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BZRK by Michael Grant
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BZRK (edition 2013)

by Michael Grant

Series: BZRK (1)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
5262145,809 (3.39)3
it is a little heavy on the science but once you could understand the life and duties of nanobots and biots it becomes a bit easier. Lots of action and a pretty interesting story. I still wish I would have had a bit more info on the brother in the mental ward though. ( )
  selinalynn69 | Aug 19, 2014 |
English (18)  Dutch (2)  All languages (20)
Showing 18 of 18
Hardest title to pronounce so far.
  Litrvixen | Jun 23, 2022 |
The premise was extremely interesting, but I found the beginning of the book quite confusing. It didn't really seem to get going properly until about half way through. There were too many characters introduced randomly at the beginning, and it was hard to care about the deaths of Sadie's Dad and brother when we didn't even find out who they were until quite a bit later.

The action was choppy, with it jumping between the macro and the nano, and also between characters and scenes. There felt like there was always 100 things going on at once and I felt that it was too much. ( )
  zacchaeus | Dec 26, 2020 |
A true science fiction book about wars that are fought in the microscopic worlds ON people by genetically altered bacteria and nanobots. There is a secret battle going on to try and take over or kill all the world's leaders and our hero and heroine are thrown into it by their gaming ability and the deaths of family members who were funding the research. It is all very convoluted and the plot takes a while to settle down. Be warned,don't get too used to the characters that Grant sets up in the first few chapters because he then bumps a lot of them off in various gruesome nano ways.
The book is no "Gone" but it had enough science behind it to make it acceptable. ( )
  nicsreads | Mar 9, 2020 |
Probably a 3 1/2 star rating. Good story but a lot of times I was bogged down by all the nano/macro dual perspective and it confused me. ( )
  s.pando | Nov 4, 2016 |
Probably a 3 1/2 star rating. Good story but a lot of times I was bogged down by all the nano/macro dual perspective and it confused me. ( )
  s.pando | Nov 4, 2016 |
This is a book that I've had on my TBR pile for a really long time, once I saw it I bought it immediately. After reading Grant's Gone series, he quickly became one of my favourite YA novelists, and I was excited to read anything else by him. With these high expectations, I began reading this novel.
Unfortunately almost from the beginning I knew this wasn't going to be as good as Gone, apart from being a completely different premise (and genre to a degree) it was completely different in terms of the speed of the plot, and the development of the characters. I know I shouldn't compare these two series, as they are completely different, but I couldn't help but feel disappointed by this offering by Grant.
The novel got off to a slow start, despite it being quite an action-packed beginning, I struggled to feel drawn in by the action I was reading, or feel anything for the characters involved. The whole novel continued on in this vein, it didn't have any page-turning aspect to it, and at times I really struggled to make it to the end!
Also this novel is chock full of technical jargon, both in a technological sense, and in a science/biological sense. Some of the anatomical information about the brain I already knew from my degree, but a lot of the technical jargon to do with the bugs the characters were controlling was so dense I had to skim over paragraphs of it to get to the story again.
However, one aspect of the novel I did like was the wide range of characters Grant had included in the novel. On both teams, there was a nice mix of diverse individuals, in terms or nationality, gender and sexuality. It made the novel feel a little more like real life, with the characters seeming more like people one might meet in real life.
Another aspect that redeemed the novel for me was the changing P.O.V within the novel. This was a very strong feature of the Gone novels, and Grant put it to good use in this novel too. The reader got the P.O.V of both groups, fighting against each other. This allowed for an interesting insight into the opinions and mindset of both groups, both thinking that they were the "goodies" and the other side the "baddies".
This blurring of the ideas of "good" and "bad" in the novel was an interesting part of this novel, I was never sure of either teams reasons for justifying their actions, or who was doing what in terms of good or bad.
If you're at all squeamish, I don't recommend this novel, it goes into extreme details about all the germs and other bacteria that live on the human body, and the other gross stuff!! This made me feel quite dirty and squeamish myself, and it's an aspect of the novel I could've done without reading.
Overall I gave this novel 3.5/5, because although I was disappointed by the delivery of this novel, it was a fascinating idea, with a nicely diverse group of characters. ( )
  ACascadeofBooks | Oct 5, 2016 |
READ IN DUTCH

I received a free pre-read copy of the Dutch translation of this book via www.ezzulia.nl. Thank you!



