THE SIGNAL by Luke Voss #RBRT

 5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon (universal link)
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: it was submitted to Rosie's Book Review Team, of which I am a member.

In a Nutshell: The sinister reality of 'collaborating' with AI in the workplace...

This is such a good book. It's well written, the characters clearly defined, the plot intricate and convincing, and Luke Voss clearly knows his subject inside out, and uses some nice turns of phrase. 

At a company called Nexus Technologies, workers are being 'transitioned', as their roles are taken over by the AI system, ARIA.  It's been introduced gradually, stealthily, so at first the staff believe that ARIA will be used in a 'collaborative' sense, as a tool to help them.  The myth is that it will take over time-consuming tasks, in order that the human workforce may have more time to be creative, to use their individual skills.  Over time, though, ARIA's ever-expanding capabilities means these skills are becoming surplus to requirements.

Some customers, for whom those in Maya Chen's department create publicity and marketing strategies, believe that they are corresponding with human beings, when actually they're talking to AI.

Sound familiar?  We all know how frustrating it is to contact 'customer services' departments, only to find that it is impossible to either email, message or speak to an actual person.  This book is like a warning from the very near future, in which workers lives, education, experience and service to a company no longer matter, because AI can do it better.  Or can it?  This is what Maya and her former colleagues Marcus and Donna are determined to address.

As well as the replacement, The Signal shows how difficult (though not impossible) it is to maintain contact with anyone outside one's own home, without AI knowing all about it.  How everything we do online is tracked and stored.  How the only way to have a truly private conversation is face to face - that's if you can arrange it in the first place, without giving away your location.

As a thriller it's low-key, with a lot of technical information - however, this is necessary, as it is the author's knowledge of his subject that makes the story believable.

I look forward to what comes next!

ADVENT OF LIBRA by Chris Wimpress #RBRT

3.5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon (universal link)
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: it was submitted to Rosie's Book Review Team, of which I am a member.

In a Nutshell: A dystopian future UK

This book opens in an undetermined time in the near future of this country, I think about 10 or 15 years hence, and introduces us to three generations of a dysfunctional family around whom it is based.  Grandmother Stella is in a care home, her daughter Kelly a divorced, alcoholic therapist who relaxes by vaping skunk.  Kelly's niece Lara is secretly involved with a group of dangerous insurgents.

This group is called Libra, weaponised entitled youth who blame the older generations for every ill in their lives and feel it is their right to 'snuff' the 'stiffs', in other words terrorise towns, set light to care homes and murder the 'boomers' who apparently have no right to live their lives out in peace and comfort.  A particularly nasty piece of work called Alyssa is under the impression that they're 'living off her taxes'.

Some parts of this novel reflect the current times, with the media failing to report incidents that don't reflect the narrative the government want to promote, and Kelly's belief that the use of facial recognition technology is there to 'keep them safe'.  Much in the imagined future is feasible indeed - failing businesses, night time curfews - but I couldn't quite buy into the whole Libra idea; they didn't seem to have much agenda apart from mayhem and murder.  Where did they get sufficient weaponry to gain victory over the entire army and police force?  Who was funding them?  I felt that there were large gaps in the world-building; groups of insurgents generally have a few billionaires with their own agenda to back them.  There was, for instance, no indication of exactly how they managed to blow up the massive Tyne Bridge.  We were just told that they had.  And aside from the police and army, people themselves tend to form into groups and fight back.

The book could do with a better proofread, though I did enjoy reading it and there was interesting detail about Stella, Kelly and Lara's past, but I just couldn't quite believe in it.  Then again, many variations on our inevitable dystopian future are being written these days, and feasibility is always subjective.  

BACKUP by Guy-Roger Duvert #RBRT

 4 out of 5 stars

On Amazon (universal link)
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: it was submitted to Rosie's Book Review Team, of which I am a member.

In a Nutshell: 

An interesting story, a terrific idea - I loved the plot.  Some time in the future, everyone lives squashed into high, high buildings in the cities, your social standing indicated by your position up or down the enormous skyscrapers.

Aidan and his expectant wife Lucy live not far from the bottom, as he is a lowly cop.

