I want furniture that rearranges itself: review of Daniel McMillan's Eve of Ascension

Title: Eve of Ascension

Series: The Fall of the Ascendancy (Book 1)

Author: Daniel McMillan

Genre: Science Fiction / Dystopian

Pages: 270

Buy Eve of Ascension

What Goodreads has to say:

LIFE IN THE ASCENDANCY WAS NOT ALL THAT IT APPEARED...

When an attempt at establishing a World Government seems destined to fail, the global elite seek refuge on a space station and crash an asteroid into the Earth to "bring the population down to a more manageable level".

Once the world was sufficiently healed from the Cataclysm, the elite reappeared and established The Ascendancy. They offered refuge in twelve new cities around the globe - all survivors had to do in exchange was give everything they could for the betterment of the government.

Baxter Clarke grew up in the city of Enswell, enjoying the highest comforts the Ascendancy provided thanks to his brilliant father's contributions.

But when Baxter discovers a connection that upsets the balance he has been familiar with all his life, he finds himself in a situation he never dreamed possible.

Now, with the fate of the Ascended attached to a device stolen from a government agency, he will have to run for his life and leave the city to save his people and rise to be the man he was meant to be.

What I have to say:

This book has fascinating concepts and super interesting characters. There's furniture that rearranges itself when you're having company over (like why have we not invented this yet in the real world, it would make life so much easier?) and makeup that adjusts automatically when the lighting changes or even better, when the person wearing it cries. (Seriously, we need this now, ok?)

The idea of an ascending order of cities is also interesting: most people start out in the outer cities, and as they advance socially, they're moved up into the inner cities. It can take generations for a family to move from one city to another, and if you screw up your chances, forget it.

Meanwhile, the Sylvans live outside the city, frustrating the Ascendancy (the central government) whenever they can, keeping hope of the resistance alive no matter the cost.

Right away, I was hooked: a rebel fighter was surrounded by deadly robots in a jungle, and his chances didn't look good. The story got off to a bang.

Then I was mesmerized by the two different spheres: the city-life of Baxter and his friends, plush with the latest technology and controlled by the government at every turn; and the rugged life of Raishann and her family, who live in much more humble circumstances but consider themselves free in a way the city people aren't. They even speak differently, using slang rather than highly polished, almost manneristic phrases.

So in the categories of freaking cool concepts, solid world-building, and really awesome, diverse characters (marry me, Laena), this book scores top marks.

But I had a problem with its style, and that kept me from giving it top marks all around. I'm a writer myself and a critic, so it could be that I just have a nitpicky disposition. I also enjoy thinking about how I would rewrite a book/play/movie to make it better. It's one of my favorite past-times.

If I were rewriting this book, I'd use a lot more active voice and follow the time-honored "show don't tell" rule. There were a lot of passages that read along the lines of: "Lila asked him what was on his mind and Baxter said that he wanted to go to the store, Lila agreed with him but pointed out that it was late, which caused Baxter to feel guilty and say they could go tomorrow."

Why tell us what the characters are saying? Why can't they just, like, say it?

Other times, we'd be told what a character was thinking when it would have been more effective to show us what they were thinking by the way they acted or by something they said.

I feel like this got in the way of character development and made it hard for us to get truly attached to the characters--which is sad because the author has put together a stellar cast here. There are some really interesting personalities and wide-ranging perspectives. So yeah.

At the end of the day, great story, fun characters, just needs some polishing up in the writing department. That's something that's easily overcome, and as the ideas and concepts are still super cool, I'm excited to see what this author gets up to next.

Rating:

Until tomorrow.

My stress levels rise thanks to R.E. Palmer's 'The Gates of Dawn'

Title: The Gates of Dawn

Series: The Never Dawn (#3)

Author: R.E. Palmer

Genre: YA Sci-Fi / Dystopian

Publisher: FrontRunner Publications

Date: August 17 2017

Pages: 398 pages

Buy The Gates of Dawn

What Goodreads has to say:

Banished to the surface, Noah and his team struggle to survive in the harsh climate and are forced to make a difficult decision. In their quest to see the first dawn, they make a shocking discovery about their past that could help Noah bring Mother's cruel regime to an end.

