male protagonists

Proxy (Proxy#1) by Alex London

Publisher: Philomel

Genre: Dystopian and Young Adult

Release Date: June 18, 2013

Pages: 384 (Hardcover)

Knox was born into one of the City’s wealthiest families. A Patron, he has everything a boy could possibly want—the latest tech, the coolest clothes, and a Proxy to take all his punishments. When Knox breaks a vase, Syd is beaten. When Knox plays a practical joke, Syd is forced to haul rocks. And when Knox crashes a car, killing one of his friends, Syd is branded and sentenced to death.

Syd is a Proxy. His life is not his own.

Then again, neither is Knox’s. Knox and Syd have more in common than either would guess. So when Knox and Syd realize that the only way to beat the system is to save each other, they flee. Yet Knox’s father is no ordinary Patron, and Syd is no ordinary Proxy. The ensuing cross-country chase will uncover a secret society of rebels, test both boys’ resolve, and shine a blinding light onto a world of those who owe and those who pay. Some debts, it turns out, cannot be repaid.

Oh, Alex London, You had my attention from the first page, then lost it and then snatched it up again. The characters are well written and nicely developed, giving readers a protagonist they will love (Syd, I love that boy) and one to hate (Knox needs to get high-fived in the face. With a frying pan.) Unfortunately, the explanation behind the world building comes a little too late as well as the reasons for Knox being such an ass all of the time. Nonetheless, I really liked this one and can’t wait for the next.

The novel lost my attention during the middle, although it had a lot of action and suspense and just, aweness (for a lack of a better word) with Syd and Knox, I felt bored and found myself skimming the pages to get to the better parts. Syd and Egan are best friends but at many times, their relationship felt contrived to me and I couldn’t believe some of the things that Egan does in order to help Syd out. With that being said, it’s obvious that some things in this book feel too nicely done for my liking.

Syd is an awesome character, not only is he a character that I wanted to beat up all of the bad guys, I also wanted him to get the guy and have that happy ending that he so totally deserves. Even with him being the ‘chosen one’ it didn’t make too much of an annoying statement. I really liked the idea for the novel as well with and how it really uses the lesson, Everything has consequences to its advantage, London does an excellent job of portraying that. The book also doesn’t have a lot of romance in it which I loved! There was only enough that I think the author will bring it out some more in the next book but didn’t let it overtake the story. Proxy has a great ending also. I was expecting the whole thing to be predictable but then it wasn’t. The ending is really open, readers won’t be sure of anything.

Overall, quite a great read that I think a lot of people will enjoy. I recommend this to anyone who loves science fiction novels with an excellent message about life. I’m hoping that the sequel to Proxy will blow me away better than this one!