Line #52 Literature/BZRK


1	[[quoteright:249:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/11503582_1969.jpg]]
2
3	->''"In this war, there are only two outcomes: victory or madness."''
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5	All around us, there's a hidden war being fought. One side wants to [[MindRape control our minds]] to create [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans utopia]], and the other is fighting for us to be miserable if we chose. It's being fought with state-of-the-art technology in the nano, in ''us.'' Our bodies. Our brains. And if any of them lose, it could mean madness for them.
6
7	''BZRK'', written by Creator/MichaelGrant is a ([[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids ostensibly]]) YoungAdult series about a group of freedom fighters fighting against the Armstrong Twins in a micro-war to save human free will. Teenagers Noah and Sadie are recruited after both are dragged into the war after family tragedies and they find themselves in a high-tech conspiracy where there's even doubt on whether or not the ''good guys'' are all that good.
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9	''BZRK Reloaded'' is the second novel in the trilogy released Fall 2013, which deals with the devastating aftermath of the first novel. The third and final novel, ''BZRK Apocalypse'', was released in 2014.
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11	The series is also [[Administrivia/ThereIsNoSuchThingAsNotability notable]] for expanding the world of the novel with extensive [[AlternateRealityGame transmedia]] projects. The ARG, Nexus Humanus is [[http://nexushumanus.com/ here]], with the official website being [[http://gobzrk.com/ here]].
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13	----
14	!!Tropes:
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16	* ActionGirl: All the girls to be major characters. (Which is to say Sadie, Ophelia, Wilkes, and One-Up.)
17	* TheAlcoholic: Burnofsky, and he also does opium. He does drugs to cope with his guilt for [[spoiler: letting his daughter be killed by the Armstrong Twins, and he at least made the death pleasant for her.]]
18	* AndIMustScream:
19	** Bug Man had a fantasy: he wanted to take one of Vincent's biots alive and haul it out into the macro. Keep it alive and play with it for a while. As Vincent went slowly mad.
20	** ''BZRK Reloaded'' reveals that Jessica was somewhat aware that she was wired/brainwashed by Bug Man, but couldn't quite grasp her situation.
21	** Vincent, who at the end of ''BZRK'' [[spoiler: loses one biot and in the next book he's insane, but since he has other biots, his consciousness is still someone in his head.]]
22	* AntiHero: Vincent, who [[spoiler:killed a woman in the first chapter in which he appeared,]] which did nothing to reassure the reader that the side of the biotic twitchers was the 'good' side.
23	* ApologisesALot: Tony, the boy that Sadie goes to the football game with at the beginning of the novel.
24	* AxCrazy: Wilkes, a great twitch who is also very unhinged. Her backstory reveals that it's more or less justified as she was [[spoiler: raped by the football team, and in retaliation burned down the school gym.]]
25	* BeautyEqualsGoodness: In a way, with the deformed Armstrong twins, who are very much not good. Played straight with Stone, who was described as handsome and had too short a scene to be anything other than neutral or good.
26	* BigApplesauce
27	* BigBadEnsemble: Four of them. The Armstrong Twins, Charles and Benjamin, wanting to brainwash the entire world into a HiveMind. [[spoiler:Karl Burnofsky, wanting to destroy everyone on the planet. And Lystra Ried, otherwise known as Lear, wanting to drive everyone on the planet mad and have them all kill each other]].
28	* BigDamnHeroes: UsefulNotes/{{Caligula}} [[spoiler:when he runs in on the scene where Sadie and Noah are receiving their biots.]] Wilkes, [[spoiler:when she saves Vincent from having his biots killed in Anya's body.]]
29	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Both the Armstrong Twins and Lear are stopped, but it comes at a terrible price. The only surviving BZRK members are Plath (scarred by losing Keats), Wilkes and Vincent and the Bug Man survives as well and all are shaken to the core of the war and having to ''drop a nuclear bomb on New York City''. Despite the suffering, the world shows signs of moving on and Wilkes and Bug Man actually hook up and live BabiesEverAfter]].
