I understand that the copyrights and trademarks are supposed to be in there for effect, but my god were there a lot of them. So much in fact that they distracted me from latching on to the plot, even in as short of a book as this.

If I were to assign this book, I would excerpt pieces from the middle in showing why "clever" devices like this often don't work and actually frustrate your readers more than entertain.

This is really good debut novel. World building is amazing but there are a lot of trademark names. As a dystopian novel some parts are scared me a lot. It shows how much we connect social media. It is really fun to read.

The premise is interesting, but I really struggled with holding that interest as I read. It felt scattered and distracting and I hate to say, I felt bored most of the time. This might be a better fit for a reader who enjoys a lot of technical jargon in their sci-fi.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley. I was excited by the idea of a science-fiction novel revolving around apps and a seemingly gay protagonist. Well, I was partially correct in my assessment of that.

Porcaro is a debutante fiction writer and this book was publicly-funded through a project called Unbound. The fact that the book did not have an editor proved one of its downfalls. For one, the synopsis does not touch on the main themes of the book, that of a general mess-up who spends the entire book pining for his first love.

Bastion is the Executive Director of The Federation, an arm of legislation/politics (I really couldn't figure it out) desperate to maintain order and sanity in a chaotic near-future. The Euro-centric setting is a refreshing departure from the overwhelming England/American stories the publishing world is flooded with, and the author's vast (yet imperfect) knowledge of people, places and languages adds a flavour of authenticity to Bastion's hectic travelling schedule.

The book starts with Bastion being dumped via a generic message from an app just prior to a celebratory work party. It supposedly ruins his evening, but we never feel it - we are informed thus, and while Bastion does, from time to time, reminisce about his boyfriend's curly black hair, his emotional reaction never goes beyond skin deep.

Bastion drinks too much and goes back to his hotel room with a woman that looks like his first love, Janine. The next morning, nursing the worst hangover ever, he realises he is missing his Morph (the phone to end all phones), and must hurry to get a replacement and make his flight to Chile for a conference. His colleague, Sandra, alerts him about their nemesis Nathan using the conference as a platform to present his election app which will potentially end the usefulness of The Federation. So starts a series of ridiculous events which sees Bastion miss three flights, his scheduled time to speak at the conference and suffer sleep-deprived hallucinations that convince him that he is the target of a global conspiracy.

This book could have been great, but didn't even get close. There is jargon-heavy speak between the main players, none of which makes sense to a layman, but most importantly, doesn't give us much inkling about the story or the plot. There is plenty of expository world-building, written as if the author is reading out a text book, but it feels inauthentic and out of sync with the narrative. Porcaro never weaves the world-building into the story, it is always a separate entity that stops the plot from moving forward.

Add to that, the inclusion of trademarks, etc in the written lexicon make it an uncomfortable read. From my experience, most companies require such marks to be incorporated on first instance, and then discarded following this. Following this rule of thumb would have made the reading experience better. Or else, a keen-eyed editor may have been able to increase readability by reducing the amount of nomenclature in the book.

The timeline is also confusing, where it suggests that the current events take place later than 2032, yet the protagonist was living a full life in the early noughties, and has clear knowledge of everything in history, no matter how far back it goes. How old is he, exactly?

This book isn't actually about the takeover of apps or political mind games, it's mostly about one drunk dude who cannot get over his breakups. Every single event is punctuated by Bastion pining for Janine. For a book that starts off with him having a boyfriend, we spend the majority of the story on his relationships (and some explicit details) with women. That's a classic bait-and-switch manoeuvre that I really should have seen coming, but didn't. Bastion is coded as bisexual, but the heteronormative manner in which the book is written just reduces his past girlfriends to one-note caricatures of human beings. Janine may be a neuroscientist, but she is also a version of the crazy ex-girlfriend trope.

Much of the 'political' shenanigans escaped me - they weren't well-written or written with any gravitas. The world that Porcaro has built is exquisite, but we never get to experience it. I felt 'disconnected' instead of 'conjoined' with the narrative. So much seemed to be riding on Bastion's speech at the conference, only for it not to take place on-page. And then, when it seems like their worst nightmare has come true, a convenient computer hack solves the day. Seems like some B-movie style writing here.

As accomplished and error-free as 'Disco Sour' is, it never quite finds its feet. Porcaro has a brilliant imagination, but he is not able to intertwine the world he has built with the people who are living/running it or with the story that will affect it. Plus, this book appears to be little more than a romance disguised as political philosophising. There is no harm in adding romance to any genre, but if it is going to be the main theme, tout it as such so that the reader is not caught unawares. I think a good editor could have tightened up some of the clunky writing, as well as ironed out the vagueness in the narrative. We needed to understand the gravity of the situation, but couldn't through all the exposition.

I highly recommend Porcaro continues building on this world, but maybe with a character not as incompetent as Bastion. I would love to read more of his vision of the future.

They say you can't judge a book by the cover but in this case I think you can by the title. The cover is pretty decent, actually, but if you like the title then maybe this is your kind of sci-fi. I'm always looking for what's new and different but I suspect I fell outside the target demographic on this one. We have a narrator going to future bars, discussing future drinks and some sort of branded, federated future politics. It's a quick read (maybe two hours at most) but not a lot happens as I see it. Maybe it's the style and maybe others will appreciate it so I'm not going to write it off completely. #DiscoSour #Net Galley

Sour is in the name, what can one except. This project was public funded by the look of the acknowledgements list and, while some aspects of it were quite interesting, it ultimately came across somewhat self indulgent. The concept is neat, the setting is the near future, copyrighted to exhaustion (which probably seemed like a great idea at the time, but results in seriously aesthetically® tedious® text® like that) and just and trendy, technology obsessed and vapid. Democracy is under attack (there’s something wildly original) and Bastian the protagonist is on the mission to save it, but first he must find his phone, make it to the presentation and get laid, not necessarily in that order either. Instead of concentrating the narrative on world building or characterizations, the author spends the bulk of what appears to be a relatively slim volume (although inexplicably the actual page count isn’t specified anywhere online) on Bastian’s whining and trying to get some action via dating apps. Bastian’s bisexual, so he’s got a large pool to choose from, seems mostly into dudes, seems mostly mopey over being dumped, seems mostly concerned with his underwear matching his socks matching his tie than his actual presentation, seems like a superficial millennial stereotype. This novel seems to prioritize being hip over being good and ends up neither. The writing itself is perfectly decent, but the meat of it is too insubstantial and gimmicky. The author’s bio leads one to believe he knows a thing or two about the sociopolitical aspects of the plot, but makes a choice not to develop it all that much, because, you know, there’s a phone to find. In the novel’s own argot, swipe left on this one. Thanks Netgalley.