It took me so long to figure out BZRK is supposed to mean Berserk. (I saw that it is already stated in the English blurb; but in the Dutch one it wasn't). I just read it as letters and not as a word. I felt very stupid afterwards...



A war is going on, the only problem is, it's so small you can't see it. The two sides are using different types of nano-robots to control synaptic junctions in people's brain and thus control their actions (or so they explain it in this book; it's a fictional SF work, so I won't digress on the biological possibility and everything). And not just any person's brain, no, think politicians, UN members etc. Besides, they also fight on this nano level for control over certain people. This is extra tricky because some of the robots are linked to the actual people who control them and losing that robot will mean the controller goes Berserk...



This is a very action-packed, fast paced book. In other ways though, i was less similar to Michael Grant's popular Gone series. We still get many POVs (on both sides of the war) and a lot of plot lines are going on on the same time, but it didn't really feel as good though. Sometimes it felt a bit hasted, unrealistic and the ending was very chaotic. It's the start of a new series, and this book really ends on a cliffhanger (there is a short epilogue to make it possible to just read this book, but really, it doesn't answer the questions I had). So, basically, you'll have to continue the series. I haven't done so yet, but I'm planning on at least reading the second book, and see just how the story is going to develop.



Nice touch from my real life. I went to the University campus just a day or so after finishing this book and they had just placed new posters revealing that the new building they're building is going to be 'one of the world's leading state of the art centres in nano technology' xD Looking forward to it already. ( )
  Floratina | May 26, 2016 |
Arghhh, four discs into it and I still don't understand what's going on! Eject! ( )
  Salsabrarian | Feb 2, 2016 |
it is a little heavy on the science but once you could understand the life and duties of nanobots and biots it becomes a bit easier. Lots of action and a pretty interesting story. I still wish I would have had a bit more info on the brother in the mental ward though. ( )
  selinalynn69 | Aug 19, 2014 |
Exciting, fast-moving adventure with a science fiction twist. ( )
  Goldengrove | Feb 17, 2014 |
More of a techno-thriller than typical YA sf. It was gory and had excessive swearing in it. It didn't hook me and I just didn't see the point of continuing past page 66.
  Jellyn | Aug 14, 2013 |
Action packed and adrenaline fuelled, BZRK is the first Michael Grant novel I've read, and all I can say is that I wish I hadn't waited so long!

My favourite aspect of this novel is definitely its grounding in nano-science, and the ways in which Grant makes the nano-world come alive. The descriptions of normal, often beautiful things, turns sinister when seen in the nano-scale, and it never failed to make me cringe and freak out. Eyes and skin are way scarier than I'd ever thought they'd be! I enjoyed the way the science is explained in the book through natural dialogue, without breaking up the action or making us wade through info-dumps. Grant doesn't fall into the pit of over explaining the science, as many science fiction writers are prone to do.

It's also refreshing to read a young adult novel that incorporates a complex plot and intelligent world-building. Too often I read books where authors have consciously written for a younger audience by over simplifying plot elements or glossing over the world-building.

I'd initially thought I wouldn't much like any of the characters in this book - they all seemed too different from me, I couldn't relate to them on any level. As I got to know them better, however, I found out that I have something in common with all of them, Sadie, Noah, even Vincent. I love Sadie, especially the way she cleverly and carefully navigates that thin line between amazing, tough heroine and over-competent, unbelievable teenager. She's drawn very well, and provides a great counterpoint to Noah, who has a tendency to jump into situations without looking to see where he'll land.

The moral ambiguity of this novel is something I really liked, especially since these days novels are so clear-cut about which side we should be on. Sadie and Noah question themselves frequently, and are quick to point out that they are asked to do exactly the same things as their enemies, so how do they know they're any better? I could also see the point that the other side is trying to make, and although I feel like free will should always win out over hive-mind mentality and cohesion, it does raise a compelling point about the human condition. I would, however, have liked more examination of why Bug Man and his associates believe so vehemently in their cause. And I want to know who Lear is, so so bad!

I loved BZRK! I don't think it's a novel for everyone - people going in for a light, science fiction read will be sorely disappointed, but fans of science fiction who want to experience a near-future world will love this. I have the sequel, BZRK Reloaded, ready to go, and I am now desperate to find some time to read Michael Grant's other series, starting with Gone.

