Category Dystopian

Dry Lands by Elizabeth Anne Martins @flametreepress @RandmTTours #dystopian #postapocalyptic #bookreview

yvonnembee Leave a comment

I am delighted to be opening the Blog Tour and share my review today of Dry Lands by Elizabeth Anne Martins. This is a fabulous story set in a world where sea levels have risen dramatically and a mother is trying to survive.

My huge thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for my spot on the Blog Tour and for arranging my copy of the book from the publisher Flame Tree Press.

After a cataclysmic flood submerges half the world underwater, cannibalistic gangs and corrupt encampments become a constant threat to the remaining dry lands. Liv and her precocious three-year-old son Milo are some of the lucky ones who have survived.

With the company of a lonely horse seeking a loving home, Liv is determined to protect Milo from the encampments, even if it means destroying what little is left of civilization. Amidst it all, she learns to embrace love and her own worth. Dry Lands is a gripping journey showcasing the resilience of humanity, parenthood, and the sacrifices we make for our children.

MY REVIEW

The cover is just perfect for this book!

We live in a world that is changing, so when I saw this book I was definitely intrigued. Sea levels are rising, a shift in the Earth is causing changes and there is a race to keep on the dry lands of the country. This is a story that is set in the US and follows a woman and her son who are making a journey to a place of refuge with one of her relations.

The story of Liv shows how far a mother will go to make sure her son can survive. Her husband Filipe was a survivalist and had things stored and stocked up, but this does not count for anything as things suddenly change. It is Liv who has to make the decisions for the survival of herself and her son Milo, he is three and still needs a lot of her time and patience. The author does an amazing job of showing this woman living on the edge, trying to hold everything together and still be a good mother.

Walking miles is not something that Liv can do continually, and it is a horse that becomes her companion for a while. Mosey is a lifeline for Liv and Milo, it allows them to travel quicker so they can move closer to their destination.

While they travel they are aware of marauders, cannibals and of being picked up and taken to encampments. All of the scenarios that a mother and son want and need to stay away from. Again the author does a great job of showing the dangers and how Liv can explain it to Milo so he will understand.

The landscape has a bleak and barran feel to it and the few characters that there are in this story are great. It definitely has an apocalyptic feel to it, but having an end destination gives a sense of hope to the story. There are dangers and situations in the book that you would expect in a story of this sort and they are well worked.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it is character-led and is very addictive. It is a slower book as such, but it is filled with details and thoughts from the characters. A brilliant book to read and one I would definitely recommend.

Check out the other stops on the Blog Tour…

DRY LANDS – Blog Tour

14 May My And My Books @yvonnembee
15 May Runalong The Shelves @runalongwomble
16 May Cats Books And Yoga @catsbooksandyoga
17 May Jo Scho Reads @jo_scho_reads
20 May Curling Up With A Coffee and a Kindle @CurlingUpWithaC
21 May Worm Talk Book Club @worm_talk_book_club
24 May Salbo Reads @salboreads

Many thanks for reading my spot, a like or share would be amazing 🙂 xx

The Family Experiment by Johns Marrs @panmacmillan #NetGalley #dysotpian #thriller #bookreview

yvonnembee 4 Comments

I am delighted to share my review today of The Family Experiment by John Marrs. I do like this author’s books and this one is a fabulous speculative fiction that I adored.

My huge thanks to Pan Macmillan for accepting my request to read this title via NetGalley.

The world’s population is soaring, creating overcrowded cities and an economic crisis. And in the UK, breaking point has arrived. A growing number of people can no longer afford to start families let alone raise them.

But for those desperate to experience parenthood, there is an alternative. For a monthly subscription fee, clients can create a virtual child from scratch who they can access via the metaverse and a VR headset. To launch this new initiative, the company behind Virtual Children has created a reality tv show. It will follow ten couples as they raise a Virtual Child from birth to the age of eighteen but in a condensed nine-month time period. The prize: the right to keep their virtual child or risk it all for the chance of a real baby . . .

Set in the same universe as John Marrs’s bestselling novel The One and The Marriage Act, The Family Experiment is a dark and twisted thriller about the ultimate ‘tamagotchi’ – a virtual baby.

MY REVIEW

Having read, some but not all of this author’s previous books, I was eager to read this one. He does do speculative and dystopian fiction well, making you stop and think. This one is no exception.