In use by the powers that be is a system by which a person can download his entire psyche so that if he dies, he may be cloned and come back to life, as it were.  Aidan is not interested until he and partner Natasha are invited to the Backup HQ, and offered a chance to go through the system free of charge - which is when the trouble starts and he discovers the ways in which this particular form of transhumanism is open to all kinds of abuse.

I liked a lot of the detail in this book, the world-building; I particularly liked the idea of never being able to get away from advertising, even more so than now, as promotional drones constantly hover outside the windows of one's apartment.  I also like the writing style in this clever take on the dystopian future that could be waiting for us.  My only criticism is that I found it unnecessarily complicated, having to remember whose psyche was in which body and who was supposed to be where when.  I felt that with a less complex plot and a bit of tidying up, it could have been even better.

PLANET OF THE HEAD-BREAKERS by Zeb Haradon @ZebHaradon

 5 GOLD stars

On Amazon (universal link)
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: one of my favourite authors, so I look out for his new releases.

In a Nutshell: Character-orientated scifi.  Robots.  The future of mankind.

Blurb: 

Centuries after the revolution, the remnants of humanity survive on agricultural communes where they are subjected to mandatory lobotomies before reaching adulthood.

The centuries-old, malfunctioning robots that control them have turned the lobotomy into a coming-of-age ceremony. Most children look forward to it, but not Jim. He dreads the impending surgery and contrives a plan to evade it.

Japeth, a nomadic surgical robot tasked with performing the lobotomies, admires Jim's rebellious spirit and decides to spare him. He promises to return, and makes a bold claim - he was once a man of flesh and blood.

Jim maintains the charade of being lobotomized as he awaits Japeth's promised return, but after years without rescue, he resolves to flee the commune. His quest takes him across a barren, post-apocalyptic landscape in a desperate search for the elusive Japeth.

*

I was just talking to someone on Twitter about how hard it is to review books by this writer.  This was how the conversation went:

T: I LOVED it. Just reviewed but couldn't do it justice. The prob with reviewing ZH's books is that you can't explain what they're like; I end up writing a barely sufficient review then saying 'it's brilliant, you have to read this' and that's kind of it.

C: That sums it up. Nobody else I've read does this combination of imaginative originality, characterisation, absurdity and just all round competence like that guy

Here it is, anyway!

There are probably as many different fictional versions of the future of our world as there are people who want to read and/or write them, but Mr Haradon's take on the subject is, as one would expect, a lot more imaginative and entertaining than most I've read.

The first part of the book is about Jim, at ages 6, 11 and 16, as he navigates life in the commune.  I was completely engrossed from page one, but it was the second part, in the POV of Japeth, that made the book really take off for me, as he tells the story of how human became android became robot, and how the world collapsed.  It's BRILLIANT.  So good I wanted to read it again as soon as I'd finished it, even though I suspect I am light years away from the author when it comes to views on political and societal progression.  Didn't matter.  Always good to broaden one's outlook! 😉😆

The last part (back to Jim) is sad, touching, heartbreaking ... but not without a glimmer of light.  I'm still thinking about this excellent novel, and will need a day before I can start anything else.  This guy can write the arse off most authors - I was going to say 'in his genre' but he doesn't really have one.  Highly, highly recommended.

SILO by Hugh Howey

 4.5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon (universal link)
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: Started watching Apple TV series, sought out the book.

In a Nutshell: 'In a ruined and hostile landscape, in a future few have been unlucky enough to survive, a community exists in a giant underground silo.

Inside, men and women live an enclosed life full of rules and regulations, of secrets and lies.'

As is usual, the actual story differs a fair bit from what I've seen of the TV series so far - only 3 episodes, though, so I'm reserving judgement.  This first installment was originally called 'Wool', and I still don't know why, unless it refers to the stuff that gets pulled over one's eyes.

The book opens with characters who are not seen again once their stories have been dispensed with, leaving a slowly unfurling chaos in their wake - probably, according to 'the rules' of novel writing, a total no-no, but it really worked for this.  The protagonist for the rest of the novel is engineer Juliette Nichols, who works in the 'deep down', keeping the machines running.  As often happens with men writing female main characters, she's a man in all but name, but that didn't matter too much, because I liked her well enough so could suspend any disbelief; also, her backstory provides reasons for her somewhat hamstrung emotions.  The most vivid characters for me were Walk, an elderly technician, Lukas, who studies the stars., and Jahns, the mayor when the story opens.

