Johnny Mnemonic - Terry Bisson

 

    1995; 246 pages.  New Author? : No.  Genres: Cyberpunk; Dystopian Science Fiction; Urban Thriller.  Overall Rating : 7*/10.

 

    Hey, did you ever have trouble getting rid of some unwanted memory that was stuck in your head?  Well, Johnny Mnemonic has that same problem.

 

    Okay, not quite.  Actually, he has a data storage chip stuck in his brain.  When it comes to transferring top secret information, Johnny Mnemonic is much more reliable than computers.  Plug a connecting cable into Johnny’s head, upload the file, protect it with a couple of passwords, unplug when finished, and tell him where to deliver it.  Not even Johnny himself can access the chip.  It’s foolproof.

 

    Okay, not quite.  Someone wants to hijack Johnny’s latest mission.  They may not have the passwords, but a good hacker can overcome that.  What they need is the data storage chip.  And that can be extracted from Johnny’s brain.

 

    In a most blood-curdling fashion.

 

What’s To Like...

    Johnny Mnemonic was originally a short story by William Gibson that appeared in Omni Magazine in 1981.  It was expanded into an hour-and-a-half movie in 1995 (starring Keanu Reeves), and Terry Bisson did a 246-page novelization of the movie in 1995 as well.  This review is of Bisson’s novel.

 

    The main story thread follows Johnny as he desperately tries to avoid falling into the hands of a crack team of Yakuza assassins tasked with acquiring the data chip, with or without Johnny’s presence around it.  The book opens in Beijing, China, but most of the story takes place in Newark, New Jersey.

 

    The action starts immediately.  Johnny’s clients are in the middle of uploading the secret files and passwords into Johnny’s skull when the Yakuza thugs strike.  Johnny barely escapes, and after that, it’s just one thrill after another.  He meets a bunch of interesting characters along the way, not all of which have his best interests in mind.

 

    I liked the dystopian world setting.  The rich are extremely rich and decadent.  The poor are extremely poor and extremely cautious and cunning.  The street preacher is devout and deadly.  And the dolphin is a computer whiz, but also a heroin junkie.  There are some neato futuristic gadgets such as vidphones and stun clubs, and an innovative way to prolong one’s existence.

 

    Things build to a suitably tense and exciting climax.  Help comes unexpectedly from a family member.  And the junkie dolphin.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 5.0*/5, based on 1 rating and 0 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.79*/5, based on 12,336 ratings and 206 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    Yomamma and Pretty didn’t like each other all that much.  They had been man and woman once, though nobody except themselves could remember which had been the man and which the woman.  Now they were both women—Ralfi’s amazon gladiator muscle.  Yomamma was black and Pretty was white, but they both had augmented jade-green eyes and, except for the tone of their skin, they could have been built out of the same kit: steroid-spectacular biceps, V-2 rocket breasts, hips like sugar-cured hams and thighs twisted with muscle like bridge cables.  There hadn’t been enough meat left over for brains.  (pg. 50)

 

    “I should have known better!” he said.

    “Known better than what?”

    “Known better than to try to help.  All my life I’ve been careful to stay in my own corner, looking out for number one.  No complications.  Now suddenly, according to Spider, I’m responsible for the entire f**king world, plus everybody and his mother is trying to kill me, which is totally unnecessary since my head is going to blow up first!”  (pg. 168)

 

“So farce, oh good,” as the Americans liked to say. (pg. 30)

    The profanity level was relatively light in Johnny Mnemonic.  I counted just 11 instances in the first 20% of the book, although three of those were f-bombs.  There’s lots of violence and killing, although I’d rate it PG, not R.  I didn’t notice any typos.

 

    If I had to quibble about anything, it would be that there’s not a lot of depth to the tale.  Johnny runs; Yakuza dudes chase; all turns out well in the end.  But I think this is inherent when penning a novelization of an action-intrigue movie.  And as our real world tries to cope with Artificial Intelligence impacting our lives, perhaps Johnny Mnemonic has a timely message about that.  There are also some interesting religious insights offered via the Street Preacher dude.

 

    The movie version of Johnny Mnemonic generally received poor ratings and I suspect this constrained Terry Bisson’s literary efforts.  Nonetheless, I’ll be on the lookout for the DVD of this.

 

    7 Stars.  One last thing.  The paperback version of Johnny Mnemonic at Amazon is limited to one source.  When I checked at the time of writing this review (Sept. 23), the price for a used copy was $1,329.50.  Yesterday, it was $1,446.56.  I got my paperback copy, albeit of a different edition, for $4.00.

