Proxy by Alex London

I picked up this book a few weeks ago at Chapters because it looked like my kind of book! I know my favourite books to read are dystopian novels. In the world that Proxy is set in, if you have money life is easy, but when you don't, life can be very difficult. Rich parents buy their children Proxies- people who will take any punishment for them. So if a child makes a mistake, instead of them being punished, their Proxy is punished. The theory behind this is that the child will feel guilty and not make a mistake again. However, proxies never meet their Patrons. Proxies become proxies because they have to pay off debt, for food, schooling, clothing everything! It is not an easy life. Syd is a Proxy- his Patron is Knox, a spoiled kid who thrives on mischief and getting in trouble. Over the years Syd is use to taking his punishment and not letting Knox see his pain. The two never meet, but Syd hates Knox, and Knox feels that Syd deserves to be punished just for being poor. But when Knox goes too far, Syd’s punishment is so severe that he knows his life is over unless he escapes. Syd and Knox are thrown together and at first Knox is resentful, but he soon realizes that he needs to escape the system as much as Syd does. As the two of them try to survive, they both learn things about themselves and about the way the world they live in has been created- and all of its’ flaws. This is a great, fast paced book that fans of The Maze and The Uglies will enjoy.