SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
SLJ Blog Network +
  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About TLT
  • Reviews
    • Book Reviews
    • A to Z Book Lists
    • Book Review Policy
  • Teen Issues
  • Middle Grade Mondays
  • Programs
    • TPiB
    • Tech Talk
  • Professional
    • Teen Services 101
    • Things We Didn’t Learn in Library School
  • MakerSpace
  • Projects
    • #SVYALit
    • #FSYALit
    • #MHYALit
    • #Poverty in YA Lit

August 19, 2013 by Karen Jensen, MLS

Book Review: Coda by Emma Trevayne

August 19, 2013 by Karen Jensen, MLS   1 comments

I step back from the mike. “Pixel,” I say, shaking my head when he glances at me. I stare the guy down. “Yeah, you don’t feel it. That’s because this is real music, and you’ve got to want it. You’ve got to let it get inside your head. Do that, and the high is better than some processed drug. This is what the Corp keeps from you so that they can make us listen to the stuff that’ll kill us. So they can keep us under control, use our bodies for energy, take our credits, and run our lives. If that high is worth it to you, go back to your console.”

He doesn’t say anything. I’ve started it, now. It’s too late to turn back, but I guess it’s been too late since that day Johnny first showed me the basement. Everything was always leading here.

SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

“There used to be five of us,” I continue, gesturing to the band before I face the audience again. Rapt expressions nearly make me shut up. I’m not the person for this. “Our friend put on a track one day and dropped dead. They killed him, and he’s not the only one. It could happen to any of us, any time we put on a track. Have you ever pissed off the Corp? You might not know even if you have. Maybe our friend was lucky. Maybe it’s a good thing that he won’t go through what happens when the music’s finally eaten through enough of his brain. But do the Corp care? No, it just makes room for the next person to come along: someone else for their guards to threaten, someone else to give up their life for the Corp’s glory.”

Murmurs ripple. “And you’re gonna change all that?” asks the guy, raising his voice to be heard. Yeah, I don’t really believe it either.

“I’m saying that this is what they take from us.” I slap the body of my guitar. “The right to express ourselves. They take it and use it to kill us, instead. I’m saying we take it back, but we need your help. We need people.”

“For what?”

I can’t see where the question comes from, but it’s one I’ve asked myself a thousand times. “Change,” I say. “To show President Z, the Board, and everyone else involved with encoding the music and keeping real stuff from us that we don’t want this anymore. That they have to give music back to us and know they can never get away with doing this again. To replace them, if that’s what it takes.”


Welcome to the future, where the United States of America is no more, and everything is run by The Corp. Humans are born with numbers, energy is one of the most precious commodities and generated from people and their emotions, and music is how you get medicine- and mandatory highs- and is controlled (like everything else) by the Corp. Eighteen year old Anthem tries to lose himself and his troubles in the clubs, but nothing seems to beat the highs he gets from playing music himself, which is illegal and extremely dangerous. When his friend and mentor Johnny is killed by a track, Anthem, his girlfriend Haven, his ex Scope, and the rest of the band decide to take on the Corp by fighting the only way they know how:  by growing resistance through underground concerts. Yet when The Corp decides that they are too big of a threat to ignore, and a traitor destroys everything, Anthem has to chose between resistance and what he feels is right, and the safety of his family. 

Coda is extremely gripping and a wonderful (and disturbing) dystopia built upon a media that almost everyone is familiar with. The dialogue is exquisite, and the characters are colorful, flawed, and extremely well-described. Readers fall into Anthem’s world almost immediately, and are carried along for the ride. The twists and turns within the story carry throughout the book, and keep readers on edge and wanting more. It definitely fits within the cyberpunk genre (confused? think about the movie Tron: Legacy for inspiration) and throughout does not lose its core or optimism. 5 out of 5 stars. As of July 21, 2013, Goodreads rates Coda 4.05 out of 5 stars (what is WRONG with them?!??!). 


I love the fact that music is used as the control over the human population, especially when you consider how much we listen to music. Anthem is such a complicated character, and his decisions are not easy ones. As a reader I felt each decision with him, and when the twists hit, I agonized with him through his choices. I also loved the fluidity within love that Anthem feels- like some of my teens he loves who he loves, no matter what body they happen to be in. Haven (his current love) is female, yet Scope (his former love) is male, and no one bats an eye over this. 

