The Diminutive Defenders of Num (The Legend of Guts and Glory Freedom Fighters of Nil Book 3) by Jessica Crichton; The Final Chapter In This Legendary YA Series

 

The Diminutive Defenders of Num (The Legend of Guts and Glory Freedom Fighters of Nil Book 3) by Jessica Crichton; The Final Chapter In This Legendary YA Series 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: STOP! Before you read this book, I request that you read my previous reviews for Dr. Fixit's Malicious Machine and The Counterfeit Zombies of Noc, Volumes 1 and 2 of Jessica Crichton's The Legend of Guts and Glory Freedom Fighters of Nil to understand the series. (While you're at it, read my review of Crichton's stand alone novel, Tipani Walker and The Nightmare Knot. While it is not set in the Guys and Glory Universe, it retains many similar themes). This review will contain MAJOR HEAVY DUTY SPOILERS for the series, so please read this review with caution.

You're back? Oh good, now on we go with Volume 3: The Diminutive Defenders of Num.

Now we come to the potential end of this bold, brilliant, amusing, gripping, suspenseful, involving, surprising, and endlessly entertaining YA Dystopian Science Fiction series by Jessica Crichton. She clearly put a lot of thought into how to bring the adventures of wonder twins Trevor and Tabitha Tate AKA Guts and Glory respectively to a satisfying and memorable conclusion and she did.

To briefly recount the previous volumes. In Volume 1, Trevor and Tabitha’s mother was kidnapped. The twins and their older sister, Emily are recruited by Dr. Fixit who tells them that she was taken to the land of Nil. When they arrive in Nil, they discover that it's a dystopia in which gangs of Kids between 7 and 12 are formed to battle against gangs of Teens. Adults are nowhere to be found. Emily, later called Spirit, is taken by the Teens and eventually joins them. The twins in the meantime join the Kids, obtain the names Guys and Glory, and make new friends like Books, Turtle, Snot, Roach, Blaze, and Papercut. They also vie with the Kid's leader, Fist, who later is revealed to be their missing older brother. They learn that Dr. Fixit has villainous intentions for sending them to Nil. Then they encourage the Kids to team up with the Teens to fight the real enemy. 

After Fixit is temporarily defeated in the first book, the second volume features the Kids traveling to the nearby land of Noc where they encounter Fixit's formidable ex, Marie. She controls a group of elderly people to become zombies that obey her bidding. She uses her manipulative abilities to turn many of the Kids including Guts into zombies as well leaving Glory alone to fight against them. Meanwhile Guys and Glory explore the meanings behind their new names and what they can do to earn them. They discover that the Zombies are the Kid's grandparents and once they break them from Marie's hold, they receive new allies in the struggle against the tyrannical Dr. Fixit.

Now in Volume Three, The Kids and Teens are united so they decide to finally cut Dr. Fixit off at the source. They will enter his fortress in the Land of Num and defeat him once and for all. Along the way, they find brain washed Adults, and robots that obey Fixit without question. Along the way, the Kids rediscover missing family members and learn some interesting truths that reshape their worlds. Guts, Glory, and their siblings also learn the reasons for their existence and their real purpose for coming to Nil in the first place.

Crichton is a consummate YA author because she doesn't write for a young audience. She doesn't dumb down her writing style, hide traumatic and serious topics from her readership, and doesn't talk down to her Readers. She trusts that her Readers will understand her prose without sugarcoating or making it too juvenile.

One of the ways that she accomplishes this in this volume is through narration. Dr. Fixit's Malicious Machine is told through Guts' point of view and The Counterfeit Zombies of Noc was told by Glory. They were simple limited first person narratives and we got to exhibit the plot through one pair of eyes and voice each. With The Diminutive Defenders of Num, Crichton throws that out the window by giving multiple first person points of view. 

Instead of one specific narrator, this book has ten: Guts, Glory, Spirit, Fist, Snot, Papercut, Books, Roach, Turtle, and Blaze. Instead of capturing one voice, she captures all of them and makes them as diverse as possible. 

This is no doubt an insurmountable task that I do not envy Crichton for. However, it shows her immense trust that her young Readers will be able to follow such a narrative process without getting confused.

 It helps that she puts a name identifier at the beginning of each section to point out who is speaking and each chapter has a map which follows the path that our heroes take. But the variety of many voices and the multi layers of a complex narration cannot be understated. 

The complex narration helps to develop the characters and gives them opportunities to stand out. Guts and Glory have some great moments particularly after they are separated and take different roles in fighting against Fixit. Guts is thrown into Fixit's inner sanctum and finds out some traumatic secrets about their foe. Glory also has her heroic moments especially when she learns that her abilities have increased exponentially.