A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess

    1962; 152 pages.  New Author? : Yes.  Genres : Dystopian Fiction; British Literature; Movie Tie-In; Banned Books.  Overall Rating: 9*/10.

 

    You gotta hand it to the droog, Alex.  That’s because if you don’t hand him everything you’ve got, Alex will thrash you to within an inch of your life.

 

    Come to think of it, Alex might beat you up even if you do give him everything you’ve got.  He's one of those malchicks who thoroughly enjoys being a gangland thug.

 

    The police are aware of Alex’s misdeeds, of course.  They’d love to throw him in jail, but finding witnesses willing to testify against him, and who are still alive, has been impossible so far.

 

    Also, the jails are getting crowded due to gangland thuggery running rampant.  If only there was some magical way to reform hardened criminals.

 

What’s To Like...

    The initial book version of A Clockwork Orange came out in 1962, followed a decade later by the blockbuster movie version.  Both of those releases thoroughly irritated the book’s author, Anthony Burgess, because both chose to delete the entire last chapter in his book.  A ”complete” version, including that final chapter, was published in 1986 in the UK, and that’s the version I read.

 

    The story is told in the first-person POV (Alex’s), which means you get to read it in punk gangland slang language called “Nadsat”.  In most cases, I could suss out the meanings of the Nadsat words; with Anthony Burgess also providing translations of a few of the more obscure words in the text.  Still, I kept a list of the Nadsat-to-English vocabulary, and am very glad I did.  And you can also Google the Nadsat word to get its translation.  Ain’t 21^st-century technology amazing?!

 

    Outside of the absent/present last chapter, the book and the movie versions match up rather well.  I’d seen the film twice when it first came out, so I pretty much knew how the storyline went.  If you haven’t seen and/or read this tale, be forewarned that there is an abundance of violence in it.  The enigmatic title is referenced several times in the text, and the first excerpt below, which comes from the author’s Introduction, not the story itself, will clue you in.

 

    The ending is both logical and twisty.  It appropriately answers “What is Alex’s ultimate fate?”, both in the immediate future (Chapter 20), and later on in life (the initially deleted Chapter 21).  I felt that it left the door open for a sequel, but that never happened.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

    Droog (n.) : a young, violent gang member; a ruffian (Nadsat slang)

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.4*/5, based on 11,014 ratings and 1,556 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.00*/5, based on 781,357 ratings and 26,306 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    If {a human being} can only perform good or only perform evil, then he is a clockwork orange—meaning that he has the appearance of an organism lovely with colour and juice but is in fact only a clockwork toy to be wound up by God or the Devil or (since this is increasingly replacing both) the Almighty State.  It is as inhuman to be totally good as it is to be totally evil.  The important thing is moral choice.  Evil has to exist along with good, in order that moral choice may operate.  Life is sustained by the grinding opposition of moral entities.  (loc. 74)

 

    “I’ve been out of the rookers of the millicents for a long time now.”

    “That’s just what worries me,” sighed P.R. Deltoid.  “A bit too long of a time to be healthy.  You’re about due now by my reckoning.  That’s why I’m warning you, little Alex, to keep your handsome young proboscis out of the dirt, yes.  Do I make myself clear?”

    “As an unmuddied lake, sir,” I said.  “Clear as an azure sky of deepest summer.  You can rely on me, sir.”  And I gave him a nice zooby smile.  (pg. 30)

 

“There’s the mackerel of the cornflake for you, you dirty reader of filth and nastiness.”  (pg. 5)

    The amount of profanity in A Clockwork Orange is surprisingly small—I noted just six instances in the first 50% of the book.  Of course, this is offset by several assaults and rapes.  It should be noted, however, that those violent scenes are less graphic in the book than on the screen.

 

    My e-book gave the story’s length as 152 pages, but I wouldn’t call it a quick read.  There are a slew of gangland slang words used, and it takes some time to remember which means what, even if you’re keeping a list.

 

    Overall, reading the book version fifty years after watching the movie was a great experience.  Yes, there's a flood of sex and violence, but the reader is also given much to think about.  Is there a way to cure violent behavior in thugs like Alex?  If so, is it a godsend or a curse?  If the choice of what we do is taken away, have we been dehumanized?  And so on.

 

    Based on Amazon and Goodreads reviews, readers of A Clockwork Orange seem very divided on its merits or lack thereof.  Some think it’s a brilliant novel, others claim it’s the worst book they’ve ever read.  I’m in the first camp.

