Book Review - Broadcast by Liam Brown

Broadcast follows David Callow, an internet vlogger who broadcasts his life to his millions of followers. Feeling like his celebrity status may be failing, and desperate to ensure his popularity doesn't wain, David accepts an offer he can't refuse to take the 'next step' in technological advancement by having a microchip inserted into his brain. What follows is the ability to see David's every emotion, thoughts and memories - broadcast live in billions of people, and David's realisation that you shouldn't always get what you wish for.

The plot for this is sort of predictable, in that you can kind of guess where this is going. Technology is bad. However, it's more of the journey that I enjoyed with this. It's a satire of our current generation, snapchatting and instagramming our way through life, with everything revolving around technology. It's the sharp look at what 'celebrity' means in this day and age, when ordinary people can become overnight sensations just by being 'normal'. But is what we see really a reflection of that person's true self or is it merely an online persona of a 'perfect life'? I liked how thought provoking this was for such a short novel. It certainly pokes a hole in the current perceptions of reality.

I also liked the issues raised around the restrictions David faces about freedom of speech and thoughts. It almost seemed to give off a 1984/Big Brother vibe. Everyone is watching David, his every move and thought is scrutinised and he's even blackmailed because of it at one point. As the plot quickened towards the end, this really came into play as we see David struggle internally to control his emotions, so as not to raise suspicions.

My only main problem with this was with David himself. He's deeply unlikable - at first coming across as selfish and self involved. He cares very little for anyone or anything other than gaining more followers and increasing his celebrity. Nobody seems to see the 'real' him, including the reader. This often made it difficult to feel sympathetic towards him, and up until about 60% of the way through his obnoxiousness was really putting me off reading any further. 

The ending for this was really good. Nothing is neatly wrapped up, reflecting the imperfect balance of the 'true' world, and I felt the despair. Normally this would drive me mad, but it seemed to fit well with the overall theme of the novel.

A great thought provoking science fiction novel, if you can get past the abhorrent main character.

 - 4 stars