Other characters get to shine on their own showing courage, empathy, intelligence, defiance, and individuality. While they are all terrific, the two biggest stand outs in the ensemble are Guts and Glory's older siblings, Fist and Spirit showing that great characterization is a Tate Family trait.

Fist has been mostly the dominant dictatorial leader turned traitor turned antihero in the previous volumes. Now, he gets more depth as he bonds with Blaze, one of the younger kids and treats her like a kid sister. He also faces his own abandonment issues knowing that his mother and siblings left him behind when they fled Nil and traveled to Earth and ruminates the difficulties of being a member of the Tate Family of heroes and what it means to be one himself. 

Meanwhile Spirit has deals with her own insecurities about what role she should play in the resistance and acknowledges her complicated relationship with her family, particularly her mother. She also has to discover and accept her own inner power when danger approaches.

One of the more unique and humorous touches to this series is Crichton's use of dialogue. The Kids and Teens speak in a language that uses a strange composite of pidgin English and slang. For example Blaze at one point describes travel by boat as “Bein’ onna boat makes ya real tough. The wind’s blowin’ on yer face, but ya can just stand there an’ tell it ta shut it, cuz ya ain't goin’ nowhere anyhow.” 

It takes awhile to get used to but it definitely gives the impression of gangs of young people whose education has been limited, have to act and talk tough to survive, and learn to communicate by their own merits. 

The more hilarious aspect is the Numspeak language spoken by the Adults. It consists entirely of business communication jargon and cliches. For example “bottom line” is someone's name, “cutting edge” is now or today, and “level the playing field” is discussion or communication. 

As someone who has to review a lot of Self-Help, Personal Development, and Business books where these phrases occur so frequently that I inwardly roll my eyes when I see them, the concept of building a whole language around words like “think outside the box,” “synergy,” “zero sim game,” and “paradigm shift” personally amuses me. I also questioned and felt my current age when I realized that I understood the Adultspeak upon first reading it better and more clearly than I did the Kidspeak.

A slight and questionable flaw with this book is the muted presence of events and characters from the previous book, The Counterfeit Zombies of Noc. The Grandparents are introduced but don't play a huge part of this volume with the exception of The Tate’s grandmother. There is a lot about brainwashing and manipulation which is similar to Marie’s hold on the Zombies, but there is no direct link to that process. 

Most importantly, it would have been interesting to see Marie play a part in this volume. The idea of her  and Fixit, lovers turned exes vying with each other or working together for control of the people, is fiendishly delightful. The three books would have tied together better instead of giving the overall impression of jumping from Nil to Num without stopping at Noc along the way.

However this is a small flaw in a book that is filled with climactic moments that bring the series to an overall successful conclusion. In YA literature, it should become legendary. 

Weekly Reader: Servitude by Costi Gurgu; Grim and Suspenseful Science Fiction Thriller Set in a World of Legal Human Trafficking

 

Weekly Reader: Servitude by Costi Gurgu; Grim and Suspenseful Science Fiction Thriller Set in a World of Legal Human Trafficking

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Servitude by Costi Gurgu is another one of those Science Fiction novels that can be labeled under the file marked, "Current Times Taken to Extreme Levels." It depicts a world in which people are taken from the streets for minor offenses and forced into Servitude, in other words taken forcibly and sold into slavery in a process that is perfectly legal and sanctioned by the government.

In this book, frighteningly set in the near future of 2046, Blake Frye, a police detective and his TV producer wife, Isa decide to take a random vacation to London. Unfortunately, this is not a pleasurable holiday. As they see the sights, they are caught in various riots protesting the Servitude program. (The Servitude program is extremely active in Britain and is only being considered in the United States, so far). They see people being taken away such as the parents of two small children, who are arrested for being in debt. 

It's enough to disgust the emotional and newly pregnant Isa. Blake however has ulterior means to make this trip. Isa got into some trouble with a documentary that she made which discussed potential trafficking in the U.S. and called some elite billionaires to task for benefiting from it. Blake has to meet an informant to learn whether his wife is in trouble and what could be done to protect her. Unfortunately, all of Blake and Isa's worst fears are confirmed when they return to the U.S. and come face to face with some mysterious people that take Isa away. While Isa tries to survive her captivity and Blake is driven to rescue her, we are given flashbacks to the issues that Isa explored in her documentary and the elites' fury at being caught in taking part and controlling this deplorable institution.

Servitude is a very intense book on how people reinterpret guilt, innocence, and punishment to fit their needs. Gurgu captures what happens when the 1% seize that power and control over the people under them. Well, I mean more so than now.

 In Servitude, the multibillionaire who controls the Servitude program in the U.S. is William Wilmot, a tech mogul who uses Servitude to silence his enemies. When Isa's documentary about human trafficking names Wilmot specifically as a beneficiary to this secret organization, Wilmot and his equally conniving daughter, Gabriella definitely have her and her colleagues on their list.

