Name: Proxy
Rating: 4.019230769230769 (26 reviews)
ISBN: 9780147511331

Alex London

Privileged Syd and and his proxy, Knox, are thrown together to overthrow the system.

Proxy

"Privileged Syd and and his proxy, Knox, are thrown together to overthrow the system"--

Privileged teenager Knox has a proxy who receives punishment for Knox's wrongdoings, but when Knox kills a friend in a car crash, it is Syd who is sentenced to death. The plot contains profanity, sexual references, and graphic violence.

jess

i just finished this and oh my god it was so great. i was at first under the impression that it was a sci-fi novel, which put me off a little bit, but no. it’s dystopia. it’s definitely dystopia, and i love dystopia. also, there’s a trend in dystopia, with something wrong in the world and then a heterosexual white female (or of ambiguous race, which everyone assumes is white) does something to defy government structure and does everything for defying government structure while spending a lot of her time choosing between two boys. 

like. this wasn’t it. this was different and refreshing and i really liked it. first off, the society. the society is shit. basically, a corporation runs the whole thing and patrons can pay for proxies, which means that the proxy gets a small benefit for taking the punishments of the patrons. it’s rich vs poor, and the rich are ignorant and the poor have no way to get out of it. this is where paying debts come in and it is a major theme of the novel - the phrase “paying debts” or “owing debts” and just debts in general are mentioned a lot. blood debts, life debts, money debts. (and i had to burst out with “a lannister always pays their debts,” at least in the beginning … later on, i got too involved in the story.) so i liked that. (i need to read divergent … wow.) it was a lot more technological and computerized than a lot of other dystopias i’ve read, which could put it under the sci-fi umbrella. 

remember how i said that most other young adult dystopians involve a cishet white female? now i’m all for girls kicking ass and we get that in the form of marie, who is presumably heterosexual, but she’s also a poc. also, knox is a cisgender white guy. the heterosexual … that’s debatable. and syd, the main main character is a gay person of color whose identity is not consumed by the fact, which is PRETTY DAMN COOL. (the only other one i can think of is malinda lo’s books anD I NEED TO READ THEM TOO.) 

so yeah. that made me really happy, and while homophobia is discussed and present, the characters don’t really give a shit because they are running for their fucking lives. and the romance isn’t really a big deal either, which, again, is refreshing. knox is a giant flirt. he flirts with tons and tons of girls (or at least he’s said to) and he even flirts with syd a bit, though it’s kind of on the fence to whether he’s joking or serious. marie pretty much likes both syd and knox, syd doesn’t really give a shit and knox just kind of likes both of them. but they’re running for their lives so it’s not a big concern - like it’s there, but it doesn’t completely take over and it’s not overbearing. wow. this is the book i was hoping for. and the stakes just kept getting raised higher and higher; there’s no going back. the plot escalated. and then it escalated more and more and moreandmoreandmore until the fricking ending which made me cry and laugh at the same time. 

please don’t talk to me about the ending because i will cry on you and let me say that it was very similar to the last book i reviewed. like i said, i will cry on you. 

i liked syd right from the beginning, and i liked marie from the time we met her. marie is definitely the most kickass of the trio, i think. syd is a close second. knox … eh. he’s all right. speaking of knox, i disliked him with a passion for a good half of the novel. i was rooting for syd to punch him in the face, or push him off the horse, or something. and then, later, i realized i liked him. i’m not entirely sure when i started liking knox, i just realized that i did like him after all, and that he was a good character. in my eyes, he had almost redeemed himself for putting syd through sixteen years of hell. 

i’m definitely ready for the next book, and will be waiting anxiously. 

i give this a 9.5/10, and i recommend this to anyone who likes dystopian or sci-fi, and definitely to anyone who is tired of seeing books about poc or queer people be about the fact that they are poc or queer because this book does not care the antagonists just want to kill the protags and even the protags want to kill the protags sometimes

Amanda Kordeliski

Four stars or Five? I am going with 5 because there really wasn't anything about this book I didn't like. All the characters are well developed and realistic. Syd and Knox are two fantastic characters and the premise of the proxy system and the state of the world due to pollution and wars is realistic and frightening. I received and advanced copy of this book that was read so many times by my students that it fell apart. I bought two copies for the library and already have a wait list for the second book. 

Give this to students who can't get enough dystopian or science fiction and even to the kids who think they are done with the genre. I also love that this is an LGBTQ main character but that is simply a trait and does not define him as a character. Fantastic.

Flavia Louise

Reread this after first reading it around 2013 and I did like it a lot again though I am honestly not quite as blown away as the first time around. 4.25 stars.

Carla Hill

This was one of those rare books that I could not get into, no matter how hard I tried. I read 9 chapters and gave up. It was a shame as my best friend loves this book, and we usually have similar opinions on books so I really wanted to love it, I just couldn't connect with the characters and it made it a little boring

adria

Amazing. Truly relatable characters. Both Knox and Syd now have a special place in my heart. It was pretty fast paced and engaging. Definitely looking forward to reading Guardian.

Jeremy Cote

** spoiler alert **
           Proxy was a different kind of read for me. It was a book I had on my radar for a long time, but I didn't follow it too closely. When I checked Goodreads on this past Wednesday, I saw that it had just been published, so I ordered it.

Starting this book was definitely interesting. London employs great use of perspective to show us the different facets of the world. I liked how we got to see the perspective of someone who is rich, and someone who is poor, and specifically how they're connected. Using these multiple perspectives allow us to figure out in advance how they're going to meet, and I found it really enjoyable how I was able to see their paths colliding.

The world building was also fantastic in this story. I've read about many different dytopian worlds, and I can say with confidence that this one is unique. Focused on technology and debts, it was different from any other story I've read, which was great. Of course, you can still see some resemblances, but they're not as profound.

I also really liked the core theme of this story, which basically revolves around debt and repayment. I liked how this theme reverberated in almost every aspect of the story. I think London did a fantastic job of weaving it in. It makes us question the society these characters live in, and what kind of resemblances we find in our proper one.

The characters are interesting enough. Syd is definitely the one that has the most fleshed out story in my opinion, but Knox comes close. They're all different, and that's a good thing. While Knox's attitude at times had me questioning his character, I can still see why he acts the way he does, with his upbringing and all.

Lastly, the ending. This was perhaps the most unexpected and refreshing thing of all. I can't remember the last time I saw a main character die in a story. As the moment escalated, I was thinking, "Is this really going to happen? Will he die?" In the end, nothing is 100% confirmed, but it seems like he did sacrifice himself, which I liked, since it shows that he's more of a person than the one we've seen during the story (making a plethora of mistakes), and that he's actually taking some responsibility for his actions and giving Syd the life he never had.

I can't wait to see what comes next in the story. Hopefully it will be bigger than even this one!

Proxy

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