Discordia by Max Barry

Discordia Reviews

• 
  Kevin Kelsey

  I've been wondering for a while now how Max Barry would square his more humorous social satire style with the ridiculousness of our 21st century post-truth era. Turns out, brilliantly, is the answer.
  
  
  Discordia is very much in the lineage of
  Jennifer Government and
  Company, and not so much
  Lexicon or
  The 22 Murders of Madison May.
  
  I enjoy his more serious, thrilleresque writing just as much as his humorous social satires, but the tone of Discordia seems right for the context of the story. Just as the more serious tone of Lexicon and The 22 murders... felt right for those stories.
  
  Andrew Call provides the narration, and he does a wonderful job. Although at times he does read a little too fast for my taste. I had to slow the speed down by 10% or so at times.
  
  
  
  
• 
  Karen’s Library

  I was looking for something interesting on audiobook to finish out 2021 to help meet my GOODREADS challenge and thought Discordia looked like it could be good.
  
  It was a fairly short book so I thought no matter what I should be able to listen to it with no problem.
  
  But the storyline was one of those silly Hitchhiker’s Guide type stories. I like funny, sarcastic characters, but not silly plots. Those who really enjoy storylines like Hitchhiker’s Guide or Men in Black will probably really enjoy this book. Unfortunately it’s just not my cup of tea.
  
  After about 30 minutes in, I was not enjoying the narrator’s accents at all. I ended up speeding up the book to 1.5 (which I NEVER do) just to get through it or else I would have DNF’d in any other circumstance.
  
  I definitely need a palette cleanser after this.
  
  
• 
  Lizz

  I don’t write reviews.
  
  And I’m hard to please when it comes to SF comedy. Barry really nailed it with Discordia. It’s a clever, thoughtful book which tells readers what most people need to hear these days. Everyone is so divided, being played like harps from hell by the powers-that-shouldn’t-be. The message of this story, is stop being led and think for yourself.
  
  This message is delivered via the experiences of Diego, a seemingly confused and luke-warm kind of guy, who of course, is charged with saving the world. I really enjoyed Diego for many reasons. He’s calm, kind, real and not ideologically driven. He’s the sort you want to see succeed. I’ve read far too many books where every character was an asshole. Nice change here from Barry.
• 
  Soo

  Notes:
  
  Currently on Audible +
  
  - Narrator Andrew Call - He was great! 1st time I've listened to him narrate and it was a fun experience. He has the kind of accent that will appeal to the millennial & up crowd. I look forward to trying out other books by him.
  
  - Don't read the blurb. Ignore it. Pay more attention to the cover and be ready for a ridiculous satire. The whole story is loaded, but not in a way that bugged me. It was light in tone, complex in themes and completely effervescent. I laughed, rolled my eyes and had unexpected fun while listening to the book.
  
  Yay for random reads! The good ones make up for all of the blahs.
• 
  Andrea McDowell

  I've enjoyed Max Barry's novels since
  Jennifer Government, though some of them moreso than others. This audible-plus freebie was a treat, with something to piss off everyone, as any good social satire should (?).
  
  The premise is that the earth is being invaded by aliens--many, many aliens--each culture representing the extreme version of one earth ideology: naziism, private property/corporate rights, feminism, environmentalism, naturalism, the metric system, fundamentalist christianity, animal liberation, you name it. They're all obnoxious, they're all convinced they're here to Save Earth, and they're all on a path to mass subjugation and genocide--if they succeed. Reading their dialogue is like reading the worst most eye-grating Twitter arguments you've ever seen (or pick your social media channel of choice), with lines that could easily have been plunked from any one of a number of well-known pundits.
  
  And if you think this is bad, watch out for the worst of them all: the one who says he has no agenda or ideology; the dreaded Centrist!
  
  I admit that my rating of 3* might be driven solely by being a bit hurt at his characterization of the environmentalist and feminist alien cultures, but the rest more than made up for it, and Bob was the best part. Well worth listening to.
• 
  Melinda Nankivell

  2.5 stars
  
  This is a sci fi comedy, where a variety of humanoid aliens, each extolling the virtues of different ideologies (e.g. naturalists v Nazis), come to Earth, supposedly to take over/ save us from the aliens with different beliefs.
  
