Helpful Score: 2
This was the closing book to the Bar Code Tattoo duology by Suzanne Weyn. It was a great book, the action was non-stop and so much story was put into this little book.
Kayla is set to make the journey to Washington DC in order to join the protest against mandatory bar code tattooing. Things get confusing though when she starts showing up on TV as an advocate for the bar code. Who is this girl on TV? As Kayla's journey continues she begins to find out things that completely change the way she looks at herself and her history. Along the way new information comes to light that the bar code may have an even darker purpose than keeping track of everyone's genetic code.
This was a great story. Some wonderful new characters enter into the story. The characters are fairly well-developed but the strong point of the story is definitely the idea surrounding a bar code society. The writing style is okay. The book is a quick read and very engaging.
This book was a bit less believable than the first book. With characters wielding a number of strange abilities, like telepathy and telekinesis, things are much further displaced from a "near" future. Also the whole story about Kayla's history is interesting but kind of strange.
I enjoyed the story; it was a good conclusion to the series and a quick read. Things are nicely wrapped up. If you read the first one you have to read this one. I am actually kind of surprised these two short books weren't published as one novel. The ideas in this novel are what really make it great. Will I read more of Weyn's stuff in the future? Probably not. I will keep an eye on her writing though to see if she comes up with anymore really creative sci-fi premises for a novel.
Kayla is set to make the journey to Washington DC in order to join the protest against mandatory bar code tattooing. Things get confusing though when she starts showing up on TV as an advocate for the bar code. Who is this girl on TV? As Kayla's journey continues she begins to find out things that completely change the way she looks at herself and her history. Along the way new information comes to light that the bar code may have an even darker purpose than keeping track of everyone's genetic code.
This was a great story. Some wonderful new characters enter into the story. The characters are fairly well-developed but the strong point of the story is definitely the idea surrounding a bar code society. The writing style is okay. The book is a quick read and very engaging.
This book was a bit less believable than the first book. With characters wielding a number of strange abilities, like telepathy and telekinesis, things are much further displaced from a "near" future. Also the whole story about Kayla's history is interesting but kind of strange.
I enjoyed the story; it was a good conclusion to the series and a quick read. Things are nicely wrapped up. If you read the first one you have to read this one. I am actually kind of surprised these two short books weren't published as one novel. The ideas in this novel are what really make it great. Will I read more of Weyn's stuff in the future? Probably not. I will keep an eye on her writing though to see if she comes up with anymore really creative sci-fi premises for a novel.
Heather K. (homeschoollibrarian) reviewed Bar Code Rebellion (Bar Code, Bk 2) on + 7 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
About a time when government involement in our lives is out of control. Everyone has to be barcoded at the age of 17, but why? Is there an alterior motive to the barcode? A group of rebel teenagers and young adults mean to find out. Good read.
Helpful Score: 1
Almost as good as the first book.
Helpful Score: 1
if you enjoyed the first book, you will love this one! non-stop action in a future not too far away.
Helpful Score: 1
Reviewed by Jocelyn Pearce for TeensReadToo.com
THE BAR CODE REBELLION, by Suzanne Weyn, is the second book about seventeen-year-old Kayla Marie Reed and the world she lives in. In 2025, when the novel takes place, everyone, at the age of seventeen, is required to be tattooed with a bar code. The bar code is what people use for everything, from paying for bus fare to getting a job. In the first book about this world, THE BAR CODE TATTOO, Kayla's neighbor, the now-famous Gene Drake, was killed in a struggle because he had discovered something terrible about the tattoo, and wanted to tell the world.
More terrible, it seems, than what Kayla and other bar code resistors already know: that the tattoo contains each person's genetic code, gained from the blood sample taken when they are tattooed. These codes can ruin a person's life, if they have problems such as bipolar disorder or Parkinson's disease in their family. That's what happened to Kayla's friend Amber and her parents.
Following Gene Drake's example, people everywhere are resisting the tattoo, even though it means forfeiting any chance at a normal life as a part of society. People are burning off the tattoo, or, if they join in time, refusing to get it in the first place.
One day, Kayla sees a girl on TV with her face, telling people how happy she is about the bar code tattoo. Next thing she knows, this girl is everywhere, pretending to be Kayla, and promoting the bar code tattoo. Is she a digital fake? Or is there more to it than that?
Suzanne Weyn's novel takes place in a scary future society. It's especially scary because it really could come true. We've all read books about what the future will be like, and chances are, none of them are exactly right. Everyone predicts, though, that the government will have more and more control over our daily lives, maybe even getting to the intense and frightening level like that in BAR CODE REBELLION.
In this story, characterization takes a backseat to the action, but that's okay, as it's meant to be more about the plot and the setting than it is about the characters. Even though the characters feel a little two-dimensional, it's still a book worth reading, especially for fans of THE BAR CODE TATTOO.
THE BAR CODE REBELLION, by Suzanne Weyn, is the second book about seventeen-year-old Kayla Marie Reed and the world she lives in. In 2025, when the novel takes place, everyone, at the age of seventeen, is required to be tattooed with a bar code. The bar code is what people use for everything, from paying for bus fare to getting a job. In the first book about this world, THE BAR CODE TATTOO, Kayla's neighbor, the now-famous Gene Drake, was killed in a struggle because he had discovered something terrible about the tattoo, and wanted to tell the world.
More terrible, it seems, than what Kayla and other bar code resistors already know: that the tattoo contains each person's genetic code, gained from the blood sample taken when they are tattooed. These codes can ruin a person's life, if they have problems such as bipolar disorder or Parkinson's disease in their family. That's what happened to Kayla's friend Amber and her parents.
Following Gene Drake's example, people everywhere are resisting the tattoo, even though it means forfeiting any chance at a normal life as a part of society. People are burning off the tattoo, or, if they join in time, refusing to get it in the first place.
One day, Kayla sees a girl on TV with her face, telling people how happy she is about the bar code tattoo. Next thing she knows, this girl is everywhere, pretending to be Kayla, and promoting the bar code tattoo. Is she a digital fake? Or is there more to it than that?
Suzanne Weyn's novel takes place in a scary future society. It's especially scary because it really could come true. We've all read books about what the future will be like, and chances are, none of them are exactly right. Everyone predicts, though, that the government will have more and more control over our daily lives, maybe even getting to the intense and frightening level like that in BAR CODE REBELLION.
In this story, characterization takes a backseat to the action, but that's okay, as it's meant to be more about the plot and the setting than it is about the characters. Even though the characters feel a little two-dimensional, it's still a book worth reading, especially for fans of THE BAR CODE TATTOO.
Though the ending comes way too fast, this is a fitting conclusion to the two book series. If you enjoyed 'The Bar Code Tattoo', you'll enjoy this one as well. There are many of the same characters, much of the same issues, and the same and new science. It does well concluding the story began in the first volume.
