Knight in Paper Armor Shows Us the Dangers of Indifference

Book Review: Knight in Paper Armor

---

Summary:

Billy Jakobek has always been different. Born with strange and powerful psychic abilities, he has grown up in the laboratories of Thorne Century, a ruthless megacorporation that economically, socially, and politically dominates American society. Every day, Billy absorbs the emotional energies, dreams, and traumas of everyone he meets—from his grandmother’s memories of the Holocaust, to the terror his sheer existence inflicts upon his captors—and he yearns to break free, so he can use his powers to help others.

Natalia Gonzalez, a rebellious artist and daughter of Guatemalan immigrants, lives in Heaven’s Hole, an industrial town built inside a meteor crater, where the poverty-stricken population struggles to survive the nightmarish working conditions of the local Thorne Century factory. Natalia takes care of her ailing mother, her grandmother, and her two younger brothers, and while she dreams of escape, she knows she cannot leave her family behind.

When Billy is transferred to Heaven’s Hole, his chance encounter with Natalia sends shockwaves rippling across the blighted landscape. The two outsiders are pitted against the all-powerful monopoly, while Billy experiences visions of an otherworldly figure known as the Shape, which prophesizes an apocalyptic future that could decimate the world they know.

---

First Sentence:

The dark-eyed boy in the photograph looked normal, but he wasn’t.

---

My Thoughts:

After an almost 2 year hiatus from having the time to sit down and enjoy a good book, I managed to organize my life around just enough to give me a little taste of the free time that I once took for granted. With the desire to reawaken my passion for reading, I opted to go with a book from my favorite author, Nicholas Conley. To my excitement, I discovered that he has published two recent novels since my time away from fiction. I immediately ordered copies of both, as Conley has yet to disappoint me with his stories.

The premise of Knight in Paper Armor is one of a bleak and miserable existence in a speculative version of the United States. There are 179 states in this story, thanks in part to the American Independence from Jewish Corruption Bill, which restricts Jews from voting or working in any legal, financial or government position. All the Jews must now live in the created state of Beth Shalom, which is basically like living in the poorest of slums. 

A man by the name of Caleb Thorne, the main antagonist, has monopolized most of the industries in the country and now runs everything from grocery stores to medical research labs in one big mega corporation. Thorne has a dream of driving out every minority group in the country so that America can go back to being a predominately white Christian population.

Enter Billy Jakobek, who posses powerful psychic abilities. Billy is a Jewish boy from the state of Beth Shalom who is tragically taken from his home at a young age to be used and studied at Thorne’s laboratories. Also enter Natalia Gonzalez, a creative and feisty young girl who lives in Heaven’s Hole. She is the daughter of Guatemalan immigrants and has had her own fair share of tragedy in her family.

The basic plot is: Billy is now a top secret lab experiment that has been transferred to Heaven’s Hole and given a chance to go to the local high school, where he meets Natalia. The two almost immediately form a special bond and find themselves going up against the monopoly that Caleb Thorne has created. Billy, meanwhile, also has to deal with a mysterious supernatural entity, known only as the Shape, who has prophesied a catastrophic event that will bring about the apocalypse.

Now that I’ve more or less repeated the summary that’s on the back of the book, I’ll get down to the nitty-gritty here and give my thoughts. As always, Nicholas Conley has a supreme gift of painting visuals and emotions with beautiful detail when he tells stories. He ties the events and imagery of his stories together beautifully and presents them to the reader in a way that keeps them engaged. I will always love Conley’s writing style and storytelling abilities. 

This book deals with a lot of issues that are very much a problem in our society today, with the principal theme of the book focusing on the underlying evil of indifference when faced with a society that is full of injustice. I can see where this book would drive a lot of political nuts insane to the degree that they’d be quick to label the story as propaganda. In all honesty, I think stories like these are super important in that they yank people out of their comfort zones and force them to take a look at their own world and question it.

That aside, the main characters are likable. It’s easy to cheer them along in their journey during the good times, and just as easy to cry for them when things go horribly wrong. I want to say that the relationship between Billy and Natalia moved a little too quick, but I try to take into account that 1: these are teenagers we are discussing here (who are notorious for falling in love too quick and too deeply, and 2: through the use of Billy’s power, they learn more about each other in one quick encounter than most people can learn about their significant other in a whole lifetime together. I like that Conley can manipulate the environment and circumstances to make the typical “rushed relationship” feel much more natural (though I must also note that rushed relationships are a lot more common and realistic than most readers I’ve ever met are willing to admit).

As far as the chief antagonist goes, Caleb Thorne is all villain. There’s little to no gray areas in his character and he has zero redeeming qualities. His character goes from being hated to even more hated. As much as it pains me to say it, I can’t see that kind of villain being unrealistic. The sad reality is that there are some people in this world who have stone hearts and lack any ability to feel empathy. Thorne represents those people. He doesn’t need a sob story to explain why he is the way he is. He just… is. He isn’t meant to earn the reader’s sympathy for his actions. He is a legit as well as super frightening villain.

This is the first book from Nicholas Conley that I did not give a Klorrie Cup Award to. It’s not that I didn’t like the story. I truly did enjoy reading it! I think at the end of the day, it comes down to my age. While I would highly recommend this book to younger readers, I found myself eager to hear more story and point of view from the older characters, such as Natalia’s mom. I think her character could have been explored more and there was only one chapter that truly focused on her thoughts and what she was going through. I truly hate that she got such a crappy ending.

I also felt like the story of Natalia’s family could have been a little more. The grandmother does answer the questions of what happened when Natalia was a little girl and how they ended up in Heaven’s Hole, but the fact that it’s only presented as a brief recollection from an old woman looking back seemed too basic and dismissive. It didn’t have as much depth to it as Billy’s childhood story had.

*Spoiler Alert* The ultimate fate of Natalia’s family made my heart hurt so badly, though I know it was necessary to get Natalia’s character to the level she needed to be at in order to have a significant impact on the final outcome.

The only other gripe I have about the story is the amount of time that has passed since the main events in the last chapter. I felt it should have been 20 years later, rather than 10, just based on where all the characters were in life at that point in time. The teenage characters would have been in their 30s at that point rather than just their 20s. I know that monumental struggles and trauma make a person mature much faster than most, but it still seemed to be a little too much development in such a small amount of time. No, I do not consider 10 years a lot of time, but again, it’s probably just my age talking.

I love that Conley includes a little snippet at the end of the story where he addresses the reader. His final note in particular, “We all share the same world. We’re all in this together. No matter what, we should do the best we can to take care of each other,” made me smile in agreement.

In all, my complaints are relatively small. The best part of the book by far are the supernatural elements that Conley paints so well and that alone makes this book more than worth giving a read. I enjoyed the book and would recommend it, particularly to the audience it is targeted to: Young Adult readers. 

Nicholas Conley still holds the title of my favorite author and I am looking forward to diving right into his next and most recent book!

---

Favorite Quotes:

The truth is a lie.

“A powerful man who doesn’t know his limits is a man who loses his power in a day.”

“Better to just keep your head down, mind your place, and weather the storm, I say. Like we do. That protest crap never works.”

Quote on Dedication Page:

The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference. Because of indifference, one dies before one actually dies. To be in the window and watch people being sent to concentration camps or being attacked in the street and do nothing, that’s being dead. ~ Elie Wiesel.

---

---