Book Review: The Demi-Monde: Winter by Rod Rees

What happens when the world's most advanced computer system goes awry? The Demi-Monde is the best simulation ever invented, designed to train the US Military in the most realistic way possible without any deaths. Programmers have created a world occupied by dupes based on real people including the world's greatest psychopaths. They have deliberately created friction by developing racial and religious tensions, with the aim of causing conflict. However the programme develops in an unforeseen way when one of the dupes is able to bring the President's daughter over from the real world to the Demi-Monde. The team in charge of the Demi-Monde bring in young singer Ella Thomas to go into the Demi-Monde to retrieve her. Once there Ella is stunned by what she finds and the threat posed to the real world.


Having completed the book I'm not quite sure how to classify it: fantasy,sci-fi, dystopian or steampunk. I'm not really fussed though because I loved this book. The author has created this amazing, detailed world based on a skewed version of the real world, including various historical elements and characters such as Robespierre, Henry Tudor and Nazi Reinhard Heydrich. The Demi-Monde is a dark place, reliant on Victorian technology, with fantastical spiritual and fantasy elements. Author Rees performs some fantastic linguistic gymnastics, creating new religions such as mysogynistic HimPerialism and the feminist HerEticals. I thought his use of language was brilliant.


The plot moves at quite a pace and the main characters were well developed. Ella, as a woman and a "Shade" or as she prefers woman of colour, has to overcome her initial disgust with the world she has entered in order to focus on her mission. She is smart and resilient, and I enjoyed her developing relationship with faux psychic Vanka. The President's daughter was far from the prissy spoilt girl I was expecting, although not necessarily in a good way, and priviledged Lady Trixibell was an interesting character even if I found her pretty unlikeable as events unfolded. Meeting the real life historical figures added a different dimension and as a fan of historical fiction this aspect held a lot of appeal for me.


I don't think there is really much I can say about this book in the negative (apart from the overuse of the word ersatz perhaps) I'll definitely be looking out for the next book in the series to see where the author is going to take the Demi-Monde.


Format: Kindle, ARC
My Rating: 5*

Book Review: World Mart by Leigh M. Lane

Some time in the not too distant future the corporate world and government have become one and the same, antibiotic resistant diseases have wiped out many and global warming has wreaked havoc on the world we know. Society has been divided into the Corp elite and Mart underclass, ruled by the secretive Corporate. The lowest of the low are deviants, widely held to be inferior criminal types. 


George and Virginia, who have some memories of life as it is now, are fortunate to be part of the Corp, and in a way their American dream is still alive in so far as they hope that by spending most of their income on their children's education they might be able to obtain middle management jobs and improve their lot in life. However that dream is shattered when Virginia is hospitalised as a result of a terrorist attack. As a result they both have their eyes opened to a few things Corporate would rather the masses didn't know.

World Mart paints a bleak but all too plausible picture of a future where the climate is even more out of kilter than it is at present, where the failure of the present to deal with landfill and pollution has resulted in all sorts of problems and rationing, and where monopolistic corporations have gained a stranglehold on the world. As the book unfolded seeing George, and Virginia in particular, realise that they are being manipulated and controlled by the elite ruling class was a ray of hope. By contrast teen daughter Shelley, reeling from tragedy, despite seeing herself as rebelling chooses to believe the party line. I found the parents' actions  and feelings understandable, but found their daughter a bit inconsistent. She vacillated between wanting to make a stand and be a rebel, and being terrified by the outcome of her actions, but it seemed a sudden about face and she came over as more than just a confused teenager, I wanted to give her a slap at times.

There are incidents of violence and murder but the delivery of these events is matter of fact and the way the story moves quickly on makes it seem unexceptional, which I found a bit disturbing. Perhaps this is what the author intended in this dystopian future, but I'm not entirely convinced. 


I found the backdrop a scary possibility and liked the plot but found some of the elements didn't sit quite right for me. I also felt that the carefully constructed hierarchys that were set up in the first part of the book became almost redundant later on as it became much more of a personal tale, with the issues between the Corporate and the terrorists pushed to one side.


