The Quest for Freedom (The Conquest Trilogy Book 1) by Matthew Devitt; Action Oriented Witty Slave Rebellion Fantasy Hints Darker Things to Come

 The Quest for Freedom (The Conquest Trilogy Book 1) by Matthew Devitt; Action Oriented Witty Slave Rebellion Fantasy Hints Darker Things to Come

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: On the surface, Matthew Devitt’s The Quest for Freedom, the first book in The Conquest Trilogy can be taken at face value. A human slave getting tired of mistreatment leads a rebellion against his oppressors. They alert others and armies grow larger and rebellion spreads. One faction of slave owners is toppled leading to victories to come and freedom is on the horizon.

It's a familiar trope and it works well here but there are hints that this is a much more subversive take with more nuanced themes and darker motives than are originally believed.

The plot is set in Affer, a rigid world of species divisions with angels, elves, demons, damned, hybrids, and humans. Once the dominant species, humans have been overpowered by the others. Humans were wiped out and the survivors were forced into slavery. 473 years later, Fletcher Rush decided that he had enough of this mistreatment so he, his best friend Ji, and some new acquaintances band together to rebel against their otherworldly masters. Unfortunately, the other races also have plans of their own.

This series has some interesting touches in world building particularly with the hierarchy among the species. It goes angels, demons, damned, hybrid, elves and humans. It's the kind of structure in which various characters are fighting to retain their status or move upwards. 

Angels behave with indifference and disdain among the lesser races. Demons dominate the lesser species, particularly the humans which they delight in torturing and enslaving. They also probably wouldn't mind taking the highest spot ahead of the angels. The elves are right above humans which does not make them companions with the exception of a few characters willing to go along with the human rebellion.

This structure reminds me of a quote from the book, Little Little by M.E. Kerr. “The fellow on top often does not pick on the one on the ground. They look down at the one on the rung right under them. The one on the lowest rung looks down at the one on the ground.” 

This is at play when we see species look down on others right below them instead of realizing that the whole system is corrupt. It also emphasizes the uphill battle that the humans have to not only rebel against their immediate conquerors but the ones above them to the angels. It's like the smallest doll in a matryoshka/nesting doll set trying to take out the other dolls to become the largest.

Despite being about slave rebellion and containing the dismantling of a series of various higher castes, there is a detached tone to the novel that tries to find humor, mostly dark humor, in this situation. Dare I say it, at times it comes across as light hearted or rather satirical particularly with its lead protagonists, Fletcher and Ji.

Fletcher and Ji act more like a comedy team than rebellion leaders. They are constantly bickering back and forth by mocking each other's actions or doing meta commentary on the plot development. (Ji: I guess you'll just have to wait and witness my unrivaled fighting process for yourself. Fletcher: Damn, I'm sure our enemies are already shaking in fear with those sword skills.)

The humor with the characters' dialogue is reminiscent of satire found in works like M*A*S*H. They are using humor as a means to deflect from the dark situation that they are in. It's a way of retaining their friendship and humanity in the face of what will be an ongoing war with plenty of violence and death.

However, there might be another reason. It may not be just satire within the characters' current incarceration, it may take a more subversive tone that implies there are darker intentions at play.

I wouldn't be surprised if the tone changes in future volumes. The lighter a series begins, the darker it ends.

Fletcher gives some stirring speeches about fighting for freedom which are compelling but also potentially fanatic. There are moments where Fletcher's plans put several people in danger and he is called out about this. Ji and other allies question methods and sometimes the results make the questions completely justified. However these conflicts are hand waved or remain unresolved for now.

Now it could just be Fletcher is a clueless rookie who doesn't know what he's doing but his actions could lead to nefarious motivations. He may have ulterior motives that are less concerned with freeing human slaves and more interested in moving humans back to the top. He might not want to dismantle the hierarchy but reshuffle it. 

Most of this is speculation so it might not pan out, but it is based on my experience reading similar books and some of Fletcher’s questionable tactics. So for now it's more fact than theory. Let's just say that it wouldn't surprise me if the series takes a darker, more sinister turn. We might see the makings of a hero but we may also see him live long enough becoming the villain.

Magnificat (The Galactic Milieu Series Book 4) by Julian May; Galactic Milieu Series Ends With Emotional Catharsis, Mental Impact, and Provocative Questions

 

Magnificat (The Galactic Milieu Series Book 4) by Julian May; Galactic Milieu Series Ends With Emotional Catharsis, Mental Impact, and Provocative Questions

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Stop! Before you do anything else, I request that you read my reviews for Jack The Bodiless and Diamond Mask, the previous books in Julian May’s Galactic Milieu Series to fully understand this review. I will try my best to keep spoilers to a minimum but I can't make any promises so from this point out this review may contain MAJOR HEAVY DUTY SPOILERS!!! Read at your own discretion.

Ready? Good. On we go.

All good things must come to an end and Julian May chose a great way to end her Galactic Milieu Series with Magnificat. She gave it the right blend of emotional catharsis, mental and psychological impact, and still managed to ask and answer some thought provoking questions of the characters and themes involved.

The previous volume, Diamond Mask, ended with a final wham line by revealing a potential true identity of Fury, the violent manipulative alter ego that has been haunting the powerful psychic Remillard Family for decades since the death of patriarch Victor. Magnificat builds on that claim by narrowing the identity down to two family members both of whom might not be aware that Fury dwells inside their minds and refuses to leave. Meanwhile Fury’s protegee Hydra, once five cousins sharing a hive mind, is whittled down to one remaining member who is losing their sanity and planning a more personal approach towards revenge.

The undercurrents of rebellion against the Galactic Milieu have finally exploded and they have found their new figurehead in Marc Remillard. Marc is not only the Rebel leader, he is invested in his Mental Man project of creating babies injected with heightened amounts of the Remillard psychic DNA so he can communicate through them. Be the Fury to their Hydra if you will. Marc’s project and rebellious involvement pits him against his brother, Jon “Jack the Bodiless” Remillard and Jon’s wife, Dorothea “Diamond Mask” McDonald-Remillard, both of whom are determined to stop him and create Unity even if they have to use their entire minds, souls, and bodies to do it.