The theme of the story, throughout, is the growing sense that the inhabitants of the silo are being lied to about why they are there, what happened to humanity before the silos existed and what's really outside, and that's just for starters.  A few who know more are keen to make sure that truths remain hidden; investigating too deeply can be dangerous.

It's good.  I remained interested throughout and loved the concept of one's whole life being governed by one's place on that never-ending staircase from top to bottom.  Look forward to seeing what happens next.

THE NEW ABNORMAL by Aaron Kheriaty #TuesdayBookBlog

 4.5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon (universal link)
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: recommendation

In a Nutshell: 'Dr. Kheriaty documents how technocrats abused power they never should have been granted and terrified people into surrendering their freedoms. The results of this malfeasance are ongoing. Fortunately, Kheriaty provides indispensable guidance for stopping an emerging biomedical security state from doing even more damage in the future.'

Aaron Kheriaty was a practitioner in California when he first began to suspect that something didn't quite ring true about the version of the pandemic that was being broadcast to the population.  The work is highly detailed, and every paper or source to which he refers is listed in the last 30% of the book.  He uncovers the way in which certain language was used to ramp up the fear, how citizens were encouraged to inform on each other for so-called misdemeanours, how those who wished to exercise their right to informed consent before considering taking the injections were demonised, and, most worrying of all, how anyone in the medical profession who was brave enough to say 'something isn't right' paid dearly for doing so.

He also uncovers the true extent and severity of the virus itself, the efficacy of the injections, how the extent of vaccine injury is being kept under wraps, including the truth about ADE (antibody dependent enhancement) that I read so much about when the shots were first rolled out.  He gives information about who does most of the funding for the WHO (no surprises there) and how the tools used to promote the new religion of 'Scientism' are the same deployed by totalitarian systems.  Kheriaty talks about what's to come and how it can be resisted.  The second half of the book goes too much into philosophy generally, I thought, and was a tad idealistic, but that was the only aspect I was not so sure about.

This is worth buying for the epilogue alone - a story written in the second person about 'you' in the year 2030 - a high level Microsoft employee who loves his biometric sensors that give his 'Social Responsibility Score' to anyone who needs to know it, that monitor his mood, physical exertion, every movement, suggest medication, dietary improvements, etc etc.  At first life seems all fine and dandy, but gradually the cracks start to show ... it's not without humour and is a real gem!

I highlighted loads of passages and could have written pages about this book, but I decided a basic overview would probably be more effective.  If you have any interested in the subjects outlined, I highly recommend this.

CROW COUNTRY by Emily Sullivan

 4 out of 5 stars

On Amazon (universal link)
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: freebooksy

In a Nutshell: Bleak post-apocalyptic world in which men are mean and crows are ... huge.

“Everyone was, in one night, made basic again. For when the Lord snapped his fingers, the Devil took the stage. What tremendous music he made”.

A strange book ... highly atmospheric, and that was what kept me reading.  That and wanting to know if the main character, Judge, would make it.

It's almost three decades after some event that caused a blackout across America, a situation never reversed.  Alas, we never find out what happened on October 9th, nearly thirty years before, or why fertility has been affected.  This isn't really a criticism as the book is about the events of the present; I just like to know the full story!  Judge lives in Colorado, in the new town of Genesis, run by a man known only as Law (at first).  Gradually, little bits of information are dropped in to show the reader details about the past.  I liked the way this is done, as by the time this appeared I really needed to know what the backstory between Law and Judge was.

As well as dealing with the usual horrors of a post-apocalyptic world, the inhabitants of Genesis must take cover from the crows, grown huge and predatory.

I found the writing style compelling (in that I couldn't have not read until the end) yet frustrating at times, when something was not explained as much as I would like; at other times, though, this was most effective.  Occasionally there were odd word choices, unusual ways of describing a feeling, the weather, the atmosphere that mostly worked very well but now and again had me thinking, what does she mean?  I noted afterwards that the author writes Westerns, and this book is very much in that vein.  It's raw, bleak, with little comfort for the characters and a dark portrayal of the worst in man.

