Arbieroo reviewed Unlocked by John Scalzi
Review of 'Unlocked' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
In a departure from Scalzi's fairly conventional approach to novel-writing, here he presents exactly what the subtitle suggests - and if you don't know what that is, I strongly recommend reading Lock In and Head On before tacling this. Because the format is a series of quotes from fictional characters, Scalzi's heavily dialogue driven prose isn't littered with the "He said"s and "She said"s that annoy many a listener to audio recirdings of his books. There's also no central protagonist to fall into various tropes and stereotypes, nor much of Scalzi's trademark wit, making this quite refreshing. It's also short - no longer than it needs to be, nor shorter either, for that matter. All of these are positives to me and the story laid out here is a worthwhile addition to the lore of Lock In.