May’s gift for deep characterization and themes can be found in this volume as well as the others. Jack The Bodiless was mostly about Jack and his unique birth and overwhelming talent and his relationship with his dysfunctional family particularly his parents, Paul and Theresa Kendell-Remillard. Diamond Mask looks at Dorothea’s youth and transition from outsider to profound intergalactic leader as well as Hydra evolving from one mind into five distinct individuals.

 This final volume focuses specifically on two characters: Rogatien “Rogi” Remillard, the dry deadpan narrator hiding his own emotional pain and conflict behind a veneer of detachment and observation and Marc, who straddles the lines between genius and insanity, empathy and coldness, understanding and fear, rebellion against this higher threat and forcing his own brand of conformity. Through their eyes, we see a changing world erupting from the violence and tyranny within.

Rogi has been on the sidelines through most of the series, a part of the family but observing them at an emotional distance of wit and sarcasm. (When his great-niece, Anne reveals Fury’s identity, Rogi is not relieved about the resolution to a mystery that has been plaguing the family for over twenty years. Instead, he grumbles that she ruined what would otherwise have been a perfect day of Jack and Dorothea's engagement party.) However he is where the story begins and ends.

In the future, he is recruited to write the memoirs of the Galactic Milieu and the Remillard Family by an enigmatic character called The Family Ghost and The Atoning Unifex, an ageless god-like being who seems to know more than they let on and are clearly manipulating the situation for their own purposes. Rogi’s memoirs are a means to separate the truth from the lies and to show the reality of Milieu seen through the eyes of a family that lived through it. Rogi gives his family the chance to tell their own story.

Rogi is largely an observer but does take an active position in previous volumes. His most prominent action previously was to hide a very pregnant Teresa Kendall-Remillard in the Canadian wilderness and communicate telepathically with Jack while he was still in his mother's womb. This moment shows him as someone who puts his family before his own needs every time, a motivation that propels him in this volume as well.

Rogi is a contradictory character. He is a member of the Rebellion but is still close to the family members like Jack and Dorothea who support Unity. He is unmarried and sterile having no immediate family of his own but has a lost love and considers himself a father figure to the younger generations. He is as powerful as some of the stronger members but keeps his psychic levels firmly in check, assuming the form of a befuddled eccentric bookseller. He considers himself a coward but is proven to have the strongest moral character and highest amount of integrity in the entire cast of characters.

Rogi's most powerful moments occur when he is face to face with Fury. His anguish between destroying a monster responsible for the deaths of many and a beloved family member who became a surrogate child to him is deeply felt. He realizes that he is the only one who can kill the monster even if that means killing the vessel that he has grown to love.

Another character who gets a strong focus is Marc. His evolution from a devoted older brother to primary antagonist is one of the strongest character arcs as we see a man of immense talent and genius, unhappiness and anxiety about the world that he has been given, and an arrogant vision and ego to recreate it.

Much of Marc’s characterization comes from the themes of unity vs. rebellion. Many of the characters support Unity, combining their minds as one with the rest of the intergalactic species. The rebels want to maintain Earth's standing as an independent world. 

Marc and Rogi have some interesting twists to their characters, particularly their opinions towards Unity. Most Science Fiction readers are hard wired to be on the side of the Rebellion. Think Star Wars. Dune. 1984. Brave New World. Handmaid's Tale. Fahrenheit 451. Parable of the Sower. The Hunger Games. So on and so forth. It seems as though May is no different. 

After all her narrator character and one would assume Author Avatar/Creator Favorite character is Rogi, dedicated rebel. However he is not as cut and dry as one would think. Rogi is proud to be a rebel so much that when the mental call for Unity is thought around the globe, he mentally shuts down and refuses to join no matter how much Jack and Dorothea beg him to. However, he is chronicling the Milieu history on behalf of the most powerful being of the Milieu suggesting that his Unity involvement was pending. His true loyalties are multi-layered and three dimensional.

Marc is even more multilayered than Rogi. Jack and Dorothea falter a bit becoming card carrying supporters of Unity. They spend a lot of time getting married, starting a new life together, and become central figures on Earth and in the Milieu but become opaque and remote, no longer human or identifiable. As their characters become weaker, Marc’s strengthens. He weighs his actions and looks at the wide picture of what the planet could gain and lose. 

Marc's decision to become a Rebel is motivated by the cold logic of loss outweighing gain. He is the one who we see pursue goals, aspire for greater positions, respond with righteous anger and pride, fall in love, get his heart broken, fall down, and pull himself together. Since Jack and Dorothea are far off from us, Marc is the one closest to us. However there is a catch to understanding Marc’s humanity.

One would suppose that we are meant to support Marc’s rebellion but his creation of Mental Man muddies the outlook. He isn't looking to break from Unity for altruistic or global reasons. He is looking to create his own version of Unity and he can't allow any interference with those plans. He is not a Winston Smith fighting Big Brother because he wants to be Big Brother himself. 

The layers in character make the themes even more open-ended and invites readers to make their own decisions by presenting no side as being completely right or wrong. That is what this series’s ultimate gift is to make us see this fictional world but decide what we believe and where we stand for ourselves.

On a final personal note to the late great Julian May (RIP): Thank you for a groundbreaking and influential series that has meant so much to me and has led to almost 25 years of loving a genre that has given me so much creativity, imagination, inspiration, wonder, and joy.

Britannia Rises by Russell Dumper; Involved Relevant AU Science Fiction Where Britain Still Rules The Waves

 Britannia Rises by Russell Dumper; Involved and Relevant AU Science Fiction Where Britain Still Rules The Waves

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: I did not plan this but I suppose that it is most appropriate to review Britannia Rises by Russell Dumper for Independence Day weekend. This Alternate Universe Science Fiction novel has an involved and sweeping plot that is surprisingly relevant in modern United States where this once Democratic Republic is transforming into something else entirely.

