After hearing William Sutcliffe talk about We See Everything at the 2018 YALC convention, my interest was automatically piqued. I love a good dystopian novel, and this one just sounded so interesting!

Lex lives on The Strip – the overcrowded, closed-off, bombed-out shell of London. He’s used to the watchful enemy drones that buzz in the air above him.

Alan’s talent as a gamer has landed him the job of his dreams. At a military base in a secret location, he is about to start work as a drone pilot.

These two young men will never meet, but their lives are destined to collide. Because Alan has just been assigned a high-profile target. Alan knows him only as #K622. But Lex calls him Dad.

This was another library find! I had come back from YALC 6 months prior and saw this sitting on one of the library bookshelves, and I thought that it was about time I read it. I had heard Sutcliffe talking about We See Everything at a panel at YALC, and it had interested me then.

Only took me 6 months!

This is such a short novel, and oh my god, it packs a punch within those 272 pages.

The novel is set in bombed out homes, a village where people are struggling to stay alive and doing whatever they can to feed themselves and their families. One of the things that I wish Sutcliffe gave us was some background information to how London became like that. I think that would have been very interesting. But, I loved how he used drones to act as the weapon for ‘Big Brother’. Drones are a massive talking point in governments across the world because of the endless list of things that they can be used for.

We See Everything follows Lex and Alan. Lex is a 16-year-old boy who is growing up in the bombed out area of London. His father works for The Corps, who is a rebel group trying to fight back against the oppression of the government. Members of The Corps are high profile targets for the military.

Which brings us to…

Alan. He carries out surveillance on London and possibly members of The Corps. Alan was recruited due to being good at video games (which is crazy, but not really unbelievable) and he wants to be the best in his squad.

I think that having Lex and Alan has the two opposing viewpoints was very interesting. We got to see Lex find his way in the world of terror and rebellion, and we also got to see him meet Zoe, which I thought was hilarious and adorable.

The writing style was very effective, as well. Sutcliffe bought tension and paranoia to the reading experience by keeping little details away from the reader until certain moments. Just prepare yourself for the last chapter. It’s an emotional rollercoaster and it had me crying on the train to university.

One of the more interesting aspects of this novel is the character of Alan’s mother. She plays a very small role in this book, but I loved how she hated what Alan did with the drones and using them to kill. It doesn’t matter how many times he tells her about the good that he is doing for the country, she disagrees and I think that having that polar opposite point of view between a mother and a son is so important to show.

Overall, this was a very intriguing book. I do love a good dystopian and I think that Sutcliffe has written a brilliant novel that carefully explores the dynamics of war and rebellion, but also explores the male psyche.

 

 

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