Tag: dystopian

REVIEW: Crown of Oblivion by Julie Eshbaugh

REVIEW: Crown of Oblivion by Julie Eshbaugh

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

Astrid is an indentured servant – a surrogate for the Princess. When Princess Rayna is disobedient, Astrid takes the punishment. She has scars upon scars. But all of the brutality might be worthwhile because Reyna has finally gotten what Astrid has been asking for. The king has granted Astrid’s father access to the Enchanted hospital where he can get real treatment. But things don’t go the way Astrid planned.

In her despair, Astrid signs up for the Race of Oblivion. Racers’ memories are stripped away, and they are given an initial clue to a puzzle they have to solve as the race progresses. The winner of the race gets full citizenship for themselves and their entire family. Losers get extra years tacked onto their years of service – if they even survive the race.

Armed only with her name and her wits, Astrid competes against strangers who aren’t really strangers, and other desperate Outsiders longing for citizenship and the benefits that would secure a better future for them. And when her memories start to return, Astrid will discover what exactly she’s been running from.

Review

This is a solid YA fantasy with dystopian and Hunger Games-ish tones. Astrid is competing for a prize only one person can win. The contest itself is oppressive, but a chance at a different life seems better than enduring your current life with no hope for something else.

The memory loss piece adds an interesting wrinkle to the story. In fact, I got so caught up in the race and trying to figure out who was whom, I forgot that Astrid had seen/heard something important right before the race had started. But in other ways I feel like it cut into some character depth and some of the story telling. The rebellion group wasn’t a strong piece nor were Astrid’s family connections in part because of her memory wipe.

The race was suspenseful, but not as engaging as something like The Hunger Games. Maybe that was because I didn’t feel as connected to Astrid as I did to Katniss. I didn’t feel like the world building was as strong in this. I would have liked more information on the magic systems and the history of the Enchanteds vs the Outsiders.

Readers who enjoy stories with a contest to win and a dystopian society to rebel against should check this one out. (Violence, abuse)

Rating: ♥♥♥½

REVIEW: The Toll by Neal Shusterman

REVIEW: The Toll by Neal Shusterman

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

Endura has fallen. The ultimate scythe leadership has perished, leaving a vacuum for someone to step into.  The voices of reason, the challenges to a growing evil, have been silenced. Blame has been placed. And if the lies fit what people want to believe – and if there’s no one alive to refute them – fiction becomes fact.

The Thunderhead has gone silent. The world is cut off from the AI that kept humanity in some sense of order. One man alone still speaks with the Thunderhead. The Tonists revere him as a holy man.

A dead man and a librarian follow clues to a fictional land that could save the world. But is anyone ready for the truths they could uncover there?

Review

This is the third and final book in the Arc of a Scythe series after Scythe and Thunderhead (♥♥♥♥½).

There is a TON of stuff going on in this book, which is why it clocks in at 625 pages, not counting the 30+pages of author notes in my Barnes and Noble special edition. All of it is fascinating. And I was completely satisfied with all the ways things wrapped up. But this was a BEAST of a book to finish. It felt long, and it was too easy to walk away from it for days.

There are multiple timelines at work here as all of the threads weave together. There are easily 10 “main” characters whose goals and actions and choices are driving the bulk of the story, and another 15 or so who also play a role. I might not have remembered all of the intricacies of the previous two books, but I was able to follow along without too much trouble.

Some interesting features appear in this book. Some of the history of this world is divulged. And the world is set to a version of “right” in the end. I enjoyed the author’s notes in my edition which shared stores of character development (like the gender fluid character, Jeri, who was fascinating) and decisions made early on in the writing for how things would wrap up.

This story line is now complete. There are avenues for possible off-shoots the author could explore, but they aren’t essential in my opinion. I don’t have any unanswered questions. But if the author writes more from this world, I will happily read it.