What I have to say:

You know that feeling when you're nearing the end of a book, and there's maybe ten pages left, and everything is a complete mess and you're like, "how the heck can we salvage this situation? Ain't no way. Everyone's gonna die."

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present R.E. Palmer's The Gates of Dawn. 

This book was so stressful. Not only at the end when I was like, but wait, are they not going to win after all???? No, this book was just stressful all the way through. Like--Is this person going to die? No, they can't die! I really really like them! (Hi Reuben). Shoot, is Noah going to die? Noah can't die, he's the narrator and we still have three-fourths of the book left! But wait, is he dead? Crap, maybe everyone's going to die.

It kept me invested, it kept me guessing, and it kept me holding my breath right up to the very end. The characters' pain was my pain. Their small victories filled me with joy. Their shocking discoveries induced my horror.

Before moving on, can we take just a moment to appreciate this masterful opening paragraph:

"It turns out you can't touch the sky. I guess I really should have known it wasn't possible. But I mustn't be critical of my younger self. In every picture I'd drawn in the nursery, I'd colored the top third in blue and left the page blank until the green line of the fields where I would be playing happily with Mother."

At the beginning of The Gates of Dawn, Noah, Rebekah, and a handful of their friends (I use the term loosely because one of them wants Noah dead) are sent down to New Earth by Mother. That should be cause for celebration, right? Yeah, sure, I mean except for the fact that New Earth seems to be a dark, frozen planet incapable of supporting life.

They decide to trek across the planet in search of fertile ground, but it's by no means a smooth journey. Think avalanches, sea storms, and the occasional murder attempt by that person who's not really Noah's friend. In other words, it's truly an adventure.

But what Noah and his "friends" eventually learn on New Earth sends them back to The Ark, in one final attempt to topple "Mother" from her seat of power and save themselves and everyone else still living in The Ark.

While I loved this book, and in fact, the whole series (well done on your first trilogy, R.E. Palmer), I ultimately had a problem with the ending for some reason. Being my usual super helpful self, I'm not sure exactly what that problem was. Of course, it's hard that, oh wait, hold on a sec-

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*WARNING: SPOILERS*

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OK hi. So it's hard that Noah and Rebekah end up separated at the end, and my heart aches for Rebekah who's still stuck under Mother's dominion (though we can hope that Mother is a little nicer now, right?). 

But I don't think that's where my problem with the ending lies. Maybe I wasn't sure exactly what happened at the end--how Noah averted the crisis? Or maybe averting the crisis turned out to be too simple? (Activating the fail-safe by pressing a button.) Maybe I wanted more people to die? IDK.

Or maybe it was the epilogue that fell flat for me. Maybe I needed more trees, or maybe I needed Abraham or Seth to be there. Maybe I needed something more akin to the beautiful moment in this book where Noah looks up at the first sunset he's ever seen and is overcome:

"I blink. A tear runs down my cheek. I can't touch the sky, but it can touch me."

All in all, though, this was a great story and I enjoyed it immensely. Even though I think the final book was ultimately my least favorite of the three, simply because I didn't feel it was quite as masterful as the first two (The Never Dawn and Cloud Cuckoo), it was still a fantastic, gripping dystopian adventure.

Yeah, it was heck of stressful. But that's how I like 'em.

Rating: 

(like... 3 and a half...? Can we get half a tree?)

Until tomorrow.

