Tag: dystopian

Book Review: The X-Variant (The Guardians #1) by Rosemary Cole

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Time travelling girl battles zombie apocalypse

XVariantAbout the Book

In 2079, a devastating synthetic virus is unleashed that destroys most of humanity. Over the following centuries, however, the virus evolves into a beneficial symbiont that enhances and interconnects its human hosts, and a new post-human race is born: the Unathi. But in 2616, their peaceful utopia is violently disrupted when the symbiont begins to mutate into something terrible. Kala is one of those called upon to travel back in time to 2079 to change the course of the future. In a desperate attempt to save the future of humanity, Kala will face many hardships and perhaps even meet her own end, but she never dreams that it will one day turn her against even the ones she loves the most. If she fails, it will be the end of all humanity forever. If she succeeds, it will be the end of her.

Book Facts

  • Format: ebook
  • No. of pages: 214
  • Publication date: 7th April 2017
  • Genre: Science Fiction

To purchase The X-Variant from Amazon.co.uk click here (link provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme)

My Review (4 out of 5)

The book is set in two separate timelines: one in the near future and one in the distant future. I liked the way the book opened with two alternative versions of a scene in the near future, acting as a teaser for the rest of the book as you obviously want to read on to find out which scene was relevant. The story then moves to the far future where we are introduced to Kala and the rest of the plot is set up. I found the world building was detailed in some respects – technology, transport, and so on – but less so in others. I would have liked to understand more about the structure of Unathi society, the nature of their relationships with their ‘bondmates’, parenting, and so on.

Conversely, I found the scenes set in the near future very convincingly realised. For me, the story really picked up in the final third of the book as Kala and her companions strike out on their own in the post-apocalyptic world, dodging humans infected by the virus who have been transformed grotesquely. The final chapter perfectly (and tantalisingly) sets up the story for the next book. For lovers of science fiction, especially dystopian fiction, this would be an entertaining read.

I received an advance reader copy courtesy of Xpresso Book Tours and the author in return for an honest review.

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In three words: Entertaining, intriguing, dystopian

Try something similar…Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel

RosemaryColeAbout the Author

Rosemary Cole was born in a small New England town. She has loved science fiction and fantasy since she was old enough to go to the library and take out a tall stack of books from the children’s section. Since then she’s been in many places around the world and done many things, but still loves working and playing with words. Her other interests are good food, good people, and the outdoors, separately or together, and she spends whatever time she can indulging her strange obsession with post-apocalyptic themes. Her first book, The X-Variant, a sci-fi novel about a time-travelling girl and a zombie apocalypse, was published on 7th April 2017.

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Book Blitz & Giveaway: The Devil’s Whisper by T. H. Moore

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I’m delighted to take part in the book blitz & giveaway for T. H. Moore’s suspenseful dystopian tale, The Devil’s Whisper. You can read an excerpt from the book below.

WinThere’s also a fantastic giveaway (INTL) with a chance to win a $40 Amazon gift card, a $25 Amazon gift card or a signed copy of The Devil’s Whisper and T.H. Moore’s first novel, The End Justifies the Means. The giveaway runs until 11th May 2017.

To enter the giveaway, click here

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TheDevilsWhisperAbout the Book

Take a moment and imagine your history books devoid of war. Envision entire civilizations absent of heinous crimes against humanity. A planet spared from the plagues of slavery, cultural genocides, and the colonization of indigenous nations by foreigners. Would you dare make the choices necessary to maintain this Utopia in which universal peace existed? Could you ignore the Devil whispering in your ear, luring you away from a world in which loving your fellow man was the expectation, not the exception? In a state of reverie, an impractical idea of world peace has given birth to a culture in which the human race has chosen to live free of violent criminals. Instead, criminals have been systematically exiled to the lone prison city, Katingal, constructed in a far corner of Earth. Sentenced for the remainder of their natural lives, the wicked pit themselves against their soulless brethren. Exposure, disease, and starvation claim their victims daily. Those who survive nature’s wrath negotiate the perils of the prison city through murder and cannibalism. All the while, this inimitable death sentence satisfies civilization’s aim to punish the world’s irretrievable outcasts. Charles “Yäbälay” Gravo is the criminal mastermind behind the world’s largest human trafficking network. As a prime most-wanted fugitive, he sets into motion events that will forever alter the realities of both civilization’s Utopia and Katingal’s Hell.

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*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Excerpt from The Devil’s Whisper

Though Charles felt relieved to have discovered Kristoff’s lair, he could see that the savage was surrounded by his men. Nevertheless, Charles surged ahead, his heart racing in tempo with his legs as he moved closer to his objective.

As Charles drew near, a commotion broke out on the balcony. The group of men were drinking, dancing, and fighting as if the balcony were a mosh pit. One reveller grabbed another, while a third man struck the unfortunate chap with a pipe. He buckled, and with one swift movement, the two men flung their victim from the balcony. His limp body fell twenty floors to the hard pavement below. Charles heard the thump when it hit, and the cheers from a group of men who had been waiting for it on the street.

“The king is offering sacrifices tonight,” one maniac on the balcony cheered, hooting down at the dead man sprawled on the pavement.

Charles quickened his pace, staying close to the edges of the road. He ducked into a nearby building and crouched down in a dark corner, using his hands to gather a pile of dirt. He took a mouthful of the water from his satchel and pushed it around his mouth to alleviate his thirst before releasing a thin, controlled stream onto the dirt pile. After mixing the water and dirt into a dark paste, he covered his pale face until all that remained visible were his green eyes.

As he continued his trek toward the epicenter of the city, Charles heard the faint symphony of suffering. Angry yells of men coming from the east and bloodcurdling screams of women pierced the night to the west. Moments later, he slid past a band of filthy men vying for ownership of a corpse like a pack of wolves.

Another ruckus was followed by another violent assault. Just like the one before him, the beaten man was thrown from the balcony. He screamed the entire way down while the maniacs rejoiced from above. Scavengers sprinted past Charles to the man’s broken body and started ripping him apart.

Kristoff’s acolytes leaned over the balcony railing and waved their arms in the air, chanting, “Kris-toff! Kris-toff! Kris-toff! The king of K-City!”

Charles was fifty yards from the barbed wire courtyard that secured the front entrance to the Apex building. Another scream of fear, followed by another thud, a pitched body, and the scurry of the scavengers. This time, Charles was close enough to hear bones snapping against the pavement. He took cover to avoid the scavengers, and waited while they butchered the latest sacrifice with their homemade weapons.

Charles darted along the side of the building until he spotted four men guarding the back doorway.

“Four offerings so far tonight,” one of the guards warned the other three. “Two more before it’s safe to go back up there.”

THMooreAbout the Author

T.H. Moore is a Southwest Philadelphia native who relocated to Camden, New Jersey at the age of ten. He’s an active member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Morgan State University. His career as an Information Technology Consultant and Real-Estate investor has afforded him the opportunity to travel to many countries all over the world as well as the majority of the United States. Blending experience with imagination helped formulate the basis of, and inspired him to write his first novel, The End Justifies the Means.

His second novel, The Devil’s Whisper, is uniquely creative fiction that ventures away from the inspiration of his own life experiences. In The Devil’s Whisper, he dives into a darker set of dual protagonists whose sole objective is to survive the circumstances of the world they live in. T.H. Moore is the proud father of one son, Jason, and currently resides in Virginia, where he is working on the next two instalments of The Devil’s Whisper trilogy.

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