What if you wanted to become a parent but cannot afford to? How about a virtual child who lives in the metaverse, it will grow and learn, and it can be designed to have certain characteristics or features. Think about those games we had a few years ago where you had to keep a virtual pet alive, similar to this scenario, but this virtual child becomes more like real life than real life does.

The author has taken the concept of living in a virtual world to the next stage, not just popping in a headset and spending a few hours touring but feeling, and experiencing being a parent. The author uses a competition that selects various people who want to be parents to participate in a game show. They are allowed to experience parenthood over nine months. At the end of this, the child will be 18 years old. The winner will have a few options to choose as their prize.

This speculation as to how people could and maybe would behave is insightful and gives some unexpected challenges and ideas as to how the virtual child is seen. Are they real? Well, they learn, or the program allows them to learn and take on their mannerisms, emotions and reactions so it gives the idea that they are real. In the virtual universe, they feel real as well. It is only when the parent steps away back into the real world that the realisation that the real world does not have the same appeal as the virtual.

Before you think that this could not happen, how many of you disappear for a couple of hours into your phone and do not realise how much time has elapsed? What about the gamers who will go several hours without taking a break from their game? Not as far-fetched as you first thought, is it? Even simpler is how many of us have been absorbed by reading a book, same thing when you think about it!!!

The author takes this concept of virtual children to a very good place, one that shows the good and the bad and the possible. There is more to this, if you have read any books by the author then you will know there is another plot in play and this one was amazing! Nope, not saying anything about it.

What I will say though is that the author creates a scenario that plays to the vulnerabilities of people, especially those who want a child in a world where it is too expensive, where the NHS does not fund and gives the real world a bleak outlook for his characters. He does this well and it is not so much about the areas that the characters live in, but more about how they feel about themselves.

This is a brilliant book and the story spans several genres, speculative fiction, fiction, contemporary, thriller and there is a psychological feel throughout as the story focuses on people and their actions and reactions. Brilliant story and one I would definitely recommend.

Many thanks for reading my post, a like or share would be amazing 🙂 xx

I Did It For You by Jayne Cowie @PenguinUKBooks #suspense #dystopian #thriller #NetGalley #bookreview

yvonnembee 6 Comments

I am delighted to share my review today for I Did It For You by Jayne Cowie. This is a dystopian thriller as such, but not one that is set in the distant future. Imagine you had the chance to get rid of the gene that made males violent, would you test your newborn son for that gene?

My huge thanks to Random House UK for accepting my request to read and review this title via NetGalley.

If you could test your son for a gene that predicts violence, would you do it?

Antonia and Bea are sisters, and doting mothers to their sons. But that is where their similarities end.

Antonia had her son tested to make sure he didn’t possess the “violent” M gene.

Bea refuses to let her son take the test. His life should not be determined by a positive or negative result.

These women will go to any length to protect their sons.

But one of them is hiding a monster.

And there will be fatal consequences for everybody…

MY REVIEW

This is a wonderful and yet eerily realistic feeling book to read. The basics of it are that newborn male children are being offered the M test, which will determine if they have a predisposition towards violence. This test has the aim to cut down violence in society and also make it safer for women or those who live with a more violent person. Now initially this sounded like a good idea, but my goodness the author has twisted it into an amazing story as it gave me a perspective from both sides of the M gene. Those having it are shunned and those without it are able to live a more care-free existence. What an eye-opener this was and one that would make for great reading for a book club.

Antonia and Bea are sisters but they could not be more different. Their lifestyles, choices, decisions, parenting and appearance, well they are the polar opposite. The author hints at troubles in the past but this is not fully explained until much later in the story. By then you will be starting to add things together and wondering who is who and who is being completely honest.

This is a dystopian story and it is one that has been done so well, it could be present day or the not-to-distant future. We are all aware of DNA tests for certain conditions so having the choice of what you would do for your newborn child to give them the best life possible, what would you do? The author took the sisters and gave them differences and that made it easier to see things from each of their perspectives. Oh my goodness it definitely made me think and at times it was an almost impossible dilemma to work out who was right as they both had valid reasons. Apologies if this is vague, but I don’t want to give anything away!

The story does flit back and forth in time and between characters, this fills in gaps at key points of the story and literally had me flipping the pages. The further I read the more tense the story got and yes I did guess at a couple of the answers and get them right, but from the outset, I had no idea how things would pan out.