There are a few real-life obvious inspirations for Wilmot, many moguls who use their money and connections to get away with the worst crimes and still have people that will defend them. They are the types who will control a media outlet under the guise of fighting for free speech and then use ruthless hypocritical tactics to silence those who oppose them.

 We've seen them all and we know them all. In the United States, nothing speaks louder than money and in Servitude, money controls other people's freedom.

Blake and Isa are the honest courageous people who would speak out against such horrors. The opening chapters show this. Even though it's set in London, the tension and ramifications are pretty clear. This is happening out in the open what is being done in the United States in secret and it's only a matter of time before it's in public in the U.S. It gives the Reader a sense that soon there will be nowhere to hide.

We also peer into Blake and Isa's characters as well. Isa is anguished and protective of the children. It's easy to see why with her pregnancy and documentary. After studying cases of families left in this situation and worrying about bringing another child into a world that allows such things to happen, her maternal instincts are in full overdrive. She would do anything to protect those that she cares about: her husband, two parentless children, and in a later chapter, her colleagues. 

Blake too reveals much about himself in this early vacation. Even though he knows what he and Isa might see, they go anyway. He is someone who works hard to get the right information to protect and later find his wife. He also knows how to find that information by asking certain people and researching what is needed. He will sacrifice his own freedom to protect people like Isa.

Besides the story about Isa's captivity and Blake's rescue attempts, we are treated to flashbacks in alternating chapters. They serve to provide much needed explanation for the documentary, the Fryes, and the people for and against them.

The flashbacks are pretty clever in that they reveal some interesting information about the main plot. One character appears to work for one side. Then in the flashbacks, one line reveals that they are a different character from another side and had their name changed and appearance altered.

 This is a pretty impressive feat because in the main plot, he's a cypher and lover to one character. Then in the flashbacks, this character appears to be an unlikeable coward who would throw anybody under the bus. Instead that is a front, until it is revealed how deeply involved they really are to the situation at hand, what their true personality is, and where their loyalties lie.

Servitude is one of those terrifying Science Fiction books. Terrifying because we are standing on the edge of what could happen, so we can keep it from happening.

New Book Alert: Mandate: Thirteen by Joseph J. Dowling; Dystopian Science Fiction Focuses On Father-Daughter Road Trip to Escape

 

New Book Alert: Mandate: Thirteen by Joseph J. Dowling; Dystopian Science Fiction Focuses On Father-Daughter Road Trip to Escape

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: The second Dystopian Science Fiction novel that I am reading this month is a different style than What Branches Grow.

Instead of focusing on the somber dark world in which the characters live, instead it focuses on the relationship between a father and daughter who try to escape it.

In the near future London is practically run by religious fanatics who force a strict rule over the population. Among the laws are that when a girl turns 13, she is to be tested for her fertility. If she is able to give birth, then she will be sent to a birthing center where she will remain until she delivers the allotted amount of children. 

Michael and his wife, Allison are at a crossroads in their relationship. Their daughter, Hope, has reached that fateful age and is shown to be fertile. Allison, being the "good and loyal citizen" that she is, betrays her husband and daughter and turns Hope in. Rather than acquiesce to the law, Michael runs away with Hope to Wales to stay with an old friend of Michael's.

Mandate: Thirteen presents a terrifying possibility that could be believable. It doesn't help that similar to What Branches Grow it is shown to be a few years into the future. Michael's nostalgic popular culture memories suggest that he was a Millennial, even a Zoomer.

 This futuristic world is one which religious fanatics have taken power and control every aspect in society. Do I need to explain any further about the likelihood of that scenario? The only thing that is surprising is that the setting is Great Britain and not the United States. Of course, that may be because I am more familiar with the controversies concerning the American Evangelical movement, the scare tactics that they pull, threats against people who aren't like them, their political overreach with endorsing certain causes and candidates, and their violations of separation of church and state (and the ways that they try to sidestep that amendment clause).

I sort of wish that we could peer inside the inner workings of this futuristic London. We see the laws and how they affect most people through Michael and his family, but we don't see it on a wider scale. It would be interesting for example to look into one of the Birthing Center and what goes on in there. If Dowling ever writes a sequel, it would be an interesting approach to get a more inside look at this dystopian society. Perhaps he could tell it from the point of view of a woman who escaped the Birthing Center.

What does hold up is the father-daughter relationship between Michael and Hope. The moment that Michael processes that his daughter is going to be taken away, he does not hesitate. He takes her away to be safe. He is clearly a loving and selfless parent who would put his life on the line for his daughter.

It's normal to read a mother to take that role as nurturer caregiver while the father is the status quo conformist. But the fact that the roles are intentionally reversed in this case shows that regardless of gender, there are some who will join the system and reject their humanity and those who retain their humanity by fighting the system. A father caring for a child in a science fiction landscape is becoming more prevalent in works like this, The Last of Us, and The Mandalorian showing that love and true devotion between a parent and child knows no gender or setting.