30	* BlackAndGreyMorality: The Armstrong Gift Corporation is pretty evil, but BZRK (the good guys) pretty much do anything in order to defeat them. Then later the trope is subverted when the leader of BZKR Lear [[spoiler:turns out to be an AxCrazy narcissist who is as corrupt and insane as the Armstrong Twins.]]
31	* BodyHorror: Lots of gruesome descriptions, and also the Armstrong twins are described as grotesque and they share one eyeball. The general body horror is noted by Sadie, who is greatly disturbed by what Noah might have seen in her body while looking through the eyes of his biots.
32	** Ophelia [[spoiler:gets both feet blown off in an explosion at the end of the novel.]]
33	* {{Brainwashed}}: Anya and Jessica, who were both programmed by Vincent and Bug Man, respectively, to "love" them. Vincent so he can get access to Anya's technology, Bug Man for selfish reasons. Vincent at least tries not to take advantage of Anya.
34	-->'''Anya''': And whether or not it's real, Vincent, whether it's my true desires or something you've done to me, in the end, there's no difference.
35	-->'''Vincent''': There is to me.
36	* BringMyBrownPants: A poor guy soils himself in fear when [[spoiler: the ETA agents raid BZRK Washington D.C. and Billy the Kid lays waste to his fellow agents]].
37	* CainAndAbel: Averted. Stone is wistfully envious of Sadie's freedom but is not resentful in any way.
38	* ChildSoldiers: All of the teenage members of BZRK, the main ones being Noah, Sadie, and Vincent. Bug Man, as well.
39	* ChurchOfHappyology: Nexus Humanus, the Armstrong Twins' own religious cult that promises eternal happiness.
40	* CoupDeGrace: Caligula tells Sadie to shoot the man she accidentally [[GroinAttack shot in the balls]]. When she refuses, he shoots the man in the head.
41	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: The Armstrong Twins, who run the Armstrong Fancy Gifts Company, a front for their Nexus Humanus cult.
42	* CreepyTwins: The Armstrong Twins, a pair of ConjoinedTwins joined at the body and ''head''. They share one eyeball.
43	* DeadpanSnarker: Nijinksy. More snarker than deadpan.
44	-->'''Lebowski''': Tell me your name.
45	-->'''Nijinsky''': Santino Corleone.
46	-->'''Lebowski''': That's very cute. Funny, you don't look Italian.
47	-->'''Nijinsky''': You're very observant.
48	-->'''Lebowski''': ''[[spoiler:(smacks him with a club)]]'' [[InterchangeableAsianCultures What are you, Chinese? Korean?]]
49	-->'''Nijinsky''': I thought I was Italian.
50	** and this:
51	-->'''Vincent''': [[FauxYay Jin, take my hand.]]
52	-->'''Nijinsky''': Oh, how I've waited for this moment.
53	* DontMakeMeDestroyYou: Caligula to Anya.
54	-->'''Caligula''': Now, listen to me, whoever the hell you are. Vincent over there doesn't want me to kill you. But if I have the slightest trouble with you -- any trouble at all -- I will ignore young Vincent and shoot you.
55	* DownerEnding:
56	** ''BZRK''- [[spoiler: BZRK fails their objective to protect the president. Ophelia has her legs blown off and she goes mad. Vincent loses a biot and goes halfway mad. The Armstrong Twins manage to wire the president with their nanobots and nothing stands in their way of their objective.]]
57	* ElectricTorture: Sugar Lebowski tries this on Nijinsky. [[TortureNeverWorks All she gets is snark]], and then the apparatus blows her house electricity.
58	* EyeScream: The best way for a biot in get into the brain is through the the eyeball, so not only do we get lots of eerie descriptions of eyes, but eye violence later such as ''jamming fingers into someone's eyeball.''
59	* FauxYay: Nijinsky and Vincent. Gotta keep the bad guys off their scent, after all.
60	* FleshVersusSteel: Biots versus nanos.
61	* {{Foil}}: Wilkes and Ophelia, Vincent and Nijinsky. Also Vincent and Bug Man; both are on opposite sides and both are great at twitching. However the terrible mind control both do are for different reasons: Vincent does it in order to protect someone and promises to undo it whereas Bug Man basically rewires some poor girl to be his sex slave.