If you like tense and suspense-filled stories that have an eerie and realistic slant to them then this is one for you. An excellent read and one that was a one-sitting book for me. I could not put it down and I would definitely recommend it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

An avid reader and lifelong writer, Jayne Cowie also enjoys digging in her garden and making an excellent devil’s food cake. She lives near London with her family.

You can find her on Instagram as @CowieJayne

Many thanks for reading my post, a like or share would be amazing 🙂 xx

Karakorum by Don Mon McVey @donmcvey @RandomTTours #scifi #thriller #bookreview

yvonnembee

I am delighted to share my review today for Karakorum by Don McVey. This is a brilliant sci-fi thriller that I adored. I don’t read a huge amount of sci-fi so this one really did hit the spot for me.

My huge thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for arranging my copy of the book. This book is Independently Published.

In this gripping sci-fi adventure, Sorcha, a youngster from the outer-edge, discovers a hidden anomaly within the deadly game of Scratch, setting off a chain of events that will test her abilities and challenge her very existence. Scouted by a stranger from a rival faction, Sorcha finds herself pursued by malevolent forces intent on unravelling the secrets she unwittingly uncovers. To find the truth and avert impending catastrophe, Sorcha must embark on a perilous journey to the heart of Karakorum—an expansive shanty town divided by borders formed from interconnected minds—a remnant of a dark era known as The Wipe. Within this chaotic world, the inhabitants abide by the dictums of the Modor, the founder of Sapienism; a religion based on the sacrosanct human gene. As Sorcha delves deeper into the labyrinthine society, she uncovers an ancient riddle that holds the key to the past and the future of every connected citizen. However, unbeknownst to her, her actions could inadvertently lead to their ultimate downfall. Enter the dystopian world of Karakorum and immerse yourself in the richly imagined world, where technology, consciousness, and humanity collide. Join Sorcha as she battles formidable foes, unravels enigmatic puzzles, and grapples with the consequences of her choices.

MY REVIEW

This is an amazing book set in a futuristic, dystopian world. The author uses a small cast of characters and this makes it feel like a personal story with Sorcha being the main character. She is seen as different by others, but that doesn’t mean she is an outcast, but she does live and make her money by playing a game called Scratch. This is a game where competitors vie to beat each other while they are connected to a, well I think it would be called an interface.

While playing the game Sorcha sees something that shouldn’t be there. This leads to a Doro hunting her down. With the help of others, she is able to disappear to a different level of this futuristic world and hopes to remain hidden. Things that are hidden are usually uncovered at some point. It is not just Sorcha that is wanting to remain hidden though!

This is such an addictive story and one that did take me a few chapters to get into, I will be honest there are some chapters that lost me but these were from a different voice. It is later on when I realised who this was.

The feel of the story is one that is actually quite fast-paced and full of action. The author brings the ideology and religious beliefs of the people to this story and also a sense of unrest as they are all workers. Describing life in Karakorum is done in such a way that you soon realise that it is not a place of happiness. People exist rather than live. It is a world that feels dark, oppressive and lacklustre.

The further the story goes on the more you start to realise that there is something else going on. The synopsis mentions this book as being a collision of “technology, consciousness, and humanity ” and this starts to become more obvious the more you read.

This did remind me of a couple of other Sci-fi stories and a film as I was reading, I won’t mention which ones as I am sure you will have your own ideas as you read the book. This does have a thriller feel to it and it does twist and weave around a fair bit. As I mentioned earlier there were times when I felt a little lost, or out of my depth. However, I had to keep reading to find out how this one would end.

If you are a reader of sci-fi, dystopia, and fantasy stories then I do think this one will be one to take a look at. There is some great detail and twists. Fabulous story and there are characters that you do want to cheer for. Definitely one I would recommend.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Don McVey has worked for over 20 years in the Film and TV industry. After winning the H.G. Wells award for his short story ‘Transference’, he decided it was time to get round to writing a novel. His debut novel Karakorum was released in May 2023.

Check out the other stops on the Blog Tour…

Many thanks for reading my post, a like or share would be amazing 🙂 xx

One by Eve Smith @evecsmith @RandomTTours @OrendaBooks #thriller #dystopian #bookreview

yvonnembee 4 Comments

I am delighted to share my review today for One by Eve Smith. If you are a fan of dystopian and speculative thrillers then this is an author you really need to have a look at. Her books are fabulous.

