Thank you very much for allowing me to read this title; I am trying to read as widely as possible ahead of the Carnegie/Greenaway nominations and awards for 2018 and your help is much appreciated.
As a Carnegie/Greenaway judge, I'm not allowed to comment about my opinions on specific titles so I can't offer an individual review on any title as I stated on my profile.

Like The Handmaid's Tale, All Rights Reserved is set in an all to probable future that restricts the lives of the common people and blackens the souls of the affluent few. After turning 15, Speth Jime will be fitted with a Cuff that records every word, phrase, and gesture. All are trademarked or copyrighted and she'll be charged for each one. But things don't go as expected for Speth, and she remains silent in word and gesture, inadvertently starting a movement of Silents that cause Speth more and more problems.
I love that Speth isn't your average dystopian hero--she's not nice or perfect, and she has no clue what she's started. The inclusion of a platonic relationship is also wonderful.
It's great that she is also not white, and many of the main characters are also not white.
I very much appreciate that there is no sex, drugs are seen as bad, and the parents are portrayed as loving.

This was a very unique, very original concept of dystopia. However, I sensed that the book started to drag considerably near the middle and I was unsure that Speth was a protagonist of any real authority because her intent is so vague. I think it’s a good point that the book introduces concepts around intellectual property and the widening wealth gap (and the horrifying results that an increasing gap can have). That being said, I feel like it’s all compiled in too disorganized a way for it to be easily enjoyed, at least without the following books to flush the world out a bit more.

Speth is on her way to her party. When all children in the Dome turn 15, they receive their cuff at a public ceremony. You see, all words, gestures and other forms of communication are trademarked, restricted or copyrighted. The cuff will automatically charge each family as they communicate. At her party, Speth will find out which brands will sponsor her. She's hoping for some good ones, as her family is poor. However, before she arrives at the park, a boy her age that she had a flirtation with, walks up to her, kisses her and then jumps off a bridge.

Beecher's untimely death causes Speth to reconsider these long held laws, and she decides not to talk at all. But this decision sends ripples through the community that creates ramifications that Speth couldn't have foreseen. Speth becomes disdained by the powerful in her community, yet championed by the disenfranchised.

Unprepared for the chaos that her decision has incited, Speth has to figure out how to take care of her family while adhering to her stance. Can she be a change-maker? Can one girls' actions against an authoritative regime bring down a system that is grounded in fear and greed? All Rights Reserved is a great choice for book groups as it will bring up many hot-button issues. It is both relevant and engaging.

This book would be great for high school students and adults. The violence might be a little heavy-handed for the middle school student, you have to know your audience. It might also be paired nicely with a classic, such as 1984.

This book just grabbed me from the very first page.
Essentially a commentary on society, and how we view words and our freedoms of speech and expression. Gregory Scott Katsoulis provides a harrowing perspective of a society gone completely wrong, where the policing and ownership of every single word, phrase and gesture is rigidly monitored. This is told from the perspective of 15 year old Speth, as she is about to become a legal adult and begin 'paying back' the almighty rights holders with each word and gesture she makes. Her chosen silence is something that begins somewhat of a revolution, in a society built upon expression and endorsement.

I loved Speth, despite not actually having her speak, her communication with the others around her is just amazing. It's something very different from what I have previously read, and you get quite more of an insight into her development and thinking than a typical verbal main protagonist. I enjoyed seeing the dynamics within her broken family, and the regrets and plans she makes along the way. She didn't become a predictable YA dystopian protagonist, instead forged something different and quite inspiring.

Katsoulis writes amazingly, with absolutely no predictability as to where the story is going. It kept me guessing right to the end.

This is a book I'd definitely would want every teenager and adult to read, as it made me think quite deeply on the actual power of our words. And, with a price on each, what and how would you communicate your deepest needs and thoughts. It's one I'd definitely put up with Lois Lowry's The Giver, as a definite game changer of the YA genre. Can't wait to see if there is going to be follow ups, and where they may lead. Katsoulis has created such an amazing and profoundly deep world, with lots to contemplate.

I absolutely loved this book and can't recommend it enough. A dystopian novel for teens that doesn't get bogged down in sentimentality or talk down to its audience, I found the book to be a little overlong, but it's a great book to recommend to older teens who are interested in reading something that has something to say about the way we live now and might live in the future. Definite shades of MT Anderson's classic Feed, I'm very much looking forward to seeing how the story plays out.

A very intriguing blend of social activism and dystopian fiction. All Rights Reserved takes place in a world where everything is copyrighted - your words, gestures, likeness, and so much more. Not only are these items copyrighted, they have become commodities. Citizens are charged for every word they speak, every hug they give - just about every thought they have. In this type of society a great many people are in jail for failure to pay the government back for all their debts and others kill themselves just to get out of servitude. But Speth fights back. She decides not to speak and in so doing she starts a reexamination of the system by friends and foes alike.

