C. D. Verhoff

C D Verhoff's Resist the Machine is the first of the Avant Nation duology. It started off a little too slow for my taste, and I nearly set it aside. I'm certainly glad I kept at it though, because this book was a wonderful read. The 'set-up' chapters were basically big data dumps, but after that the story really takes off.

There were several nods to some of my favourite dystopic novels/movies scattered throughout. Society's break down into categories is the most obvious. Avantica's genetic manipulation is extreme. The division names are based on either physical or psychological attributes, and there are physical differences between the various divisions. This begs the question- if we force evolution, have we not created a new species?

The expiry dates echo Logan's Run. However, these are internally enforced rather than Carousel's false roulette. Similarly, Make Room! Make Room!/Soylent Green gets its own passing tribute as well.

Eugenics invariably lead me back to both an historical attempt, and a sci-fi one. The first are the atrocities of the Nazi regime as it tried its own hand at genetic perfection. The second is Star Trek's Khan Noonien Singh and the Eugenics Wars. Avantica seems like a horrific place to live, stripped as its been of the most basic of human cultural and psychological needs. And it is cruel beyond belief to craft people exquisitely empathic to the suffering of others, and twist that gift. Trained as medical professionals, they are forced to set aside the essence of who they are in order to adhere to the Algorithm.

Check out C D Verhoff's Avant Nation: Resist the Machine if you want a great read that will keep you brimful of questions, and make you rethink the dubious value of genetic engineering.… (más)

Phenomenal! I truly couldn't put it down.

In a dystopian future, the United States has been divided into two entities - the Avants and the Luddites. Luddites, essentially living life as we currently know it. Avants, genetically engineered for optimal efficiency. There is a war between these two factions, each trying to eliminate the other. It comes down to two Avants - a Rugged, named Hawk, and a Compassionate, named Clara - to infiltrate the enemy lines and gain the information needed to save the Avantians.

*I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review.… (más)

Oh my goodness! I requested this book expecting another sappy young adult novel that might keep my kids' interest for a while. I put off reading it out of dread and started out of a sense of duty (I'd promised a review, after all.) Wow!

This was a deep book full of real emotion. I felt the main character's fear and frustration and wonder and deep hurt. She was totally real to me. The book never stopped surprising me with its twists even in the bittersweet not so happily ever after ending. The author wraps things up nicely but not so nicely that it feels like pat answers.

This is one of those books that gets under your skin and you spend weeks after pondering the "what ifs" and "what might be(s)". I loved the author's expLanation of the symbolism afterward, many I didn't catch in my reading (makes me want to read it again). BUT DON'T read that part first! Enjoy the story; get into the world; faall in love; then go read the extras. Much better that way!

I would put Wish Thief on a par with the Narnia Series or John White's Tower of Geburah series (actually, it was better than John White's books). It's totally different from both series yet just as timelessly . . . Great . . . Words fail me.

Read it! It's amazing!… (más)