 

    9 Stars.  One last thing.  A group called PEN America monitors what books are being removed from library shelves in public schools on a yearly basis.  For the 2024-2025 school year, the book banned the most times, with 23 bans total, was A Clockwork Orange.  Google it for details.

Red Rising - Pierce Brown

    2014; 383 pages.  Book 1 (out of 6) in the “Red Rising” series.  New Author? : Yes.  Genres: Dystopian Fiction; Military Action; Adventure Fantasy.  Overall Rating: 9½*/10.

 

    It’s a dirty job, but Darrow’s got to do it.  After all, he is one of the best Helldivers in underground Mars, tunneling deeply, and dangerously, into the rock to gather precious Helium-3.

 

    He may die doing his job, but Darrow is prepared to make that sacrifice.  Helium-3 is the key to eventually terraforming the Martian surface, something he would love to see someday.

 

    That’s years away, though.  And something a lowly “Red” like Darrow can only dream about.  But now, he’s learned that there’s a secret shaft that you can climb up and maybe glimpse the lifeless Martian surface.  What an opportunity!  That’ll be spectacular!

 

    You don’t know the half of it, Darrow.

 

What’s To Like...

    Although it is set on the planet Mars, Red Rising is first and foremost a Dystopian tale.  The story is told in the First Person POV, Darrow’s; and the book is divided into four Parts, namely:

    Part 1: “Slave”  (@ 1%)

    Part 2: “Reborn”  (@ 13%)

    Part 3: “Gold”  (@ 34%)

    Part 4: “Reaper”  (@ 65%)

 

    The central theme of the book is watching Darrow gradually learn to be a leader.  The culture on Mars is a strict caste society.  Gold is the highest, and Red is the lowest,  As the book’s title implies, Darrow is a lowly Red.  Becoming a leader will be an uphill challenge, and Darrow is going to make his share of mistakes along the way.

 

    The worldbuilding is fantastic.  The story is set in the considerable future since we learn that there are multiple underground Martian colonies and they’ve been there for generations.  Weaponry has advanced accordingly; arms such as scorchers, stunners, thumpers, slingBlades, ionSwords, and ionArrows are now standard issue.  I recall only one strange creature in the story—pitvipers, the bane of Helldivers.  But there are probably more.

 

    I enjoyed the details that Pierce Brown blends into the story.  Darrow learns to play a game called “BloodChess”, and since I’ve been a chessplayer all my life, I’m dying to learn this variant.  Darrow is taught a Kung-Fu-like martial art called “Kravat” and the correct spelling of a governmental system is now “Demokracy”.  On the other hand, youngsters still love to play a game called “Red Knuckles”, which was around when I was growing up.

 

    The book ends at a logical place, with a plot twist that I never saw coming.  Red Rising is part of a 6-book series, and I’m sure the sequel, Golden Son, will continue the timeline of Darrow’s adventure without interruption.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.6/5 based on 94,997 ratings and 6,826 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.27/5 based on 845,123 ratings and 93,395 reviews

 

Excerpts...

    “I’ve hidden from everyone but you,” Mustang says.  “It keeps me alive and ticking.”

    “What’s your plan,” I ask.

    She laughs at herself.  “To be alive and ticking.”

    “You’re better at it than I am.”

    “How do you mean?”

    “No one in your House would have betrayed you.”

    “Because I didn’t rule like you,” she says.  “You have to remember, people don’t like being told what to do.  You can treat your friends like servants and they’ll love you, but you tell them they’re servants and they’ll kill you.”  (pg. 267)

 

    “Do you really eat your own Housemembers?”

    “After months in darkness, you eat whatever your mouth finds.  Even if it’s still moving.  It isn’t very impressive, really.  Less human than I would have liked, very much like animals.  And anyone would have done it.  But dredging up my foul memories no way to negotiate.”

    “We aren’t negotiating.”

    “Humans are always negotiating.  That’s what conversation is.”  (pg. 347)

 

Kindle Details…

    Red Rising currently is priced at $5.99 at Amazon.  The rest of the books in the series cost either $9.99 or $12.99.  You can save a couple of bucks by buying the first three books in this series as a bundle for $26.99.

 

“You’re about as pretty as a gargoyle’s wart.”  (pg. 292)

    There's a moderate amount of profanity in Red Rising; I counted 15 instances in the first 10% of the book.  Pierce Brown lessens the cussword-count by utilizing a couple of euphemistic words: “slag” and “gory”.  They are multifunctional; two examples are “slag that” and “bugger my goryballs”.  I’ll let you deduce their meanings.