Michael and Hope have some warm moments demonstrating their close loving bond. Despite running for their lives, they share some humorous jibes about Michael's age or Hope's interests. 

There are times where they defend each other using violence if necessary. 

So, there is a real sense of affection and devotion that are found in these characters that is illustrated on this journey of survival, courage, and striving for freedom.

Michael and Hope have plenty of typical moments where they hide out with rural families that live just outside of the dystopian society's rules and regulations but present problems of their own. There are the false safe spots where their end goals are not met. There are also the government types who follow them and want to catch them dead or alive. Then there is the secret about why these particular fugitives are important. Some of it is typical for the genre but there are enough twists that keep them from being too cliche.

Mandate: Thirteen is a strong father-daughter story that just so happens to be set in a dystopian future.

Weekly Reader: What Branches Grow by T.S. Beier; Dystopian Science Fiction Pulls All The Stops in Despair and Angst

 

Weekly Reader: What Branches Grow by T.S. Beier; Dystopian Science Fiction Pulls All The Stops in Despair and Angst

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

 Spoilers: Yes because in the joy of the holiday season when gifts are exchanged, family and friends are together, people open their hearts to give to the less fortunate, it's the time to curl up with a good book of barren wasteland and dictatorships of small pockets of survivalist civilizations. What better time than the cheerful holiday season to read a depressing angst ridden dystopian Science Fiction novel?

It's not like I'm a stranger to reading dark themed books in December. In years past, I read supernatural horror, mysteries, and psychological thrillers. I have also read plenty of dystopian Science Fiction over the past few years to the point that I thought that I was immune to the somber depressed feeling of this subgenre. However, T.S. Beier's What Branches Grow proves that there is some life in this subgenre to move and depress the Reader and to hope that the world does not end up like this.

What Branches Grow pulls out all the stops describing a world destroyed by war, illness, and environmental disaster and the desperate tactics that people have to do to survive. 

Gennero is a guard in the settlement of Churchill. He was once close to the despot, Church, but the loss of some people close to Gennero and Church's increased paranoia and tyrannical behavior have put the guard at odds with his one time leader/friend. 

The final straw occurs when Delia, an outsider from the wastelands, comes to Churchill to get supplies on her way north. Church wants to recruit her for the local brothel, but Delia is not at all willing. In fact, she escapes with Gennero following close behind.

What is particularly unforgettable is the lengths that Beier goes through to describe the Post-Apocalyptic world. In the Acknowledgements, she wrote that she was inspired by such works as Cormac McCarthy's The Road, Stephen King's The Stand, and the Mad Max movies to prepare for her work. Aside from probably giving her nightmares and anxiety, they also combined to give her a book that is a tribute to the subgenre but she also works to make it her own.

Some of most evocative passages involve the descriptions of the Wastelands that Gennero, Delia, and their new friends Perth and his dog, Mort travel through. Beier goes all out describing a world that is devoid of blue skies, no vegetation, and dust, dirt, and grit everywhere. If you are one of those types of Readers with heightened senses, especially tactile, you may feel the dirt and grit all around you and your throat might be parched because of the dryness. Afterwards, you may need to shower to remove the imaginary grit and chug a water bottle to quench your thirst. And of course be grateful that you don't live in that world.

Besides the full on sensory description, Beier does a great job of fleshing out her main characters. Delia and Gennero are part of the generation that was born after the end and this is the only life that they know. True, they heard about life before from the elders, but they have no personal experience with them. 

An apartment in which you could come inside after work, turn on the lights, and sink into a comfortable couch and just relax is as unreal to them as a cavern full of dragons hoarding treasure to us. 

Gennero and Delia were exposed to sexual assault, diminished rations, and fighting for survival since they were children. It's safe to say that they were never children. Their innocence was lost because of decisions that were made long before they were born.

Actually not too long before they were born. In fact, in What Branches Grow we find out through Perth that this world is set only a few decades away from ours. In fact even though Perth is in his 60's or 70's, he is revealed to have been a Millennial. (Feeling old yet?) In fact his memories of the past such as working on computers, watching the Walking Dead and Game of Thrones, and going to Starbucks are our memories. Typically, Gennero and Delia roll their eyes when he goes on about his past. But it's heart tugging all the same. These are the little things that we would cherish and long for when the world ends and all that's left is a land of dust.

Gennero, Delia, and Perth go through many changes and development during their travels. They don't trust each other but have suffered tremendous loss. Eventually, they bond after saving each other's lives and scavenging for food and warmth inside abandoned houses. The hardness of the times have not made them completely cold and unfeeling. They show affection towards each other and other good people who help them and vice versa. 