  This has been likened to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and it is a similar kind of humour, just a little less polished.
  
  This was specially written for Audible but I do wish they’d gotten a better voice actor. His voice put me off some of the story, especially his poor Australian accent.
• 
  Zivan

  I'm a bit weary of books with too much social commentary. But Max Barry managed to sweep me in and keep me amused to the last page.
  
  Our world is being invaded by extremists, each with his own world saving agenda, as a physical manifestation of annoying people online that take their pet ideology to the Nth degree and cannot be reasoned with.
  
  But don't worry we don't spend all our time with them but with Diego, a down on his luck Mexican American day worker and occasional car thief, acting as a foil to their elaborate manipulations.
  
  P.S.
  It is now my mission to work the word Scarfoil into conversation.
  
  
• 
  Linda

  3.5 satirical story that pokes a stick at every far wing group.
• 
  Art

  This was pretty funny. Very improbable, but that was kind of the point, I think. I literally could not predict anything that would happen next. I like surprising stories and this one certainly was.
• 
  Tory Thai

  Narration on this absolutely made this book the most fun I've had in a while. The voice actor was so good that honestly felt like a full cast. The range of voices for all the characters was both creative and made this easy to keep track of who was who. The emotions also were really spot on with how the parts were acted out.
  
  Overall this was just such a silly time. The main character was such a good choice to tell this story. He's just some simple guy thrown into the wildest situations with some extreme expectations that he is not at all qualified for to handle but still tries to figure out.
  
  This is filled with dark humor that really got me laughing fairly often. I really enjoyed the sense of humor this pulled off both by jokes and just some wild plot. I don't think more then 5 minutes goes by without some dose of humor dashed in.
  
  This was consistently well paced and never did I feel like it ever got too ahead of itself and it manage to slowly build up to these wildly humorous plot situations.
  
  The characters though are the star of the show here. The main character is just amazing with his simplicity. He is the most average of average to such an extent that it was part of the joke with how average he was. The side characters, I'm obsessed. The numerous villains were so funny, well acted and enough character building went into them to be able to identify who they are and the over the top trope or political satire they are playing into.
  
  The plot also never lost my interest. It's definitely over the top, hard to believe and absurd but the fact it's so obviously satire the absurdist humor with the plot just really sat right with me. I think if you took politics too seriously or you identified with what is being made fun of though this probably could upset people who are more sensitive.
  
  This just was such a win for me on so many levels that I demand a sequal! With the same narrator though. I don't care how you do it but I just need more of this author.
• 
  Asher Huskinson

  An entertaining view on the dangers of extremism. A tad bit on the nose at times, but never boring or overly preachy. All in all a fun ride.
• 
  Michael Saliba

  This was written by a man, and you could SMELL the misogyny. This was just an excuse for Max Barry to share his political views first and tell an interesting story second. It was cute in moments and infuriating in others.
  
  My biggest pet peeve by far was that the protagonist would say “okay” as a response to 80% of the questions he was asked, like, REPEATEDLY.
  
  Like in a conversation with 5 or 6 rounds of back and forth, all he’d say is “okay” or “I’m not sure”, and the convo would just magically go his way and progress the plot perfectly. It was so annoying.
  
  I hated that none of the women were written to be likeable. The only LGBT representation was an unethical boss in the FBI that was also unlikable and an antagonist.
  
  The worst part of the book was when a ‘romantic’ tension finally reached its peak with a nonconsensual kiss that, in fact, directly went against the woman’s wishes and very clearly was against her religious beliefs. After the kiss, she ran away, had a breakdown and was ‘corrupted’.
  
  Also, the protagonist stripped a Muslim woman of her burkha and used it as a DISGUISE… like… what?!!
  
  They had a feminist that was a terrorist who wanted to kill men and form a matriarch and a bunch of other extremists that were pro-animal rights, environmentalists and even a supporter of the metric system (and by a supporter, I mean he would kill people that didn’t want to adopt it).
  