You can read more of my reviews at Speculating on SpecFic. ( )
  alcarinqa | Jul 24, 2013 |


I stayed up late to finish this and I really wish I hadn't bothered. In fact, I'm very surprised I managed it.

This book was a huge disappointment. This is because I had high expectations of [a:Michael Grant|1599723|Michael Grant|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1216331499p2/1599723.jpg] after reading his imaginative [b:Gone|2536134|Gone (Gone, #1)|Michael Grant|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266904868s/2536134.jpg|2543657] series, full of exciting characters with mutant powers that draws interesting comparisons between the struggling society created by the kids and our own world. Grant's books have never been perfect to me, I have often complained about the lack of a decent female character who could be strong, realistic and not annoy the hell out of me. That's what was so bad about [b:Bzrk|11503582|BZRK|Michael Grant|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1318378370s/11503582.jpg|16439262], because it did have this.

When I was first introduced to Sadie McLure, I was thinking "YEEESSSS!!!" inside my mind because the author had finally delivered a female lead that was intelligent, kickass and not simply the sidekick or girlfriend of the male self-sacrificing hero. She was all these things... but Sadie was also as flat and boring as any character I've read after a few chapters. The book does start well, not just with the introduction of the characters, but with the dramatic plane crash that opens up a bizarre science-fiction mystery which involves secret corporations that are trying to take over the world. Exciting stuff. Well, for a while, that is.

Boredom is my biggest complaint about this book. The sci-fi aspect is well thought-out and conceivable, perhaps this novel just really is too much of a boy book (whatever that really means), I like my sci-fi with something a bit more human to balance it out: easily relatable characters, humour, even romance... [b:Bzrk|11503582|BZRK|Michael Grant|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1318378370s/11503582.jpg|16439262] failed to successfully deliver any of these. Unfortunately, I'll just stick to finishing the [b:Gone|2536134|Gone (Gone, #1)|Michael Grant|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266904868s/2536134.jpg|2543657] series, though I'm not sure how that's going to cope with two more books on the way - sometimes authors just don't know when to quit (I'm looking at you, [a:Richelle Mead|137902|Richelle Mead|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1270374609p2/137902.jpg]).
( )
  emleemay | Mar 30, 2013 |
Book Recommendation by Jason Hong Year 8
The book BZRK (Berserk) written my Michael Grant, New York Times best-selling author, ramps up action and suspense to a whole new level of excitement.
With his success from Animorphs and the GONE series, Michael Grant is emerging as a force in young adult literature. Do you like action-adventure thrillers? If so this will be the perfect book for you! I will totally recommend this book for anyone who is mature enough to read it. It does contain blood and violence but that’s what will blow out your mind. The book contains 407 pages, but that 407 pages will feel like you’ve only read 100 pages or so because it is jam packed, with action!
The book starts off when war rages on the battleground, a war between Armstrong Fancy Gifts Corporation, headed by the conjoined Armstrong twins, and BZRK, a guerrilla group of young hackers.
The main characters are the Armstrong twins, Benjamin and Charles. The conjoined twins have a goal, a goal to turn the world into their vision of Utopia. No wars, no conflict, no hunger and no free will.
The book entices readers due to endless amount of twists’ in the plot. The book is a Sci-Fi book but with a major different point of view. The battleground is situated in the human’s brain. Instead of the story being located externally, it is located internally which makes this book totally different to other Sci-Fi novels.
I was definitely not a book lover in my entire life, but now I have realized that books are exciting to read. I won’t give much away of the story as I will go on forever. Basically I will persuade you go to your local library store today and grab the book (BZRK) as I have full confidence that you will love this book. I will rate this 9.5/10
  VeronicaCrothers | Dec 4, 2012 |
Sadie and Noah, after family tragedies, are recruited by BZRK, a covert group engaged in nano-level biological warfare with the Nexus Humanus led by the conjoined Armstrong Twins. The narrative buzzes back and forth between different Twitchers and BZRKers. It's a gritty, tough, violent world based on manipulating other people's brains sometimes at the expense of one's own sanity. It took me awhile to make sense of this world. It started to hook me in toward the end of the book. ( )
  ewyatt | Oct 3, 2012 |
This mature (incl. sexuality, violence, swearing, disturbing themes) YA novel explores the terrifying concept of micro biological warfare. In the "macro," two teens are initiated into a secret group that fights terrorists intent on creating a world unified under their rule. In the "meat," dozens of biots (organic fighters that are intrinsically linked to their owner's mind and sanity) battle the enemy nanobots (tiny machines which are operated via computer monitors). These microscopic creatures have the power to alter a person's thinking by re-wiring his or her brain, so as the terrorists target the world's most powerful people, the stakes are raised for all involved.

