Title:  Unison Spark
Author:  Andy Marino
Release date:  November 8, 2011
Publisher:  Henry Holt & Co.
Pages:  240
Source:  Publisher

Everyone is obsessed with Unison, the social network that knows you better than you know yourself. Everyone who can afford it, that is. Living beneath the vast ceiling that separates Eastern Seaboard City into rich topside and poor sub-canopy zones, fifteen-year-old Mistletoe can only dream of logging in and has to make do with technological hand-me-downs.

Worlds collide when Ambrose Truax, the privileged heir to the Unison empire, wanders into the dangerous sub-canopy streets and Mistletoe saves him from suspicious, uniformed men. They soon discover that they share eerily similar dreams, hinting at a significant past.

Together, Ambrose and Mistletoe begin to unravel the mystery of their identities and learn that they’re pawns in a bigger game: the Unison 3.0 upgrade, a whole new kind of Friendship.

Unison Spark is a very unique story and a great debut novel from Andy Marino.  I really enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading his future books.

The world of ESC and Unison is unlike any I have read about.  Unison is basically the king of social networks and it is scary to think that someday we might come to that point.  I really think the world that Andy Marino created is his strongest point.  I loved reading about it and how it got to where it was.

The characters, on the other hand, were the weak point in the book.  I really liked Ambrose but I did not like Mistletoe.  It seemed like she was trying to be something she wasn’t and I couldn’t connect with her.  Sliv was also weak.  He seemed like a very interesting character but he was barely there.  I would have liked more of his story.

The plot of the book was another of it’s redeeming qualities.  It was very fast-paced and interesting.  It was pretty much non-stop action.  I also liked that it was multiple POVs so you could see things through both character’s eyes.

Overall, Unison Spark is a great dystopian sci-fi that I think will appeal to a lot of people.  Also, it seems like this one will be a standalone.  I felt that everything tied up very nicely in the end.

First line:  Her new name was Mistletoe.

Rating:  B