My huge thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for my spot on the tour and for arranging my copy of this book with Orenda Books.

A powerful, prescient speculative thriller: a woman’s job of enforcing climate-emergency Britain’s one-child policy is compromised when she discovers a personal link to an illegal sibling on the Ministry hit-list, leading to a shocking discovery that changes everything…

One law. One child. Seven million crimes.
A catastrophic climate emergency has spawned a one-child policy in the UK, ruthlessly enforced by a totalitarian regime. Compulsory abortion of ‘excess’ pregnancies and mandatory contraceptive implants are now the norm, and families must adhere to strict consumption quotas as the world descends into chaos.
Kai is a 25-year-old ‘baby reaper’, working for the Ministry of Population and Family Planning. If any of her assigned families attempt to exceed their child quota, she ensures they pay the price.
Until, one morning, she discovers that an illegal sibling on her Ministry hit-list is hers. To protect her parents from severe penalties, she must secretly investigate before anyone else finds out.
Kai’s hunt for her forbidden sister unearths much more than a dark family secret. As she stumbles across a series of heinous crimes perpetrated by the people she trusted most, she makes a devastating discovery that could bring down the government … and tear her family apart.

MY REVIEW

Having read this author’s previous books I knew this was another I wanted to read. She has a fabulous ability to write a story that has echoes in today’s world and from history, but then to move them forward to provide a “what if” scenario in the future or an alter-universe. One is a brilliantly woven story that shows how politicians have taken steps and measure to protect the population of the UK similar to the way China did with a “One-child policy”. The author however uses her version of this and takes it further, mixing in climate change and corruption to provide a thrilling roller coaster from start to finish.

Kai is a young woman who is about to have her whole world turned upside down. Her job is that of a baby reaper, it involves her investigating women who have more than one pregnancy. The one-child policy is set in a world where everyone has a birth control device, and health is monitored so that if there is a change in hormones the Ministry of Population and Family Planning are notified.

Kai discovers she has a sister, it is a career-ending revelation and she has a small window in which she can try to work out the best way to protect her parents and herself. Her sister has other ideas. As she investigates she realises that her life has been a lie, what she knows is a lie but can she deliver the truth before she becomes just another statistic?

This is such a brilliant read and if you are a fan of speculative fiction with strong dystopian and sci-fi threads then you are going to enjoy this a lot. To be fair even if you are not a fan of this type of genre the story itself makes you open your eyes and set your mind racing as to potential population controls. Before you think it doesn’t happen take a look at China, after years of a one-child policy their population is in decline!

The story revolves around Kai and her work at the ministry, the investigation and what she discovers. The author makes this such an engaging story and as her characters explain their positions you can see how easy it is to believe what you are told. The thing is though, as I read this story I wasn’t sure which one to believe initially as they have been so convincingly portrayed.

This story is one that touches on some serious subjects, about the control of people and their lives and life choices. I mentioned China and I will also mention Roe v Wade. These are mentioned by the author along with other things at the end of the book. Even when the story has finished there is still more to learn!

This is a brilliant fictional look at how the world could be. It is imaginative, addictive and scarily realistic! It is one I would definitely recommend.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Eve writes speculative fiction, mainly about the things that scare her. She attributes her love of all things dark and dystopian to a childhood watching Tales of the Unexpected and black-and-white Edgar Allen Poe double bills. In this world of questionable facts, stats and news, she believes storytelling is more important than ever to engage people in real life issues.
Eve’s previous job as COO of an environmental charity took her to research projects across Asia, Africa and the Americas, and she has an ongoing passion for wild creatures, wild science and far-flung places.
When she’s not writing, she’s racing across fields after her dog, attempting to organise herself and her family or off exploring somewhere new.

Check out the other stops on the Blog Tour…

Many thanks for reading my post, a like or share would be amazing 🙂 xx

Infinity Gate by M.R. Carey @ michaelcarey191 @OrbitBooks @Tr4cyF3nt0n #Pandominion #dystopia #scifi #bookreview

yvonnembee

I am delighted to share my review today for Infinity Gate by M.R. Carey. This is the first book in the Pandominion trilogy and it is fabulous.

I have to say a huge thanks to Tracey at Compulsive Readers for my spot on the Blog Tour and for arranging my paperback copy of this brilliant book from Orbit Books.