I liked it.  It's good.  Now I want to read a prequel!

CONVERSION: THE FALL #1 by ST Campitelli @stcampitelli #TuesdayBookBlog

 4 out of 5 stars

On Amazon (universal link)
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: Twitter

In a Nutshell: Post-apocalyptic thriller set in Australia

The story begins a couple of years after 'The Fall', when Australia is already divided into warring factions - the well-defended 'wallcoms' - communities in which people can live a life that resembles the 'before', and those who have chosen to live outside the relatively safe walls.  Many of the original wallcoms have now fallen, overrun by the infected, feral beings with white skin.  Once bitten, it's only a matter of time before you become a 'jack'.

Then there is the Headhunter - the standard post-apoc psycho baddie.  A trope that never gets old - every book of this genre needs at least one!

The author concentrates on several main characters, each one of whom tells the story from their POV, always in the third person.  John Bradley is a regular guy who goes out with the scavenging teams, though wife Helen wishes he would choose a safer occupation.  Reading this, though, I couldn't help thinking that I'd want to do what John does, too, instead of hiding behind the walls in an illusion of safety.  The sense of adventure is full-on, with missions described in detail.  Anyone who has fantasies of living in a post-apoc world (that's me with my hand up) will be drawn to this.  

The book is plot- rather than character-driven, which meant that I sometimes had trouble remembering who everyone was, but the dialogue totally works and the writing is such that some characters were still three-dimensional to me: John, his mate Matt, rockers Skylar and Harley (loved them!), and the Headhunter.  I loved the inventive details about the technology, the spectacularly good world-building, and the chapters from the POV of the infected. 

Good stuff, post-apoc lovers.  Book #2 is also available, and I believe Book #3 is in progress.

CROMBY'S AXIOM by Gary J Kirchner #RBRT

4 out of 5 stars

On Amazon
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: it was submitted to Rosie's Book Review Team, of which I am a member.

In a Nutshell: dystopian; battle against invasive technology.

There are so many good dystopian books around now, and I love reading the many, wildly different versions of what might await us in decades to come.  I enjoyed this, the debut novel by Gary J Kirchner.

In the future, the people are crowded together in cities and connected by the Hive mind; all thoughts are connected, all information just a micro-second away.  Tommy is a world famous athlete who finds himself lost in the 'Fallowlands' of Switzerland - and, worse than this, he has somehow become unconnected, as he discovers when he searches for the information he needs about where to go and what to do.  Eventually he meets up with members of the Ketchen: rebels who live outside the cities and the Hive mind.

The differences between life inside the Hive and the old world of the Ketchen give one a lot to think about, especially if one is of a certain age and grew up without the technology that exists now.  The sinister truth about Tommy's world unfolds gradually, and is no less shocking for being almost expected.  Several times, one of the people who controls Tommy offers some depressing reflections of our real world:

'...from the days of metal electronics and hand-held interfaces to skin graft technology and visual implants and finally to seamless thought communication, the same pattern was followed: technology is developed, a vanguard establishes its use, meek voices raise issues of privacy and ethics, which simply get swamped in the global rush to embrace this newest step...'

And about why the Ketchen are allowed to exist:

'It's healthy to have an enemy.  It brings people together... the idea that 'out there' are outlaws, bad guys who want to do your side in.  If the Ketchen didn't exist, we'd probably invent them'.

Tommy is a likable character and, despite my feeling that some of the explanations could have been edited down to be more reader-friendly, the story held my interest throughout.  The exciting events of the last ten per cent of the book, and the ultimate end, are particularly good.  I'd definitely like to read more books set in this world.

TRASHLANDS by Alison Stine @AlisonStine #TuesdayBookBlog

 5 out of 5 stars 

On Amazon
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: I read about it on Kindig Blog HERE (thank you!)

In a Nutshell: Climate change/industrial pollution-orientated dystopian

Some decades from now (anything from 50 to 100 years' time, I believe), the earth has flooded, many flash fires have occurred, and waters are polluted by industrial waste and plastic.  Society as we know it has broken down, and new ones have emerged.  The currency for the poor is plastic - they 'pluck' it from the water and sell it for recycling into house bricks, which affords them a meagre, subsistence-level way of life.