It was a reasonably good read but the characters weren't quite compelling enough to draw me back to it in the way some books do.


Format: Kindle, review copy
My Rating: 3*

Book Review: HELPER12 by Jack Blaine

I haven't read a lot of dystopian books but enjoy the dark glimpses of the future and the hope that is still to be found regardless in the ones I have read. That's why this book appealed to me and made it onto my TBR list.

HELPER12 is a baby helper, taking care of little ones up to  the age of 6 mths. Once they get to that age they are tracked and their future is determined by what vocation they are given. Will they be a Thinker, a Breeder, a Leisure Doll or one of many other designations? HELPER12 realises that despite not being allowed to do many things, including express herself creatively or build relationships, being a baby helper is far from the worst vocation to have.

However when Society family the Sloanes appear on her ward both she and baby Jobee (who would have been designated a number once tracked) are sold in an illegal adoption. Moving into the Sloanes house she thinks the rich must have the perfect life but comes to realise money doesn't equate to happiness. Her life becomes even more complicated when she realises she is bonding with Jobee and loves him, and as she develops a tentative friendship with the Sloane's biological son Thomas.

The world that Blaine has created is depressing, with a person's entire life controlled by the career they are allocated. Freedom of expression is long gone, and what people do is monitored constantly by cameras, with dire consequences for those who break the rules. The technology and the surroundings presented sound familiar which probably helps make this future sound all the more plausible. Yet despite this there is some happiness to be found, and hope springs eternal.

I thought the characters were really well done, and found that although HELPER12 has had limited experience of life outside her cube and is quite naive and joyful at the new things she sees she is also very perceptive. I found myself so attached to her and Thomas that when things looked like they would go wrong for them I had that leaden feeling in the pit of my stomach. On the other hand we have characters like the Director who is happy to arrange the illegal adoption, and Mrs Sloane who seems to immediately tire of her new baby, representing what is wrong with the society presented.

This isn't a particularly long book, but I think the reason I romped through it in a matter of hours had more to do with my being hooked. I was unable to put it down until I had completed it. I thought this was another polished book and would happily recommend it.

Format: Kindle, review copy
My Rating: 5*

Book Review: The Miracle Inspector by Helen Smith

I have read a couple of Helen's other books but this is the one that sounded closest to my taste, described as a dystopian thriller set in the near future.

Lucas and Angela live in a very different London, one that has been partitioned, where schools and theatres are shut, women are not allowed to work and may only visit family, going out veiled, and men are employed by an abundance of new government departments. Lucas is the miracle inspector, checking out many and varied reports of potential miracles. They are a young couple who believe they love each other but can't quite work out where their relationship is going wrong. They decide to try and escape London to get to Cornwall, envisaging a wonderful new life there, Angela it seems mostly looking for a more fulfilling life, Lucas to please Angela and get out before his connection to rebellious elderly poet Jesmond is discovered. In a place where most men die young, having joined the ranks of the Disappeared, he has reached a good age living underground and is a legendary figure.

The worrying thing about this novel is that it isn't too hard to believe this dark and very miserable picture of the future, where women are imprisoned in their own homes and lives are governed by fear of paedophiles and rapists. Yet despite the gloomy setting there is humour to be found in the book, albeit mostly dark humour. I very much like Helen's style of writing, her satirical humour and wonderful descriptions.

I have to admit I didn't particularly click with either of the main characters, although they do seem more hopeful and less downtrodden or cynical than the others we encounter. I think my favourite was Jesmond, and I would have liked to have found out more about him and his past. In fact generally I would have liked to have found out more about the intervening period and what had happened to get to the London featured in the book. Was it one major event or a series of rights being eroded and gradually accepted?

This was definitely a book that got me thinking, was well formatted for the kindle, and left me wondering whether ultimately Lucas had found his own miracle.

Format: Kindle, won in a giveaway
My Rating: 3*