 

    This is a work of Dystopian Fiction, so things like rape, dismemberment, and slavery are to be expected.  I also recall at least one “adult situation”.

 

    I can’t think of anything to grouse about in Red Rising.  True, the ending doesn’t really tie up any of the main plotlines, but, as mentioned above, it does pause things at an important moment, yet without degenerating into a cliffhanger.

 

    I find the high value of the Amazon and Goodreads ratings fully justified, and the incredible number of people who took the time to rate and/or review tells me this series is immensely popular right now.  Book Two resides on my Kindle, awaiting my attention.

 

    9½ Stars.  One last thing.  Is Red Rising a goryfine read?  You better slagging believe it!

An Easy Death - Charlaine Harris

    2018; 306 pages.  Book One (out of 6) in the “Gunnie Rose” series.  New Author? : No, but a new series.  Genres: Alternate Timeline, Dystopian Fiction, Magical Fantasy.  Overall Rating : 6*/10.

 

    Meet 19-year-old Lizbeth “Gunnie” Rose.  The “gunnie” nickname tells you her vocation—she’s a professional gunslinger-for-hire, working out of the city of Segundo Mexia in Texoma.  We’ll explain those weird place names in a bit.

 

     Gunnie lives in a “wild, wild west” world.  Traveling between settlements is a dangerous, almost suicidal undertaking.  There are oodles of bandits roaming the hinterlands, looking for victims, to say nothing of Indian hunting parties that may or may not decide to shoot travelers if game is scarce.  Finding work as a bodyguard is easy for the sharpshooter Gunnie.

 

    So let’s ride along with Lizbeth and her crew of fellow gunnies.  I sure hope it’s not too boring of an experience.

 

What’s To Like...

    An Easy Death is the first book in Charlaine Harris’s “Gunnie Rose” series.  It is set in an alternate timeline America where the United States has been shattered following an early assassination of President Franklin Roosevelt.  Various nations have seized large chunks of the fringe areas of the United States, and the remainder of the nation has pulled itself apart.  I don’t recall the time element being listed, but the setting has a1930s-40s feel.

 

    The story is told from the first-person POV, Lizbeth’s.  We tag along in her two most recent gunnie jobs, which both start in her native Texoma, a portmanteau of Texas and Oklahoma.  To give details here would entail spoilers, but the second job involves guarding the lives of two Russian Grigoris (think “magicians”, the term is derived from first name of the Russian mystic, Grigori Rasputin) who need to travel to Juarez, Mexico, in search of a “bleeder” for their ailing tsar.

 

    The tone of the story is darker and grittier than the other Charlaine Harris series I’m reading, the Sookie Stackhouse books.  Gunnie’s sharpshooting skills are complemented by her Grigori employers' abilities to cast spells, and both skills will be needed to the utmost against the numerous assassins sent to kill them.

 

    The worldbuilding is sparse, but adequate.  There’s a useful map at the beginning of the book to help you with the geography, and enough details in conversations by our three protagonists to give you some idea of the alternate history.

 

    The ending is suitably climactic.  Lizbeth returns home from her two jobs—well, you knew that because there are five more books in the series—and the matter of who sent all those assassins is cleared up.  Oh yeah, she may or may not have found a relative of hers along the way.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

    Hinky (adj.) : dishonest or suspect (a Yankeeism).

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.4/5 based on 5,5496 ratings and 484 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.85/5 based on 18,925 ratings and 2,428 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    Before we went to sleep, Eli cast a spell around our campsite strong enough to keep a bear out, he told me.  His hands moved, and his lips, too.  I watched.  Paulina didn’t.  She trusted him to do it right.

    I’d never seen anything like this.  Eli seemed all wrapped up in strength.

    “If this spell of yours will keep bears out, why do you need me?” I said.

    “It won’t keep out bullets,” he said.

    That was a good answer.  “I’ll keep watch tonight,” I said.  (pg. 94)

 

    The witch the night before, she had been both a beautiful woman and an ancient crone, and I didn’t know which was her real face.  The not knowing, it made me queasy.

    Not only that, but the Grigoris could take life in weird and horrible ways.  Removing the blood.  Sucking away the soul.  In comparison, gunshots seemed honest and straightforward.  I knew that wasn’t fair.  Dead was dead.  (pg. 153)

 

Kindle Details…

    Currently An Easy Death sells for $9.99 at Amazon.  Books 2 through 5 cost the same; Book 6 is priced at $12.99.  Charlaine Harris has five other series where she is the sole author, plus several more where she collaborates with other authors.  Amazon lists a total of 169 Kindle titles by her.  Prices are generally in the $3.99-$14.99 range.