Another thing that really struck me with this book is how dedicated Anthem is to his family. His mother dies early in his life, and his father is dying, so it’s up to Anthem to take care of his younger siblings (twins, who have called themselves Alpha and Omega). He’s constantly worrying about them, about how fast they’re growing up, about them getting addicted to the music like he is and going through the cravings, and about how they’re destined to grow up like he is, to become little more than a living battery for the upper elite. Anyone with siblings has been in that situation before- worrying about their situation- and Emma writes it so believably that it strikes chords within your soul. It’s a beautiful book, and I’m excited that there is more to come from her including Chorus…. 

Coda is nominated for the 2014 Rainbow Project List, and is a 2014 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adult nominee.

I got my galley of Coda after totally fangirling on Emma at ALA Midwinter 2013 in Seattle.
It’s signed, and to me, and I’m keeping it. I did try to find her at ALA Annual in Chicago
(she had all purple hair then) but just missed her signing, so alas, no giveaway for this one.

Filed under: Book Reviews, Coda, cyberpunk, Dystopian, Emma Trevayne, first novel, Rainbow Project, YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults

SHARE:

Read or Leave Comments

About Karen Jensen, MLS

Karen Jensen has been a Teen Services Librarian for almost 30 years. She created TLT in 2011 and is the co-editor of The Whole Library Handbook: Teen Services with Heather Booth (ALA Editions, 2014).

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

May 2014

Book Review: Hungry by H. A. Swain

by Karen Jensen, MLS

November 2013

Take 5: Rainbow Project Nominee Sequels

by Karen Jensen, MLS

October 2013

Book Review: Control by Lydia Kang (reviewed by Erinn Batykefer)

by Karen Jensen, MLS

October 2013

Book Review: Inhuman by Kat Falls

by Karen Jensen, MLS

August 2013

Book Review: Article 5 by Kristen Simmons (with BREAKING POINT ARC Giveaway)

by Karen Jensen, MLS

ADVERTISEMENT

SLJ Blog Network

100 Scope Notes

Sydney Taylor Blog Tour: THE TOWER OF LIFE by Chana Stiefel and Susan Gal

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Who’s In Rabbit’s House by Verna Aardema, ill. Leo and Diane Dillon

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

Akim Aliu Dreamer | This Week’s Comics

by Lori Henderson

Heavy Medal

What’s Coming in 2023, A Feedback Poll, and Goodbye for Now…

by Steven Engelfried

Teen Librarian Toolbox

I Spy Something Awkward, a guest post by James Ponti

by Amanda MacGregor

The Classroom Bookshelf

The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving

by Erika Thulin Dawes

The Yarn

A Book 25 Years in the Making: Marla Frazee Visits The Yarn

by Travis Jonker

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Articles on SLJ

Making Space for Math in the Library

Resources for “Born on the Water” and Amanda Gorman Titles; ALA Statement; and More | News Bites

Changing the Narrative | The Year in SLJ Covers

More and More Manga: An Updated Primer on Japanese Comic Books and Graphic Novels

Old Hate, Renewed Response: Resources to curb antisemitism in school, in person, and online

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. shila says

    August 23, 2013 at 7:15 pm

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

Follow This Blog

Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

Primary Sidebar

  • News & Features
  • Reviews+
  • Technology
  • School Libraries
  • Public Libraries
  • Age Level
  • Ideas
  • Blogs
  • Classroom
  • Diversity
  • People
  • Job Zone

Reviews+

  • Book Lists
  • Best Books
  • Media
  • Reference
  • Series Made Simple
  • Tech
  • Review for SLJ
  • Review Submissions

SLJ Blog Network

  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal
  • Neverending Search
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn

Resources

  • 2022 Youth Media Awards
  • The Newbery at 100: SLJ Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Award
  • Special Report | School Libraries 2021
  • Summer Reading 2021
  • Series Made Simple Spring 2021
  • SLJ Diverse Books Survey
  • Summer Programming Survey
  • Research
  • White Papers / Case Studies
  • School Librarian of the Year
  • Mathical Book Prize Collection Development Awards
  • Librarian/Teacher Collaboration Award

Events & PD

  • In-Person Events
  • Online Courses
  • Virtual Events
  • Webcasts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Media Inquiries
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Content Submissions
  • Data Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Terms of Sale
  • FAQs
  • Diversity Policy
  • Careers at MSI


COPYRIGHT © 2023


COPYRIGHT © 2023