Dayworld Rebel

Philip Jose Farmer's Dayworld Rebel takes the world created in Dayworld - A quasi-dystopia where the government forces the people to cryogenically freeze themselves for six days of the week in order to fight overpopulation and dwindling resources - and expands it. The protagonist, called by many names in Dayworld and a few others here, is a daybreaker (meaning he doesn't "stone" himself and doesn't limit himself to living in one day). While in Dayworld we watched him work in the service of the subversive "Immers", here he is much more of a lone wolf. after being on the verge of a mental breakdown at the end of the first novel, here he escapes to the woods of New Jersey from the facility he was held in and joins a group of other colorful daybreakers. The novel is more large in scope and byzantine than its predecessor, and it offers some very interesting ideas about interference of government in our lives and issues of privacy and identity. Also, where the first novel took place entirely in Manhattan, this one takes us to a very different Los Angeles, where most of its action takes place. I first read Dayworld many years ago and only recently discovered that there were not one but two sequels - obviously much less popular than the original. Nevertheless, the Dayworld concept is genius and Dayworld Rebel does what a good sequel should do - expand its world and its themes and give us a similar yet different adventure. Recommended.