Every word, Every intentional action is just a mere fee. What happens when even the simplest of words or shrugs becomes copyrighted and you are not free to speak. Maybe the only choice is to become silent. In a world where everything has a price, how can one person change it.. Thought provoking piece especially in today's society.

I have to be honest, I really struggled with this book. This had nothing to do with the actual story, or how the book was written, and it solely due to my own reading preferences. With that being said, this is most definitely a book that I will be purchasing for my library, and I will 100% recommend this book to teens looking for their next great dystopian read.
I found the idea of the book to be so interesting. The concept of the book was so unique, and really makes you think. In the world that we live in, where we value freedom of speech above almost all else, sometimes people don't stop to think about the words that they are actually using, and the consequences that they may have. I also thought the idea of nearly every action and word being copyrighted was very interesting, and that is definitely a direction that this world could be going in. Very cool idea, and very well written, just not my cup of tea.

So today we are talking about All Rights Reserved by Gregory Scott Katsoulis. This is a beautiful YA SciFi dystopian novel that is going to be released August 2017.
This books receives an outstanding 5/5 from me.

It doesn’t happen often but every once in a while a book will be released that will just shake me to the very core. A book that will make me want to tell every person I see to read it because it is just so amazing that I don’t want to shut up about it. Funny that the latest book to do that to me is a book about a girl who chooses not to talk. All Rights Reserved is in my opinion the book of the year and will undoubtedly hit every must read list once it is released this August. Hollywood will probably option it for a movie quickly unless they want to make the mistake of letting this amazing story pass by.

In today’s society we aren’t unaccustomed to dystopian novels being thrown at us from around every corner of the book shop so it takes a lot for one to really stand out. We can chose from fantasy dystopias that take us to places of sword fights and dragons, to ones set in the not so far future where one person can start the revolution that will ultimately save us all. It is the latter this book is going to reside in, a future America not so crazy to think about. In this story we learn quickly that every word and most gestures have been copyrighted or trademarked so that once you turn 15 you become responsible for paying for them.

At 15, you are fitted with a cuff that will track you movements, listen to your conversations and track your inner levels to make sure that you are charged accordingly. They implant devices into your eyes so that if you can’t pay for the movements you are doing or the words you are saying they will shock you for the infraction. People on the street can sue you for basically anything with a push of a button, and everywhere you turn there are ads from different brands catering to you. It’s a world where every freedom has been stripped and there is no real way out.

In the beginning of All Rights Reserved you meet Speth, so named because it was cheap name, freshly 15 and on her way to her ceremony where she will read the speech and claim the brand that will sponsor her. But on the way to the ceremony as she crosses a bridge where an ad of happy bunnies are telling her not to jump her boyfriend comes up to her. He kisses her, a kiss to passionate for him to afford, then jumps.

The whole thing shakes Speth’s world view. Her boyfriend killed himself, her parents are enslaved because some great-relative years ago illegally downloaded a song and the record company is able to hold them responsible, and the one freedom that she has known for 15 years is about to be taken away. Speth’s family, now consisting of her, her older sister Seretha, and her younger brother Sam, are too poor to be able to talk freely from now on she will have to use every word sparingly. But then when she is on the stage ready to read the speech she decides to take a different path. She makes a (still free) gesture of zippered lips and decides to become mute.

Immediately everything becomes about her silent protest, a protest she didn’t even realize she was going to be leading as more and more people begin to follow her silent path. A protest she can’t organize because any sort of communication between the people involved would invalidate the cause. You can’t try to bring back free speech with silence if you have to pay for the words to organize it all together. The news puts out a call that if someone can make her talk they will get money. Lawyers are reminding her that if she speaks anything other than her speech first she can be sued for millions. Her sister gets sued for looking too much like an actress so she is no longer able to leave her small apartment. One thing after another keeps going wrong but Speth refuses to speak.

The book reads as a beautiful protest novel full of mystery, heists, action, even a love interest sneaks in there. All this wrapped this one beautiful novel that would be worth every dollar you would have to pay to read it. In a time that our reality is full of governments taking away freedoms, protests are happening daily and many are comparing it to dystopian novels it is nice to see one where the heroine is one because she can wield a bow and arrow, or has some sort of amazing power, but is just changing things by doing one small thing. Speth does the only thing that she knew she could do and that was to refuse to play by their game, she stayed within their rules and used every loophole against the system to change it. That is why this book is so important it shows that even the common person can influence things in a major way. It shows that you don’t have to be comply when people take away your rights, you can change things with just your voice as long as you stick with it.



I wonder how much this review would have cost me to type if I lived in this novel. I wonder if I could have paid for it.

