«Exposed. Humanity Craves Power« (I'm not sure how are you supposed to spell the title correctly) is not the first book of Anton D Morris. His other work — «Men, Djinn & Angels« — is also a very good story I enjoyed a lot.
I really like the "Exposed", and I really recommend it. Then why should you read the rest of this review? Because every person has preferences, and I'm here to explain some aspects of the book, so it would be easier for you to form your own opinion.
The title might be a bit long, but it's accurate. This book tells about power. How and why you acquire it. How you keep it. To what end you use it. What you feel in the process.
So, the genre is pretty obvious — it's a book about politics. Sure, it has some elements of business and economics. But politics is (by its very definition) a process of acquiring and keeping power, so it's the most accurate description. So, if you feel you won't get excited witnessing how one company gets acquired by another, if you don't want to hear the character's conversation about politics, if you can't get thrilled listening how a character exercises his oratory skills to win supporters for himself — then this book is probably not for you. But if you (just like me) can appreciate these subjects — you are likely to appreciate the book because it's written really well.
The story is happening in more or less modern days (the book was published in 2020), but unlike many modern contemporary books, this one does not contain an overwhelming number of modern notions. For some reason, I quite dislike when a book constantly mentions Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Uber and all the rest modern companies, apps and services. The books knows what it needs to mention, so it ignores the existence of everything else. I like this, you might find it refreshing as well.
To be more precise, this is not a book about one person. There is (in my opinion) the main character — Horus Fitsroy — but the book has zero chapters told from his point of view. Every chapter is showing us someone's perspective. Most of those people are Horus' family, but there are also people influenced by him. Don't worry, the number of those points of view is not very great, so you shouldn't get confused. The author did a good job at keeping his story easy and engaging to read. But if you don't like books with multiple points of view — now you understand why you are reading this review.
For the prologue and the first chapter the book uses a classic formula of throwing the viewer right into action.
In the prologue we're bombarded with names, and also are familiarized with some aspects of the book: lots of dialogue, lots descriptions of characters' actions, thoughts and body language. I like the dialogues in this book. The flow of words is easy and smooth, the vocabulary is rich (but not too rich), the way people speak is believable and natural. Descriptions are also on point most of the time. And this holds true for the rest of the book, so, don't worry.
The first chapter makes a jump in time. Being the highest point of conflict of the book, it shows us where we are going, what we shall acquire in the end. The author don't tell us whether or not we'll be successful at acquiring it, but the promise is made. Here we learn what the book is about, see how it is written. And although we learn even more names, the old ones are still mentioned, giving us the confidence that all shall be explained and tied together in due time. The chapter offers us a taste of the author's ability to seamlessly integrate the present events with the character's memories and thoughts. We're getting an idea of who the main character is, an idea of his values and strengths.
So, by the time you're done with the first chapter, you should already have a good idea whether this book is for you or not. Starting from here, the story will jump back in time and will finally start flowing forward, patiently telling us how the events of the first chapter came to pass. I personally find the author's way of telling the story really inventive and engaging. It was hard for me to stop reading. I wanted to know more, I wanted to know what will happen next, and I kept wondering about the story while being away from the pages.
So, what else is in this book? What do the characters go through in their strive for power? What do they encounter? What do they think and talk about? I'll give you the bullet points.
Surveillance. Or rather a never-stopping process of some people trying to hide truth, while others are doing their best to uncover the secrets. The book makes certain points about the surveillance and its integration into our lives.
Education. Or rather a system of raising children how they are supposed to be raised. After all, the parents play an even bigger role than any school or university. The book talks very specifically how the education system must work in an ideal world, and the characters are trying to make that happen.
Economy, taxes, laws. These subjects are obvious, given the book's genre. But the author makes a good job of explaining why his characters think the way they do. You do need a certain knowledge in the matter to understand what they are talking about, but I never claimed that this book was for everybody.
Politics. It includes the art of negotiations and convincing, subterfuge.
Secret societies and symbolism. I like finding cool symbolism in books, and "Exposed" is one of those books. And in this one, the "secret society" is not so secret and absolutely believable. And cool, at least for me. I like when books are cool.
Slavery. This phenomenon is tied to almost every other subject of the book. The slavery is a profitable business governed by laws. Being a slaver (and a slave) alters one's perspective and views on the world. The book tackles how the general public sees the issue, how do slavers and slaves view themselves, how do they teach their children. The author focuses on the "African-American" enslavement, which is a common subject of modern literature, but most of his points are definitely applicable to many other slaver societies and regimes.
Okay, now you know what to expect from the story. But what about the characters? Well, they are different, each with their own goals, strengths and weaknesses. And I really like the variety. Every character is believable enough, likeable enough. Some are more important than the others, true, but in general the author did a good job balancing them out. What I mean is while first-row characters effectively move the story forward, others serve to tell us more about the first-row characters.
So, I told you a lot of what I like. But is there something less ideal? Yes. Although I really like this book, it's not ideal. In fact, I don't know any ideal books. So, what's wrong in this one?
Although the flow of the dialogues is pretty much perfect, the narration sometimes falters. The amount of repetitions is not ideal for me. Instead of finding cleverer ways to say what he needs, the author often just writes "I...", then "I..." about something else, end then even more "I..."'s.
Plus, the narration sometimes suffers differently. "Cassandra understood. She nodded." Wouldn't it be better to write "Cassandra understood and nodded"? Or just "She nodded"? It doesn't ruin the book, but it is noticeable, at least for me.
Two previous points were about the crude instruments of the language, but there is an issue with the finer ones. The author sometimes is not subtle enough in disguising his ideas as the ideas of his characters. There's something about the way he writes that betrays him occasionally. It's hard to explain what's wrong exactly and how it could have been different, and many readers may disagree with me. But my opinion shall stay as it is.
Conclusion. Anton D Morris managed to write quite complex and a very good story. The characters are good and diverse. The points tackled in the story are interesting and important. Time and again this book made me think and rethink my views on a variety of subjects. All the issues I have with the story absolutely cannot ruin the excitement I feel while reading it. I don't like rating books using points, so don't expect a "10/10" from me. But I definitely do recommend this book to everyone who enjoys the genre.
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