In this timeline, The British Empire never ended. The United States lost the Revolutionary War and many other countries like India, Hong Kong, and South Africa are still under their leadership. In fact, they are interested in expanding by seizing more countries such as Venezuela and Nepal. They are faced with challenges from other superpowers like China, USSR (yes they are still around and intact), and The European Union, but are also feeling the pangs of rebellion from within. There are rebellious factions like the Dayak, a resistance group with which the Nepalese branch is highly active in this volume.

With a plot this wide reaching and complex, there are going to be various characters who are affected and this book covers such diverse characters and perspectives. Jamie Bayston is a university student who ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time and is forced to go into hiding. Edward McLaughlin is an American operative who crosses paths with young Bayston and ends up becoming his protector. Trevor Layttle is a German K6 agent whose security investigation takes him to higher and more conspiratorial levels. King Alfred is showing signs of mental decline and is preoccupied with potential foreign invasions, so his avaricious manipulative older son, Prince Leopold and his weak willed apathetic younger son, Prince Christian acquire the regency for the good of the kingdom and their father, so they say. Letitia Pearl leaves her native Canada for Nepal to enlist in the Dayak and is involved in key battles. Bob Royce is a career soldier whose assignment in Nepal allegiances with more violent soldiers cause him to question his own loyalty and humanity.

This is one of those books that scarily lines up with real life. I don’t know if Dumper was intentionally thinking of the current situation in the United States but it’s definitely suggestive of these times. Ironically as I am reading a book about a fictional British Empire strengthening their hold so other countries don’t gain their freedom, the United States may be in the process of losing theirs but not by outside forces but from our own government taking on a more Authoritarian Fascistic rule. 

This book shows what happens when the people surrender their will to a dictatorial society. It’s in the grand tradition of many Science Fiction works like 1984, Handmaid’s Tale, Idiocracy, CSA: Confederate States of America, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451 and the various books that I reviewed in the past eight years. They take a far off future or alternate history to comment on the situations that are happening now. 

The parallels can be seen. King Alfred, an Authoritarian despot who is clearly showing signs of mental instability has a lot in common with Donald Trump (with a lot of King Charles thrown in). The actions by his inner circle notably Prince Leopold are similar to oligarchs like Elon Musk and the Heritage Foundation who use the current Administration, narcissistic President, and his gullible followers to feed their own ambition. 

The experiences from Jamie Bayston, Letitia Pearl, Bob Royce and Trevor Layttle can be clearly seen today by people who are suffering from these actions in one way or another. All anyone has to do is read or watch the news and find out what’s happening to various groups like immigrants. LGBT+ people, Liberals, academics, investigative reporters, and voters, even those who once followed the current regime and have grown to regret it. Of course the organized protests such as No Kings certainly cause one to think along certain terms. 

We can all see the similarities especially when we are living inside them. The actions of the characters might be how we would act in some ways. We might be Bayston just a naive part of things until it hits us personally. We might be people like MacLaughlin or Pearl, people whose grief transformed into anger and then action against the system that caused it. We might be Layttle who learn too much and become targets because we shared that knowledge with others. We might be Royce those who followed the system until our conscience got in the way. 

We might be many of the unnamed unknown characters on the outside, average ordinary people, immigrants and citizens that find our lives irrevocably changed by people who take sadistic unconscionable delight in the suffering of others. Even those who once voted for it and actively campaigned for this regime will soon suffer under it. We all will just some of us will realize it quicker than others. 

While this is a relevant novel, it’s not a political tract. It is filled with depth in characters and situations that tell a suspenseful thrilling story. There are plenty of moments that will make the Reader nod in sympathy, rage in anger, or applaud wildly. Royce’s transition from loyal soldier to potential rebel is very real as he mentally shows unease during other soldiers’s boastful dark humor over what they will do to their victims. It then multiplies as those words and jokes become depraved actions and he has to rationalize what they did with what he allowed to happen. 

MacLaughlin and Bayston’s relationship is also a highlight. MacLaughlin gives the younger man pointers on how to survive on the run so this naive sheltered middle class kid shows the potential to become a street smart gun toting fighter. The moment where Bayston learns that he lost everything that he once held dear is predicted but no less heart wrenching as the boy realizes that he is unable to go home. It will be a tough road with plenty of sacrifices, more violence, and may only result in mere pin pricks against those in charge. Bayston has to decide if he is ready for it. 

Britannia Rises is not only a great example of Alternate Universe Science Fiction. It is very relatable to this universe’s current events. 

The Mantis Variant Book 1 in The Mantis Gland Series by Adam Andrews Johnson; Lunar Naturals: Alpha Squad by V.S. Hall; Two Allegorical Satirical and Topical Science Fiction Novels About People With Special Abilities

 

The Mantis Variant Book 1 in The Mantis Gland Series by Adam Andrews Johnson; Lunar Naturals: Alpha Squad by V.S. Hall; Two Allegorical Satirical and Topical Science Fiction Novels About People With Special Abilities 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: The Mantis Variant Book 1 in The Mantis Gland Series by Adam Andrews Johnson and Lunar Naturals: Alpha Squad by V.S. Hall are two novels that combine two frequent tropes found in Science Fiction: the existence of people with unusual abilities and an allegorical storytelling style that comments on the fictional world in the book and the real world surrounding the Reader. It is how the two works are approached in content, style, storytelling, and inspiration where the differences lie.

The Mantis Variant is an empowering novel that uses special abilities to comment on marginalized communities and the control that religious institutions have on the people underneath. 

The Mantis Variant focuses on three women who represent different statuses in futuristic Teshon City. Agrell is a member of the Messiahs, a cult that controls the city around them and has brutal means of enforcing that control. During a ritual, Agrell becomes sickened and runs away. Dozi is a street smart thief living by her wits and wants to be a Demifae, a mystic with special powers. Ilya is a Shift who has the ability of flight and has to take cover as her commune of Shifts is destroyed. The three women meet and become involved in the larger struggle between the Messiahs and those that they want to crush like the Shifts and Demifae.