 

“What an interesting situation,” she said.  “Who killed me?”  (pg. 263)

    There was a fair amount of profanity in An Easy Death; but the 18 cusswords I noted in the first 20% were about what I expected.  There are also a number of adult situations, including a rape, several rolls-in-the-hay, and references to a certain part of the anatomy.  Needless to say, there’s a lot of bloodshed as well.

 

    There was one minor continuity issue.  Gunnie notices a woman carrying “Marcial’s rifle”, which was odd, since no one of that name had yet appeared in the text.  A backstory shows up a couple pages later, muchly appreciated, but it would’ve been better to have that explanation when Gunnie initially saw the rifle.

 

    The big issue I had with An Easy Death, and which was noted also by several other reviewers, was the repetitiveness of the storytelling.  We travel with Gunnie and her clients and friends through lots of towns, facing baddies galore, shooting them and getting shot at, but without any advancement of the plotline of who’s trying to kill them and why. Even when that answer is finally found, I was left with the feeling of “is that all there is?”

 

    Still, maybe this was just intended to be an introduction to an alternate world, with a compelling storyline relegated to the next book, A Longer Fall, which I have on my Kindle.  At both Amazon and Goodreads, the ratings do tend to trend upward as the series progresses.

 

    6 Stars.  One last thing.  At one point our travelers come across hex signs on a farm, being used to make sure no one steals its chickens.  I grew up in Pennsylvania Dutch country, where such symbols can still be seen on the sides of barns, put there for good luck.  Awesomeness!

Brightside - Mark Tullius

   2012; 304 pages.  Book 1 (out of 2) in the “Brightside” series.  New Author? : Yes.  Genres : Dystopian Fiction; Psychic Suspense.  Overall Rating: 7½*/10.

 

    They call us Thought Thieves.

 

    The more common word is “telepaths”.  There’s a fair number of us living quietly among you normal people.  Mostly, we’re just trying to avoid revealing to you that we can read your thoughts.  Because if the authorities find that out, they will immediately take the thought-thief into custody.

 

    My name’s Joe Nolan.  I’m one of those detainees.  My own father turned me in.  Can you believe that?!  The Boots (that’s what we call the thugs that snatch us away) grabbed me and took me to a place called “Brightside”, somewhere way up in the mountains.  The shrinks there will neutralize my thought-thieving brain and gradually reprogram me.   I’ll be a happy resident here.

 

    If I don’t kill myself first.

 

What’s To Like...

    Brightside is a dystopian thriller that imagines a world where a portion of its humans can hear the thoughts of others.  It reminded me of a very old Outer Limits TV episode, set IIRC on an outer-space mining operation, where a mutant suddenly becomes telepathic, much to the chagrin of his fellow miners.  Google-image “Outer Limits” for pictures from this episode.

 

    I liked the limitations that Mark Tullius puts on this “gift”.  Not everyone is blessed/cursed with being able to listen in on others’ thoughts.  The range of telepathy is limited; at one point our protagonist is amazed that a fellow thought-thief can “hear” thoughts from as far as 50 feet away.  Also, there are ways to mask or nullify one’s thoughts so that they can’t be read.  It’s an important resource that even thought-thieves need to survive.

 

    The story is told from the first-person POV: Joe’s.  Two telepaths can use both speech and thoughts to communicate with each other.  Mark Tullius puts all thoughts in italics, which makes it easy for the reader to follow along.  I liked the nod to Dune via the quip “Fear is the Mindkiller”.

 

    The ending is exciting, nail-biting, with several neat plot twists thrown in to keep you on your toes.  The storyline stops at a logical point.  All the plot threads do not get tied up, but I’m certain that Book Two, Beyond Brightside, will pick up and continue the narrative.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 3.8*/5, based on 307 ratings and 122 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.52*/5, based on 350 ratings and 63 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    Brightside required us to work.  It wasn’t for the money.  The government funded most everything.  But Brightside needed us to keep busy, to feel productive.  They started the jobs program after the first month.  Too many Brightsiders had jumped off the mountain, took the easy way out.

    Quotas kept us from living in our heads.

    Busy people don’t kill themselves.  That was the idea, at least.  (loc. 416)

 

    Listen.”  She closed her eyes.  “What am I thinking?”

    I zeroed in, but heard nothing.  No mantra, no hum, just silence, like Danny.

    “You’re too far,” I said.

    Rachel pressed herself against me.  I listened.  Still nothing.

    She stepped back, curtseyed.  “I learned it in The Cabin.  That’s why they let me out.  Nothing but a blank slate.”

