Written by Rene Mitchell
An invitation into a harsh world… In the not too distant future, life is a cruel, bitterly cold place where you have to rely on your wits and your connections with the people of your past to get by. The world is in a state of “global cooling”. The Great Lakes have flooded out big cities like Chicago and Detroit and the refugees are eking out a meager existence in a place called The Zone. SNow brings The Zone, with its terrible realities, into sharp focus in this dystopian novel about a group of four unlikely allies who must join together in order to make it. Without going into too many details, which is difficult since the novel itself is a bit complex, we are introduced to Delores, someone who, being from New York, is completely out of her depth in The Zone. She goes to Danny to help her find her missing husband – a scoundrel who stole from her. Danny is old pals – so to speak – with Wally and Julie, both of whom just came off very difficult tours of duty. Danny, Wally and Julie were in the same orphanage together, and all joined the military when they were kids – something of a norm for orphans from The Zone. When Danny notices new tech tracking devices on Delores, Wally and Julie, the four embark on a mission of sorts to find out who is trying to find them, to find out what they want, and to come out on the other side none the worse for wear. While I found the concept intriguing and the world building was for the most part skillfully done, I found it difficult to grow attached to the four characters. Granted, if I lived in The Zone, perhaps I would be a hard person as well. So, this was believable, but as a reader I did crave more of a connection. I also found the language surrounding the futuristic technology was a bit complex and difficult to get a grip on for the uninitiated like myself. Sometimes I found myself confused with the descriptions of the military enhancements that some of the characters possessed. I was also turned off by some of the descriptions of war brutalities – I think the author was trying to show the terrible nature of his dystopian world – and perhaps I am too weak-stomached for it. All in all, I would say that this was an imaginative effort put forward by SNow, but perhaps he could have catered to his readers a bit more. Readers crave connection to the characters, and they want their immersion in the world of their book to be seamless. This book is lacking some of that and could be improved in some ways, but I think it is still worth a look.
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