The Mantis Variant touches on many current issues that exist in this fictional environment. The most prominent issues concern the stranglehold and fear mongering that groups like the Messiahs have over the people. They use their narrow minded world-view as a means to control and gain dominance over others, particularly marginalized people like the Shifts. The Messiahs’ influence is vast as Shifts are treated as second class citizens and either huddle up in homeless enclaves or are rounded up to serve their purposes.

 However, it's not enough for the Messiahs to have complete control over their people. They want the Mantis Glands, the glands that give Shifts their powers. Despite fearing the Shifts’ abilities, the Messiahs want to swallow those glands so that they can obtain power. That's what causes Agrell to run away. This inhuman process of not only denying a people's rights to live but to eat them like they were cattle is too far for her.

While the Messiahs represent the upper class in power, the Shifts stand for every minority, immigrant, LGBT person, person with disabilities, anyone who is considered an outsider or the “other.” The Shifts look different because some of their abilities manifest themselves in physical abnormalities. Their thought processes alter so they have highly elevated perspectives. Above all, they are often loyal to each other forming surrogate families to survive this oppression. 

Agrell, Ilya, and Dozi are taken in by Mystic and his husband,Theolon, a pair of Demifae who give them unconditional support and a plan for the future. They are part of a resistance against the current government and for the first time in a long time or ever, the trio are able to visualize a life without their oppressors. They also have another reason to bond with the young women. The couple’s Shift daughter, Lahari is missing and they need the trio’s help to find her.

Agrell, Ilya, and Dozi form a formidable trio that aids the resistance, their new friends, and each other. They begin to see the larger picture of fighting for others rather than their survival as individuals.

They also learn to adapt to their surroundings and evolve as characters. Ilya has felt cast aside, ignored, and hated by others, particularly her family. Now with her new allies, she accepts her abilities and finds a new family that understands her. 

Agrell was ashamed of her past and what her people did, often hiding much of herself like an empathetic nature or the extent of her powers. With her new friends and partners, she accepts those parts of her nature and personality that have been hidden because of prejudice. 

Unlike the others, Dozi doesn't have any special abilities and actually wants them. She feels insignificant and unimportant surrounded by people who do amazing things. Her evolution comes when she realizes that her street smart intelligence, physical dexterity, and survival instincts are valuable and no less important because she was trained to use them rather than being born with them. 

The Mantis Variant is a brilliant novel that reminds us that there are people who gain control by spreading fear and ignorance. But there are other people who counter that by accepting, understanding, and learning about others and fighting alongside them.

Lunar Naturals: Alpha Squad is definitely inspired by anime with its characters with wide ranging abilities, multiple action plots, and themes of young people rebelling against a tyrannical system.

Vin Sylo is a refugee from Earth and has pyrokinesis. After a fight in which his powers are revealed, Vin is recruited by Roy, the leader of Lunar, an organization inside a space colony dedicated to ensuring peace despite the violent terrorist factions and dictatorial governments that exist. Vin meets his future compatriots: Lae, who is an expert markswoman,  Kyo, who can control darkness, and Kaz, who has extra fast reflexes and movement.

Fans of manga and anime will especially love this book which is a love letter to the Japanese born art form. Many of the situations, characters, and plot points aren't too dissimilar from works like Rurouni Kenshin, Yu Yu Hakusho, The Gundam franchise, Dragonball, Get Backers, and Naruto. It is flashy, exciting, deep, and filled with tension and drama just like its film, television, and literary predecessors.

Vin is the archetypal lead in such works. He is a young hot head who had to get by his wits. Since he's been independent for so long, he isn't used to working with a team. Recognizing other's strengths, weaknesses, and his role within a group setting are the first tests that he must pass.

Most of the book is spent on Vin’s training which involves strategy and combat techniques. He learns to harness and increase his powers. He also learns when to attack, when to defend, and when to retreat. 

One of the best fighting chapters details a match between Vin and Kyo when both of their dark natures are unleashed. Watching the release of Kyo’s alternate demonic personality unnerves Vin but also pushes him to release the physical and psychological toll that his friend had been suppressing. He empathizes with his friend's plight and also recognizes the parallels between Kyo and himself with his own unchecked powers.

He has a similar situation with Lae when he is sent on assignment with the rest of his crew, Alpha Squad. At first he minimized Lae’s contribution and abilities while at the same time becoming attracted to her. When she takes their enemies down, he recognizes the full extent of her abilities and that she in many ways is Vin’s equal even superior in leadership and is able to even out some of the rougher edges of Vin’s personality as he does for her.

Anime fans in particular will love Lunar Naturals: Alpha Squad. But anyone looking for a good Science Fiction novel that explores young people discovering their own power against oppression will also enjoy it too.

The Crew by Michael Mohr; Gripping and Devastating Look At The Punk Culture and Real Rebellion Against Any Form of Conformity

 The Crew by Michael Mohr; Gripping and Devastating Look At The Punk Culture and Real Rebellion Against Any Form of Conformity 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: One of my former high school teachers said that “Teenagers are the worst conformists” and I can't help but agree. Many of them play at rebelling against their parents, school, and society but they also create a structure of their own. They often form tight peer groups and are quick to point out the weird ones who don't fit in. If someone steps outside that group's standards, they then become the target of the other’s rancor. You can rebel against anything that you want but not the teen status quo.

That attitude is perfectly explored in Michael Mohr’s The Crew which shows those teen conformist standards and how they apply in even the most rebellious of groups.

Jack “Dog” Donnigan is invited to join The Crew, a clique of punk kids who go to concerts, stay out all night, do a variety of drugs, get into fights and cause more trouble. They are led by the enigmatic Cannonball, who practically adopts Dog as a kid brother.. Unfortunately, when Dog falls in love with Cannonball’s girlfriend, Sarah, he learns that freedom comes with a price of Cannonball’s unquestionable authority. Woe on anyone who challenges that authority as Dog learns.