I’ve seen other readers post on social media that they are struggling to push through this large, long novel. My advice is to press on. I found the journey totally worthwhile. (Some language, violence, LGBTQ+)

Rating: ♥♥♥♥

REVIEW: Vox by Christina Dalcher

REVIEW: Vox by Christina Dalcher

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Berkley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

In the “before,” Dr. Jean McClellan was an accomplished neurolinguist studying aphasia (loss of speech or understanding of speech) in the Wernicke’s area (aphasia in this area means the person can still speak, but the words don’t make sense). She and her team were on the brink of developing a serum to cure Wernicke’s aphasia.

In the “after,” Jean is relegated to her home with no job and no resources of her own. A device on her wrist counts her words each day with a limit of 100. She isn’t allowed to write, read, sign or otherwise communicate beyond her 100 words or she receives increasingly painful electric shocks.

The “moral majority” and extremists in the Christian faith, led by Reverend Carl Corbin, right hand man to the president, implemented the changes in the country over a period of time. In their new system, ultra-conservative religious values are taught in schools (men are in charge and women belong at home and should stay quiet), and homosexuals are jailed and sent to work camps unless they renounce their sexual orientation and pursue a heterosexual relationship. Women and girls who have sex outside of marriage are severely and publicly punished while high end “men’s clubs” have cropped up for those who can afford them. Men are the only ones allowed to work and girls are sent to separate schools from the boys where they are only taught home management skills – cooking, bookkeeping, etc. They are not taught to read, and they are rewarded if they get through the whole day without using any of their 100 words.

Dr. McClellan can feel her fury grow as she watches her daughter wilt under these rules and watches her oldest son become a judgmental misogynist. But she is powerless to change anything for her own family, much less anyone else. Until the government asks her to resume her research to help an important presidential ally. But is the president’s request really as simple as it seems?

Review

I found the premise of this fascinating! I’ve read reviews from other Christians who found the premise unbelievable. I disagree. I found threads of truth in some of the world building. Our country is struggling. Our moral compass is off track in some ways. And pockets of the population are angry and afraid. If you have enough anger and fear in one direction, things could get worse – things of faith could get twisted. One of the messages of the book is a call to engagement – vote, march, talk to your representatives. I found that whole part of the book on target.

Unfortunately, there were others things I did not like. The main character didn’t click for me. I just didn’t like her. Her choices and her language and attitude (in general – not just her anger over the oppression) were off-putting. And the ending was a disappointment. For a girl-power sort of story, it was odd to have the final action take place off the page without any of the women directly involved. I heard a writing teacher recently say that your protagonist has to be the agent of the resolution of the story. The ending the author chose to write could not have included a woman in this world – I get that. But it left me frustrated that the main character is sitting around waiting for something else to happen and the reader only hears about it second hand.

If you’re curious about the dystopian world and how the writer envisions us getting there, give this a try. I will say within just a couple chapters, I was angry. The author did a great job of drawing me into the world and pulling at my emotions over the injustice. I was stirred up by the whole thing. Let the story inspire you and challenge you to use your voice for whatever your politics call for. I think this would be a great book club choice because I think it would draw out a lot of great discussion, no matter what readers think about the book as a whole. (Language, violence)

Rating: ♥♥♥½

REVIEW: Grace and Fury by Tracy Banghart

REVIEW: Grace and Fury by Tracy Banghart

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Serina has trained all her life it seems to be a Grace. The Superior of Viridia has chosen three women of beauty and refinement to be his Graces every three years for ages. And now it is his oldest son, Malachi, the Heir’s turn.

Nomi is wild where her sister is meek. Their culture holds little value for women. They aren’t allowed to go to school or learn to read. They have no real choices in their own lives. And Nomi hates it. How could Serina choose the empty, shallow life of a Grace? Nomi has a duty to her family to be Serina’s handmaiden, but she doesn’t have to like it or do it without complaint.

