Tag Archives: Dystopia

Everything Is Fine

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Mike Birchall. Panini Publishing. (264p) ISBN: 9781804912133
Everything Is Fine

Everything Is Fine

OK that was well weird…

Set in a dystopian world of box houses on estates that are identical to each other for as far as the eye can see. Sam and Maggie live a perfect life, with a perfect dog, perfect neighbours, and with no need to forget anything as everything is perfect.

This perfection doesn’t last long as there are hints of something not quite right from the very start, like images at the corner of your eye that when you try to bring them into focus disappear.

The darkness in this perfect world builds throughout the book, especially when Tom arrives on the scene, but there are dark edges from the very beginning you just have to be in tune to some of them.

A great read and I’m so looking forward to Volume 2, well worth a dive in for a light horror with complex storytelling in a very simple format.

I received this from Panini Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

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Dandelion

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Sabir Pirzada, Martin Morazzo, Vanesa Del Rey. Image Comics. (120p) ISBN: 9781534397545
Dandelion

Dandelion

I’ve found that everything I’ve received from Image Comics since restarting NetGalley this year has been great, and Dandelion is no exception.

A collection of stories set in a future where living pods that travel through the air have become the home of the homeless and unproductive, a place to be exiled and never allowed to return to earth.

In this world the pods are supplied and serviced by drones and the people in them are nationless and shunned.

One of my favourite episodes was titled ‘True North’ a story of hope tinged with great humour, but every story is worth reading.

Each story is nice and short, but though each episode is short they all pack a punch building up a world that we know could be ours in a near future, rather than using technological advances to better the world and lives of all, the rich use them to get richer and displace those deemed no necessary.

Each story is beautifull illustrated by several artists fitting the theme of the story perfectly.

I’d love this world to continue as it feels as though the place would be ripe with stories to tell.

I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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Agency

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William Gibson. Penguin. (416p) ISBN: 9780241974575
Agency

Agency

I’m a huge fan of William Gibson (I’ve not got a collection of Neuromancer in different editions…) and am always waiting for his next book with great anticipation, waiting to see where he takes us next.

In Agency, he gives us a ‘prequel and sequel’ to The Peripheral.

Like The Peripheral the story of Agency switches between two different timelines, a 2017 where Verity lives in a world where Hilary Clinton won the 2016 elections, and the other is set in the 22nd century post-Jackpot world of Russian crime families and advanced technology.

Written in short punchy chapters switching between the two time frames, developing character depth and interaction which makes you invest very quickly and ensures that you don’t want to put the book down. The explanation of the technology in the book works on extrapolations from existing technology so never really seems that far fetched.

Though the way interaction with ‘stubs’ is achieved is the most ‘out there’ technology mentioned it still doesn’t jar and t hat’s what I’ve always enjoyed about Gibson’s writing, especially Blue Ant Trilogy and the Bridge Trilogy, the technology could be out there now, being developed and tested as it is never an outrageous use of ‘black box’ technologies.

Another great addition to William Gibson’s oeuvre, and I’m now back to anticipating his next work.

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Scythe

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Neal Schusterman. Walker Books. (448p) ISBN: 9781406379242

 

Scythe

Scythe

Scythe is set not far into our(?) future where death has been conquered. Want to look and feel 21? Get your body clock set so you are physically younger than your grandchildren.

Science and society have progressed to such a stage that there are no famines or diseases, massive injuries can be healed, small injuries and pain are monitored by nanites and repaired or dulled.

There is one problem, population growth. With a finite space, it was decided that technology shouldn’t be the arbiter of death but people should have that responsibility and burden.

This is a well-crafted utopia with a deep twist, Neal Shusterman explores the moral conundrums that develop when people are given the ultimate responsibility, and what depths or heights the human can achieve under those pressures.

The main characters are so believable, the moral turpitude of some of them shows what could happen if this was real.

Thunderhead has just been released and I had to get myself a copy before it hit the table in the shop this first book was so good.

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Thunderhead

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Neal Shusterman. Walker Books. (528p) ISBN: 9781406379532
Thunderhead

Thunderhead

Now, it’s not unknown but it’s rare, very rare that I rate a sequel higher than the first book in a series, but I really loved Thunderhead, the sequel to Scythe by Neal Shusterman.

We follow on from the incidents in the first book and see where Rowan and City have got to since the dramatic ending in Scythe.

Rowan has continued his self-imposed quest and has broken more than one rule of Scythdom, but one of the most important is he dresses in black as a Reaper.

Citra is following the tenets of old-school Scythdom but with a twist which alienates some of the old-school, but could help develop the institution into one that bridges both.

But things couldn’t be that simple could they, and Neal throws a massive, massive twist in that was so unexpected but really spiced up the book, I did actually gasp at the reveal.

The development of Thunderhead throughout is also handled well, and with another result that wasn’t really expected.

Another cracking book set in a well-thought out dystopian future.

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