62	* FriendsWithBenefits: [[spoiler: Wilkes and Renfield.]]
63	* GroinAttack: Sadie accidentally shoots a man in the crotch. Caligula [[CoupDeGrace mercy kills]].
64	* GrossUpCloseUp: Depiction-wise. The "meat" is not a beautiful place.
65	* TheHedonist: Nijinsky, as a stark contrast to Vincent. Other characters hint that he really enjoys seeking pleasure.
66	* HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler: Vincent, by the end, when he has one of his Biots killed.]]
67	* HeterosexualLifePartners: Possibly Vincent and Nijinsky. Especially when they're [[LikeAnOldMarriedCouple arguing]] about whether to [[spoiler:send Keats and Plath in on a direct attack on the Twins]]. Vincent addresses Nijinsky by the name Shane.
68	* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: Lear, who is mentioned and deferred to, but does not appear once throughout the entire first book.
69	** Unless you think Lear is Tatiana Featherstonehaugh. (Never confirmed, and sort of unlikely, but Vincent suspected and she was doing something really important.)
70	* HistoricalDomainCharacter: UsefulNotes/{{Caligula}}.
71	* ICanChangeMyBeloved: Anya to Vincent, in a way.
72	* IfIWantedYouDead: Vincent to Sadie when he's in her bathroom.
73	-->'''Vincent''': ''[with a pen blade up against Sadie's heart]'' If I were here to kill you, you'd be long dead by now.
74	* ImprobableAimingSkills: Caligula. In the first two pages he's introduced, he shoots a man in the forehead, follows it up by shooting another man in the windpipe, and then mercy kills another man ''without looking in his direction.''
75	* InnocentBlueEyes: Noah has them, and is so far the least ruthless out of the BZRK crew.
76	* InitiationCeremony: Noah's is particularly distressing.
77	* InterchangeableAsianCultures: Lampshaded with Nijinsky, a Chinese-American. See the above conversation in DeadpanSnarker.
78	* JustInTime: Caligula, in the disaster that happens when Sadie and Noah are receiving their biots. [[spoiler:Renfield is dead and Vincent has a gun to his head. Caligula appears with a pistol and an axe and offs three people in quick succession to save Vincent, Sadie, and Noah.]]
79	* LadySwearsALot: A minor character, Little Cora, according to Noah.
80	* MadnessMantra: Noah's brother Alex in the first chapter. He is handcuffed to keep from moving, and repeats "nano nano nano" over and over ... until he gets to "berserk berserk berserk". It's chilling to the reader and only gets worse when the reader realizes that if any of the twitchers' biots die, this is what they become.
81	* MeaningfulName: The whole point of their ''noms de guerre'.
82	** Lystra Reid (aka [[spoiler: Lear]]) initials of her full name spell out to [[spoiler: Lear, her full name is Lystra Ellen Alice Reid]]). Also Lystra is also a biblical name meaning "that dissolves or disperses." And it's close in spelling to "Listeria" which are very dangerous bacteria.
83	* MercyKill: When [[spoiler:Vincent is about to have his biots killed]], he requests that Caligula kill him rather than allow him to go mad.
84	-->[[spoiler:'''Vincent''']]: Madness or death. Make it death.
85	** [[spoiler: He gets better.]]
86	* MindControlConspiracy: The whole premise.
87	* TheMole: [[spoiler:Dietrich]], as Nijinsky finds out. Much to his delight.
88	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Bug Man finally realizes his targets are human after a bad wire leads to [[spoiler: the President killing her husband. He even de-wires Jessica.]]
89	* NakedFirstImpression: When Vincent first meets Sadie, she's in the bathtub. He does not realize this until Sadie points this out.
90	* NomDeGuerre: Everyone on the biot side has one, named after famous figures who descended into madness or were mad to begin with; [[Creator/SylviaPlath Plath]], [[Creator/JohnKeats Keats]], [[Theatre/TheRiteOfSpring Nijinsky]], [[Creator/VincentVanGogh Vincent]], [[Literature/{{Misery}} Wilkes]], [[Theatre/{{Hamlet}} Ophelia]], [[Literature/{{Dracula}} Renfield]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Caligula}} Caligula]], and [[Theatre/KingLear Lear]]. We do, however, know most of the twitchers' real names during their point of views (with the exception of Ophelia, Caligula, Lear, and other minor characters such as Dr. Pound). Bug Man's real name is given as well, and the reader learns of Alex Cotton's real name before his identity as [[spoiler: Kerouac]] is revealed.