    “How?”

    “Something about the pills.  I can just shut it off now.”  (loc. 3567)

 

Kindle Details…

    At present, Brightside sells for $3.99 at Amazon, as does its sequel, Beyond Brightside.  Mark Tullius is also the author of a 20-volume “Interactive Adventure” series called Try Not to Die, with the entries priced at either $3.99 or $5.99.

 

They call our town Brightside because, as they like to remind us, things could be worse.  (loc. 96)

    I counted 62 instances of profanity in the first 20% of Brightside, which extrapolates out to a projected total of 310 cusswords.  There were also three rolls-in-the-hay and a couple references to “adult situations”.  True, any dystopian fiction will inherently be bleak and brutal, but this was excessive.

 

    The typos were few: straightjacket/straitjacket; BMW’s/BMWs; duffle/duffel and girl’s/girls.  I thought barbequing was also misspelled, but it turns our that’s correct.  My biggest gripe, along with the excessive use of profanity, was the lack of page numbers and the lack of “time remaining” for each chapter. 

 

    Some reviewers thought the story’s tone was too dark.  Well, it is, but wouldn’t one expect this when reading dystopian fiction?  Paradoxically, the fact that readers were bothered by that means the author did an effective job of world-building.

 

    I think the main aim of Brightside was to show the reader what a terrifying world it would be if a portion of the population were telepathic.  Both the normal humans and the thought-thieves live in constant fear of being exterminated by the other faction.  Mark Tullius does a great job of creating a frightening world and I am eager to see how the storyline progresses in a second book.

 

    7½ Stars.

Darklandia - T.S. Welti

   2012; 183 pages.  Full Title: Darklandia – Suffering Is Optional.  New Author? : Yes.  Genres: Dystopian Fiction.  Overall Rating: 6½*/10.

 

    Welcome to New York City, 2147 CE.  For you old-timers’ information, it is now in the fine nation of Atraxia.  The country called the United States is no more.

 

    The biggest problem in Atraxians right now is an extreme shortage of water due to drastic climate changes over the past century.  All water is now strictly rationed by the powers that be, but both its quality and quantity is poor.

 

    Drinking water is essential for good health of course, and the government helpfully enriches it with Potassium, Sodium and other nutrients, even though those additives give it a salty, sweet, and metallic taste.

 

    17-year-old Sera Fisk has been having digestion issues with her water rations for several years.  The authorities have adjusted her ration dosage, but the new strength causes her to vomit it back up.  It also has begun to make her see everything differently.  That’s not a good thing in Atraxia, where freedom of thought is frowned upon.

 

    Sera might have to turn herself in to the Department of Felicity to be “purified”.

 

What’s To Like...

    Darklandia starts off with Sera leading a comfortably numb life.  She’s proud to be part of her 114-yer-old grandmother’s “rapturing ceremony”, at least until granny whispers a enigmatic and disturbing bit of news into Sera’s ear: "It's in the water rations."  From that revelation onward, Sera's mind starts to open up to what is really going on in Atraxia.

 

    I liked the concept engendered by the book’s title.  Darklandia is a virtual reality site where all Atraxians are required to go daily to do, well, whatever they choose to work out any inner urges that run contrary to the government-mandated "proper" thinking.  Enforcement of attending Darklandia is handled by the Department of Felicity, and monitored by the ever-present Guardian Angels.  You don’t want to run afoul of those thugs.

 

    Daily life in Atraxia is subject to near-constant surveillance, including security bands (“sec-bands”) worn on the wrists.  It is easy to go wrong.  Crying is forbidden; it indicates unhappiness.  Girls older than five years must keep their hair between 12-to-18 inches long, and must not wear clothing with “warm” colors such as red, purple, or orange.  Failure to conform might stir up unwarranted passions.  And you can’t use certain “filter words”, such as “terrible” or “mistake” when talking; they promote negativity.

 

    The book is written in the first-person POV, Sera’s, of course.  I liked this, it enables the reader to “see” Atraxia through Sera’s eyes, and watch as her perception of it evolves.  At just 183 pages long, Darklandia is a quick yet thoughtful read, and is divided into 20 chapters, which means you can always find a convenient place to stop for the night.  I only noted two typos and recall just one cussword, a single damn.  I was impressed by the text's cleanliness.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  3.8/5 based on 85 ratings and 71 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.52/5 based on 246 ratings and 62 reviews

 

Things That Sound Dirty, But Aren’t…

    This was the second time someone had nearly walked in on me with my hands down my pants. (loc. 1802)

 

Excerpts...

