Platformed, Kelsey Josund
Platformed, Kelsey Josund
List: $14.95 | Sale: $10.47
Club: $7.47

Platformed
A Modern Dystopian Novel

Author: Kelsey Josund

Narrator: Ariel Carreno

Unabridged: 7 hr 45 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/02/2022


Synopsis

In near-future Silicon Valley, a young unemployed software engineer joins a tech giant's secretive community seeking shelter from the chaos of a failing world. But this ideal society is not, in fact, so perfect.

Silicon Valley in the 2030s is not so different from today, filled with vaguely sexist CEOs, contested inequality politics, and startups that are almost a joke. After she loses her job when her startup folds and loses her home to California's annual wildfires, Sara joins the latest thing: an unnamed tech giant's quasi-utopian community, floating above the drowned land that was once Monterey. Alone on the inside with a thousand mysteriously chosen strangers, Sara is insulated by an all-powerful corporation from the turmoil of crumbling governments and a changing climate. Everyone around her seems incredibly thankful, rescued from gig work and student loans and bad news, but she can't find her own gratitude. As she learns more about her new home, she begins to see the cracks in its perfect facade. She must choose between surveillance and lies from the anonymous algorithms that protect her or face a vulnerable life outside the system to which she has signed away her next five years. Leaving, she learns, may not even be an option.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Anissa on September 02, 2021

This was a very good debut novel that's part character study and part climate & economic collapse story. The main character joins a highly selective enclave called The Community as a means of escaping natural disasters and the lack of employment. The Community is revealed over the length of the stor......more

Goodreads review by Jack on June 01, 2021

Once I started reading this book, it was hard to put down. It’s an easy read and more of a character study + cautionary tale of one possible techno-climate dystopian future. But if you’re looking for an action-packed plot like the Hunger Games, this is not really that type of book! The plot is there......more

Goodreads review by Morgan on April 01, 2021

Apart from leading us through an engaging mystery, this book skillfully and honestly explores the ambivalent emotional, psychological and spiritual responses of a young person embedded in a social and environmental surrounding that no longer supports the humans who must live within it. The issues fa......more

Goodreads review by Dorothy on May 27, 2021

Great first novel This was a well written, thought provoking story. The protagonist was believable. I look forward to reading more from this new author.......more

Goodreads review by Roman on March 31, 2021

A gripping novel that I finished in a few sittings and kept me thinking long after it ended! The writer managed to transport me into another world while sneaking in dystopian parallels to our current society and relatable characters.......more