They also have a goal in mind to reach: The City, a place that is still like it was. Another trope of Dystopian Science Fiction is a new better place that the characters long for, their version of Heaven. The City definitely invokes images of Tomorrow Morrow Land in Mad Max Beyond the Thunderdome (actually Sydney).

The three main characters and many of the others wonder about The City. Does it exist? Is it as beautiful as they say? Is it ruined like the rest of the world? Is it worth going to when they are surrounded by feral animals, cannibals, fanatic survivalists, and an uncertain environment? The idea of The City being this imagined Paradise gives the characters hope and something to aspire towards in such a dark world.

What Branches Grow is a dark disturbing book, no question. But it still carries themes of perseverance and hope.

Weekly Reader: Hades Forest by Simon Elson; Dystopian Science Fiction Marries 1984 and Lord of the Flies and Creates A Very Dark Weird Baby

 

Weekly Reader: Hades Forest by Simon Elson; Dystopian Science Fiction Marries 1984 and Lord of the Flies and Creates A Very Dark Weird Baby

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: The usual trajectory of dystopian science fiction is when the protagonist leaves their oppressive regime and joins the Resistance Movement, the Resistance consists of better characters that intend to speak and fight against the dictators and create a newer and better society. It's rare that the protagonist discovers that the rebels are just as bad or worse than the people that they left behind. Sometimes if the rebels don't have a decent society and structure planned, they can turn the dystopia into further chaos.

Simon Elson's Hades Forest is just such a science fiction novel. It begins as a dystopia describing a world right out of 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, or The Handmaid's Tale. Then halfway through the novel, the book seems to get lost on its way to Lord of the Flies, featuring characters struggling to survive within various tribes that attack and kill each other.

The style of the book is similar to Reality Testing by Grant Price in that the book is separated in two distinct sections: the one set in the dystopia and the other with the resistance. However, unlike Reality Testing which shows better characterization and a distinct goal from the rebels on how to improve their society, neither side looks particularly good and both have their share of problems

Perry Benson lives in futuristic Tambamba, in the country formerly known as South Africa, now called the Holy States of Borea. In the future, governments and countries have collapsed. Perry lives in a society where he has a voice recorder on his neck and a tracking device on his foot. Everyone gives thanks to Borea as part of a greeting and parting much to Perry's chagrin. 

Borea's government controls every aspect of its citizens' lives including that they are assigned a partner after thirty and are only permitted one child. Eradicts like Perry are ordered to destroy any item that is considered evil i.e. things of the past: things like tinsel, rugby balls, DVD players, and a copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (the last from my cold dead hand!). Citizens like Perry and his wife, Mabel are required to attend public events which talk about Borea's history and how "wonderful" their society is. 

Perry and Mabel's marriage is similar to that of Guy and Mildred Montag in Fahrenheit 451. Mabel is the loyal card carrying member of Borean society. There is nothing that she does or says that isn't approved of by Borean's Codes and Society. She even schedules her and Perry's copulations when Borea says that they need to procreate. Mabel is practically a robot created only to please the state.

Perry on the other hand has to play the role on the outside while challenging the standards on the inside. The way that Borea is structured makes someone who questions it believe that there is something wrong with them and not the society. In fact they have a term for that (similar to how psychiatrists in Soviet society actually created mental disorders for people who denounced Soviet politics.)

People with physical and mental disorders are considered Crolax and are exiled. Anyone who denounces the state is considered Crolax. Perry discovers for himself what being a Crolax is like when he denounces Borea in public and ends up in prison.

Borea is terrible no doubt about it but when you think Perry is going to become a hero, things take an even more disturbing turn.

Perry breaks out of prison with the help of a man named Dolphin who leads him to Hades Forest. If Borea represents too much order and control in which every move and every aspect is micromanaged and planned, then the world of Hades Forest represents too much chaos. The only laws involve survival of the fittest. People are separated into five tribes which use cutthroat means to attack the others.

 Left alone in the forest, Perry encounters The Leagros, a tribe of survivalists who steal from other tribes to survive. The Leagros battle against other tribes that specialize in rape, slavery, murder, and torture. Each tribe feels that it is their right to strike back at those who oppose them in any means possible with no laws, no ethics, and no compassion. The tribes use the methods that they learned from the Boreans who hurt them.  However, they fight amongst themselves rather than against Borea which puts them in this mess in the first place.

Perry and the other tribe members stand out as interesting characters despite the bleak circumstances. There's the excitable Kirito who constantly talks in third person and once he befriends Perry, becomes a loyal staunch friend. Chintu is a hard edged veteran of the Tribal Wars and has no time for Perry's ethical arguments. Crank is the shifty leader of Leagros who has cunning means of stealing from other tribes and a grudging respect for those in his tribe. Then there's Miist, an enigmatic member of another tribe who mysteriously saves Perry and the others on occasion.

