The world that Clive builds here is one that is presented clearly and tersely – this is evident given the novel comes in at 148 pages. The other reason that he is able to do this is due to there being very little in the way of new ideas. The images presented are standard post climate change / economic collapse / dystopian future.
The story follows Hogan Duran, a former police officer, eking out a life in this world, trying to feed himself and a former colleague. When the opportunity presents itself for him to improve his lot, he takes it. As is expected in this genre, he discovers the darker side of the world he inhabits. As the heroic type, he does something about it.
The voice of the main character remains constant through out the novel. There are no areas where he suddenly changes word usage. The use of the first person creates the doubt of what truth is, which reinforces what appears to be the main theme of the novel. What is truth ? And whose truth is true ?
On the downside, the use of the first person takes some of the tension from the action sequences. There are a few, and they are fast and to the point.
Reading this novel, there are a few places that are disjointed, as characters that have made an exit aren’t identified. However, this could have been forgiven if it had been part of the final explanation of the experience – which it wasn’t – so what could have been a plot point, looks like a plot error.
At the end, it does feel like a volume one of a larger saga, and it will be interesting to see how that progresses.
Overall, is you are looking for a quick dystopian novel that is fairly well written, this will fill in some time and go for it.
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