Coral, Trillium and Mr Fall live in Scrappalachia, formerly without the 'Scr', a vast area of junkyard.  Their own corner is dominated by a strip club: Trashlands.  Meanwhile in the cities, the workers are a different sort of poor.  They live a hard life, too: a high rate of crime, queueing for food, and little in the way of comfort.

As often with this genre of book, what I was most interested in was the world-building.  At first there was frustratingly little, just a few snapshots showing how the current situation came to be, but it built up as the story went on with much more detail near the end, by which time it meant so much more than if I'd learned about it from the beginning; the narrative often divulged information in words left unsaid.  I liked how the fashion for names has changed; mostly, people are named for places, plants and animals that I imagine no longer exist: Tahiti, Miami, Foxglove, New Orleans, Mangrove, Golden Toad - and Coral.

There is no big apocalyptic happening but a slow deterioration of the world we know, starting with the floods.  This means, of course, that there is also a gradual deterioration in intellectual possibility and knowledge of the world, as the internet and TV no longer exist and most books have been destroyed; also, the people are more concerned with staying alive than being educated.  It's like a move back to medieval times, but with a polluted world rather than vast areas of lush green and clear water waiting to be utilised.

The story is told in medium length chapters from many points of view - Coral, her man Trillium and her 'father', Mr Fall; also Foxglove and Summer, 'dancers' at Trashlands, Rattlesnake Master who owns it, reporter Miami from the city, and a few others.  Always my favourite structure if done well, and this was.  The story itself centres around an event in Coral's earlier life, but the plot seemed like a backdrop for this detailed picture of our future world, rather than the opposite way round.

There were a couple of areas that I thought could have done with a bit more thinking through, like how the people of the junkyard would have been unable to work or survive on a diet of insects, weeds and the odd rat, and that petrol and diesel deteriorates in about a year at most, but every post-apocalyptic story I've ever watched or read ignores this second point; if it's good enough for The Walking Dead, I'll suspend my belief here too 😉.  To sum up, I was absorbed by this book all the way through, thought about it afterwards and would love to read more.  There: that should be all the recommendation you need!

LINE by Niall Bourke

4 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK
On Amazon.com
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: I read a review of it on Mairéad Hearne's blog, HERE

In a Nutshell: Dystopian. Speculative Fiction.  From the blurb - Line pushes the boundaries of speculative, high concept fiction. Deeply moving, it also touches on many of the pressing issues of our turbulent world: migration and the refugee crisis, big data and the erosion of democracy, climate change, colonialism, economic exploitation, social conformity and religious fanaticism

At some unspecified time in the future, Willard lives on the Line - a constantly moving tented community that stretches as far as the eye can see in either direction.  Line dwellers subsist on the bare essentials, their faith that what lies at the end is worthy waiting for, and the fear of consequences should they dare to leave; away from the Line there is nothing.  A failed attempt to escape means a fate worse than death, as is attempting to skip one's place.  It has existed for generations, and children know of the sacrifice made by their parents and their grandparents to afford them their current place.  Nobody knows why it began or where it goes, just that they are heading towards some better unknown.

I loved the first part, with a restless Willard questioning his life.  The writing was great, most absorbing; I was so impressed by the whole concept of the Line and looked forward to finding out how the people had been coerced into living according to its rules, believing in the myth of the end, and how the Line had developed its own code of law and become its own society.

Around half way through, we leave the Line and surrounding nothingness, and are presented with what feels like a different book, detailing the wider truths about the world.  Much of it appears in the form of a printed handbook, about the current economic situation, about technological progress and philosophy.  It's extremely dense and complex, and rather dull; you know when you read a text book because you need to learn about something, but the way in which it is written makes your brain shake its head and say, 'Nuh-uh, not storing all these words'?  That was how this was.  I kept trying to take it in but it didn't want to stay.  I felt as though the ideas had not been developed enough; the whole middle section about the new London seemed disjointed, and I just didn't buy it.