This book must be read by everyone, now!
We are coming to that time when litigation stifles our lives. Monsanto have copyrighted whole genetic sequences while cuckoo nesting farms with barren seed crops. Taylor Swift has successfully registered whole sentences which cannot be used by anyone - she didn't think of them, but she wrote them down and now feels validated to claim ownership of them. The estate of Marvin Gaye successfully sued Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke for the sound of a cow bell in thir song. A COW BELL! Take a page from Sir Berners-Lee's book and learn to share!
When you stifle creativity, you stifle progress and we will find ourselves in the situation Mr Katsoulus has so eruditely captured in this wonderful book.
It was depressing - how could it be otherwise - yet there was a spark of hope. Our heroine, a bland, so-so girl, broke the system and became an unwitting Joan of Arc
This book has taken the oppressive idea of intellectual property rights and given us a flash of hope.
Loved the book. Read it and pass it on. Spread the message.

https://www.theguardian.com/environme...

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/new...

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/new...

I received a free Kindle copy of All Rights Reserved by Gregory Scott Katsoulis from Netgalley, in exchange for a fair review.
I'm a little torn about this one, so the review will take the form of a spoiler-filled list of pro's and con's! Read on for SPOILERS
Pro's:
- The protagonist's name: Speth. Speth! How utterly unattractive, and what an excellent way to introduce us to the setting. I wonder what it started out as? Maybe Elspeth or even Elizabeth. I was also fond of Penepoli and Phlip ('creative' spelling is my favourite way to avoid charges!)
- Saretha and her celebrity doppelganger. I did not see the reveal coming and I really enjoyed this part of the book. I would have been interested to see how Saretha's life had changed if she had really been forced to take on the role full-time, but I suspect that's off the cards now society has collapsed!
- Descriptions of the various brands and products placed. As someone who has ordered personalised M&Ms online, I loved the lattice chips that were printed with dates and faces. I also liked the cheeky off-brand products like “Huny”

Con's:
- There were some inconsistencies with the world-building. While these didn't exactly stop me from enjoying the book, I spent far too long questioning the author's logic. For example- if suicides are so common, why aren't there taller barriers around the Rings instead of targeted ads? There doesn't seem to be a problem with overpopulation, or a lack of resources- indeed, both these things prove profitable for the corporations, as anyone without the money to pay for words, food, housing etc becomes indentured. Cleaning up after a bracelet explodes seems like a pretty big task too. Why isn't more being done to prevent suicide? On a similar theme- drones are ubiquitous, so why are humans required to pollinate plants?
- The cost of words seemed outrageously high. I understand that the system was designed to trap as many people as possible in debt, but I would have understood that system better if I’d been given a breakdown of, say, Saratha’s weekly wage and the family’s budget. How many hours would a retail employee have to work to afford to say “I love you”? How much food could you buy for the cost of an apology? Without these comparisons I found it hard to really understand the hardship faced by families at risk of becoming indentured.
- I felt the consequences of Speth's decision to 'opt out' and remain silent were unjustified and somewhat confusing. She wasn't able to operate anything that required a verbal or physical signature (like the door to her friend's apartment) and she couldn't make money from sponsors. She was also open to abuse, as shown by the attack in the alleyway. But I couldn't see why ‘Silents’ with a support network- friends and family, like Speth's- couldn't have found a way to work within limits. Speth's siblings were able to operate the food printer so she could eat. She wasn't able to make money, but she wasn't costing the family money by speaking out of turn. Compare her to a nun or a monk who has taken a vow of silence- as long as there are 'speaking' people around to help her, Speth would have survived. I'm not saying it would have been enjoyable- see how Saretha struggled with being stuck at home - but it would have been possible. Was Speth REALLY the first person to have tried this?? She didn’t have any big sponsors, so she didn't represent a significant loss to the corporations- certainly no more so than another teen suicide. So why did the lawyers concern themselves with her? Presumably anyone trying to ‘play the system’ is viewed as a threat. But a parentless, jobless girl living in poverty wouldn’t have been able to garner much support if her silence wasn’t repeatedly broadcast on TV! I picture Silas Rog as an arch-villain angrily shaking his fist at “that meddling kid!”… if he’d just ignored her, there wouldn’t be much of a story…

Ultimately, I liked the idea that a ‘post-scarcity’ society remained unequal as the rich had the foresight to trademark the technology needed to print food, housing etc. The encompassing idea that “words hold power” was demonstrated via a number of creative means, and applies particularly well to our world, where the cost of education is prohibitively high. I would recommend this book to fans of YA dystopia and speculative fiction; reading this book would probably lead to a discussion about technology (and how it can be a force for both good and evil) and our inalienable rights.

Conceptually intriguing and well-conceived SF that holds the reader riveted from first page to last, this is a vital book for teen readers and any reader in 2017.

This is a different kind of dystopian novel. Imagine a world of the future where everything you say and do is owned, is subject to fines and fees. This is the world that Speth lives in. As soon as she's legally an adulthood, nothing is free. But she finds these rules impossible to live by after the death of a close friend. Rather than break the law, she decides to not talk at all. Consequences? Of course. Original idea for a story, somewhat hard to follow.