Head On
Ratings127
Average rating4
15
Ratings127
Average rating4
John Scalzi's Head On, is a chilling near-future SF with the thrills of a gritty cop procedural. Head On brings Scalzi's trademark snappy dialogue and technological speculation to the future world of sports. To some left with nothing, winning becomes everything . . . In a post-virus world, a daring sport is taking the US by storm. It’s frenetic, violent and involves teams attacking one another with swords and hammers. The aim: to obtain your opponent’s head and carry it through the goalposts. Impossible? Not if the players have Haden’s Syndrome. Unable to move, Haden’s sufferers use robot bodies, which they operate mentally. So in this sport anything goes, no one gets hurt – and crowds and competitors love it. Until a star athlete drops dead on the playing field. But is it an accident? FBI agents Chris Shane and Leslie Vann are determined to find out. In this game, fortunes can be made – or lost. And both players and owners will do whatever it takes to win, on and off the field.
Featured Series
2 primary books3 released booksLock In is a 3-book series with 2 primary works first released in 2001 with contributions by John Scalzi.
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Reviews with the most likes.
I found this duology the perfect brain candy – zippy dialogue, light science fiction, a fun detective mystery with a light helping of commentary on privilege and other modern social issues. Head On lacks some of the zing of Lock In, because it is a return to the same world, but I thought it still really had a lot of fun elements. And I liked the way the book explored what happens when a space (or sport) is built for a disadvantaged community and then commercialized and co-opted more broadly.
Tons of fun, and completely effortless read now that I know the world from Book 1. But Lock In isn't required reading - Scalzi includes enough background and catches new readers up on the world of Haden's Syndrome.
This rests on a pretty standard police procedural framework - and that story is intriguing and generally well-told. There are multiple times when things are a little too convenient for Chris - imagine the luck of living with a ready panel of experts on all the elements of the case! It's unrealistic, but it also avoids rabbit holes exploring tedious FBI process and introducing a bunch of characters we don't care about.
But anyway, for me the investigation is just the required foundation for:
1.) great interplay between characters (Vann is just the best)
2.) speculation about everything from VR and wearable tech to post-gender culture.
3.) Scalzi setting up a parameter then playing with the idea right to its limits. I found the idea of near-teleportation fascinating, for instance.
4.) And of course, there are themes regarding disability, healthcare, economics, cultural identity, and discrimination. All woven neatly into an entertaining narrative.
(There's also a terrible/wonderful throwaway joke late in the book, that plays with the title. I groaned and laughed in equal measure! Won't spoil it - just go read this!)
Good continuation of the Hayden universe. I think I enjoy the more sci-fi enriched Scalzi novels but I do enjoy this dive into the crime/who-dun-it murder mystery set in a near future. I think I may have enjoyed this one a little more than Lock In.