The Pandominion: a political and trading alliance of a million worlds – except that they’re really just the one world, Earth, in many different realities. And when an AI threat arises that could destroy everything the Pandominion has built, they’ll eradicate it by whatever means necessary, no matter the cost to human life.

Scientist Hadiz Tambuwal is looking for a solution to her own Earth’s environmental collapse when she stumbles across the secret of inter-dimensional travel. It could save everyone on her dying planet, but now she’s walked into the middle of a war on a scale she never dreamed of.

And she needs to choose a side before it kills her.

INFINITY IS ONLY THE BEGINNING.

MY REVIEW

What a brilliant first book in the Pandominion series Infinity Gate is. The Pandominion is a series of worlds, well actually millions upon millions of worlds. They are all a variation of Earth and The Pandominion is the alliance that runs them, well most of them, some are not deemed acceptable. Our version of Earth is dying, there is nothing worth saving so the Pandominion has ignored it. However, a scientist by the name of Hadiz Tembuwal discovers that there are multiverses and this could mean a way of saving our Earth.

It can be a little difficult to review the first book in a series that you know is going to be huge, I mean in the way the book is laid out and how far into the galaxy, multiverse or time it goes. This author does know how to deal with large areas, dimensions and spaces and he also knows how to fill them. He has some main characters such as Paz, Essien, Moon, Dulcie and Rupshe. There are obviously many others, but not too many to get confusing.

Mixing in travel through different dimensions of universes would make you think that this was very science-based, it isn’t, well it is, but not over-the-top tech speak. The terms used are part of the story and kind of make sense. Tactical soldiers with enhanced armour known as the Cielo were interesting to come across, as were the various other inhabitants of the different verses. YOu will soon discover how the author manages to mingle and mix machines with beings and gradually work towards a more AI form. There are those that are alive and then there is the machinery.

This first book lays out the foundations and gives great detail about how things are seen from a viewpoint of someone who has never heard of the Pandominion. This makes it more accessible to different readers. There are also different perspectives from the different beings and they have worked together to start to form a great image of this alternative verse.

Having great characters and a storyline that is building momentum makes for a really great read. I have read this over a few days or so and even when I had put it down due to work I could remember what was going on. I found that the characters are very memorable and I am already starting to have favourites.

The author obviously has a lot more up his sleeve for this series and it will be interesting to how or where he lets his imagination run.

It is a mix of sci-fi, fantasy and dystopian and with some fabulously explained characters. I have already started to build up a picture in my head of how some of these appear, I just couldn’t help it.

A brilliant first book and one I would definitely recommend.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mike Carey is the acclaimed writer of Lucifer and Hellblazer (now filmed as Constantine). He has recently completed a comics adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, and is the current writer on Marvel’s X-Men and Ultimate Fantastic Four. He has also written the screenplay for a movie, Frost Flowers, which is soon to be produced by Hadaly Films and Bluestar Pictures.

The End of Men by Christina Sweeney-Baird @ChristinaRoseSB @BoroughPress #NetGalley #pandemic #scifi #dystopian #bookreview

yvonnembee 5 Comments

I am delighted to share my review today for The End of Men by Christina Sweeney-Baird. This was published initially in 2021, at the time I had seen it out and being reviewed, but at the time I didn’t want to read it as Covid was still too prominent. However, a year on and it was obviously the right time because I really enjoyed it and thought it was a great book to read.

My huge thanks to Borough Press, a branch of Harper Collins, for granting my request to read this title via NetGalley.

This was a really great book to read and I do like the way the author approached the story and then went further with it. Not just the lead-up and during, but the after-effects of living in a world that had undergone huge changes.

When a mysterious disease starts in Scotland, Dr Amanda Maclean is ignored. She is just a female doctor and does not know enough to be making such a rash call that this is something to be worried about. It is brushed under the carpet. It then starts to spread. It affects only men and they are dying by the millions as it spreads around the globe.

This story was written before the start of the Covid pandemic in 2018/19, it was then published in 2021. A lot of what is discussed in this story did happen when Covid struck. Initially, it was seen as a problem on the other side of the world, governments were slow to react and as we know the pandemic was to kill millions around the world. The End of Men is a similar story and one that the author imagined prior to the pandemic.

This story is told from the perspective of different characters around the world. They are female characters as they now are prominent, not every man has died, and there are some that are immune. The race is on to discover where the virus started, what makes it spread, who are carriers and why only certain people live.