    “Sera, what would you say if I told you there’s a whole world outside Manhattan?  A different world.  A place where cherry soda runs like water from fountains and people are so happy that sometimes they cry.”

    “They c—?”  I stopped myself from repeating his last word.  Now I glanced around at the angels wondering if they were listening.

    “Real tears,” my father continued.  “How does that make you feel?”

    “Feel?”

    Crying wasn’t allowed.  Just thinking about it, the red eyes and nose, the frown, the tears burning tracks down cheeks… it was hideous.  Of course, I was frightened.  But saying the word aloud…  (loc. 161)

 

    “Darklandia is not a way for you to ‘exorcise your darkest thoughts’ as they would have you believe.  Darklandia is the hand of the government reaching inside your brain and rearranging your thoughts to suit their reality.  Why do you think you’re forbidden from speaking about what happens inside Darklandia?  Do you think it’s a coincidence that you see your father every single time you serve your hours, except today?”  (loc. 1127)

 

Kindle Details…

    ANAICT, Darklandia is currently unavailable at Amazon in e-book format.  Two options are shown: Audiobook and Paperback, but the latter is also listed as “Currently Unavailable”.

 

“Excuse me, Ms. Locke, but you’re stepping on my slippers.  Could you please hand me that elephant ear?”  (loc. 1626)

    The ratings for Darklandia at both Amazon and Goodreads are not very lofty.  Judging from the reviews, the main cause for this is the ending, which resulted in a number of 2-star ratings at both sites, and even a 1-star rating at Goodreads.

 

    I have to agree with those low assessments by disappointed readers.  The ending is bizarre and illogical, and it feels like the author simply got tired of writing this tale, wanted to be done with it, and couldn’t come up with a satisfying way to do so.  A team of beta readers should’ve pointed this out.  If they weren't used, some should be found.  If they were used, replacements should be found.  The question for a reviewer is: when a book’s ending is weak, but the rest of the storyline is engaging and well-written, what should be done?

    I’d recommend a rewrite of the last chapter.  This wouldn’t entail many pages; and could even merely point to a yet-to-be-written sequel.  The excellent world-building done by T.S. Welti, plus the existence of a couple other unfinished plot threads (the murder of the mayor is one) begs for at least a second book, or even better, a series.  Indeed, most of the negative reviews expressed a keen interest in that.

 

    This assumes, of course, that the author has any desire to write more episodes of the adventures of Sera in Atraxia.  Alas, T.S. Welti’s most recent offerings at Amazon date back to 2013, so perhaps she's no longer living the dream of being an indie author.

 

    If so, more's the pity since, if one ignores the ending, Darklandia is a wonderful book by a talented author.

 

    6½ Stars, subject to an upgrade if the ending is rewritten  And BTW, the Amazon generic blurb for the “audible audiobook” (isn’t that tautological?) for Darklandia lists the age recommendation as “1-3 years”.  Wow!  I would love to hear any feedback given by a 1-year-old after reading this.

Dust - Hugh Howey

   2013; 459 pages.  Full Title: Dust: Every Beginning Has an End.  Book 3 (out of 3) in the “Silo” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres: Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi; Dystopian Fiction.  Overall Rating : 8½*/10.

 

    In a post-apocalyptic world, the remnants of humanity are confined to underground silos, hundreds of stories deep.  The outside air has been shown to be toxic, so leaving the silo is a death sentence.  Interaction between silos is limited to radio conversations since the deadly outside environment precludes all aboveground transportation.

 

    Existence is a tenuous affair.  Some levels of each silo are devoted to farming, and the total population of each one is strictly controlled.  Yet still, catastrophes occasionally occur, and several silos have just suddenly “gone dark”, presumably with all their citizens perishing.

 

    But changes are looming, thanks to those pesky rascals in Silo 18.  Their mayor, Juliette Nichols, has initiated an underground tunneling expedition, which is working its way over to Silo 17.  Silo 17 has mixed feelings about this: it would be astounding to meet humans from another silo, but on the other hand, that’s also lots more mouths to feed.

 

    Let’s just hope that the powers that be over in Silo 1, those who monitor all the other silos, who dictate how many new babies can be born and how many old geezers need to be euthanized, don’t catch wind of Juliette’s project.  They might terminate everyone in both Silos 17 and 18.

 

What’s To Like...

    Dust is the third and concluding book in Hugh Howey’s fantastic “Silo” series.  It is divided into four parts, all of similar length, and with the appropriate titles: “The Dig”, “Outside”, “Home”, and “Dust”.