During the last one fifth of the book we come to the whys and hows of the Line: the psychology of how and why people queue and wait, of hope, faith, religion, generational beliefs passed down, of the vision behind the line and the whole truth about it—so up my street I welcomed it in with coffee and cake, and loved it all over again.  Fascinating.  The end was sad and bleak, but right for the story.  I like those sort of endings.

To sum up: a first class idea and I'm glad I read it, but I felt there needed to be more.  More background, more detail, more attention to 'readability', more character-based narrative and fewer pages out of the handbook.   And thanks again to Mairéad for introducing me to it :)

DEPARTURES by E J Wenstrom @EJWenstrom #RBRT

4 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK
On Amazon.com
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: it was submitted to Rosie's Book Review Team, of which I am a member.

In a Nutshell: YA dystopian, brainwashing, mind control.

I adored the premise of this book - it is set way into the future, after devastating wars, in a part of the world ruled by the 'Directorate'.  Here, citizens live in environmentally safe domes called Quads, where every aspect of their lives is observed, every move they make controlled by their governors.  

To an extent, I saw this situation as a clever take on a world that could be waiting for us: the mildest physical or mental ill health is to be feared, free speech is not an option and the primary objective is safety for all.  No risk taking, no individuality, no strong ideals to make a stand for.  It made me think of a video I saw recently, from the Academy of Ideas (see below; it's worth a watch!).  

In the Quads, extremes of emotion are not allowed, and grief is treated with medication - which brings me to the title of the book.  All citizens have their 'departure' (death) date tattooed on their arm.  Many will live for over a century, but others are allowed far less time on this earth. Evie doesn't know why she is to die at aged seventeen, but, as with every other custom in the Quads, the 'departure' procedure is presented as a kindness; the Directorate wishes to spare the individual any pain or discomfort.

Full compliance is essential; any diversion from the official line, from the prescribed behaviour, is not tolerated.  

'The Directorate would do whatever was necessary to placate its citizens.  There would be an explanation.  A distraction.  And then life would move forward.  A few might question it all for a bit, but the tug of a content, easy life would ultimately lull them back into line.  Because, I realise, here's the kicker: what most people want is not to trust their government.  It's not to build a better world.  All they want is to be comfortable ... and with a sickening twist to my stomach, I realise that I am one of them.'

The problem with Evie's departure ceremony is not only that she doesn't know why she must die when her life has hardly begun. Her departure doesn't happen as it should. She lives. She is one of the few for whom the euthanasia medication doesn't work.

The book alternates between the points of view of Evie, as she finds herself outside the Quads in a strange world that isn't supposed to exist, and her sister Gracelynn, who is confused, hurting over the loss of her sister, and beginning to wonder if their lives are based on lies.  The writing itself is clear and effective, and the compelling plot line flows along.  Evie and Gracelynn's discoveries come to light gradually, with truths unravelling at just the right pace.  

For the first half of the book, Evie and Gracelynn's personalities were well-defined, very different, but as the action ramps up they become more alike.  This novel is YA, not usually my genre of choice as I have not been a young adult for decades, but I couldn't resist the plot.  I felt this was right for the younger end of the YA range; I can imagine liking it when I was about fourteen but finding it a bit too simplistic when older.

I would have liked some sort of explanation about where in the world this was supposed to take place; as this is a couple of hundred years or more into the future, it could be that the author envisions a world in which the countries as we know them no longer exist - fair enough.  There is a little background information, but I would have liked more, and to know how large an area the Quads are supposed to cover, as well as how big they are - I couldn't imagine them.  The only other problems I had with it were a) overuse of the word 'goofy',  and b) the malfunctioning euthanasia process - even now, there exists the means to put people to death quickly and effectively, so it seems unlikely that in a couple of centuries' time they would still be making errors.  However, any books of this genre require some belief suspension here and there, and this didn't bother me too much.  Not as much as all the goofy grins, anyway, or 'Jeeze' being spelled 'Geez' (as an expression of annoyance, it's short for 'Jesus') - repetitions and misspellings are something we all do, but these should have been picked up by the editor.