  In a way, it kind of makes fun of people with these leftist views and pushes them to the extreme end of politics. And the only so-called ‘good one’ was a terrorist who got pleasure out of never letting anyone else get their way and forming an authoritarian government to force people to follow the ‘good ways’ because our world is doomed and people are “too dumb to vote for what’s right”.
  
  It had so much potential, and it was okay-ish. It ticks the usual ‘world is ending’ sci-fi novel boxes, but I’d never even think of touching it again and am pretty annoyed with the ending.
  
• 
  Felicia B.

  Audible Freebie
  Spoilers because I suggest you do not read.
  
  Heaaaaaavy handed. The entertainment was so suffocated by social commentary and pandering to the youths that it died. It was like watching 6 hours of modern SNL.
  
  A short synopsis:
  A hard working 20 something Mexican is hired as a day laborer by a TechBro and his Malibu Barbie girlfriend. Hilarious adventure ensues as people from multiple dimensions target America to assimilate the world into their ideologies. These characters are "Smooth talking capitalist guy", "Hitler did nothing wrong guy", "radical feminist lady", "religious zealot lady", "kill the people to save the planet guy", "fit bods only guy", "they're trying to turn everyone gay guy", "and... so you know its all silly nonsense "kill anyone who won't follow the metric system guy". Oh yea don't forget "I'm not like those guys, but secretly I'm just like those guys guy". Whatever will our dispassionate minority youth do?! Will he be radicalized? Will he fight against these manipulation tactics and see they are all equally harmful to Freedom and Democracy?!
  
  Hahaha so fun and topical. We're having a laugh while exploring the dangers of social contagion and not thinking for yourself. Remember when people like that got huge followers of sheeple in the real world?! Wow. Such commentary. Much satire.
  
  I liked other books by Max Barry, but I could not get over the level of cringe in this one.
• 
  Alex Shrugged

  It's weird. It's funny. If you are easily offended, skip this book.
  
  I don't know how anyone would have a clue as to what this book is about reading the publisher's description. On the other hand, I'm having a difficult time describing it myself.
  
  The Story: a rich, self-absorbed idiot, Josh, hires a day-worker, Diego, to dig a hole deep enough to kill a tree because the authorities won't grant him a permit to remove the tree that his blocking his view. But Diego discovers a buried safe at the bottom of the hole, but it looks more like a coffin. It has a message chiseled into the side reading, "He lies". Josh opens the box and hereafter come individuals out of the box each one with a wilder and wilder story and each telling Diego not to trust anything the others are saying. It seems that it is Diego's job to save Earth from an invasion of crazy people.
  
  WARNING: this is satire, poking fun at any number of groups. If you are in one of those groups you might laugh or you might blow a gasket. Hard to say.
  
  Any modesty issues? Yes. It has adult themes. But if your kids play Grand Theft Auto, you already have more problems than this book might create.
  
  I thought it was mostly funny. I try not to take these things too seriously. I'd read this book again.
  
• 
  Jonathan

  Another Audible Original while I have my subscription.
  
  I tried my best to get into this but I just didn’t care much for it. Even from the first chapter it didn’t really excite me and I wasn’t a big fan of the narrators different voices & accents, plus overall the writing/dialogue just seemed a bit meh.
  
  Someone said it’s like it was written by an Ai who’s spent too much time on Twitter 😂😂😂
  
  I was happy to give it a chance to see where the story went but it felt so crazy & weird at times that it just didn’t interest me. Maybe it didn’t help they I was listening to it while gaming but it still wasn’t good enough to grab & hold my attention. Instead by the end I thought I might be losing brain cells listening to it. There was something about Nazi’s, why?
  
  The one thing I did like was the relationship between Diego and Patience. I definitely would have liked to have seen more of them together.
• 
  Michael

  OK, this was a tough one.
  
  The Earth is being attacked by aliens from other dimensions, each determined to make sure that their faction is the one which gets the prize. The only person standing in the way is Diego, an average guy who got pulled in by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
  
  The amusing portion it that each dimensional alien is hyper-focused on one thing: a corporation, gym-life, the environment...at the expense of everything else. This leads to some really amusing situations, but characters which can hit a little close to home in 2021. Barry accentuates and exaggerates the worst of everyone and their personal desires.
  