As much as I really enjoyed the beginning of the story, and this was really good, it was the recovery and adapting to the virus that really turned this story around for me. The author imagines so many scenarios that I had not even considered. There are the obvious ones about having a depleted workforce, of women retraining and having a prominent role in how countries are run and how they have new freedom, especially in countries where women were definitely not seen as equal. Yes, in some ways this story is about empowerment and also feminism but it is also about how people adapt to change.

A story like this is easy to relate to as we are still living with Covid. As we are adapting to the world after this pandemic it is nothing compared to how the author sees a world with a significantly reduced male population. Without men, it becomes a matter of how the human race will recover with a limited supply of males to help repopulate.

I liked this book a huge amount. Set in a future that is all too real to imagine and the way the author uses her story to envision a future that has changed drastically. This is one for those who like dystopian, futuristic and feminist viewpoints, it is a mystery and a thriller as the race is also on to find and develop a cure. It is one I would definitely recommend.

The really alarming thing about this book is that the author did imagine this prior to the Covid Pandemic. I have a copy of a letter sent via NetGalley detailing this…

Here’s a letter from Christina Sweeney-Baird: 

I first heard about corona virus as most people likely did; through snippets of news and emails from friends saying, ‘Have you seen this? So weird!’ For a number of weeks, it felt distant in that way so many foreign news stories do. Something awful and scary but ultimately a disease I would remain personally unaffected by.

 Only a few months on from those emails and news reports, I’m sitting in my flat in central London in lockdown. I leave the house once a day for exercise, and shop for food and other essentials once a week. I don’t know when I’ll next see my family in Scotland, my boyfriend who is living in Dubai at the moment for work or my friends and colleagues. Billions of people around the world are in the same position. I feel immeasurably fortunate to still be employed and to have recovered from suspected corona virus (I have not been tested but experienced the virus’s tell-tale cough, breathlessness and extreme fatigue after returning to London from a trip to Northern Italy). I know you’re meant to ‘live your truth’ through art and everything, but contracting corona virus was a step towards authenticity I could have done without.

 It’s an understatement to say it feels surreal that I wrote a book about a pandemic disproportionately affecting men just before a pandemic disproportionately affecting men swept the world. More than one person has half-jokingly called me Cassandra. When I started writing The End of Men in September 2018 it felt like the ultimate thought experiment. How far could I take my imagination? How would a global pandemic with an enormous death rate change the world? What would the world look like without men, or the majority of them? I wrote the first draft of the book in nine months, finishing with a burst of intense writing in June 2019. Now, as I edit the book for my editors wondering what this summer will bring, I find myself testing my imaginary world against the real one. I gauge the distance between what I have written and what is happening. As a writer of speculative fiction, this is not something I ever expected.

 I’m relieved that corona virus doesn’t have a death rate as high as the virus I have imagined in my novel, and that it will not kill nine in ten of the world’s men. The imaginary world I have written belongs safely in fiction, within the pages of a novel. Nonetheless, we are experiencing in real life the greatest pandemic of our lifetimes, which is more than I ever could have imagined in my wildest nightmares. I hope that by the time you’re reading this, there is a vaccine. I hope our healthcare systems survive and economies recover. I hope your loved ones are safe and that the world has returned to that wonderful, boring, nostalgic state I now crave: normality.

Christina Sweeney-Baird

Many thanks for reading my post, a like or share would be amazing 🙂 xx

After the Burning by N. S. Ford @nsfordwriter #dystopian #thriller #shortstories #bookreview

yvonnembee 2 Comments

I am delighted to share my review for a collection of short stories. After the Burning by N.S. Ford is a wonderful selection of dystopian fiction.

“Things did not vanish. They were cleansed away.”

Five spine-chillingly plausible tales for our times. In a society without books, a labourer makes a shocking discovery. An artist starts an underground club for art made by humans instead of artificial intelligence. Parents who refuse to have their baby implanted with a communications chip must fight for their rights. A child goes on a school trip to the extinct natural world. Just before a general election, everyone becomes addicted to a new superfood.

A must-read collection of dystopian stories. They are works of fiction but, unless we act now, will soon be a reality.

MY REVIEW

This is a fabulous book of short stories that have a dystopian theme. I do like this genre and to have a story that gives a glimpse into a possible future is always scary and it also makes for very addictive reading.

