Review: The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood

December 3, 2019

The Handmaid’s Tale

Author: Margaret Atwood

Publication Date: August 1985

Publisher: Houghton Miffin Harcourt

Genre: Dystopia

⭐⭐

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synopsis coycaterpillar - Review: The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood

The Handmaid’s Tale is a novel of such power that the reader will be unable to forget its images and its forecast. Set in the near future, it describes life in what was once the United States and is now called the Republic of Gilead, a monotheocracy that has reacted to social unrest and a sharply declining birthrate by reverting to, and going beyond, the repressive intolerance of the original Puritans. The regime takes the Book of Genesis absolutely at its word, with bizarre consequences for the women and men in its population.

The story is told through the eyes of Offred, one of the unfortunate Handmaids under the new social order. In condensed but eloquent prose, by turns cool-eyed, tender, despairing, passionate, and wry, she reveals to us the dark corners behind the establishment’s calm facade, as certain tendencies now in existence are carried to their logical conclusions. The Handmaid’s Tale is funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing. It is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and a tour de force. It is Margaret Atwood at her best.

review coy caterpillar - Review: The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood

Well I totally feel behind the trend on this one, but I decided to give it a go. It’s been on my TBR for such a long time but I’m really not a hyped book kind of person, so I don’t know exactly what I was expecting. It was an eye opener in a lot of ways. I can see a huge amount of significance and realism in the elements of the book. In such a technologically advanced world I shouldn’t even believe that things could manifest itself into the events of The Handmaid’s Tale, but there you have it. Women have no rights. No sexual rights to do with their body what they see fit. Sex has now become the exact opposite of what it should be. No affection, no love and no right to refuse. They are treated less than human, men are their superior, their god, their reason for being. The Handmaid’s tale examines the life of one such woman. Unfortunately, I just closed the book and had feelings of meh! Other readers have seemed to hold this book in high regard, but I just felt that I had read something else entirely.

This was a completely new author for me. Atwood is regarded as a national treasure. The matriarch of Dystopian fiction, why wasn’t I getting what she was selling? I wistfully opened the first page and started hoping I could add myself to the ranks of becoming a fan just like so many others…In good conscious, I just cannot. There were just so many issues I had with the book. Firstly, though I want to talk about the positives because there were some and I have to give credit where credit is due.

The idea behind the plot is a classic, unfailing one. It did feel like an extension on from Orwell’s 1984. It examines a world that will inevitably become our reality if we constantly ignore political groups/individuals that threaten our very social and democratic freedoms that we do indeed take for granted. It’s living in fear and changing our very way of life after right wing groups threatening it. Atwood certainly captured the fear and shock of how a life such as that could affect us all. It was bleak and uncaring, and I think I would rather die than live my life like that day in and day out. The wistfulness of the girls reminiscing of their past lives. Imaging what their husbands are doing now? Children still alive or enduring a fate like theirs? It was real and dark and not a happy picture in one’s mind.

Okay…deep breath. The Negatives (I actually hate writing negative reviews, but I want to be honest to my readers). This is the second book I have read this year that doesn’t use punctuation marks to distinguish different passages of speech. Why the heck not? I thought this was just basic 101 in the rules of writing. I’m a bit slow in the morning, I need it to be obvious to me. This just wasn’t a good start. Secondly, why on earth does the author feel the need to have exuberantly long sentences. Even the tortoise would have beaten it in a race. This wasn’t just a one off, it occurred several times throughout the novel. The story felt disjoined and unmatched and I felt the flow could have been so much smoother. There was an undercurrent of staccato highlighted throughout the book. It was an immediate turn off.

I wanted to enjoy this book I really did. I just didn’t think it worked. I know I am in the minority there and I’m swimming in an ocean of frenzied fans that threaten to pull me under, but I need to be honest. It is an important topic and one that needs to constantly have a strong voice, but The Handmaid’s Tale is not it. 1984 shouts louder in my opinion.

Review: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

October 3, 2019

Ready Player One

Author: Ernest Cline

Release Date: August 16th 2011

Publisher: Broadway Books

Genre: Dystopia

Book Despository

Waterstones

Wordery

synopsis - Review: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

A world at stake.
A quest for the ultimate prize.
Are you ready?

It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.
Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets.

And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune—and remarkable power—to whoever can unlock them.

For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday’s riddles are based in the pop culture he loved—that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday’s icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes’s oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.

