Review of We, The Watched by Adam Bender.
David E. Broughton
October 17, 2010
We The Watched by Adam Bender is classified as science fiction by many, but is so much more than that. There's action, romance, and social commentary woven into a brilliant story with an amazing plot twist near the end. It's science fiction in the way that Orwell's 1984 or Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury dystopian novels are considered science fiction. In fact, I see shades and shadows of both works in We, The Watched. The writing is nearly on par with these geniuses of the written word. Mr. Bender isn't quite there yet, but is closing in fast on the masters. Since this is his first published novel, that's an auspicious start. It's highly likely that given a bit more time and experience, the novice shall surpass the masters.
Mr. Bender freely admits his inspiration by the masters of the craft:
"I've been telling people the book is dystopian science fiction. But to be quite honest, I'm not quite sure to what genre it belongs. The problem is that the term science fiction often comes preloaded with this expectation of alien attacks and time travel. I am more inspired by classic dystopian novels like Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, and 1984 by George Orwell. All of these books get tossed into the sci-fi genre, but really they're just exaggerated metaphors about current events and how people respond to them. Whereas those books were written at a time when everyone was in a panic about communism, We, The Watched examines how today's fear of terrorism has made people willing to give up personal privacy in the name of homeland security.
"As for the spy and detective elements, this probably comes from my love for pop culture. I'm not ashamed to admit I still read comic books and graphic novels, and some of my favorites include Batman and the latest run of Captain America books by Ed Brubaker. While there are literary critics who dismiss that kind of thing as rubbish, I believe there's some great storytelling out there that's both fun and smart."
We, The Watched is about a man that wakes up in the woods with amnesia, not knowing how he got there, what happened to give him the amnesia, where he lived, nothing. He takes the name Seven. The basics are best explained in this excerpt from the book:
My name... Oh my God, I canīt even remember my name. I cycle through all thatīs left of my memory, search for any- thing that sounds even remotely usable. What was that graffiti I saw? On that tree—it was a number. What was it?
"Seven," I say. The announcement takes me by surprise. "Um, yeah, call me Seven." Great, I just named myself after tree graffiti. Well done, man, well done.
"Iīm George." He drops a handful of loose change into the conductorīs hands. "This is for my friend here," he explains with a nerve-wracking grin.
"Thanks again," I say weakly.
"Youīre lucky I was sitting here. Most people these days are too paranoid to loan money to a perfect stranger...let alone one as ragged-lookinī as yourself."
"Heh...thanks." My eyes lower to the floor. How many times am I gonna have to thank this guy?
I gaze up at one of the many advertisements lining the space above the windows. This one isnīt so much a promo- tion. It reads in big block letters: PATRIOTS ARE THE TRUE. HERETICS ARE THE DAMNED.
As you can guess from the last line above, in this futuristic world, there is a state sponsored church, anyone that doesn't go along with the program can be labeled a heretic and killed for it, mostly by old fashioned hangings. The lead character, Seven, becomes part of the underground fighting against this government-church control, but it isn't easy, as even more measures to watch nearly everywhere are put in place. Things don't go well for Seven and his band of freedom fighters. Why? You'll just have to get the book to find that out, I won't give it away here. I highly recommend you get We The Watched, it's well written, and has something for everyone, even people like me that don't ordinarily read anything labeled Sci-Fi. Personally, I enjoyed the spy elements the most.
Mr. Bender freely admits his inspiration by the masters of the craft:
"I've been telling people the book is dystopian science fiction. But to be quite honest, I'm not quite sure to what genre it belongs. The problem is that the term science fiction often comes preloaded with this expectation of alien attacks and time travel. I am more inspired by classic dystopian novels like Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, and 1984 by George Orwell. All of these books get tossed into the sci-fi genre, but really they're just exaggerated metaphors about current events and how people respond to them. Whereas those books were written at a time when everyone was in a panic about communism, We, The Watched examines how today's fear of terrorism has made people willing to give up personal privacy in the name of homeland security.
"As for the spy and detective elements, this probably comes from my love for pop culture. I'm not ashamed to admit I still read comic books and graphic novels, and some of my favorites include Batman and the latest run of Captain America books by Ed Brubaker. While there are literary critics who dismiss that kind of thing as rubbish, I believe there's some great storytelling out there that's both fun and smart."
We, The Watched is about a man that wakes up in the woods with amnesia, not knowing how he got there, what happened to give him the amnesia, where he lived, nothing. He takes the name Seven. The basics are best explained in this excerpt from the book:
My name... Oh my God, I canīt even remember my name. I cycle through all thatīs left of my memory, search for any- thing that sounds even remotely usable. What was that graffiti I saw? On that tree—it was a number. What was it?
"Seven," I say. The announcement takes me by surprise. "Um, yeah, call me Seven." Great, I just named myself after tree graffiti. Well done, man, well done.
"Iīm George." He drops a handful of loose change into the conductorīs hands. "This is for my friend here," he explains with a nerve-wracking grin.
"Thanks again," I say weakly.
"Youīre lucky I was sitting here. Most people these days are too paranoid to loan money to a perfect stranger...let alone one as ragged-lookinī as yourself."
"Heh...thanks." My eyes lower to the floor. How many times am I gonna have to thank this guy?
I gaze up at one of the many advertisements lining the space above the windows. This one isnīt so much a promo- tion. It reads in big block letters: PATRIOTS ARE THE TRUE. HERETICS ARE THE DAMNED.
As you can guess from the last line above, in this futuristic world, there is a state sponsored church, anyone that doesn't go along with the program can be labeled a heretic and killed for it, mostly by old fashioned hangings. The lead character, Seven, becomes part of the underground fighting against this government-church control, but it isn't easy, as even more measures to watch nearly everywhere are put in place. Things don't go well for Seven and his band of freedom fighters. Why? You'll just have to get the book to find that out, I won't give it away here. I highly recommend you get We The Watched, it's well written, and has something for everyone, even people like me that don't ordinarily read anything labeled Sci-Fi. Personally, I enjoyed the spy elements the most.