Insignia by S.J. Kincaid – Review

Insignia by S.J. Kincaid

Review of Insignia

Title & Author:
Insignia by S.J. Kincaid
Publisher:
Katherine Tegen Books
Publication Date:
July 10, 2012
Pages:
444
Source:
From Publisher via Edelweiss

More than anything, Tom Raines wants to be important, though his shadowy life is anything but that. For years, Tom’s drifted from casino to casino with his unlucky gambler of a dad, gaming for their survival. Keeping a roof over their heads depends on a careful combination of skill, luck, con artistry, and staying invisible.

Then one day, Tom stops being invisible. Someone’s been watching his virtual-reality prowess, and he’s offered the incredible—a place at the Pentagonal Spire, an elite military academy. There, Tom’s instincts for combat will be put to the test, and if he passes, he’ll become a member of the Intrasolar Forces, helping to lead his country to victory in World War Three. Finally, he’ll be someone important: a superhuman war machine with the tech skills that every virtual-reality warrior dreams of. Life at the Spire holds everything that Tom’s always wanted—friends, the possibility of a girlfriend, and a life where his every action matters—but what will it cost him?

Gripping and provocative, S. J. Kincaid’s futuristic thrill ride of a debut crackles with memorable characters, tremendous wit, and a vision of the future that asks startling, timely questions about the melding of humanity and technology. – Goodreads

Insignia by S.J. Kincaid is the kind of book that left me feeling strange and thinky for a long time afterwards.

The concept of Insignia is fascinating to me – I love the whole set up of World War III and how it takes place only on other planets and how they use teens and program viruses to play pranks on each other. It’s definitely a future that felt possible and I liked that.

There were a few points in Insignia where I was worried that nothing would happen – a majority of the beginning just felt like building blocks for the rest of the series, and I was worried that the whole book would feel that way. Luckily Insignia got action-packed pretty quickly and wiped my fears away.

I also really enjoyed S.J. Kincaid’s writing of the protagonist in Insignia, and all of the secondary characters were so well done as well. But Tom in particular – he is just such a teenage guy. And I literally laughed out loud several times throughout Insignia at his guyness and the ridiculousness of him and Val and Yuki and Wyatt.

One of my favourite parts of Insignia was the ending. I loved the way S.J. Kincaid left Insignia - it was at a perfect ending point so I feel satisfied with what I’ve read, but at the same time, I’m excited she’ll be writing more books in this world. And that’s not an easy ending to pull off!

If you enjoy dystopian/futuristic books filled with technology and sci-fi, don’t miss Insignia by S.J. Kincaid. I thought it was a great debut and I’m excited to read the next book in the series.

While you’re here, you can subscribe to my feed :)