Cory Doctorow’s young adult novel Little Brother is a book that just about everyone seems to be talking about this year (especially… ahem… Doctorow himself), and I finally managed to get through it over the past month or two. Billed as a 21st century companion to George Orwell’s 1984, the story takes place in current day San Francisco where tech whiz teenager Marcus Yallow and his friends get caught up in the middle of a terrorist attack. After being imprisoned by the Department of Homeland Security under suspicion of involvement, Yallow eventually fights back against the police state by starting an underground resistance movement online.

I have to admit, I had some misgivings about the fact that Doctorow chose to write a young adult novel that was clearly going to be a platform for his views on rights and privacy in the digital age. Not that I necessarily disagree with what he has to say, but I didn’t want to read a book that was going to preach at me the whole time. There are moments where it felt a little too self-righteous and one-sided, and I didn’t like the thought of impressionable young kids reacting to this stuff and taking it for the gospel. On the flip side, however, it raises issues that are certainly worthwhile for teenagers to think about, so it can probably only do more good than harm.

Putting all that aside, however, the book is still pretty damn engrossing. I was surprised at how dark and disturbing some of the stuff is (again, considering that it’s a book for teens). Pretty early on there are some intense torture scenes (Orwell would be proud), and in general, the book presents a fairly believable portrayal of what might happen if another major terrorist attack did happen on U.S. soil. Sure there is an awkward teenage love story (it kind of reminded me of the comic book Runaways in that regard), and Doctorow throws in some nerdy elements like LARPing and homebrew electronics for no good reason, but in general it’s a great read.

Is it the most important book I read this year? Probably. But then again, I’ve only read a few books this year. Either way, I definitely recommend it, I just can’t bring myself to worship it quite as much all the other wanna-be hax0rs out there on the blogosphere.