91	* OffWithHisHead: Caligula [[spoiler:chops Renfield's head off in four blows]] in order to keep the biots from being discovered. However, [[spoiler:Renfield]] is already dead when it happens.
92	* OpiumDen: The China Bone where Burnofsky goes.
93	* {{Patricide}}: The Armstrong Twins mention smothering their father to death with a pillow.
94	* PlatonicLifePartners: Vincent and Ninjinsky, Ninjinksy is gay and Vincent is straight. Ninjinsky states he loves Vincent as a brother.
95	* PuppeteerParasite: The nano machines.
96	* ReallyGetsAround[=/=]AllGaysArePromiscuous: Nijinsky is indicated to promiscuous couple of times in the books. Burnofsky taunts him about that fact and reveals Nijinsky's father kicked him out as a teenager when he saw Nijinsky bent over "entertaining" a cable repairman.
97	* RichBitch: Subverted and lampshaded with Sadie.
98	* SamusIsAGirl: [[spoiler: Lear, the leader of BZRK and mastermind is a woman, Lystera Reid.]]
99	* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: Inverted, because it is [[spoiler:Plath]] to [[spoiler:Keats]].
100	* StraightGay: Nijinsky. Aside from the fact he's a SharpDressedMan, there's no real indication (with the exception of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaslav_Nijinsky his name]], which most readers would not have picked up anyway) that he's gay until later in the novel.
101	** Also, possibly Ophelia. Though in the first book, it's not explicitly stated. However, she does say, "I don't hit on boys," in response to Wilkes asking whether she's hit on Vincent. A few pages later, when they are discussing what comes after death, Wilkes says, "A bunch of hot guy virgins ... A couple girls, too, maybe, just because life is short and try everything, right?" which Ophelia pointedly ignores.
102	* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Pretty cynical. Neither side is wholly good.
103	* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: [[spoiler:Plath again about above mentioned SheIsNotMyGirlfriend]]
104	* ThemeNaming: The biotic twichers name themselves after famous people in history who went mad. It's meant to remind them that [[{{Tagline}} their only outcomes are victory or madness.]]
105	* TheStoic: Vincent, countered by pleasure-seeking Nijinksy. Vincent suffers from [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anhedonia anhedonia]], and cannot feel pleasure.
106	* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Wilkes and Ophelia, respectively, who are foils.
107	* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: When the events of the book actually take place is never really said, but apart from the nanomachines everything is pretty much exactly the same as present day. There are casual references to modern pop culture (the ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' series of movies, for one) and things like Starbucks, but none of the mentioned heads of state match up with their current real-life counterparts, either.
108	** Really, the only reason we know it's in the future at all is because of the official summary on the Copyright page.
109	* TwoferTokenMinority: Nijinsky is Asian and gay.
110	* UptownGirl: In a way. Sadie is wealthy, but Noah is a poor British boy. There is less focus on their financial aspects, but that might only be because they have bigger fish to fry.
111	* WarIsHell: Keeping in tradition with Literature/{{Animorphs}}. Both the sides in the conflict are pretty terrible and irredeemable and the soldiers that fight for both BZRK and the AFGC are the ones who suffer the most.
112	* WhenSheSmiles: Ophelia. According to Sadie, she has a smile that lights up the room.
113	* WillNotTellALie: Vincent to Sadie and Noah.
114	-->'''Vincent''': I need both of you to trust me. I don't meant that I'd ''like'' you to trust me. I mean that I ''need'' you to trust me. For that reason, I will never lie to you. If you were ever to catch me in a lie, you would never fully trust me again. So I will never lie.
115	* YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry: Caligula.
116	-->'''Caligula''': Don't accidentally shoot me. I will resent it.
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Context Literature / BZRK