Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Review: Darklandia


Title - Darklandia
Author - T.S. Welti
Genre - YA Dystopia 
Publication - October 22nd 2012
Format - Ebook
(Goodreads)& (Amazon)

Synopsis

Manhattan, 2147


Seventeen-year-old Sera Fisk gleefully celebrates the death of her 114-year-old great-grandmother, the last Atraxian alive who still remembers what New York was like before Felicity.


There is only one principle of Felicity: Suffering is optional. Those who disagree or forget this principle, as Sera's father did, are detained and “purified”. Through the use of the Darklandia virtual reality and mandatory water rations, the Department of Felicity has transformed metropolises all over the country into happy, obedient communities.

Inspired by her great-grandmother's last words, Sera stops drinking the water rations and is soon recruited by Nyx into a rebel organization in the midst of planning a full-scale attack on Darklandia. When Nyx attempts to override the Darklandia system, he stumbles upon shocking information about Sera and her family. After years of living in a haze of virtual reality and drugs, Sera finds herself running from a powerful surge of raw emotions and a government agency intent on keeping reality a secret.


Teaser

A smile stretched across my face, my body hunched over my great-grandmother’s wheelchair, as I heaved her toward the stage where she would take her last breath. The mayor had bestowed upon me the honor of rolling my grandmother up the ramp onto the glossy white stage in the middle of Times Square. Today, on that stage, my grandmother would be presented for her rapture.

 The wheels of the chair squealed as I leaned into it, heaving it up the incline. The only other sound in the square was the sound of the two gray Atraxian flags emblazoned with three blue stars, smacking the air as they fluttered at both corners of the stage. The wheelchair caught slightly on the transition from the ramp to the platform. A puff of talcum powder encasedmy grandmother’s wispy hair, the only cloud in sight on this glorious summer day.

 I gazed across the stage at the crowded square and found myself struck by a sudden notion: Of the eight raptures I had attended in my lifetime, I had never witnessed a rapture from this point of view, onstage looking out across a tranquil sea of smiling faces. It was lovely. It almost made me envy the darklings.

My grandmother’s rapture would be the last in New York City. At 114 years of age, my great-grandmother, whom I had always referred to as Grandmother, was the last of the darklings. Once Grandmother was gone, the city would be clean. Mayor Hillstead said Grandmother’s rapture would usher in a true era of Felicity. I couldn’t wait.

Review

I received Darklandia from a librarything giveaway in return for a honest review. Sera has just watched her grandmother be raptured which is a happy time for the people of Felicity. Her grandmother was the last living person to remember what New York was like, and with her rapture it would change the city for the better. Sera has grown up in the future where after a drought has changed the course bring about a war that causes the government to police water. Everyone receives water rations that are laced with conforming drugs as well as every day they spend time in a virtual world.

Sera decides to take her grandmothers last words to heart and stops drinking her water ration which changes her life forever. She’s thrust into a world she didn't know existed, awaken from the drugs she joins the resistance against the government. Sera will venture into the virtual reality world in attempt to gain secret information from her father that could save the masters and change the world. However she will have to give up everything she’s known in order to help change the way things are risking it all.

I've become a huge fan of the dystopia genre plus the synopsis screams matrix so of course it was my kind of book. I was drawn into Darklandia right from the start; the story is fast paced and keeps you wanting more. The author creates a unique twist on the dystopia genre creating a captivating story from start to end. Having grown up the all her life living on the controlling rations I found it interesting reading about Sera experiencing what we take for granted. She’s an enjoyable character who I found was easy to connect with and by the end she stole my heart. I do think most teens and adults who are dystopia/matrix fans will fall in love with Darklandia. I will admit it’s a little intense in parts so really young teens may struggle but I think it’s worth the read. 

4 out of 5 stars

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