At first Dog is exhilarated by the acceptance and seemingly boundless freedom that the Crew seems to exhibit. This is perfectly encapsulated when Dog attends a concert with his new friends. Intoxicated by their acceptance and his new found bravado, Dog jumps to the stage and sings with the band. He feels the glaring spotlight and the attention and admiration which the Crew fills him with. This moment shows him as someone who is willing to move beyond his comfort zone to gain not only acceptance but to give himself a pivotal role within the group that accepts him.

As Dog becomes mired within the Crew’s interrelationships he starts to see their dark side, most notably in his interactions with Cannonball. He alternates between admiration and loathing for his leader. On the one hand, he thinks that Cannon is the standard that they should all aspire towards. On the other hand, he resents his complete control over the junior members. 

Cannon encourages Dog to challenge authority including his teachers and parents, even break ties with them. Their nightly meetings are partly to please hedonistic pleasures but also to question the standard life that the Crew had previously been given. Whether through drugs, music, or probing their innermost thoughts, Dog, Cannon, and the other Crew members are looking for answers and they hope that this surrogate family can provide them. 

It can become dangerous when a group becomes the central focus of a person’s life and Dog learns that almost too late. Once he starts a secret relationship with Sarah, he becomes the object of Cannnonball’s scorn. Once a favorite member of the Crew and potential second in command, he becomes their inside outsider. Cannonball creates a disinformation campaign which brings suspicion towards Dog from the other members. He also encourages sadistic pranks like abandoning Dog while he crashes from a drug high and escalates violent threats when he challenges his former recruit to a fight. 

Cannonball’s authoritarian hold on the Crew makes him a hypocrite to the act of rebellion that he claims to exhibit. It’s okay to thumb one’s nose at parents, teachers, and the law but disobeying Cannonball is a step too far. He becomes less like a gang leader and more like a cult leader who takes full authority over his followers to the point that he becomes surrogate father, teacher, mentor, leader, and deity. There are some implications that Cannonball’s unsettled home life left him rootless and he holds a tigh grip on his Crew to maintain a significance that otherwise would have been lost to him. However, that significance comes with it a dangerous ego that needs unquestionable blind worship to be satisfied.

It’s ironic that in his rebellion, Dog becomes more confined and boxed in than before. It is only in the end when he is deprived of everything that has held him: school, family, relationships, friendships, and even his old gang, that he finds the freedom that he has looked for and the uncertainty about life that freedom entails.

Weekly Reader: Root of All Evil: The Deluxe Edition by Ayura Ayira; Dictator’s Wife Fights For Love, Freedom, and Her Own Identity

 

Weekly Reader: Root of All Evil: The Deluxe Edition by Ayura Ayira; Dictator’s Wife Fights For Love, Freedom, and Her Own Identity 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Ayura Ayira’s previous book, The Protectress, was an erotic power play between two rival warriors who tried to dominate each other but ended up fighting on the same side. Though there were large stakes, the emphasis was on the personal, the two enemies turned lovers. Ayira’s latest novel, Root of All Evil: Deluxe Edition, combines the personal with the political, showing the internal struggles between characters and the external struggles in which they live. As a result she created a better story that is just as erotic but also widely encompassing and incredibly involving.

Zayani Ada is the wife of dictator Changa Ada and not by choice. A former child soldier, she was taken during an ethnic cleansing raid and forced into marriage for political reasons. Her husband's grip on his country and his wife is tight as she sees him for the monster that he really is.  Surrounding Zayani are plots of rebellion and assassination, including from some of her own people. A handsome aid worker, Stefan Du Mal, then appeals to her to become an active participant in the resistance.

Zayani is a memorable protagonist in a very tough situation. She is part of the Ijuns who are considered a lower class and looked unfavorably by the Kcohomi, of whom Changa is a part. His goal in marrying Zayani is to make it appear that the Ijun and Kcohomi are working together when nothing could be further from the truth. He is controlling towards his people and his wife. He is like most tyrants: suspicious, paranoid, and corrupt. He can only lead by fear and intimidation because that's all he has. No new ideas, no ways of helping the people, no aid or comfort. Just shouting, belittling, arresting, and executing. Changa is physically, verbally, and sometimes sexually abusive towards his wife and tries to dominate her the way that he does everyone else.

While Zayani hates and sometimes fears her husband, she does not allow that to interfere with her goals of helping people. She secretly funds and volunteers for humanitarian projects to help the Ijun advance in society. While she does not take an active part in rebelling against her husband, she knows many that do and keep them secret from him. She considers these rebels to be family and doesn't want to turn in any of them. In one heartbreaking moment, she is forced to name one of the rebels and it's clear that this action will haunt her forever. 

It takes Stefan to guide Zayani into becoming a more active participant though not just for himself. When he tells her that some school kids are missing, Zayani realizes that she has passed a point of no return. She is now actively involved in the fight against Changa and that if caught could mean arrest, exile, or more than likely death. All of the times when she silently planned for her husband's death and a regime change now has to come true and she has to lead it.

Erotica plays a part in this book but isn't as evident as it is in the Protectress. There are some sexual moments between her and Changa that are uncomfortable and unpleasant but they are meant to be. Zayani is in a submissive position practically owned and sold into marriage. There is no love in their moments of togetherness. There is just his power over her and her subversive nature in debating and arguing against him.

 When Zayani is with Stefan, it's not only truly sensual. It's a breath of fresh air that she is with someone who is an equal match. He shares her ideals and sees her as an individual, not just the First Lady of her country. Zayani meets someone who is on her level and this love allows her to become more open to joining the fight.

There are certain twists that happen halfway through the book that change Zayani’s perspective. She emerges more active and takes a leadership position. She does things that the Zayani of the earlier chapters would never do but demonstrates a strength of character and the tough decisions that she has to make so that her country and people don't fall to another dictator.

