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Evocronik 1.0
Los Angeles | 2035
Reg, an organ thief, and Nina, a dominatrix, struggle to survive in the ghettos of Los Angeles and in virtual worlds where outcasts seek refuge.
Their world has become an overpopulated nightmare where forced abortions and sterilizations are the norm.
Unknown to them, a super artificial intelligence named Quin works for a trans-national conspiracy - “Operation Black Delta”- to produce the DNA for a race of people so advanced they will make the rest of us obsolete.
After a vicious attack by Kiko, a Korean cybernetic mafioso controlled by Quin, Nina becomes one of 1,000 women in the world impregnated with this new genetic code. But she is the only one to survive.
Hired by Quin under false pretenses, Reg tracks Nina down in the sprawling ghetto of Angel City, unaware that an even more dangerous plot threatens them and the rest of humanity.
Reg, an organ thief, and Nina, a dominatrix, struggle to survive in the ghettos of Los Angeles and in virtual worlds where outcasts seek refuge.
Their world has become an overpopulated nightmare where forced abortions and sterilizations are the norm.
Unknown to them, a super artificial intelligence named Quin works for a trans-national conspiracy - “Operation Black Delta”- to produce the DNA for a race of people so advanced they will make the rest of us obsolete.
After a vicious attack by Kiko, a Korean cybernetic mafioso controlled by Quin, Nina becomes one of 1,000 women in the world impregnated with this new genetic code. But she is the only one to survive.
Hired by Quin under false pretenses, Reg tracks Nina down in the sprawling ghetto of Angel City, unaware that an even more dangerous plot threatens them and the rest of humanity.
- GenresDystopiaScience Fiction
162 pages, Paperback
First published May 2, 2013
3 people are currently reading
222 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 19, 2013
In compliance with FTC guidelines, I am disclosing that I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
Reminiscent of authors: Lisa Mason, Robert Heinlein, Robert Silverberg, Greg Bear, Piers Anthony
Stats:
2 first person narratives
1 third person narrative
3 viewpoints total
Tags: Virtual Reality, Eugenics, Dystopia, TEOTWAWKI, Artificial Intelligence, Drug Use, Violence, Sex for Hire
06/08/2013 6:46 AM
I'm going to update my review as I read the book!! Why? Because it's fun~
In this update I read: The Future World Dispatch (FWD), The Georgia Guidestones (GG) and the chapter entitled "A Brief History"
The Future World Dispatch and the Georgia Guidestones are spooky!! It's scary to think that world Mr Weatherby dreamed up has a basis in what the current trends are. Good choices here Mr. Weatherby~
"A Brief History" - ye gods, the word choice and the word usage... I'm reminded of the quote, "You keep using that word, and I don't think it means what *you* think it means..." I got jolted out of my reader's daze repeatedly by poor word choice and/or usage. I mean, it's *close* so I could decipher what he meant but *that* word does not go *there*.
Example (and only example though there are many, many more!): "Governments attempted other PASSIVITY measures." Pacification measures anyone? First of all, passivity is a noun, not an adjective. Second of all, passivity doesn't imply the idea of something *resulting* in less resistance the way that another word (I stick by my choice of pacification! XD) would. Did an editor work on this? If so, get a new editor!!! Or you can find a crack team of beta readers willing to work for free~
What I liked: I got the exposition all in one shot. I feel like I understand the circumstances the characters are going to be operating under. The stage is set!!!
06/08/2013 5:23 PM
In this update I read the chapters: Meat Hook, Booty Bandits, Angel City, Guttersnipe, and Transmogrified
Okay, say it with me now: Ed. I. Tor. Please - for the love of spelling and grammar - and to save a good story! Think about how many readers will hit the first rough bits of prose and give up! People have short attention spans nowadays, you gotta keep the flow going or they'll split!!!
My example of typos and spell-checking errors: "is" where "his" should have been. There were also some verb tense, word choice and word usage *issues* but overall it was a vast, vast, vast improvement over the expository chapter. Do I sense a late addition to the book (the exposition)?
Or. I could have just gotten used to it. Was Nina's near incomprehensible lingo naught but a stratagem to get me to accept the fact that "these future people just don't talk right" so I would move right along, no longer bothering to note the more relatively minor grammar and spelling faux pas because "that's just how they do"? If so, Sir, I salute you.
Speaking of near incomprehensible lingo, when I was looking through the table of contents for the chapter titles, I noticed a "Glossary of Terms". I briefly face-palmed and then frantically flipped to it. Yes... it was short... From now on you're going to be getting a running list of the words I would have liked to have understood at the time. I'm also making my Very. Own. Acronym. of that because it's way too long. The acronym will be... twiwhlthuatt because *that's* not unwieldy. Also, I am NOT reading that first chapter again hoping for greater comprehension.