Twist follows twist in R.E. Palmer's dystopian 'Cloud Cuckoo'

Title: Cloud Cuckoo

Series: The Never Dawn (#2)

Author: R.E. Palmer

Genre: YA Sci-Fi / Dystopian

Pages: 222

Publisher: FrontRunner Publications

Date: August 26 2016

Buy Cloud Cuckoo

What Goodreads has to say:

Following their shock discovery, Noah and Rebekah reluctantly return to the lower levels of The Ark. Isolated and apart once more, Noah struggles to remember what happened at the surface and suspects Mother has altered his memory. 

But Noah's attempts to unite the workers to rebel are halted when Mother begins The Purge. Her cruel, relentless trials bring Noah to breaking point as he fights to survive when faced by his worst fears. Forced to accept Mother's terms after a month in Re-Education, Noah finally learns the truth about his people's past that leave him determined to defeat her once and for all. 

What I have to say:

I have to admit, when I learned the title of this book, my mind immediately jumped to The Lego Movie--that supremely awesome, completely perfect work of art which we will not discuss here--but this Cloud Cuckoo is very different from the fluffy cloud-realm inhabited by rainbows and unicorn kitties. 

Then again, I'd be lying if I said this story had nothing in common with The Lego Movie. There's a totalitarian leader who masks their sinister actions behind a benevolent image. There's a clueless young worker who gradually comes to lead the rebellion. There's a spaceship.

Laying obligatory Lego Movie comments aside, though, let's dig into R.E. Palmer's Cloud Cuckoo, the second book in his dystopian series The Never Dawn.

This book is fast and furious. Book one, The Never Dawn, immersed us in the world of The Ark--an underground (or so we thought) society ruled by an all-powerful figure known as Mother. Our protagonist, Noah, is a worker helping to bring about the New Dawn by assembling weapons day in and day out. But at the end of The Never Dawn, in a brilliant twist of an ending, we realize that nothing on The Ark is as it seems. And at that point the book ended.

In Cloud Cuckoo, we pick up directly where book one left off. Noah and his friend Rebekah have made a life-changing discovery--The Ark is a spaceship. Meanwhile, someone in The Ark is concealing a secret book that could expose Mother's lies, and Mother is determined to find that person. In fact, as you may have guessed, that person is none other than Noah himself. 

In order to catch the thief, Mother invokes a Purge--and boy, it's rough. She opens up the floor and sends everyone down to a dark, low, compact level where they'll sleep in tubes that seal shut and where they'll be served only tiny portions of green mush for every meal.

But it gets worse. Everyone will undergo interrogation at the hands of Mother's prefects.

Dude, this section is so intense. (Yeah, I use the word "dude" when I get really excited. I'm not sure why.) People are dropping like flies. Noah is starting to suspect everyone. Could his fellow team member Barnabas know something? Could he be planning to betray Noah to the prefects? And what will Noah tell the prefects when his turn comes?

It's such a great way to open the second book in the series, because after that revelation at the end of book one, we all know Noah can't just go back to his old life. The stakes are high, and Mother's Purge raises them even higher. It's relentless, it's grueling, and it's a page-turner.

Noah's not perfect. And he's not yet the brave leader he'll become later on in the series. Unable to handle the pain inflicted by the prefects--during The Purge interrogation and later in Re-Education, he buckles. He gives names.

The stakes just get higher and higher, and eventually Noah is forced to admit that he has the book. He's then sent to Re-Education, where, after enduring intense pain and betraying a few more of his friends, he's effectively brainwashed and sent back to his old life--well, not exactly. He's assigned to the kitchens. But that doesn't last.

Throughout the rest of the book, Noah moves from one level of the ship to another, gradually attaining new levels of knowledge as he climbs the social strata. Mother is leading him toward her ultimate goal--she will turn him into a Hero Worker, a role-model for the others to look up to, someone who follows Mother devotedly and inspires everyone to keep working for The New Dawn. 

But Noah's goal is very different. He'll expose Mother's lies and stir the others up to rebellion. They'll defeat Mother and find their way to New Earth, so they can finally be free of this ship and start a new life on the surface.