Some plot twists get introduced towards the end that are genuinely surprising and cause Readers to question the characters' behavior. One revelation caused this Reader to go back and reread some passages to follow the leads to this revelation. Upon second reading it made sense and added a bit more to the Boreans and the Hades Forest residents than originally perceived.

There have been many dystopian fiction novels written in the past year. Sometimes a writer can still add a new twist to what could be a tired subgenre. Luckily, Elson is that writer.

New Book Alert: Reality Testing (Sunrise Book #1) by Grant Price; Intricate Science Fiction Novel About The Price Paid For Overabundance of Technology

 

New Book Alert: Reality Testing (Sunrise Book #1) by Grant Price; Intricate Science Fiction Novel About The Price Paid For Overabundance of Technology

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Overabundance of Technology is a common theme in Science Fiction. Usually, authors write about the cost of humanity and what we will turn into when our gadgets control us. Remember Ray Bradbury's short story "The Veldt" when two children who are so addicted to their virtual room that they order lions to attack their parents as they passively watch? Or Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 where the people were so influenced by the wall screens in their house that their intelligence was diminished and they willingly gave up their books to the firemen who burned them? Or Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers where interstellar travel and mobile power suits gave young Earth soldiers the power to wage war on the residents of alien planets? Or the many episodes of Twilight Zone and Outer Limits that show Artificial Intelligence becoming more human and their creators becoming less so? 

A key difference between those works and current science fiction is that those technologies had yet to exist so authors were left to imagine what they could and capture their best and worst qualities. Now, that technology is here and now. Authors don't have to imagine it. It's right here with social media, quantum computing, passenger space travel, smart housing, energy efficient means of travel, and so on. All an author has to do is follow the news and see the next step of where these technologies are going for better or worse. Science Fiction is becoming Science Fact faster than we thought that it would.

One of the current Science Fiction Novels which explores this theme is Reality Testing by Grant Price, the first book in a series that deals with a young woman rebelling against the dystopian future of a world destroyed by corporate greed, environmental catastrophe, and a cabal of governments, corporations, and scientists that use that technology on human guinea pigs. Again these are not new themes, but what makes this book good is the intricate plot and the benefit of using technology we see every day to higher and more frightening levels.

In Reality Testing, our protagonist and potential rebel is Mara Kizing, a mechanic who lives in near future Germany. She is inside a dream tank reliving her apparent murder of a man. As Mara makes her escape from the tank and the building in which this experiment is taking place, she remembers that she signed on for some project to get creds but the details are not yet known. It becomes clearer when she goes to see her wife, Jema and Jema doesn't recognize her. The techs at LINK inserted her mind and consciousness into a completely different body.  

Now Mara is on the run because of the escape and murder. Even though it means separation, Jema (who was already anxious about Mara signing up in the first place) suggests that she hide out in a semizdat settlement with one of the resistance groups like the Vanguard. After a violent encounter, Mara is left alone and seeks redemption by finding the Vanguard.

There are two distinct separate sections that explores the impact of technology so much that it is clearly emphasized in Price's writing. The first section is more technical as Mara stumbles through the city hiding from her pursuers. It is fascinating and horrifying as we look at this new transformed world. Berlin is awash with technology so much that it is omnipresent and suffocates the human elements as much as the dense polluted clouds overhead. The walls speak and sing every advertisement to the point that they become a cacophonous symphony. The "bulls" catch their prey using augmented eyes to scan information like a robot Gestapo. A person is not only killed but their information is erased from records as though they never existed.

The vidlinks are everywhere and give the power to turn anyone from hero to villain as they do for Mara by turning her into a coldblooded killer when she was really just a desperate woman longing to escape. Unemployment is high so people sign on to be test subjects in some of the most bizarre experiments.

Many of the experiments are not purposely completely explained possibly for future volumes, but also because these characters live in this environment and they know what they are. They are familiar and have been exposed to them their whole lives.

 However, Price leaves clues for the Reader to guess. For example, besides Mara's LINK, we are also told about the Seahorse project. We aren't completely given all the details but there are hints.  Volunteers are only men. Women are considered "obsos" or obsolete. A quick study of male seahorses and knowing that they can do what few biological male species can do naturally, well it doesn't leave much to the imagination what the Seahorse project is about. (The next volume should feature a man who has actually been through the Seahorse project to get a more inside view of what it's like.)

Because of the emphasis more on setting and world building, there isn't much on character except between Mara and Jema. They are a couple who are on their last nerve. Mara is a woman so desperate for money that she will put herself through physical torture. Jema is worried and anxious about her, but is tired of the danger, the stress, and is ready to file for divorce for a peace of mind.  It's doubtful that

if things didn't end up the way they did, that Mara and Jema would have had a happily ever after.