And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.

Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt—among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life—and love—in the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape.

synopsis 1 - Review: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

On the blog today, I bring you the review for Ready Player one by Ernest Cline. I like to bring a variety of reviews both good and bad. This one won’t be a good one, but I like to be honest and give my thoughts and feelings because first and foremost, I do this for the readers.

This book originally appealed to me for the geek culture and 80’s reference that the book was based on. I love a geek infested read but I was left feeling on the most part unimpressed throughout most of the book. Now, I know what you are thinking, that this a majorly hyped book, it was made into a movie and everyone seems to love it, but I just didn’t. Is it just me? Is there something I’m missing? I don’t know but I seem to be in the minority. I found the story to be on the whole forgettable, the writing lacked any real depth and it was just a bland storyline. I truly believe that most of the books success comes from its references to 80’s pop culture. For people of a certain age, the 80’s is a golden age gone by. It was the time when we were on the cusp of breakthrough technology, but they still had that wonder of playing outside, a life of less danger, more security and more freedom. It makes various references to video games and fantasy novels, personally I think living in the now has brought us the very best in video games (4k definition) and Fantasy novels. We really are spoiled in regard to the advancement of technology. Although the pop culture was talked about it didn’t seem to be really leading anywhere or contribute to the big end.

It’s the year 2044 and the world as we know it has fallen into a dystopian reality. Its ugly, its unsafe and you really wouldn’t want to be around for when this happens. Wade Watts (protagonist) spends his days away from this hell in the OASIS ( like a virtual reality computer system – think of the matrix). You can be anyone you ever dreamed of being, you can be any hero you’ve ever wanted. The one and only thing that Wade dreams of being is the ultimate lottery winner that has been expertly hidden by its now dead creator, James Halliday. By all accounts he seems to be a computer genius and it has been so well hidden that no one has even gotten close to finding it. It’s not a case of just browsing until you get lucky – it’s a case of completing puzzles and gaining keys, getting clues to finding gates. It’s all very complicated stuff. The lucky winner that manages to pull all of this off will inherit Halliday’s entire fortune and gain masses of power into the bargain. I wanted to love this, but it was just so bad. Cline was relying on the pop culture references to hold up a story that was weak and hollow. The ending was inevitable and boring. The main character was a serious bellend. Constantly he thought he was above himself, had a very elitist self-worth kind of attitude. If ever a character needed an attitude adjustment it was him. There was no empathy for other people suffering terrible things whilst he just played computer games whilst needing a pat on the back every two seconds.

2 stars - Review: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Have you read this one, if so what did you think? Let me know in the comments.

savonne - Review: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Blog Tour: A Savage Generation by David Tallerman @davidtallerman @flametreepress @annecater

September 28, 2019

A Savage Generation

Author: David Tallerman

Release Date: September 12th 2019

Publisher: Flame Tree Press

Genre: Horror

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Pages: 288

Book Depository| Waterstones| Wordery|

synopsis 2 - Blog Tour: A Savage Generation by David Tallerman @davidtallerman @flametreepress @annecater

Sickness is ravaging America, driving the infected to savagery. Petty criminal Ben Silensky is determined to get his girlfriend Carlita and son Kyle free of the quarantined city they live in, enough so to risk a foolhardy crime and then to team up with Carlita’s equally desperate cop cousin Nando. Once they’re out, Nando is certain they’ll find a place in the open prison where his uncle works, unbeknownst to him already become a survivalist colony named Funland under the management of entrepreneurial convict Plan John. In Funland itself, guard Doyle Johnson is shocked when his ex-wife abandons his son Austin into his care. Fearing the vulnerable position he’s been placed in, he recruits the help of Katherine Aaronovich, the former prison’s doctor. But Aaronovich’s traumatic past has left her with vulnerabilities of her own, along with radical theories on the nature of the epidemic that will place all their lives in jeopardy. As the last vestiges of civilisation crumble, Funland may prove to be the safest or the most dangerous of places, depending on who comes out on top – and what can’t be held together will inevitably be torn apart. FLAME TREE PRESS is the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing. Launched in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.

synopsis 1 1 - Blog Tour: A Savage Generation by David Tallerman @davidtallerman @flametreepress @annecater

Thanks to Anne @ Random Things Blog Tours and the author for my copy of the book and my place on the blog tour.