Things with the Heir don’t go at all like Serina expected. One heated exchange in a hallway with Nomi and he chooses HER to be one of his Graces. Serina is relegated to handmaiden status. And if that’s not bad enough, Nomi is keeping a secret that could get their whole family in trouble. But Serina is caught and blamed instead.

Now Nomi is alone at the palace, unsure of who she can trust and desperate for any scrap of news about what happened to her sister. And Serina has been given a punishment usually reserved for the worst female offenders – prison on the volcanic island Mount Ruin.

Review

This was excellent! Initially I wanted more world building and character development up front. The rules for the world were unclear, and the action starts immediately. But I only felt off kilter for a couple chapters before everything was clear. And once I hit that point I couldn’t put the book down until I was finished.

The characters are great. I was furious with Nomi whose own carelessness and rebellious nature ruined her sister’s life. But the evolution of Serina through her trials was fantastic.

The story was riveting – the fight for survival, the alliances and betrayals, the secret source of the misogynistic culture of Viridia. And the action runs clear up to the final page with no happily-ever-after in sight. I loved it!

I saw one of the twists coming only because it’s been done before in another series I read. But the author really did a great job setting it up. Readers who have read that other series might recognize the set up, too. But others will be delightfully caught off guard. I have no complaints for this – just praise. This is fantastic. I’ll be counting down the days until the sequel! (Violence)

Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥

REVIEW: The Future Will Be BS Free by Will McIntosh

REVIEW: The Future Will Be BS Free by Will McIntosh

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Delacorte Press in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

In a dystopian future, the president is running for her fourth term (she had term limits canceled) after Russia destroyed our economy in retaliation for us winning the Sino-Russian War. The president has made it so people can be jailed for calling her names and she controls the media. She markets everything from champagne to steaks to energy drinks with her name and likeness on them. The world is corrupt and everyone knows it.

Theo had the idea first – a cheap, portable lie detector that uses brain imaging to know definitively when people were lying. Sam, Molly, Basquiat, Boob (it’s a long story), and Rebe were the team of teens helping him develop the prototype.

When a man offers the kids $8.5 million for all their research and designs (as well as a non-disclosure agreement), the dollars dace around in Sam’s head for awhile. He’s basically been in this for the money they could make since the beginning. The government has shut down his school and fired their teacher. They also stopped providing bionic upgrades for his mom, a war vet who lost her legs. The only reason they haven’t lost their house is that there’s no one around who could buy it from the bank if they foreclosed. But Sam and the rest are afraid the ones wanting to buy the device could use it for their own dishonest purposes. So they aren’t selling.

When Theo is killed and the buy out offer starts to sound like a threat instead of an opportunity, the kids trace the money back to its source. They discover they are in way over their heads. Powerful people with unlimited resources will do whatever it takes to get the device, even if they have to eliminate a handful of kids.

Review

This was fantastic! The dystopian world is absolutely believable if you watch the news today. The kids are smart (although their characters aren’t developed a whole lot – the focus of this is more on the action of the story) There’s a ton of action as the kids are fighting to stay alive. The people who use lies to get power and money won’t roll over when all of their lies are in jeopardy.

The book exposes the fact that we all have secrets – sins and shame – and some of us lie or hide to protect those things. Others lie in pursuit of wealth or power. The kids in this aren’t squeaky clean either. Some readers have had strong reactions to what they confess (including sex, voyeurism, an eating disorder). The flaws or secrets of the characters are part of why I enjoyed this. It doesn’t shy away from some of the harder pieces – the trauma of war, facing your own shameful choices, confessing them to others, and hopefully learning from them.

The fall out of what happens in the story when the device goes public was far more interesting to me than anything else. If a culture and society goes so far down the path of dishonesty and self-interest and manipulation where no one is held accountable, how can it ever turn back to integrity? This is an important question to me. I expected that the whole story would be about the quest to take the device public and not die. But this was even better than that! The real drama kicked in for me when the device was public and everything fell apart. I’d love to dig into this with some teens and hear their thoughts on this engaging story!

Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥

REVIEW: Scythe by Neal Shusterman

REVIEW: Scythe by Neal Shusterman

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

In a world that has conquered mortality and possess all knowledge, the Scythes hold the power of life and death. While accidents still occur, people can be healed and resurrected. They can choose to have their bodies modified to make them younger. Hardly anyone dies outside of “gleaning.” Only the Scythes can glean. Gleaning keeps the population in check. The Scythes work within their own guidelines against bias or profiling. They offer one year immunity from gleaning to the families of those they glean. Death is sometimes as unemotional as a business transaction. Sometimes.

Scythe Faraday meets Citra and her family when he comes to their building to glean. Her mother feeds him dinner. But Citra is bold and brash, questioning his actions and motives.

Scythe Faraday meets Rowan when he gleans at the high school. Rowan insists on staying through the gleaning, supporting a kid he barely knows, just so he won’t be alone.

Intrigued by their character, Scythe Faraday invites both Citra and Rowan to train as apprentices. This invitation will set into motion a chain of events that will challenge and change both teens – and the scythedom – in ways they can’t imagine.

Review

Wow! This was stunning. The premise is smart and creative and unique. The world-building to set up this dystopian system is stellar – simple on the surface, with far-reaching implications. The pacing is perfect. I was hooked by the first couple of chapters, and I didn’t want to put the book down until I was finished.

The characters are nuanced and complex, from Citra and Rowan to the Scythes that train them to those who want to use them. There are twists and turns that happen in the story because of the character of each of the major players. The whole thing is woven together perfectly.

This is a dark story because it deals almost exclusively with death. There’s violence along the lines of The Hunger Games or similar stories. It’s not spelled out in excessive detail, but it’s jarring. And it should be jarring. This is definitely for mature readers who can roll with the subject matter and the violence. But the storytelling is exceptional – a treat for those who brave the darkness to explore this fascinating story. [I’ve read the second book, Thunderhead, and it is just as well-written. The pacing is a little slower, but the twists and turns are even bigger.]

Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥

REVIEW: Perfect by Cecelia Ahern

REVIEW: Perfect by Cecelia Ahern

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

Celestine North is on the run. She’s been branded “Flawed.” She’s hiding from Judge Crevan who is desperate to find her – or to find the evidence he thinks she is hiding.

The judge will stop at nothing to get what he wants. He harasses the Flawed to get them to sell Celestine out. He arrests her grandfather. His desperation grows every day.

Several powerful people seem interested  in helping Celestine – but who can she really trust? Will anyone stand for what is right? Or are these people only out to secure more power for themselves?

 

Review

I loved book one,  Flawed, in this dystopian duology. If you haven’t read it, you should. I highly recommend it.

This story does a great job of exploring what it’s like for the Flawed to live day to day – the rules about what they can eat, how many can be together in a group, the curfews, etc. Then there are the complications – no one can help them because they would be arrested for assisting the Flawed.  If the Flawed bus is shut down, those on board are in danger of breaking their curfew and suffering consequences. Flawed who become pregnant have their children taken away and tagged “Flawed at Birth.”

The story also does well with building suspense as Celestine makes more connections with people who may or may not be trustworthy. Her romantic interests are explored and resolved. Her family grows and changes in response to Celestine’s choices in the first book and then again in this one. And as you watch them change, you also get to see how society starts, slowly, to change around them.

I wasn’t sure if this book would wrap up the story or if it was going to be a transitional book before a third and final volume. This unknown kept me  braced for some major backstabbing or some huge reveal that would launch the story off once again as this one started to wrap up. While there was plenty of suspense and some backstabbing, everything wrapped up in a pretty satisfying way.

Definitely read these in order. Definitely read this one if you already read Flawed. There is some language in the book. (Flawed does contain some difficult-to-read scenes for Celestine’s branding.) Many thanks to the publisher, Macmillan, for providing an electronic review copy for me to read in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed reading Perfect!

Rating: ♥♥♥♥