Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Young Adult Publisher: Amazon Digital Services Publication Date: March 27, 2017 Pages: 268 Format: Mobi Add to GoodReads & StoryGraph
Buy: Amazon
For centuries our evolution has stagnated. Surrounded by technology, we ceased to adapt. Until now...
When eighteen-year-old Chris is accused of treason, his world is changed forever. Abducted in the night, he wakes in a facility hidden deep in the Californian mountains. There he is subjected to the depraved experiments of the Praegressus Project – a government-led initiative to enhance the human race. Unfortunately for Chris, the chances of survival are slim. But only the lucky get to die.
I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for a voluntary review.
Oh boy, I really struggled with this.
The sheer lack of care by the medical staff and scientists was astounding. No matter the crime, children should never suffer their parent's mistakes. The fact that this book was built around that made very little sense to me. This might have been because of the lack of world-building. If there was more focus on the build-up at the start of the story, this novel might have made more sense. However, I wouldn't classify this as a dystopian novel. It has absolutely zero classic dystopian tropes to it. It is definitely more science fiction.
My other issue with this was character development and any kind of emotional connection. I like books where I can emotionally connect with the characters. If the characters are lacking any kind of emotional depth, it is really hard for me to enjoy the novel. This is why detail-oriented storytelling is the bane of my existence. But alas, this novel had neither. We're introduced, rather quickly, to a kid who is suddenly wrenched from his home because of some kind of treason his mother has committed. Do we know why? No. Then he's placed into a cold, desolate environment and treated like absolute scum while being pitted against other kids, with very little explanation why. The kids themselves had very little distinction between them except for the weak kids. It was just very tedious and made the book seem slow.
This book needs some serious fleshing out. If it had just a little more effort put into it, it would have probably been excellent.
Rating
Aaron Hodges was born in 1989 in the small town of Whakatane, New Zealand. He studied for five years at the University of Auckland, completing a Bachelors of Science in Biology and Geography, and a Masters of Environmental Engineering. After working as an environmental consultant for two years, he grew tired of office work and decided to quit his job in 2014 and see the world. One year later, he published his first novel - Stormwielder - while in Guatemala. Since then, he has honed his skills while travelling through parts of SE Asia, India, North and South America, Turkey and Europe, and now has over a dozen works to his name. Today, his adventures continue...