In contrast to the Berlin setting, when the plot shifts to the Vanguard we are given more emphasis on character and less on setting. We are shown a cooperative community which lives off of minimal technology. They use solar energy and grow their own food. The members plan acts of rebellion that go from mere pinpricks to major consequences. It's all nothing new but we see strong sense of character in this section that was absent in the previous.

Even before Mara encounters the Vanguard, we get a whole chapter devoted to their founder known as The Abbot. We learn that she was a scientist whose research was used for the Seahorse project. She abandoned her cushiony life and high paying job to fight the system that she had once been a member.

The Vanguard is very secretive. Many of the characters use pseudonyms and put Mara through a variety of tests to prove her loyalty. This is a group that is wary of outsiders almost paranoiac. But as some say just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that someone isn't out to get them.

 The suspicion is a natural reaction to a group that is close to and protective of their members and don't want to see them get hurt or destroyed. They have worked hard for this new way of life and don't want to see it go the way of the old one, especially when they have the chance to rebuild society and start over again and make it better.

New Book Alert: Shadows in the Light by Sophie Shepherd; Fascinating YA Dystopia About A World of Dance

 

New Book Alert: Shadows in the Light by Sophie Shepherd; Fascinating YA Dystopia About A World of Dance

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Many people value the Arts over any other activity. They offer free expression, free speech, are mostly non combative, and it is assumed that the people who practice them are tolerant and believe in equality, and would therefore make effective leaders. Well, Sophie Shepherd's YA novel, Shadows in the Light shows that's not always the case. In a world built entirely on the Arts, the wrong people could use those arts to become just as much a dictator as any other, especially in their means to control that art.

In the country the Realm of the Light, everything belongs to the Dance. There are more dance studios than we have Walgreens, Wal Marts, and Dollar Generals. Everybody is trained from when they are young to study dancing. Those who make it to be Dancers are considered the elite. Every year a competition is held to determine the best dancer. That dancer is then selected to be a Grace and lead their own colony. All other positions and interests such as education, medicine, computers, and production design are only meant to encourage the art of dancing and no other reason. Anyone who can't fit their talent into dancing in some way is labelled an Alternative and is exiled or made to disappear. The country is ruled by Mrs. Wren who would be what would happen if Martha Graham ruled the world. She insists that her people follow light and beauty and not the combat and competition of the old days. Anyone who disagrees has a funny way of either suddenly conforming or disappearing.

In true YA dystopian fashion, it takes a young teen to wake up and suddenly see the cracks in this so-called perfect society. In this variation, that character is Rowan Cole. She begins to recognize the cracks when she overhears one Dancer told by his lover that he doesn't want to lose him in a way that doesn't mean a break up. She also questions it when she, her father, and her brother, Leon try to communicate with her mother who is a Grace, but her chirpy assistant keeps insisting that she is unavailable.

Finally, Rowan has a personal reason to go against the Realm's Dancer Only policy. She studies martial arts and boxing in private, two abilities that are outlawed by Mrs. Wren. Her friend, Mica, hacks into computers to study the world before the change to focusing solely on dance. It isn't long before these young ladies are being followed by sinister characters and people who are part of a rebellion against the despotic Mrs. Wren. Rowan quickly learns that Mrs. Wren is less Martha Graham and more Eva Braun and needs to be stopped.

Shadows in the Light is an interesting concept in dystopian fiction by placing the arts as the preferred pursuit by the dictatorship instead of military or combat sports like in other such works. Those choices show that anything, even those that seem the most innocuous and creative can be used in the worst ways by people with the worst motives. Mrs. Wren is the type of character who uses the dance solely for her own benefit so people look to her as a Goddess figure and no one else. She is a diva, primadonna with power and had the means to make sure any potential threat to her order is exterminated. There are times where she comes across as a scenery chewing villain, probably intentional because of her diva superstar fixation. (If Shadow in the Light ever becomes a movie, the actress playing Mrs. Wren would have a blast playing such a character who appears all sweetness and light and then acts so broad that she would put most Disney villains to shame.)

It is also no coincidence that the protagonist studies martial arts and boxing: fighting competitive sports. These chosen talents show that a little competition and aggression can be a good thing. Hiding those drives can be just as destructive as relying solely on and giving into them.

It also explores how important it is to explore and nurture different talents to make a better and complete society. 

Shadows in the Light is a fascinating foray into the YA dystopian genre. While that genre is extremely oversaturated, sometimes an author can give a new fresh look and perspective. Sophie Shepherd does just that.

