Isolate: A Novel in the Grand Illusion

As the headline suggests, the lack of intense action except in small bursts between day-to-day life and political groundwork might not be for everyone. This is very much a book about debate and the nature of politics and society in a world slipping into pseudo-dystopia from corruption. A friend of mine said it best, that this book 'lays a lot of pipe' to set up something great and offers the reader small snippets of moving forward while it does it. The day to day detail of Dekkard's life as a security aid might seem drab to some, boring even, while it continues to subtly throw names, locations, and political affiliations at you in-between, until slowly building up to major events. The payoff was worth it at the very end to me, and I am excited to read Councilor when it releases, as now with the foundation laid in Isolate it can hopefully shift gears to more action and intensity. My only gripe is the reader appears to be on the outside of major events, and NEVER leaves Dekkard's perspective safe some newspaper headlines. The impact of certain political events might have been more felt if the perspective switched to Obreduur in the council hall, or even from the other political parties points of view behind closed doors. I understand the author's choice to keep us in Dekkard's point of view to keep the reader in a sense of mystery, but a bit might have been lost that way.