Unfortunately, Noah learns what many before him have already discovered--revolution is freaking hard.

If The Never Dawn led up to that one gut-wrenching twist at the very end, Cloud Cuckoo delivers a new twist every few chapters, each one more shocking than the last. Again and again, the author fools you into thinking you know what's going on, only to pull the carpet out from under your feet. No way! That was a shock. OK, but now you know what's going on. Ha ha nope! And so on.

I loved every mind-boggling, gasp-inducing twist and turn. I was so invested and I couldn't stop reading. I had to know what was going to happen next.

I think I have a bias toward middle books in a trilogy. Maybe it's because the middle book is the one that really tests the characters and molds them into the heroes they'll be in book three. Maybe it's because the middle book is always so intense and twisty. Maybe it's because I just love watching everything go to pot. 

Whatever the reason, I've now finished The Never Dawn trilogy (review of book three to come), so I can safely tell you that Cloud Cuckoo was my favorite of the three. It's not that the other two weren't also great--it's just that this book is so masterfully done. I love watching the characters develop and I love watching their relationships harden. I love experiencing Noah's pain, shock, and despair alongside him. 

Hmmm, OK, on second thought, that doesn't sound like it should be fun. I guess I'm just a sucker for those failed revolution plot-lines.

Rating:

Until tomorrow.

Tomorrow never comes in R.E. Palmer's 'The Never Dawn'

Title: The Never Dawn

Series: The Never Dawn (#1)

Author: R.E. Palmer

Genre: YA Sci-Fi

Publisher: FrontRunner Publications

Pages: 352 pages

Buy The Never Dawn

What Goodreads has to say:

All his young life, Noah has longed to see the sky he's only heard about in stories. For over one hundred years, Noah's people have toiled deep beneath the Earth preparing for The New Dawn – the historic day when they will emerge to reclaim the land stolen by a ruthless enemy. 

But when Rebekah, the girl of his forbidden desire, discovers a secret their leader has been so desperate to keep, Noah suspects something is wrong. Together, they escape and begin the long climb to the surface. But nothing could prepare them for what awaits outside.

What I have to say:

In a nutshell? I loved it.

OK, I'll say a little more.

This is a YA dystopian novel, with a similar feel to The Giver. There's also a definite Biblical element, conjured up by the Biblical names (Noah, Rebekah, Abraham, etc.) and the building of the "Ark." I thought that element was put to very good use, serving as a sort of touchstone that strengthened the narrative and lent it more power. I found this story engaging, gritty, and thought-provoking.

Noah, the protagonist, is a great character: sympathetic, relatable, and developing over the course of the story. As a reader, I found it very easy to get behind him, think what he was thinking, and feel what he was feeling. I liked that he was vulnerable, and very much a young adult, with all of the emotional confusion that entails. All the characters seemed very real and true to life, which helped me immerse myself in the story and really care about the characters. 

While we're talking author appreciation, here's something I am very grateful for: R.E. Palmer excels at dealing with PG-13 scenes in a way that doesn't make me want to close the book and go vomit. His technique is to leave most to your imagination, which, as good storytellers know, often proves more effective. There were a few moments in this story where I started to get a little nervous, thinking it was about to get really inappropriate, but the author didn't go there. The scene either turned out differently than the way I'd anticipated, or cut off before things got really messy. As a result, the story felt dark and gritty, but it never actually made me uncomfortable in that kind of way. I very much appreciate that.

Another thing I appreciate? That gut-twister of an ending! Whew. OK. Anyway.

This book isn't just black and white, and it's not the dystopian story you think you know. Let me clarify: you may think it's the dystopian story you know for the first 95% of the book, but then the author just rips the bottom out from under you. It's fantastic.

I was hooked on The Never Dawn from the beginning to the final page. If you're a fan of gripping, well-told YA dystopian fiction with a twist, I definitely recommend it.

Rating:

Until tomorrow (if tomorrow ever comes).