New Book Alert: Orange City by Lee Matthew Goldberg; Terrifying Science Fiction Dystopia Will Scare The Colors Out Of You

 

New Book Alert: Orange City by Lee Matthew Goldberg; Terrifying Science Fiction Dystopia Will Scare The Colors Out Of You

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Lee Matthew Goldberg's previous novel, Slow Down was an ironic title of a book. It was a fast paced almost hallucinatory drug trip of a novel in which Noah, a young ambitious screenwriter gets involved with a creepy director's film project which involves several actresses becoming addicted to a drug called Fast which turns them homicidally violent.

So in this, his fifth novel, Orange City has Goldberg taken the predecessor title's advice and slowed down? Well, no. Instead he just has a wider more imaginative arena in which to explore these strange, bizarre, terrifying worlds.

Orange City is set in the future in a dystopian city called, original name, The City. The City is ruled by an omnipresent figure who is literally called The Man. (Thankfully, the common nouns used as proper names device ends there. So we don't run into other characters called The Woman, The Boy, The Girl, The Dog and don't encounter The Bar or The Restaurant.)

The Man is a creepy figure. He wears the same black suit and is fed a strange orange liquid intravenously, so he doesn't eat. His legs are distorted because of surgeries to make him taller. He has several arms connected to his body that are thin and branch-like giving him a spidery appearance. His red eyes are able to cyberoptically view the entire city. He has spies, technology, and a psychic seeming intuition that allows him to keep everyone and everything in the city under his watch and control. Anyone who disobeys can lose their appendages and end up in The Zone, the homeless district, or The Man's Scouts can send them to The Outside World, the area outside The City. The Man's appearance and demeanor are sort of like what would happen if 1984's Big Brother decided to retire and give control of Oceania over to Slenderman.

Underneath The Man's control are the Finances, districts with CEO's that control the banking, business, and advertising. In one way or another everybody works under The Man's ultimate direction, so yes they are in fact slaves to The Man. 

One of those workers is Graham Weathered, a meek little man who works for the advertising firm of Warton, Mind, and Donovan. Graham has been living in The City since he was 19, a scared abused former foster kid from The Outside World. He was given the option, as all convicted criminals are, to remain in the desolate war torn Outside World or start a new life with a job that promises benefits and constant surveillance in The City. Naturally, the naive Graham chooses Option B.

Years later, Graham is given his first real assignment. Warton, Mind, and Donovan are promoting a multi-flavored soda called Pow! His boss, E, wants him to test the various flavors and let them know what the results are. Graham needs some recognition from his employers,  would like to get ahead and does not want to be sent to the Zone. Plus, Graham has the spine of an amoeba and the nerves of a terrified toy dog, so he agrees. The only problem is that Pow! is addictive, really addictive, and it produces some strange side effects. It alters a person's emotions depending on the flavor.

Orange City is a brilliant novel that is a tribute to the Science Fiction Dystopia genre and a satire on advertising, greed, and corporate control. As Graham drinks the Pow! flavors, he takes on various facets of his personality. The orange flavor makes him passionate and sexual. Lime green makes him jealous and ambitious. Blueberry makes him depressed and thoughtful. Cherry Red makes him aggressive and homicidal. All of the emotions that a lifetime of abuse and constant surveillance and control have repressed have finally broken through and overwhelms him.

This book is a wonder to imagine and is one of the few that I would like to see become a movie or limited series because of how impressive it would look. One of the more visually captivating images are the constant changing colors around Graham. Each time he drinks a specific flavor, his eyes zero in and focus on that color on the walls, neon signs, and on people's clothing. Each time he is attracted to women wearing those specific colors or is invited to a club or a bar with that color name (The Citrus Club, Lime Lounge, Blue Moon, and Red Rum.) It would be neat to see any potential filmmaker engage in some interesting details like the walls in Graham's apartment changing color or the neon lights blazing in the background, unavoidable like stars. Goldberg clearly had a lot of fun writing the process of Graham and his mood swings and the shifting environment around him.

Besides setting, Goldberg also creates a memorable protagonist in Graham. Similar to characters like Winston Smith, Guy Montag, Offred/June, or Bernard Marx, Graham just accepts the System at first. He thinks that if he plays along and doesn't cause trouble, then he will live another day, without realizing that it doesn't matter how much he plays along. If that System sees those under them as less than human, they are expendable and completely disposable. They will be killed or exiled anyway, because they have no value as a human being or an individual. 

Graham follows the Man's orders, even temporarily accepts a higher position, more luxurious apartment, and larger stipend to be the Pow! spokesperson/product tester/guinea pig. When he becomes hopelessly addicted and characters appear and reappear to monitor him, even appearing in lucid dreams is when he starts to question what he got into. He also learns some revealing things about his past and what The Man's real goals are.  That's when he can no longer remain a passive participant and slave to The Man. He becomes an active rebel and fighter against those that have controlled him for most of his life.

Orange City is a book with a terrifying premise that questions how much advertising, corporations, and our own self interests control us. It could be as real as tomorrow. That thought is enough to scare the colors out of the Reader.