This book was incredibly intense, action-packed, and above all intriguing. The concept of micro biological warfare that takes place in people's brains is creepy and disturbing, but sure makes for a good story. The descriptions of what the world inside your body looked like at the microscopic level to the character's biots was amazing -- way to make science cool, Michael Grant. Well done.

I was, however, a teeny bit disappointed in the ending. As I finished, I found myself thinking, "That's it?" Obviously it's set up perfectly for a sequel, but I couldn't help but hoping for some kind of crazy, out-with-a-bang kind of resolution, but I guess Plath is not Scipio either. ;) ( )
  wnk1029 | Jun 9, 2012 |
This is the first review for my new book review blog, Title Tracks.

Advisory:
Violence: Gory descriptions of action scenes; dismemberment; potentially frightening creatures.
Language: Some graphic language.
Sex: Some discussion of sex; no description of sex scenes.
Rating: By film industry standards I think the book would be rated "R" based on strong language/violence.

Review:
I didn't really know what to expect from BZRK. Didn't have any preconceived notions. It's a good thing I didn't waste time thinking about it because I would have been wrong anyway. The only thing you should expect is to feel your pulse pounding a mile a minute, which is roughly how fast the action happens in the story. You should also be prepared for some graphic, often gory, descriptions of battle scenes at the macro and the micro levels. There's everything from human limbs being blown off to close up views of blood cells and bacteria. At times you'd almost think Grant was describing a documentary film about the inner workings of the human body, that is until you see microscopic killer robots battling genetically engineered spider/scorpion/human hybrids.

One of the more impressive feats in this book is the way in which Grant explains all of the complex biological and technical details of the story without making you feel like you're sitting in science class. He introduces and uses slang and technical jargon in a way which is easily accessible to the reader. It's almost as if the terms had always been part of my regular vocabulary.

I also like the way Grant develops the theme of shifting realities balanced on the knife's edge between sanity and madness. Whether it's the opening scene in the insane asylum, the moral ambiguity surrounding the tactics of the warring factions, or shifting perspectives of the narration, Grant successfully manages to keep the reader off balance.

By changing the perspective of the narration, Grant allows the reader to delve a little deeper into a wider pool of characters. Instead of just focusing on one or two protagonists, the reader has the chance to understand some of the fears and motivations of other characters they might not otherwise. It had the added fact, at least initially, of making me wonder who exactly the protagonists were. But the downside is that I never felt fully connected with any of the characters. Perhaps that will change as I read further installments in this series, but right now I just don't completely sympathize with the protagonists. Instead of having a 3 ft. shallow end and a 10 ft. deep end, the entire pool is 5 ft. And that's just not quite deep enough to fully submerge my 6'2" frame.

There were a couple of scenes (I won't get into any details here) which I didn't find completely believable. Either I felt the characters would have acted differently or the scene just needed more detailed explanations. The problems aren't major, but they did keep me from giving the book 5 turntables.

The book's concept is original. The plot is fast paced and believable. The dialogue, settings, and action sequences are all gritty and raw. Overall BZRK is one of the most entertaining books I've read recently. It's also the first book by Michael Grant that I've read and if it's any indication of his skill as a writer, then I definitely have to read the Gone series. I'm not a particularly fast reader, but I knocked this one out in two days. So I definitely recommend you give it a try. ( )
  andyhollums | Apr 20, 2012 |
Review Courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: Battles are fought at the nano level inside humans for control of the world in this fascinating novel about the very near future.

Opening Sentence: A girl sat just three chairs from Noah talking to her hand.