The five short stories are a great mix and each one is a different topic but within the umbrella of dystopian fiction.

A story about school trips in a futuristic world is an eye-opener and also rather sad when I sat and thought about it. This is one that I do think is a possibility if things don’t change.

The story of the artists really caught my attention and this is one that again I can see happening as AI becomes more and more prevalent in our society.

Technology is something that is always developing so the story of having a computer chip implanted is another one that I really enjoyed. I didn’t expect the twist in that one!

Books are a big part of my life and are something that I cannot imagine not having. So reading about the discovery of a box and its contents was interesting as well.

The one I really enjoyed was the superfood story. This is something that did for a small part remind me of the book Soylent Green (if you know, you know!) but wasn’t quite as macabre but still shocking.

Overall these are well-written and really imaginative. They are short but detailed with nice twists to them. With collections of short stories it is difficult to rate as some I like more than others but all of these were good. This is a book I would happily recommend if you are looking for some entertaining and eerie dystopian stories.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

N S Ford is a book fanatic, blogger and cat lover who lives in the UK. She is the author of two cross-genre psychological thrillers, ‘We Watch You’ and ‘They Lie Here,’ plus a new collection of dystopian short stories, ‘After the Burning’.

Many thanks for reading my review, a like or share would be amazing 🙂 xx

End of Story by Louise Swanson @Hodderbooks #dystopian #fiction #thriller #bookreview

yvonnembee

I am delighted to share my review today for End of Story by Louise Swanson. This is an amazing book that had me stunned, in a good way. Louise Swanson is also known as Louise Beech and her books are amazing so I was interested to see what she had in store for us when she stepped into dystopian fiction.

My huge thanks to Hodder & Stoughton Publishers for granting my request to read this title via NetGalley.

Too much imagination can be a dangerous thing

It’s the year 2035 and fiction has been banned by the government for five years. Writing novels is a crime. Reading fairytales to children is punishable by law.

Fern Dostoy is a criminal. Officially, she has retrained in a new job outside of the arts but she still scrawls in a secret notepad in an effort to capture what her life has become: her work on a banned phone line, reading bedtime stories to sleep-starved children; Hunter, the young boy who calls her and has captured her heart; and the dreaded visits from government officials.

But as Fern begins to learn more about Hunter, doubts begin to surface. What are they both hiding? And who can be trusted?

MY REVIEW

What a remarkable story this one was. It is a dystopian set in the future that has banned fiction. No bookshops, publishers, bedtime stories, authors or readers. I cannot imagine a world without literature but the author did and she has created such an addictive story.

This is a story of two parts, the first being that of an author, Fern Dostoy. She was an author and now lives in a grotty flat as a cleaner, long gone are the days of being a best-selling author with a nice house and busy schedule. The second part of the story is something that gradually creeps up on you, well it did me, and that is all I am going to say about it.

Fern is a woman who is trying to keep to the rules, but she does stray a little in this Big Brother-style story. She goes to work, she comes home, doesn’t mix with others and lives a very isolated life. The few people who do cross her path are people at the hospital where she works, her neighbour and a salesman. She has been told to keep a low profile, but those who have read her books know who she is.

Set in the near future this is a chilling tale of a woman trying to work out how to keep going. She tries to keep within the rules but little things seem to tempt her. One of these is Hunter, a boy who she talks to on the phone. Her every move or thought she feels is watched, she has gotten used to the government visits enough to know their routines but still fears them.

The author does a brilliant job of creating a depressing and dark era in her story. Written during the Covid pandemic, it is easy to imagine the solitude from when we could only go out for essentials. I think the author has used this experience to great effect as she nails that feeling of loss and adds the loss of fiction to that as well it feels like such a sad world. For many of us though, books helped to get us through.

The story that emerges is one that really captured my attention, I was convinced I was going to read a story by this author (aka Louise Beech) and not cry given the futuristic setting. How wrong I was, and to be fair I should have known better! What starts with a woman just surviving turns into a woman trying to learn how to live.

This is a wonderful story and it was one that took me by surprise, a chilling read at times but one that I adored. I do like the darker dystopian style and this for me was well done and created a wonderful backdrop to the next part of Fern’s story. This is a book I would definitely recommend.

Oh and one final thing… that ending!!! 😲🤯… genius.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Also publishes under Louise Beech.