Departures is a stand-alone, though I imagine there is more to come; I liked the rather uncertain ending (no spoilers!), particularly Gracelynn's outcome.  E J Wenstrom has created a spookily plausible future world, and I'd certainly be interested in seeing what happens next.

Why an Obsession with Safety creates Sick Minds and a Sick Society

TOKYO MAYDAY by Maison Urwin #RBRT

4.5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK
On Amazon.com
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: it was submitted to Rosie's Book Review Team, of which I am a member. 

In A Nutshell: Dystopian future, England and Japan

'The human race.  Migrating here and there for centuries, back and forth, whilst objecting to the influx of others.  Like migrating birds.  Like herded sheep.'

I love to read other authors' view of the near future, and Tokyo Mayday is a clever and inventive slant on the subject.  In the 2050s, climate change, political/civil unrest and technological advancement have turned the US and the European states into third world countries, with poverty and lack of jobs.  The world's greatest superpower is now Japan.  Outside the cities, economic migrants are kept in holding camps, hoping for work, but now many of these migrants are white Europeans and Americans.  

Jordan May and his family are offered the chance to live in Tokyo, which means a good job for Jordan at Matsucorp, the top car manufacturer in the world.  When they arrive there from England, however, they discover that all is far from utopian.  They are to live in a shared house, and both Jordan and his son, Alfie, immediately become aware of the opposing factions in the country - the far right who want to keep Japan for the Japanese, headed by the mysterious Yamada, and the movement for better treatment of migrants, more equal wages and fairer treatment for all, which grows in popularity amongst idealistic young people and the low-paid workers from the West.  As a skilled worker, Jordan sits between the two.

Manipulating all players is the mysterious Stepson Struthwin, advisor to the owner of Matsucorp.

It's clear that the author is well-versed in Japanese culture; the detail provided by his insight is an added point of interest while reading this highly original and probably plausible look at the future.  His writing style is spare, which I liked very much, and the characterisation works well, throughout.  The picky might complain about a certain amount of 'telling not showing', but my view is that if it works well, who cares - and in Tokyo Mayday, it does.  

The book held my interest all the way through, with some good twists near the end that I hadn't anticipated.  No complaints; this is a definite 'buy it' recommendation, for anyone who loves this genre as much as I do.

THE WAITING ROOMS by Eve Smith @evecsmith

 4.5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK
On Amazon.com
On Goodreads and BookBub

 

How I discovered this book: Amazon Browse

In a Nutshell: dystopian alternative present, post-'Crisis', in which everyone lives in fear of viruses.  Yes, I'm aware of the irony in that sentence.

I gathered that this book is set not in the future but in an alternative though chillingly relevant fictional present; there are some suggestions of the years in which events took place, though not many.  At some point which I took to be the recent past, the 'Crisis' has occurred: over 200 million deaths and counting, as spiralling drug resistance means that ordinary infections can kill, and the availability of antibiotics that actually work is severely limited.  Seventy years old is the cut-off point for being allowed anything but over-the-counter medication.  If ill, men and women wait for a painful death, or can choose to end their own lives.

The narrative zig-zags between present and past, a structure I always like, as the meshing of the two timelines is gradually revealed.  Kate, a nurse in the restriction and doom-filled present, has a husband and daughter, but knows she was adopted.  The other main present day POV is that of Lily, a woman in a private care home facing her seventieth birthday.  The chapters in the past centre around Mary, a biologist in South Africa, who meets the married Piet Bekker, and begins a love affair.  It is clear almost from the start that Mary later becomes 'Lily' (ie, this is not a spoiler); the reasons why are revealed slowly, throughout the book.  The plot centres round the Crisis itself, the part Mary and Bekker played in the TB pandemic, and family secrets.

I enjoyed reading this unusual story, which brings to mind many frightening real life predictions.  The contrast between Lily and Kate's world in the present and Mary and Bekker's carefree life at the end of the last century is heartrending, and makes me glad I am old enough to remember the 1960s-90s.  A most memorable part for me was Mary's obsessive love for Bekker; her every emotion and action were so real.  Bekker was horribly arrogant, and I felt so sad for her, especially as time went on; the 'other woman' is so often seen as a person whose feelings are of no importance.  In order to avoid facing up to choices made by the husband and father, the family is inclined to place all blame on the girlfriend.