  Well written and with interesting characters, Discordia is an interesting read.
• 
  Callum Wilson

  Its short, fun and at least a little thought provoking. Barry places a mirror up to reflect various witless and extremist factions of society for all to see. Overall its more fun than serious satire with only a few moments that engender genuine reflection.
  
  I got this free with my Audible membership and the narrator Andrew Call did an awesome job 👏. I really liked the character of Diego and the inflection Call gave him was perfect. Ive read over 50 books this year and Diego is definitely one of my favorites. Same goes for Carter. I loved the constant presence of the mystical and then whimsical of the term scarfoil.
  
  Good job Max Barry
• 
  Jennybrown

  I found this audiobook quite entertaining and delightfully silly! Very reminiscent of Douglas Adams’ ”Hitchhiker’s Guide” books. Andrew Call’s narration is effective and seems effortless. His voice for each character really added to the character development. This satirical comedy about how disinformation affects society kept me guessing about where it was going and managed to make some subtly poignant points. I laughed out loud at several parts and kept thinking about the story when I wasn’t listening to it. I will definitely be checking out mor if Max Barry’s work.
• 
  David Allatt

  Bizzare, but good. I enjoyed the narration, which contributed much to the success of this audiobook. The main character, Diego, is a bit lost at the start of the book in which he encounters many aliens from alternate dimensions, each of which has a very fixed agenda. So the book is in many ways a commentary on current society. Some complain that the book is preachy, but I didn't find it so, and just went along for the ride. Frankly I liked the book.
• 
  Josh

  Social commentary done well. Barry addresses, with humor, the current onslaught of disinformation. He succeeds here because he's mostly criticizing bad faith leaders of extremists. Although he definitely harpoons the beliefs a bit too through generalizations.
  
  Coming from a box titled He Lies, caricatures of ideologies spring out, all hellbent on saving the earth from itself. A concise analogy for the current state of TV news, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
• 
  Bree Thomas

  This was a tough one. I was expecting a humorous read about the end of the world, and I got a heavy-handed satire with an unlikable cast, featuring a rather gormless protagonist (I have never heard the phrase '"What?" said Diego' so many times in my life) and multiple antagonists who are caricatures of stereotypes with very little character development.
  This is not a bad book, just a silly one. If that's what you're looking for, you will love it!
• 
  Melissa

  Oh man I'm so horribly disappointed there's no print version of this because I couldn't sit through that godawful narrator for another second. So this is gonna be the first Max Barry I can't read, and I always love Max Barry books. I'm quietly devastated, to be honest.
  
  Here's hoping an ebook version comes out one day, for the hearing impaired and the tolerance-of-dudes-doing-Valley-Girl-accents impaired alike.
• 
  Karma Kimeleon

  4 ⭐️ for the story, 5 ⭐️ for the narration. Probably one of the best narrators for voices I’ve heard, and he made the story that much funnier. The story is ridiculous, but also startlingly accurate to real life—without interdimensional travelers. I’m a healthcare worker during a pandemic that half the people I see don’t believe is happening. If only beliefs could protect people from viruses.
• 
  Chris Andrews

  It's a heavy-handed patronising portrayal of the polarisation of contemporary attitudes and viewpoints, all the characters (including Diego, who plays the part of the reader, I guess) are perfect binary stereotypes (but that's the point). The voices on the audiobook are really annoying at first.
  
  But... I dunno, I quite liked it whilst simultaneously being annoyed by the author's transparency.
• 
  Laura

  2.5 ⭐️
  I knew it was gonna be kooky - I signed up for that.
  But the execution wasn’t anything like Lexicon 🤷🏻‍♀️
  Diego is a GREAT character.
  And I really get Bob’s appeal to him - we have done this all as wrong as we possibly could.
  But it all just didn’t thrill, excite, entertain, or interest me like I was hoping for 🤷🏻‍♀️.
• 
  Jason

  Fun fast read, plenty of deadpan humor and quirkiness plus some pretty on the nose political and social commentary. So just what I expected from Max Barry.
  
  Ok here is a spoiler just for fun so you know what you’re getting into.
  
  At one point the MC along with a shaven head religious zealot nun from a parallel universe run over nazis with a stolen monster truck.