Louise Swanson’s debut End of Story arrives in March 2023. She wrote the book during the final lockdown of 2020, following a family tragedy, finding refuge in the fiction she created. The themes of the book – grief, isolation, love of the arts, the power of storytelling – came from a very real place. Swanson, a mother of two who lives in East Yorkshire with her husband, regularly blogs, talks at events, and is a huge advocate of openly discussing mental health and suicide.

She also writes as Louise Beech. Beech’s eight books have won the Best magazine Book of the Year 2019, shortlisted for the Romantic Novel of the Year, longlisted for the Polari Prize, and been a Clare Mackintosh Book Club Pick. Her memoir, Daffodils, was released in audiobook in 2022.

Louise is on Twitter @LouiseWriter

Many thanks for reading my post, a like or share would be amazing 🙂 xx

Cold People by Tom Rob Smith @simonschusterUK #NetGalley #apocalypse #thriller #dystopian #bookreview

yvonnembee 2 Comments

I am delighted to share my review today for Cold People by Tom Rob Smith. This is a brilliant book and one for those who like post-apocalyptic stories.

My huge thanks to the publishers Simon & Schuster for granting my request to read this title via NetGalley.

The world has fallen. Without warning, a mysterious and omnipotent force has claimed the planet for their own. There are no negotiations, no demands, no reasons given for their actions. All they have is a message: humanity has thirty days to reach the one place on Earth where they will be allowed to exist… Antarctica.

Cold People follows the perilous journeys of a handful of those who endure the frantic exodus to the most extreme environment on the planet. But their goal is not merely to survive the present. Because as they cling to life on the ice, the remnants of their past swept away, they must also confront the urgent challenge: can they change and evolve rapidly enough to ensure humanity’s future? Can they build a new society in the sub-zero cold?

Original and imaginative, as profoundly intimate as it is grand in scope, is a masterful and unforgettable epic.

MY REVIEW

This is a fabulous book and it was one that I found so addictive. This is a mix of post-apocalypse, dystopian, sci-fi and thriller and I adored it. Earth has been visited by alien crafts, and they have sent a message saying that the only place humans can live is the Antarctic, they have 30 days to get there.

This book follows the journey that the human race makes as it tries to work out who gets to go, each country has their own criteria and priorities. There are also individuals who make their own way as well. It is a group of individuals that are the main focus as they make their journey to the frozen south.

With most people not having any experience of living in extreme conditions there are deaths. Billions die as there is only a small percentage of the race that can actually make the journey. While people try to build a life they are starting to worry about what will happen to the human race in the future. This is where the story for me got really interesting and also gripping as science becomes more involved in the fight to keep the human race alive.

I adored this so much about this book and it does lean towards many different genres. The way people organise themselves, govern and also find new ways to manage and exist. Antarctica has research facilities so it is a given that there are going to be scientists and experiments involved, these are so intriguing and they start to add a more sci-fi and thriller edge to an already gripping story.

What starts with a chance meeting ends in a story of survival and the author brings in so many twists and unexpected dilemmas that provide a dilemma. At times this almost felt like the story was verging on a horror story but with the obvious sci-fi leaning. While aliens are mentioned they are not really part of the story. Not much is known about them or why they targeted humans as the threat but left all other creatures alive. You can make your own mind up about that one! This story instead focuses on Antarctica and the residents of this isolated land.

This is a story that really captured my imagination and the author has such a wonderful way with words that I was able to imagine his descriptions. THis is one of those books that I could visualise and see being made into a film or series. Imaginative, full of suspense and a thriller that I would definitely recommend.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tom Rob Smith (born 1979) is an English writer. The son of a Swedish mother and an English father, Smith was raised in London where he lives today. After graduating from Cambridge University in 2001, he completed his studies in Italy, studying creative writing for a year. After these studies, he worked as a scriptwriter.

His first novel, Child 44, about a series of child murders in Stalinist Russia, appeared in early 2008 and was translated into 17 languages. It was awarded the 2008 Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for Best Thriller of the year by the Crime Writer’s Association. It was recently a Barnes & Noble recommended book. On July 29, 2008 the book was named on the long list for the 2008 Man Booker Prize. In November 2008, he was nominated for the 2008 Costa First Novel Award (former Whitbread).

Child 44 followed-up by The Secret Speech (2009)and Agent 6 (2011).

Many thanks for reading my review, a like or share would be amazing 🙂 xx