Quote:
Originally Posted by ADqtPiMel
Suggestions please! My "to read" list on Goodreads is getting totally out of hand, but such is life.
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Suggestions plus some quick synopsis that I'm making up on the fly:
The Declaration by Gemma Malley
Longevity is a drug that will let you live forever, so children are illegal, the Surpluses who are born, in England at least, are raised to be servants, they are of no value and are taught they have no right to exist. Really good so far, dystopian and reminds me of a cross between Children of Men Never Let Me Go, and Halfway Human*.
XVI - Julia Karr
Every kid is fitted with a GPS, at sixteen (or "sex-teen") girls receive a tattoo of the letters XVI on their wrists. It signals they're of legal age and while media warns against teen sexuality in faint whispers in very loud shouts magazines/ads/etc all talk about sex, sexuality and how to impress the XVIIIs (guys get an extra two years of childhood.) It's pretty message heavy, but also entwined in this is a strict 'tier' system, where the poor can only escape by being particularly skilled, or there's the FeLS, which pretty much seems like being a space prostitute. Gee whiz isn't the government great? There's domestic abuse/violence if that's a squick, but the whole book is handled really well I think. One caveat - cars aka 'transports' are called 'trannies' throughout and although I eventually stopped noticing, it initially bothered me
Switched: Amanda Hocking
Haven't read this one yet, but it was $.99 so giving it a shot. Looks like a changeling story, you know, child switched by the fair folk and all that, could be good
Matched: Alie Condie
You're matched with your partner for life at a ceremony that feels like a cross between a coming out and a purity ball, which is weird, I know. But what if they screw up? Government runs your life, etc. Bit of a romance.
The Water Wars: Cameron Stracher
Water is more precious than pretty much anything, except things made with water, because you know, well yeah. Government runs things, etc. Cool setup, became more of an action book as it progressed and I'll admit to losing track a bit. Not just one universal government but different country-states built out of the former US.
Truancy and Truancy Origins: Isamu Fukui
The city doesn't run everything, the SCHOOL does. This book seems to be written to every teenager who's felt oppressed ever (so, all of them right?) by their school. The Truancy is actually a rebellion by the students against the school and ultimately the Mayor. But it's personal for the leader of the rebellion. Origins is a prequel. There's a sequel coming out next I believe.
Ones I have samples of but haven't read yet:
The Unidentified: Rae Mariz
Imagine if your school was like a reality show, where you had to keep your sponsors happy and everything. It's a bit of The Hunger Games mixed in with well a reality show. Less killing though, at least in the sample.
Birthmarked: Caragh M. O'Brian
Main character is the daughter of a Midwife, except being a midwife is freaky because you have to present the first 3 babies per month to, well someone. But her mother wasn't just out on another call, she's now missing entirely and the people in charge aren't so happy.
Genesis: Bernard Beckett
The main character is named Anax. The first chapter involves her giving the history of the world she lives in to the Examiners, it's obviously a test, but it's also an infodump. Synopsis online sounds interesting though.
Inferior: Pedear O. Guilin
This one is just out there, but I liked the sample. Stopmouth is a member of a tribe. Of humans. Rudimentary tech at best. They hunt other ... beings? They're pretty obviously sentient but they cannot communicate with each other and the tribalism is very strong, they are other, they are lessor they are also food. But they're fighting through cities of yet another species and the impression is that the world is full of these species and they're all killing each other, or making treaties that involve you giving X of your people for peace for the month. For food.
The Compound: S. A. Bodeen
Boo: The nuclear apocalypse occurred when you were seven
YAY: Your daddy is rich and built a bunker for you
BOO: Your granny and your twin brother didn't make it
YAY: Everyone else did, and you have stuff and a whole room decorated for you and clothes!
BOO: And you're here for the next 14 years...
I will be buying this one, I'm just intrigued about the places it can go. Dad seems heartless yet prepared the literal best for his family, the son is heartbroken but how will he grow up?
*Halfway Human is an excellent book, I have no idea if it's available for Nook and it can be VERY graphic, but it's the life story told in flashbacks as well as present legal troubles of a 'bland' or neuter. On his planet (they're all nominally 'human' but it's a long story) there are males, females and a servant class of neuters who are also servants to people/humans. Blands are considered like children, incapable of taking care of themselves or making their own decisions and are infantilized at the same time they are abused. There are a lot of parallels to slavery, sexism, classism, etc. and it is really well written. Every time someone tries to recommend Ursula K. LeGuin's Left Hand of Darkness as a book that talks about a gender, I point to this one instead.