 

    There are 63 chapters, plus a Prologue and an Epilogue, which cover 459 pages in the Kindle version.  Almost all of the action is confined to three of the silos: Silos 1, 17, and 18, and the Table of Contents helpfully lets you in which of those each chapter is occurring.  The introduction above gives a brief backstory of Books 1 and 2, Wool and Shift, which I’ve read and are reviewed here and here.

 

    The main characters to keep track of are Donald and Charlotte from Silo 1, Juliette and Lukas from Silo 18, and Jimmy (aka Solo) and Elise from Silo 17.  I thought the character development of each of these was done well.  They all live under the threat of being terminated at any given moment, and it’s not a spoiler to say that not all of them will make it to the end of the book.

 

    The first part of Dust focuses mostly Silo 18’s efforts to tunnel across to Silo 17.  From there on in, we get plenty of intrigue as some of Silo-dwellers work on figuring out how to escape the silos without perishing, others work on acquiescing to the powers that be in hopes of not being exterminated, and the shadowy powerbrokers who have the ability to delete anyone and everyone they choose.

 

    The tension builds to a logical and hopeful climax, although it’s not particularly twisty or exciting.  I’d call it a THX-1138-ish ending, if you’ve ever watched that movie.  That’s not a criticism though, it’s hard to imagine any other way for this sort of post-apocalyptic storyline to end.  And don’t skip the epilogue at the end of the book; it'll leave a lump in your throat.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.6/5 based on 17,573 ratings and 4,142 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.25/5 based on 76,902 ratings and 4,525 reviews

 

Excerpts...

    She fought to hold it together, to not let the tears creep into her voice.  “I’m being hunted right now.  They will put me back to sleep or they will kill me, and I don’t know that there’s a difference.  They keep us frozen for years and years while the men work in shifts.  There are computers out there that play games and will one day decide which of your silos is allowed to go free.  The rest will die.  All of the silos but one will die.  And there’s nothing we can do to stop it.”  (loc. 3629)

 

    “I know your brother, you know,” Darcy said as he held the door for her.  “He never seemed like the sort.  Neither do you.”

    Charlotte shook her head.  “I never wanted to hurt anyone.  We were only after the truth.”  She passed through the armory and toward the lift.

    “That’s the problem with the truth,” Darcy said.  “Liars and honest men both claim to have it.  It puts people in my position in something of a predicament.”  (loc. 4130)

 

Kindle Details…

    Dust currently sells for $15.99 at Amazon.  The other two books in the series will run you $9.99 (Wool) and $14.49 (Shift).  Hugh Howey has dozens of other e-books for your reading pleasure, some fiction and some non-fiction; some full-length novels, some in series, and a bunch of short stories.  The full-length books vary in price from $2.99 to $15.99.  The short stories are usually $0.99.

 

“Heroes didn’t win.  The heroes were whoever *happened* to win.  History told their story — the dead didn’t say a word.”  (loc. 2490)

    The quibbles are minor.  There’s a moderate amount of cussing—in this case 18 instances in the first 20% of the book, which was about the same as what I found for Drift, the previous book in the series.  Also, since these books are deeply interconnected, reading them in order borders on being a must-do.

 

    Although there’s only one or two main characters for each Silo, there are a fair amount of secondary characters at each site.  It would’ve been nice to have a Cast of Characters section, showing who’s in which silo to make keeping track of things easier.

 

    Lastly, this is the only book I can recall where a “Note to Reader” section comes before the Epilogue.  I don’t know whether this was accidental or not, but IMO it works rather well.

 

    All in all, I enjoyed this series.  Hugh Howey’s writing skills are good enough to where I didn’t get bored with the storyline even though, in books 1 and 3 at least, the settings are by necessity rather limited.  If there ever is a nuclear war, and the current Russia-Ukraine fighting demonstrates just how easily that could occur, underground silos may be the only way for humanity to continue its existence.

 

    Hugh Howey has devoted considerable time and effort to pondering such a situation.  It behooves us all to read what he has to say about it.

 

    8½ Stars. The door is left open at the end of Dust for a sequel but so far I haven't seen one.   Wikipedia reports that in August 2021, Hugh Howey announced he had started writing the next book in the series, taking place in Silo 40, but I've yet to see its release date.

 

    Until it does come out, there are several short story anthologies co-edited by Hugh Howey and John Joseph Adams, for your reading pleasure, as well the first book, Wool in graphic novel format.  There is also a 4-book fan fiction series, titled Silo 49 and written by Ann Christy, available for your Kindle.