The Review:

This book was unlike anything I had ever read before. First I have to say if you cannot read anything gory, this is not the book for you. The gore is more of an assessment from a third party’s point of view with the same detail given to the scene no matter what the scene may be. That being said, I really enjoyed this novel.

The premise is that there are two types of nano-size fabricated entities that are used to go inside people and control parts of the brain. Nanobots are all mechanical, and infest certain targets to gain power and information. Biots are grown using specific people’s DNA, and are controlled by those people to combat the nanobots inside people’s body. A lot of the action takes place inside people at the micro level, which is an intense and eye opening experience as a reader. At some points, the extreme close up view from the nanos can be a bit disconcerting, but still fascinating in a grossly human way.

The book focuses on many different people on either side of the micro level war to give the reader multiple perspectives on what is going on in the book. The Armstrong twins, who own Armstrong Fancy Gift Corporation, control the nanobots doing their dirty work of taking over the world through controlling the world leaders. Biots were created by the McLure company, and funded the BZRK group who combat the nanobots. The beginning of the book shows how the Armstrong twins set up the death of the McLure family, with only the teenage daughter, Sadie, escaping alive. There is all sorts of espionage, planning, and action that takes place throughout the course of the novel that feels very real and intense for the reader.

This novel is also interactive through this website: http://gobzrk.com/ and has a phone app. I haven’t checked out much of the transmedia yet, but I plan on getting the app. I can only imagine what sort of extras the transmedia will offer.

There is not a lot that I can say about the novel without giving anything away besides just go read it. It was a trip I was glad to be a part of even if it made me uncomfortable at times thinking about how my body looks at the cellular level.

The novel ends with a bit of a cliffhanger, but I have not found any information on whether or not the series will be continued. I do encourage anyone who enjoys science fiction that may soon become reality to read this novel as it gives a whole new meaning to what it is to be human. I have to admit, I was a bit paranoid after I read the novel, which can only attest to how well it is written if it draws that response.

Notable Scene:

The blast wave so overwhelming, so irresistible, that she wouldn’t even realize for several minutes that she had been thrown thirty feet, tossed like a leaf before a leaf blower, to land on her back against a seat, the impact softened by the body of a little girl. Thrown away like a doll God was tired of playing with.

She felt the heat, like someone had opened a pizza oven inches from her face. And set off a hand grenade amid the cheese and pepperoni. The first inch of hair caught fire but was quickly extinguished as air rushed back to the vacuum of the explosion.

The next minutes passed in a sort of loud silence. She heard none of the cries. Could no longer hear the sounds of falling debris all around her. Could hear only the world’s loudest car alarm screaming in her brain, a siren that came not from outside her head but from inside.

Sadie rolled off the crushed form of the girl. On hands and knees between rows of seats. Something sticky squishing up through her fingers. Something red and white: bloody fat. Just a chunk of it, the size of a ham.

Should do something, should so something, her brain kept saying. But what? Run away? Scream?

Now she noticed that her left arm was turned in a direction arms didn’t turn. There was no pain, just the sight of bones–her bones–sticking through the skin of her forearm. Thin white sticks jutting from a gash filled with raw hamburger.

She screamed. Probably. She couldn’t hear, but she felt her mouth stretch wide.

She stood up.

The fire was uphill from her in the stands, maybe thirty rows up. A tail fin was intact but being swiftly consumed by the oily fire. A pillar of thick, greasy smoke swirled and filled her nostrils with the stench of gas stations and barbecued meat before finding its upward path.

The main fire burned without much color to the flame.

Bodies burned yellow and orange.

Unless he had been blown clear, Tony’s would be one of them.

A fat man crawled away, pulling himself along his elbows as fire crawled up his legs.

A boy, maybe ten, squatted beside his mother’s head.

Sadie realized a different scene of madness was going on behind her. She turned and saw a panicked crowd shoving and pushing like a herd of buffalo on the run from a lion.

But others weren’t running away but walking warily toward the carnage.

A man reached her and mouthed words at her. She touched her ear, and he seemed to get it. He looked at her broken arm an did an odd thing. He kissed his fingertips and touched them to her shoulder and moved along. later it would seem strange. At that moment, no.

The BZRK Series:

1. BZRK

FTC Advisory: EgmontUSA provided me with a copy of BZRK. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. ( )
1 vote DarkFaerieTales | Apr 15, 2012 |
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