If you didn’t catch my review of the first two books, check it out here.
The last two books in this series really puts the “activist” in Hacktivist. Ed is on the run and he is now in Tunisia. After almost getting caught, he is able to escape with the aide of some of his followers. He was a little taken back that this woman Sirine who doesn’t even know him would save him just for a cause. While they were getting to safety, back in the U.S., Graft has to make a statement to the world that his partner and co-founder to Yourlife will be shutting down due to Ed’s domestic act of terrorism with the data of all of its clients. Ed is a genius when it comes to putting together algorithms to achieve an end result. The specific one he used to create Yourlife has evolved into a virus to create a network of trust between individuals which in turn forms groups. This just grows and grows and spreads and spreads without them even knowing. Pretty scary if you think about what can be done with technology. The whole scene with Ed explaining to Sirine how this operates is helpful with the visual aide.
Graft is a smart man as well and since he has worked with Ed for a long time, he know how he thinks. The U.S. now knows where Ed is at. Ed’s algorithm pulled together a group of people to hear a man speak about the Revolution. The Revolution seems to be about voicing what you believe in without the need for all the violence. Sirine is video recording the whole speech. The C.I.A. decided to send in the Tunisian Army to capture Ed but it got a little out of hand. They both managed to escape. Graft back in the states wasn’t very pleased in how the situation was handled.
Now after the attack at the Revolution gathering, Ed works on something unknowingly to Sirine. Ed sent a message out under her name…to everyone. This message came through on their phones and computers. It was the recording of the incident at the Revolution gathering. All of Tunisia was able to see the force put on by the Regime and got them to all stand up and fight for what they believe in. They won! Or did they? The C.I.A. decides to send in a drone strike on Ed. They have his location and want him wiped out for what he has done. Now Graft is really pissed and decides to stand up for himself. As I mentioned before, Graft is smart. He helps out Ed by opening up his access into the Yourlife network. Ed now has access to all the Yourlife users across the globe expanding the same action he used in Tunisia across the world. Graft is helping spread the same message throughout world while Ed deals with his own problem…the drone heading towards him. He decides to air his execution over the web to show the threat that America has on Tunisia. Boom! The world saw a U.S. drone drop a bomb near a popular Revolution. What does this mean now? What happened to Ed and Sirine? Are they dead?
I do have to say, the last 2 books made me much happier with the story than I originally thought. This was quite a fun read for me. I enjoyed the modern spin on a political controversy story. Being a bit of a techy kind of guy myself, I enjoyed the use of the technology in this story. It makes you think about how this can be possible. Who knows? It could be happening now. More and more you hear about breaches of companies and how personal information is “stolen”. Taking that malicious act and spreading the word of the good cause is a bit better than trying to sell me male enhancement pills. I mean come on! Really!? Wait, how much for a box?
Alyssa Milano created a decent story here. It is definitely open for continuation. The team on this did a great job. The writing was on point where it moved along well while not getting me lost. Visuals were a perfect fit to the feel of the book. I wonder what the next steps will be with the Hacktivist story. I am up for more.
Hacktivist
Created by: Alyssa Milano
Written by: Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly
Illustrated by: Marcus To
Colors by: Ian Herring
Letters by: Deron Bennett
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