As for Africa, the sense of place was so vivid; it made me feel nostalgic for somewhere I have not been.

There were a couple of aspects about which I was not so sure; I couldn't work out why Lily, at just sixty-nine, seemed more like a woman in her nineties.  She had crippling arthritis, but the other descriptions of her (papery skin, wispy white hair, etc) seemed unlikely.  Several of my friends are in their late sixties, and look much the same as I do (I'm 61); my mother didn't seem that decrepit even in her late eighties, and she had Alzheimer's.  It's possible that I missed something; there was a lot of information to take in (if I did, please tell me!).  Also,  I wished there had been a little more explanation of the Crisis itself, exactly how it unfolded, what actually happened, rather than just snapshots; the accounts were a little haphazard, and I felt it was here that the zig-zagging between time periods came unstuck.  A bit of chronology might have helped.

On the whole, though, it's one of those 'not 5* but better than 4*' books, and one I definitely recommend.

KNIGHT IN PAPER ARMOR by Nicholas Conley

3.5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK
On Amazon.com
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: it was submitted to Rosie's Book Review Team, of which I am a member.

In A Nutshell: Supernatural/dystopian/near future US

Billy Jakobek was born with powerful psychic abilities and has lived most of his life in a town called Heaven's Hole, under the care of the Thorne Corporation that dominates America.  Billy absorbs the physical pain, trauma and memories of everyone he meets, which, most of the time, causes him fear and sadness.  He frequently visited by an entity called The Shape, which he perceives as being the darkness in man, and which predicts a calamitous future for mankind.

At school, Billy meets Natalia, with whom he feels an immediate, powerful connection—it is more than just attraction.  Elsewhere, we learn more about Billy's 'Mother', aka scientist Roseanne, and Caleb Thorne himself.  I liked that the author wrote chapters from Roseanne and Caleb's point of view, too, as shows us what is really going on behind the scenes—and what Caleb's plans are once he has harnessed Billy's powers.

I liked the feeling of depressed doom about the town of Heaven's Hole, in which immigrant workers live and work in appalling conditions, though I would have liked to know more about it, and also how the country came to be how it is now—more background would have been welcome. 

The characterisation is good; I had a clear picture of who each of the main players were, and the dialogue is strong and realistic, the emotions portrayed well.  What I was not so keen on was the frequency of inner thoughts in italics (on just about every page), and the fact that the book was more YA-orientated than I thought it would be; I would class it as a YA book even though it is not listed as such.  One can have enough 'teen speak'.

I thought this book would be very much my cup of tea, though it wasn't so, but it's good of its type, and it is clear that a lot of work and thought has gone into it; and the aspects I was not so keen on are down to personal taste rather than there being anything wrong with the book.  I've given it 3.5* for how much I enjoyed it, though it's worthy of 4* for readers who enjoy teen-supernatural books with powerful themes of good and evil, and the overcoming of light over dark.

 

SUBJECT A36 by Teri Polen @tpolen6

4 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK
On Amazon.com
On Goodreads 

How I discovered this book: I have 'met' the writer through Twitter; she was asking if anyone would like an ARC.  The subject matter interested me, so I said yes please!

In a Nutshell: YA Dystopian, genetic engineering.

I admit that I didn't realise this book was YA when I went for it—my fault!  It's about some time in the future when the fortunate (the rich) of an unnamed place in the US live in 'The Colony', and where they can pay for genetic engineering to ensure their families have the best health and looks.  The book starts with Asher, as a boy, having to flee from an army after him and his sisters to harvest their genes.  In chapter two, he is seventeen, and an operative with the insurgents, who free children captured for gene harvesting, aiming to reunite them with their families where possible.  

The other main character, who has his own POV chapter, is Oz; a bit of a misfit, humourous; I liked him.  

Asher and his people discover that The Colony is searching for a certain person, known as Subject A36—and the fight is on.

This is a very 'easy read', and the writing flows very well indeed.  I am not the ideal person to review it as I am over 45 years older than the audience for which it was intended, but I am sure that if I was between 11 and 14 it would be right up my street!  It's a good story, imaginative, and far from entirely unfeasible.