Weekly Reader: The Descendants (The Descendants Series Book One)by Destiny Hawkins; Intriguing Concept in YA Science Fiction About Finding One's Own Personal Power in a World Full of Energy Abilities

 

Weekly Reader: The Descendants (The Descendants Series Book One)by Destiny Hawkins; Intriguing Concept in YA Science Fiction About Finding One's Own Personal Power in a World Full of Energy Abilities 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Many Science Fiction dystopian novels have characters being separated by some arbitrary type, as an analogy on how modern society separates people from larger categories like race and social class to minor sets like IQ's or personality types. Whether it's by brain type like in Brave New World, social and personality factions like in Divergent, or assigned careers like in The Giver. 

In each one, there is a character (or characters) that doesn't fit into these assorted categories and questions the system that does this. 

The themes often are that people are people. They are flexible, learning, adaptive, complex, messy, and can't always be put into a box. Human nature by its own definition is changeable and often resists such placement. A person who prefers to be introverted in private may be extroverted in their jobs. A person with a high IQ may not have a lot of common sense or street smarts. 

While sometimes exploring such concepts may be interesting, that's a poor way of viewing the society at large.

Studying one's race and culture may drive a person to look into their own family history and where they came from. When someone takes a personality quiz, they could find favorite interests or a career in which they shine. But what is problematic is when people use those types to maintain superiority rather than equality. When they use those categories as an excuse to isolate and segregate people as a means to maintain that superiority.

That is the main theme that can be found in Destiny Hawkins' YA Dystopian Science Fiction novel, The Descendants. It is set in an alternate future in which people have different abilities in which they can control energy. They are called Lighters and are in charge of the Lighter Nation. 

The Lighters are then put into three categories: Brighter (possessing incredible speed and strength), Elem (the ability to control earth, air, fire, and water), and Dim (create darkness). They are then separated into subcategories depending on the color that the Lighter emits like soma for dark blue, vex for turquoise blue, and kali for white. They then operate on different levels depending on the brightness of their light. As if to make the point less subtle, the narrator even remarks that it's a terrible way to separate people by color and by shades of that color (get it?). 

Then there are the Nulls, people who cannot bring light forward at all. Rayah Bardeau, the narrator and protagonist,  is one such Null. Nulls are treated horribly. If they can't demonstrate Lighter powers by the time they finish school, then they have to become slaves.

 Major Artemis St. James, Rayah's former owner, is licking his lips in anticipation for that moment. While Rayah is at the Academy, her mother has taken her place as a slave but it is clear that he intends to use Rayah for more than chores.

Nulls are subjected to pain tests and other students are allowed to bully them. There are many intense scenes where Rayah is bullied by Artemis and the Lighter students. She isn't a slave by name, but it is apparent that most people in Lighter Nation do not treat her as a human being with equal rights.

What is particularly fascinating about the scenario that Hawkins writes is that The Descendants is almost the exact opposite of the scenario of X Men. Whereas the Marvel franchise depicts the people with powerful abilities as the outsiders, The Descendants portrays the ones without abilities as "The Others." Either way, they make the same point: that somehow bigoted people will find someone different to scapegoat, to look down upon, to isolate, to hate, to threaten, to hurt, and sometimes to kill just for who they are.

Some of the most interesting passages are when Rayah is in the Wild Lands, an area outside her homeland in which the citizens are forbidden to go. Of course, Rayah does and encounters people who live outside of Lighter rules and regulations. Her romance with Soren, one of the people from the Wild Lands, is a typical one for this genre though they are likable characters.

 Soren is particularly helpful in that he sees Rayah as a person not a Null. She also sees Soren as a person and not a wildling. They see beyond the programming that society has given them into the soul inside.

What the Wild Lands chapters do is give Rayah chances to reveal her own power. During her academy studies, she has shown a strong talent for hand to hand combat. She is able to use that to defend her new friends when they are threatened. She also discovers new abilities that were never dead, just dormant.

Without spoilers, on the one hand this revelation plays into the problems in Rayah's society by revealing that she fits in after all. However, on the other hand, that could also be the point. The Lighter Nation citizens may believe that they need someone to look down on to the point that they will deprive someone of their innate abilities to make it happen. They would rather have a class of slaves than admit that everyone could be treated as an equal.

The Descendants has a lot to say about how we separate people into various types and categories and sometimes use them to look down upon others. It also shows how we can use our personal power to stand against that categorization and be seen as individuals.

New Book Alert: Enemy by Kimberly Amato; Yet Another Dark, Disturbing, and All Too Real Dystopian Science Fiction

 

New Book Alert: Enemy by Kimberly Amato; Yet Another Dark, Disturbing, and All Too Real Dystopian Science Fiction 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers (BIG HEAVY SPOILERS IMPLIED!!!) Here we go again.

Here we have yet another dystopian science fiction novel that might as well be (to borrow the old Law and Order ad catchphrase) "ripped from the headlines." 

I can't imagine why, but that has become quite a popular genre of late. (End sarcasm). I mean it's not like we are in an environmental catastrophe, been through a worldwide pandemic, have businesses who would rather work with a small workforce than kick in a few bucks so their employees can survive, student loan and housing crisis, inflation and no living wage to counter it, supply chain issues, international crisis with China, and had a former President with tyrannical ambitions encourage his own followers to attack the Capitol building or anything.

(Really, end sarcasm.)

Most people read and write for escapism. This genre is like the Universe saying "Not today, Bookworm! You're going to read it, write it, think about it, and you're going to like it!" 

Not only that but is it just me or do these dystopians get darker and darker? Just when you think you have read the final one, the bleakest one yet that squashes any hope for humanity, along comes another one which tops that. What, do these authors challenge each other to see who can be the most depressing?

Case in point, Kimberly Amato's Enemy which seems to have taken its inspiration from the Jim Henson series, Dinosaurs' final episode "Changing Nature" which seemed to have as its motto "If you want to get viewers talking and watching, then leave them dying and the audience crying."