The book world is rife with Post-Apocalyptic novels of zombies, disease and despair. A Savage Generation cracks that mould and gives us something alarmingly real. A situation we can envision becoming reality in glorious HD. In a world where anything is possible, the idea that new strains of illness and disease can be borne into chaos and rapidly end the existence that we have come to know and rely on. You shouldn’t be scared of monsters under your bed, this is the real horror story. Real life is a horror story.

Reading this book has me liking it to a concoction between The Walking Dead and The Strain. There was elements of the story that made me instantly think of those…no way a bad thing, I love me some Post-Apocalyptic drama. The chapters flit between multiple POV’s, which I enjoyed. It definitely added depth and meaning to each character’s perspective and how they were losing their grip on reality and the utter madness the situation was descending into. Madness is the perfect expression for this story. The world has been overtaken with a sickness infecting its population. If this illness doesn’t kill you, then you turn into a savage killer that can’t reason and doesn’t have the rationale that the sane of mind have. How would you deal with the situation?

ACTION, ACTION ACTION. This book just keeps on throwing it at you. Do you want a nice, mild-mannered book to ingest after a polite dinner with your polo club friends? Then look away this book will eat you and your mannered principles for breakfast. The pace of this book was so good, so good. Once it gripped you it completely sucked you in. I demolished this book in one afternoon. Not until I had finished the book did I feel like I could breathe. What a ride.

One interesting theme was the co-existing of the sick and the healthy. The healthy have taken over the prison, White Cliff. The apparent new and improved prison is now termed Funland and it’s a safe haven. They get to live in harmony amongst the well and they are able to keep the Sickers (those that are infected with the disease) at bay. There is no cure, and nothing being tested on in order to finding a cure. This is what life is going to be like now. It’s an us and them scenario. Can an understanding be found so that both sets of groups live in as much harmony as can be expected given the situation? The sickers are now segregated together and the healthy stay together. Sociology is at play when new generations have to find and adapt new ways just to stay alive.

The youth had the most difficult task ahead of them. How the hell do they deal with a world that descended into the underbelly of savagery, a world devoid of love and humanity. Survival is the eye of the storm – they have nothing if they can’t survive. The psychology and sociology of humans and the planet has changed. Nothing is the same but the basal need to survive is ingrained in us all. Cultures change but the need to survive will always be the same. The author has achieved an addictive and compelling read. The writing had me captivated and I wanted to keep reading, wondering exactly how this could have a positive end…was that even possible? What I was rooting for was the best possible outcome in this situation, was that achieved? Well, you’re going to have to read it to find out. Overall, this one of the best Post-Apocalyptic novels I have had the pleasure of reading.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

david tallerman author pic - Blog Tour: A Savage Generation by David Tallerman @davidtallerman @flametreepress @annecater

David Tallerman is the author of crime drama The Bad Neighbour with Flame Tree Press. His other publications consist of the YA fantasy series The Black River Chronicles, which began in late 2016 with Level One and continued in 2017 with The Ursvaal Exchange, the Tales of Easie Damasco series – consisting of Giant Thief, Crown Thief and Prince Thief – and the novella Patchwerk. His comics work includes the absurdist steampunk graphic novel Endangered Weapon B: Mechanimal Science (with artist Bob Molesworth).

David’s short fiction has appeared in around eighty markets, including Clarkesworld, Nightmare, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and Beneath Ceaseless Skies. A number of his best dark fantasy and horror stories were gathered together in his debut collection The Sign in the Moonlight and Other Stories.

His previous career as an IT Technician took him all across the country, but he currently resides in West Yorkshire, on the opposite side of the county of his birth. In his spare time he likes to hike around the local countryside, a hobby that has also taken him to wild spots throughout England and beyond.

David can be found online at davidtallerman.blogspot.co.uk and davidtallerman.co.uk.

yvonne xo - Blog Tour: A Savage Generation by David Tallerman @davidtallerman @flametreepress @annecater

After The Flood by Kassandra Montag @NatashaBardon @HarperVoyagerUK

August 28, 2019

After The Flood

Author: Kassandra Montag

Publication Date: 19th September 2019

Publisher: Harper Collins Voyager

Genre: Dystopia

Pages: 417

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Book Depository| Waterstones| Wordery|

synopsis - After The Flood by Kassandra Montag @NatashaBardon @HarperVoyagerUK

An inventive and riveting epic saga, After the Flood signals the arrival of an extraordinary new talent.

