should affect their virtual selves. When a person dies who should take over their online persona? How does our virtual lives define us? Will the friends be torn apart while trying to figure out what they want? 

The book was an interesting read. As a person who lives in NY and used to live in Staten Island and Brooklyn, it was fun to hear familiar places. However, the book was a bit boring and tedious at times. I fell like there was no story or real purpose to the novel. It  was like a cross between a "Friends" and "Seinfeld" episode. The title of the book "Still Here", is basically asking readers -- "Are You Still There"?