I thought that Ark of the Apocalypse finally caused me to hit the bottom. Enemy reminded me that there is no bottom, just the big gaping abyss that Nietzsche spoke about. 

Ark of the Apocalypse had a plan of traveling to other worlds. The plan showed that while the characters who conceived it were unlikeable, at least something was salvageable. 

With Enemy, there is no plan. There is no space travel. There is just survival and a slow countdown to extinction. 

There are various subplots in this book which takes place in the near future. The United States is taken over because of an alliance between a former American and Russian President. Obviously, it's part futuristic story and as of right now part alternate universe, because it practically stems from many of the fears over what would happen if a certain someone had won a second term. Though he's barely referred to by name, it's clear that many of the tyrannical 

legislation and requirements on the dystopian government's agenda are based on policies by a certain previous Presidential administration and its cult of followers.

Anyway in Enemy, the President of the United States, James Laskin is a puppet ruler under the true master,  King Valkov, "the one true ruler" of the world. Women, LGBT, and minorities are deprived of their rights. The dying environment has caused many to live underground. Prison employees are permitted to use brainwashing and torture and many are imprisoned for so-called "heinous" crimes like criticizing the government, being disabled, or emigrating into the country. There is no illegal immigration, because immigration is forbidden or rather I should say, that everyone who enters the country is considered an illegal immigrant. Of course the news is nothing more than propaganda and children are educated to fit the world government's definition of "God and Country."

Despite this tight stranglehold on truth and freedom, there are small cells of resistors that communicate with each other virally. 

Most of the protagonists of this story are part of one such cell. One of those members is Agent Ellie Goldman, a former Multinational Security Council Operative, who is now one of the heads of the Resistance. Besides helping people enter the country, she has one other goal in mind: to kill President Laskin.

However, there is dissension within the ranks as many male former military operatives turned rebels don't like being ordered about by a woman. 

Osaka, a Rebel, is undercover working for Laskin but she can't disguise her growing affection for the President's young son, Maxim. Osaka's lover and fellow rebel, Anton, is determined to rescue his captive sister, Nadja.

Riker's Island, a New York prison, is now a central hub or torture and brainwashing. It's run by the militant Col. Macalov and much of the nastiest work is headed by the sadistic Mr. Flannery, who would love to replace Macalov. Also, working at Riker's Island is low level Officer Tim Flynt who takes care of his mentally ill mother and younger brother, Sam, who may be interested in joining the rebels.

Meanwhile, President Laskin has a long list of enemies that he wouldn't mind doing away with and using the Resistance to do so.

The main emotion that runs throughout this book is a certain world weariness, perhaps from the Reader being bombarded with similar scenarios in fiction and probable ones in real life. The world weariness also exists within the framework of the book itself and within the characters. 

The rebels overall plans are to kill Laskin and infiltrate and destroy Riker's Island. They plan this while other cells around the world are destroyed and other rebels are killed, arrested, or converted. Because this dictatorship is worldwide, the odds of Ellie's cell doing any permanent damage is unlikely. There are other Rikers and many people to replace Laskin. The thing is they know it too. Their actions such as they are, are mere pinpricks towards the dictatorship. Ellie can only hope that what they do will inspire others to act.

These are people who have lived their whole lives under this regime and have either grown accustomed or apathetic to it. The ones that fight, have replaced ideals with survival. They have no plans on what to replace the dictatorship with, just live with it, fight against it, and be alive long enough to see it end.

After all with as much damage that has been done to the world, there may not be anything salvageable left to recover.

While weariness is the main emotion, there are some genuine heartfelt moments, particularly by characters who cling to friends and family members because that's all they have. Ellie definitely has tunnel vision in her desire to kill Laskin and is very militant and authoritarian towards her fellow rebels. However, she is grieving over the death of her wife, a woman who was the love of her life. She also connects with an immigrant family consisting of a single mother and her young children. 

Speaking of children, Osaka's bond with Maxim is moving as she sees not an enemy but a small child who is not at fault for what his father does. She becomes more of a parental figure 

to him than his actual parents.

There are some heartbreaking passages which reveal the real price of the war between the oppressors and the oppressed. When Anton learns of his sister's fate, his grief is real and believable showing that there is great loss on all sides. It's like a cry of pain that travels from the words to the Reader's souls.

Tim is an eyewitness to the torture of a rebel and is left traumatized by the experience especially by her calm acquiescence to death. While he remains working at Riker's for some time afterwards, it's clear this experience changed him and is part of why he is reluctant to discover where Sam's allegiances lay. He doesn't want his kid brother to go through that experience of torture with Tim having to helplessly watch and do nothing. Suddenly, these faceless rebels have names and identities to Tim and one of those is the person that he loves the most.

That care for character is also given to many of the antagonistic characters. Some like Flannery delight in cruelty while other like Valkov are far off and remote from the overall action, others are dissected more closely. Laskin is charming, crafty and is distant but concerned for his family. Macalov shows compassion in some of the strangest times such as when he refuses to torture a small child (True, that the child benefits him in his overall plans is a factor, but the fact that he stopped it at all is particularly notable.) They are portrayed as men who might have once been reasonable even idealistic, but like everyone else, made the choice to survive. They just chose to go with the regime rather than fight against it.

 Instead of a straight line between the Evil Empire vs. The Good Rebels, the line is faint and more jagged. Everybody exists in a shade of gray, suggesting there are no direct enemies because the real enemy is inside.

Which leads us to the ending. Because of the previous weariness and emotions of the characters, there is no thought that this book will end in victory for either side. There is some good tension as plans are made and sides attack and counterattack. However, any type of happy victory would ring hollow because of the somber tone that preceded it. Pessimism reigns throughout this book and is definitely present in the final pages.

Because of humanity's self destructive nature, no one comes out a winner. It gets worse in the final pages as at the very end, no one learns anything. This countdown to violence and destruction may continue and once again, we will head for extinction.

