Review: Fun techie series
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 27, 2014
When I started Assured Destruction, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. A series of books about a computer hacker who gets herself into trouble? A teenager with more problems than she can handle? Sure, this series has all of that. But it's also got SO much more, and it's so worth the read! I was pleasantly surprised, and I'm so glad that I was given the opportunity to read all three books.Janus Rose is not your typical teenager. She's very gifted when it comes to computers - she can build them from scrap parts, write iPhone apps and other programs, and can do pretty much whatever she wants when it comes to Photoshop and social media. In fact, she's constructed many different personalities based on hard drives she was supposed to destroy. One of my favorite parts of this series was these different identities and that the actually exist online! There's Gumps, Heckleena, Frannie, Hairy, Tule, and Paradise57. Jan runs all of the Twitter accounts and blogs for these "people," and each one is unique. She also has her own Twitter account, @JFlyTrap, and other characters' accounts are referenced (and also exist!). Reading this book was an experience, and it was super neat.Most of the plot revolves around Jan trying to save her family's failing business, Assured Destruction, where they recycle old electronics and destroy hard drives by sending them through an industrial shredder. In the process of saving Assured Destruction, Jan somehow manages to end up on the wrong side of hackers, crackers, and basically every authority figure she knows. I enjoyed reading about how she would solve one problem after another, while juggling school, work, her mother's failing health, and a budding relationship.Speaking of relationships, the development of both friendships and romantic relationships is done really well. Janus is kind of a loner and her only friends exist on her network, Shadownet. She's never had a real boyfriend either, so it was actually kind of funny watching her try to figure out how to be in a romantic relationship. It takes her a while to realize that she needs to let people in, and Michael made the transformation from lone wolf to a member of a functioning group of friends very interesting and relateable. Jan grows so much over the course of the series, even though it takes place over basically the fall semester.I would definitely recommend this series to anyone interested in mysteries or thrillers, especially those with a technological edge. The romance is just a side plot and not too heavy, so this series would also be good for anyone who doesn't really like to read books with a lot of romance. I hear there are character background stories in graphic novel form, so I'm pretty excited to check those out! I'd give the whole series a 4/5.