Rosie’s Review-A-Book Challenge #RRABC @SueBavey Reviews #Dystopia WASTELAND by @TerryTyler4

Today we have a review from Rosie’s Review-A-Book Challenger Sue, she blogs here https://suelbavey.wordpress.com/

Sue chose to read Wasteland by Terry Tyler

Read on the Kindle

5/5 stars

In Terry Tyler’s version of 2061 people are living in government-controlled comfortable Megacities and less comfortable Hope villages, where putting a foot wrong can result in disaster and worse. Hope villages were introduced in the previous installment of the ‘Operation Galton’ series, ‘Hope’, but over the intervening years they have become even more dangerous, desolate places. A small percentage of the free-thinking population has escaped to the Wasteland, where they live outside of society and are known as ‘rats’.

The concept of the ‘Wasteland’ immediately reminded me of ‘The Wilds’ in the YA ‘Delirium’ trilogy by Lauren Oliver which I read about a decade ago and absolutely loved. Having said that, the books themselves are quite different. Wasteland is not a YA novel and although both are dystopian, the world of ‘Operation Galton’ feels more sinister, probably because it is not very far removed from where our present day society is heading. Our lives are more and more controlled by smartphones tracking our sleep, steps taken, screen use and conversations, offering us intrusive targeted advertising which demands our attention every waking second, much like the ‘com’ devices in Wasteland.

The powers that be have decided it’s time to clean up the Wasteland and plan to use its inhabitants in their macabre human experiments. This is happening in the background as we follow Rae’s journey from typical Megacity inhabitant to enlightened escapee, as she searches the Wasteland for the family she was separated from at the age of two.

The beginning of the story has a relatively slow pace, as we are introduced to new characters, then half way through the book, the pace picks up quite dramatically and it becomes a gripping thrill-ride with unexpected twists along the way. Wasteland is an exciting page-turner and I was rooting for Rae and the people she encounters in the Wasteland all the way. It was easy to visualise the action sequences and I can imagine this could quite easily be made into a blockbuster movie.

This dystopian story left me feeling unsettled, with a lot to think about and the intriguing parting shot about Ace’s background leaves the way open for further stories from Rae’s world which I would love to see sometime.

Recommended for fans of stories set in dystopian societies and thrilling fox vs. hounds style hunts!

‘Those who escape ‘the system’ are left to survive outside society. The fortunate find places in off-grid communities; the others disappear into the wasteland.’

The year is 2061, and in the new UK megacities, the government watches every move you make. Speech is no longer free—an ‘offensive’ word reaching the wrong ear means a social demerit and a hefty fine. One too many demerits? Job loss and eviction, with free transport to your nearest community for the homeless: the Hope Villages.

Rae Farrer is a megacity girl through and through, proud of her educational and career achievements, until a shocking discovery about her birth forces her to question every aspect of life in UK Megacity 12.

On the other side of the supposedly safe megacity walls, a few wastelanders suspect that their freedom cannot last forever…

Wasteland is the stand-alone sequel to Hope, and is the second and final book in the Operation Galton series.

AmazonUK | AmazonUS

Rosie’s #BookReview Team #RBRT #Dystopia THE VATICAN GAMES by Alejandra Guibert

Today’s team review is from Robbie, she blogs here https://robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com/ 

Robbie has been reading The Vatican Games by Alejandra Guibert

The Vatican Games is an unusual dystopian read. Dystopia is one of my favourite genres and I read a lot of it. Right up front I must say that I did not find this book an easy read. There is a lot of telling instead of showing and this, combined with a complicated story line, made it difficult to follow the story in some places. I found that this improved as the story progressed and I became more familiar with the premise and the characters. The writing was also a little unnatural and stilted for me.

This being said, I found this book to be a clever and entertaining story. Vera, the main character, is born into a new world where a huge apocalypse has occurred, resulting in the deaths of five billion people throughout the world. The nature of the catastrophe, a poisoning of water resources in primarily the USA which impacts on their exports of soft drinks, thereby impacting many other countries in the world, results in the USA becoming virtually uninhabitable. Immediately after this event, war breaks out in numerous third world countries resulting in further death and destruction.

The survivors find themselves in a new world which a better form of communism or possibly socialism is achieved. The remaining populations of the world are uplifted and educated so that they can take their places in the new world. The entire population of the world is run on an extreme capitalistic formula in that companies need to generate profits, but these profits are shared equally by all in the manner of a communist regime. The new world government steps in very quickly and seemingly seamlessly to achieve this new world status which does require some suspension of belief, especially if you look around the current capitalistic and communistic countries of the world.

All religion is dispensed with and people are entertained and educated using technology, and in particular computer games. The religious orders of the old world embrace the development of these computer games as their only means of survival and recruit intelligent and innovative people from within their organisations to develop new games on an on-going basis.

Vera, who has been brought up in a Catholic convent following the death of her mother, is chosen to enter the Vatican as a games developer. She quickly becomes embroiled in a plan by select members of the church to use their games for illicit purposes. Can she unravel the plot and prevent another catastrophe? You’ll have to read the book to find out.

I must also point out that there are some scenes involving suicide with might be disturbing or triggers for sensitive readers.

Vera is born on the day an apocalyptic revenge is unleashed, annihilating half of the world’s population.

Her birth marks the beginning of a new world order run by powerful gaming corporations.

A warless existence with no poverty has been secured, until this fine balance becomes once more under threat.

Vera is the female David to beat Goliath and prevent further devastation.

The future lies in her hands. It’s a game that she needs to win.

AmazonUK | AmazonUS