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| Image (c) Anachron Press |
Release Date: November 10th, 2013
Book Format: eBook
Rating: Three Stars
Humans are no longer the biggest threat to survival.
In a post-apocalyptic future, humanity survives within a single domed city ruled by a shadowy organisation known as The Family. Gerry Cardle reluctantly runs the Death Lottery. It's a job he despises, yet one which keeps his name off the list. Until one day, despite his agreement with The Family, his name is inexplicably drawn next.
With his world crashing down around him and with just seven days left to live, Gerry realises that the system has been breached by a malicious artificial intelligence. In order to save his life and preserve the safety of those within the city, he must do the unthinkable: flee to the abandoned wastelands outside the dome.
Bitter, resolute, and with nothing left to lose, Gerry will have to do whatever it takes to survive--even if it means sacrificing his freedom, and possibly worse--his life.
This story centers around a guy named Gerry Cardle who finds himself the winner of the lottery, which isn’t really worth much at all. It means that he has been chosen for his death and he only has a certain amount of time before he’s forced to ‘kick the hatchet’. This wasn’t supposed to happen, ever, especially since he’s one of the two people who helped program The Lottery in the first place. Once he’s forced off the grid, he travels with two friends to find the answer as to why this is all happening and slowly discovers that everything that he has known could potentially fall into pieces anytime soon.
This story has an interesting concept. It’s in the future where everyone is dependent on being wired. No one sticks to computers- it’s all in their bodies. Humans have been wired to program many things. If it’s anything like what Gerry does at the beginning of the chapter, they can also go into work by simply scanning the chip in their arm. It’s a very technological savvy world, but not everyone has their own tech in their bodies. Many live ‘off the grid’, so to speak, without what most humans have. They connect via wires to get what they need without attracting much attention.
This book could benefit to a better editor, if it did have one in the first place. It’s just over minor stuff, but there are mistakes that should have been taken care of already. The next issue I’ve had are the characters. Part of me loved Petal and how different she is. I mean, a girl who can store viruses without damage for a certain amount of time is a pretty impressive task I would imagine. But there has been many close calls with her that it just made me wonder if she actually just made it this long by luck. I have to admit- I didn’t really care much for Gerry either. It just seemed like that, with his ‘awesome’ skill, his intelligence just seemed really lacking to an irritating level.
Maybe one of the main issues, I think, is the organization of the story. There is a lot of information, which isn’t a bad thing. There is a lot of stuff in the book that I liked and found quite interesting. This book might actually be slightly better if it was longer just because, if it could be well thought-out and organized, it would benefit it in the long run in my opinion.
Overall, it’s an interesting book with an interesting concept, but due to the problems with it I just couldn’t really get into it as much as I wanted to and it frustrates me to think that I’m one of the rare people who think this way about this book, from what it seems. With that said, I would still recommend this book for those who love science fiction and are looking for something different.
Originally posted and shared on December 10th, 2013
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