It's as though Enemy, literally is the final word on humanity's probable chances for existence. Let's listen to it

But for now, let it be the final word on the dystopian science fiction genre.

Weekly Reader: Effacement by Hieronymus Hawkes; Suspenseful Tech Heavy Science Fiction Chase Thriller That is All Too Timely

 

Weekly Reader: Effacement by Hieronymus Hawkes; Suspenseful Tech Heavy Science Fiction Chase Thriller That is All Too Timely

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: This is yet another book that I am reading that has familiar echoes in reality. Where the fictional situation which is being explored is also discussed in the real world outside the book.

Just as I am reading Effacement by Hieronymus Hawkes, a science fiction tech thriller in which everyone's information is displayed for all the world to see and privacy is non-existent, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and founder of Facebook (well Meta now) is being held under scrutiny by a whistleblower who called Zuckerberg and the social media giant out regarding targeting children as potential users, not addressing national security concerns, and using algorithms to intentionally spread false information and hate speech. 

 Other concerns facing the social media empire include a lack of privacy, censoring accurate but critical information, and interfering with elections.

In Hawkes' version, the tech industry goes one step further. Instead of posting all of the information on the Internet through social media so people can voluntarily peruse such data, the data is transmitted inside people's brains through a device called Lifelog. Lifelog stores where they were born, their address, what they ate, who they hung out with, general health, where they shopped, and where they are. They are connected through a neurochip based network, called Vitasync, and the information can be viewed with AR glasses. Since the network is connected through the brain, there is so none of that messy computer or mobile device necessity to deal with.

 In fact it is illegal to be without the neurochip. The crime is called effacement and is usually resolved by the sinisterly named Federal Department of Fidelity.

That is the situation faced by Cole Westbay, the protagonist who wakes up with sharp severe pain, a splitting headache, and no access to Lifelog. He isn't effaced (is that even a word in this universe?) by choice but he is treated like he is and will soon be facing trial. Eventually, he finds himself on the run, reaching the interest of his former company, his fiancee Tesla, the FDF, and a resistance group that chooses to live without the Vitasync.

Effacement is one of those science fiction novels that is so prevalent and so intriguing because it is so prescient. With books like this, Reality Testing, and Centricity warning about the abuses of technology and the Internet, right at the same time that tech companies are under suspicion for such misuse is alarmingly familiar.

Effacement's version of tech is like the current tech CEO's times 10. Big Brother isn't just watching you. He's watching everyone else too and probably dancing horribly to Tick Tock while laughing at cat videos.

With the current issues concerning the tech industry and a book like Effacement, it almost makes you want to log off permanently and become a Luddite. 

I said almost. I work from home, in a job that I love, that I would not be able to do in person. Plus, I am aware that I am reading an ebook, one of several, that I purchased from Amazon on a Kindle device, am writing a review for a blog, and will soon be sharing the review on social media platforms, Facebook and Twitter, so the irony does not escape me.

Cole is the typical protagonist that can be found in this genre: quiet, unassuming, sardonic on the inside but not much of a rebel on the outside. Since his injury occurs right before we are introduced to him, we don't experience Cole as a cooperative member of the system. He has OCD and is an addict, probably to cope with this tech heavy world around him where the nights and days seem to have a thousand eyes.

Instead, we see him after he has forcibly been yanked from the system and he doesn't know why. Mostly, we get inferences towards his previous behavior such as his job in R&D in which he and his boss have a mentor-protege relationship and his engagement with Tesla, in which he is getting irritated with her narcissism. He gets irritated with the world around him but doesn't think about it until he is removed from it and forced to look at the Vitasync-less world.

Even Cole's reasons for even considering joining the resistance are more self involved than altruistic. He is attracted to Eva, one of the Resistors, by her physical appearance more than swayed by her sound arguments. Even after he gets to know her, he is mostly interested in her for being an attorney that exclusively works with those who have been effaced, so she can plead for his defense. It is only after he goes to the resistance hideout and sees a world of nature, sincere people, and  alone time with his thoughts that he actually wants to help for the larger picture of a life without Lifelog.

There are some moments that really stand out for Cole's character. One of them is after his Vitasync is removed. He feels pain as though someone's arm has been severed. It is a threatening experience which reveals in its intensity how it feels to be suddenly caught off from society and not by choice. For Cole, it is pure physical and mental torture like going through a drug withdrawal.

The other moments are when he is at the Resistance's hideout. He sees a farm where people work with their hands and are very cooperative. There are some humorous passages like when he rides a snowmobile for the first time and becomes violently ill. Throughout this journey, Cole is almost like a kid at Christmas experiencing real joy for the first time. 

This book is for the most part great but there are some flaws. The content is very tech heavy and sometimes difficult to follow when the Reader is trying to see through the tech talk to get to the story. It's ironic that a book that is so critical of the reaches of technology would be so enamored in describing it. I suppose like this Reader who could not avoid using technology to share her thoughts about this book, Hawkes can't avoid getting lost in the details in writing about it.

The other flaw cannot just be found in science fiction but in other genres, that of explaining too much in the beginning, leaving out much suspense and speculation. There is a prologue dealing with an FDF agent that spells out exactly what his role is and why he stalks Cole later. 

More egregious is an early chapter involving two characters that not only reveal why Cole's neurochip had been removed but that of a far reaching conspiracy. This makes the two character's motives questionable even as they claim that they are helping Cole.

 It also keeps the Reader ahead of Cole which since he is our protagonist, we shouldn't be that far ahead in knowledge. This exposition isn't necessary for the overall story and is clunky rather than compelling. Instead this important chapter could have been presented much later in flashbacks or through one character explaining what happened. As it is, there is less interest in Cole's journey as he stumbles looking for answers that we already know. At times, he comes across looking like an idiot for trusting characters that we know are not trustworthy.

Despite its glaring flaws, Effacement is a suspenseful and timely warning about how far we could go to be connected. It could happen just as quickly as tomorrow.