NetGalley Review: The Takedown by Corrie Wang
Title: The Takedown
Author: Corrie Wang
Publisher: Disney Book Group
Published: April 11, 2017
Pages: 384
Genre: Teens, YA
Review: ebook provided by NetGalley and Publisher
Kyla Cheng doesn't expect you to like her. For the record, she doesn't need you to. On track to be valedictorian, she's president of her community club, a debate team champ, plus the yummy Mackenzie Rodriguez has firmly attached himself to her hip. She and her three high-powered best friends don't just own their senior year at their exclusive Park Slope, Brooklyn high school, they practically define the hated species Popular. Kyla's even managed to make it through high school completely unscathed.
Until someone takes issue with this arrangement.
A week before college applications are due, a video of Kyla "doing it" with her crush-worthy English teacher is uploaded to her school's website. It instantly goes viral, but here's the thing: it's not Kyla in the video. With time running out, Kyla delves into a world of hackers, haters and creepy stalkers in an attempt to do the impossible-take something off the internet-all while dealing with the fallout from her own karmic footprint. Set in near-future Brooklyn, where privacy is a bygone luxury and every perfect profile masks damning secrets, The Takedown is a stylish, propulsive, and provocative whodunit, asking who would you rely on if your tech turned against you?
I received this book via NetGalley to give an honest review.
I really liked the premises of the book how someone who could go from all A's and really focusing on school can have their life turned upside down. Kyla is a good student so when a video emerges with her doing something inappropriate with her teacher she will stop at nothing to find out who is behind the video. Who could possibly have it out for her in that way?
With the help of a couple of friends and a stranger they set out to get the answers but can Kyla deal with the truth when it is revealed.
Kyla will have to learn who are friends are and also learn how to be a true friend.
The video though isn't the only thing that is out there, what about her college applications? That is a big deal to Kyla and she knows she only has a little bit of time to figure it out all.
As far as characters go I felt that they were okay basically how you would see teenagers acting. I felt that the parents of Kyla could have been more opening to trying to help her out or even ask her how school was going. It was like they cared but not truly cared so to speak. I guess being a parent myself I would be all into the school and the cops trying to help my kids.
Now what bothered me a bit was the whole set in the future thing. I thought it was pretty cool how we get to see how our world could be and how no one has true privacy. I thought just maybe the author could have gave us descriptions on what certain technology meant before we started reading. For example a Doc....what is that? A phone? Or what about EarRinger? Is that a headset or something headphones?
Another that bothered me was the whole language of saying bad words. I am a person that if you are going to say it, say it don't leave out a letter because we all know what you meant. Though I could also see that maybe the author was trying to keep it clean as well.
Corrie Wang owns and operates the award winning untraditional Japanese food truck, Short Grain. She is passionate about libraries, road trips, and eating all the food, everywhere. Before moving to the south, she lived in Brooklyn where one of her last paying gigs was managing a three story nightclub on the Lower East Side. She and her husband, Shuai, currently live in Charleston, SC with their pup, Moose. The Takedown is Corrie's debut novel. You can find her online at www.corriewang.com
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