A little more than a century from now, our world has been utterly transformed. After years of slowly overtaking the continent, rising floodwaters have obliterated America’s great coastal cities and then its heartland, leaving nothing but an archipelago of mountaintop colonies surrounded by a deep expanse of open water.

Stubbornly independent Myra and her precocious seven-year-old daughter, Pearl, fish from their small boat, the Bird, visiting dry land only to trade for supplies and information in the few remaining outposts of civilization. For seven years, Myra has grieved the loss of her oldest daughter, Row, who was stolen by her father after a monstrous deluge overtook their home in Nebraska. Then, in a violent confrontation with a stranger, Myra suddenly discovers that Row was last seen in a far-off encampment near the Artic Circle. Throwing aside her usual caution, Myra and Pearl embark on a perilous voyage into the icy northern seas, hoping against hope that Row will still be there.

On their journey, Myra and Pearl join forces with a larger ship and Myra finds herself bonding with her fellow seekers who hope to build a safe haven together in this dangerous new world. But secrets, lust, and betrayals threaten their dream, and after their fortunes take a shocking—and bloody—turn, Myra can no longer ignore the question of whether saving Row is worth endangering Pearl and her fellow travelers.

A compulsively readable novel of dark despair and soaring hope, After the Flood is a magnificent, action packed, and sometimes frightening odyssey laced with wonder—an affecting and wholly original saga both redemptive and astonishing.

synopsis 1 - After The Flood by Kassandra Montag @NatashaBardon @HarperVoyagerUK

I was provided with this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.

Wow absolutely blown away Montag’s debut novel. This is a fictional high five to feminism and female centred characters. When the publisher put out a request for bloggers to review this I just couldn’t say no. The cover is artistic and intriguing and if anyone knows me well, they know I’m a huge climate change worrier. This dystopian gem ticked all the boxes and had me hungry for more…just one more page turned into just one more chapter and before I knew it was done. This book is the so unputdownable, it’s got brutal action, but the deeper themes are what touches your soul. It’s a tragic look at what happens when a natural disaster changes the course of how humans operate and survive in a changed world and how we deal with loss, grief and the indestructible will to keep going.

The heart of the story is centred on an unbelievably strong mother, Myra’s will to protect her eight-year-old daughter from unspeakable dangers. This is not the world we have grew to know. There is no guaranteed safety blanket, people’s motives aren’t always clear (and if they are – it’s usually to do something heinous.) The world is now a place that is frightening and unstable. Myra is also on a mission to save her now 12-year-old daughter who was abducted by her father, Jacob, when she was still pregnant with Pearl. The plight of a mother doing anything and everything despite the impact it may have on her is admirable and frightening that a world could become this untenious. Myra discovers that her daughter is being held until she is old enough to be transferred to a “breeding ship” where the raider crews enforce women to become pregnant to repopulate their crews. What a horrendous thought!

“Children think we make them, but we don’t. They exist somewhere else, before us, before time. They come into the world and make us. They make us by breaking us first.”

The realism in this novel is scarily close to coming to fruition. This is the result of climate change that scientists have been warning us about, pleading with us to make changes, begging world leaders to act before it’s too late. It’s already too late for Myra. The rains and continuous flooding has eroded away the coastline, villages, towns and cities. There is only one option and that is to head towards the middle of the land – one that is now becoming overpopulated, everyone has the same thought. Eventually everything will be gone, there is no happy ever after in this scenario. All you have to do is switch on the news and see the footage of the Amazon rainforest overcome with flames to be faced with the stark reality that climate change is a very real and already here. Myra and her daughter, Pearl live on the boat her grandfather built called The Bird. Their survival depends upon trading fish. During one such escapade they come across a survivor called Daniel, he just happens to be a navigator – a skill Myra is sorely missing. The Bird ends up shipwrecked in a disastrous storm and hesitantly Myra suggest Daniel join them on a quest north to where she strongly believes her daughter, Row is located.

I had feared losing them, but there were moments that desire lurked right at the edge of that fear. Set loose from them, I could give up, I told myself. I could slip away into the water, no longer fighting, no longer pretending to be strong.

After the flood is one of the best dystopian novels I have read in recent years. This is not a light entertaining read – it’s harsh, it’s dark and it really SHOULD frighten you. This is where we are headed, our story won’t be a work of fiction. Kassandra Montag and absolutely nailed the Dystopian genre and expect massive things for this novel.