With regard to invented dialects and salty speech, I loved http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/99... Blood Red Road, http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15... Orleans and http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63... Child of Fortune but A Clockwork Orange was a total no-go for me. I think Nina's viewpoint would flow better for me if I weren't consciously analyzing: she didn't use the right verb tense, so was it on purpose or was it a mistake... maybe it's just the way she talks? Yeah, that's not the best way to keep me in the story.
On to the characters!
In honor of the story being told in the first person, the viewpoint characters are going to introduce themselves!!!
Hi, my name is Nina, life is generally out to f*ck me over, but there's plenty of good things, wamchakka. (My response to Nina: Dear Nina, I like you a lot, so please stop using the words wamchakka and wammy because your constant overuse of these words makes the muscle behind my eye twitch. Thank you.)
Hi, my name is Reg. I'm a pretentious twat overly fond of big words who needs to be punched in the face. If you could hear the way I think, you would know why. (My response to Reg: ==punches Reg in the face repeatedly== )
Hi, my name is Quin. I'm a creepy, narcissistic stalker and voyeur. I embrace my creepiness. (My response to Quin: ==slowly backs away== "I am not interesting to you, not interesting at all!!!" ==runs== )
and finally!!!
Update sum-up: I like Nina, she takes hard knocks and just keeps knocking back. I don't like Reg, even *Quin* is more sympathetic to me then Reg is, and that's sad. I liked the multitude of languages scattered through the text because it let me exercise my infinitesimal knowledge of said languages and gave the story a real "melting-pot" kind of feeling. I also just love languages. I'm interested and it's a good story, but the execution - still a little lacking.
06/09/2013 9:10 AM
Final Update!!! I read the rest of the book.
It was too short!! The story's not done!!! Whine, whine, whine~
Final thoughts:
TWIWHLTHUATT: mali, khat, Wackenhut, (Coop - I gave in and skimmed that first chapter again), and then I was just in the zone and nothing else pinged me.
Editors are our friends. They are giving, loving people who reward us with candy and/or cash money when we use them. They give us massages with or without happy endings. We will use editors or beta readers (editors without title or pay) in the future.
Nina is getting more articulate as we go along... See the author got tired of the wamchakkas too!!!
I want to punch Quin in the face now too, condescending bastard!!!
Reg has been upgraded to a pretentious TW*I*T. He's such a throwaway character though, aww tragedy aww I'm so bitter but I still can empathize with people's minor injuries as I cut out organs but oh no I don't *KILL* people not that. Yeah, definitely a twit. And he's STILL so full of himself... AaAargGgGgh ==punches Reg in the face== Okay that was the last one for this book, I *swear* it's out of my system now.
Quin was described as "an irresponsible pervert playing God" - I want Quin to respond, "Dude, I *am* an irresponsible pervert playing God."
NUMBER. ONE. FUNNY. TYPO: "fowl" instead of "foul" - I lol'd
Criticism:
The Quin/Reg/Nina viewpoints have too much common word choices and usage between them. Different characters should have different internal dialogues!! Quin and Nina's dialogues were *usually* well differentiated but Quin and Reg were blendy sometimes and even Nina started picking up words from the other two towards the end. Quin and Nina got blendy once and that was creepy and horrible... and confusing.
While I was thrilled by the steadily declining occurrences of the wamchakka, it's actually not a good sign. I also noticed that the speaking of foreign tongues became more and more sporadic. Basically I'm asking, where's the *consistency*? People's patterns of speech and internal dialogues don't change this fast. Even Nina's use of the l33tspeak steadily declined. Not. Complaining. Disappear it at the beginning too to make it all equal!!!
My biggest wish is just that the vehicle you use to express yourself is able to keep up with your imagination - so that I can fully submerge myself in that world, because I'm the important one, after all XD ...
:End Criticism
I had a good time, I want to read more, I went to website but no dice - 4 (FOUR!) stars
and one last thing:
==punches Reg in the face== What? I lied, so sue me~
and there, that's the end, there isn't any more~
DISCLAIMER: I FREELY USE AND ABUSE THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE FOR MY OWN AMUSEMENT
Reminiscent of authors: Lisa Mason, Robert Heinlein, Robert Silverberg, Greg Bear, Piers Anthony
Stats:
2 first person narratives
1 third person narrative
3 viewpoints total
Tags: Virtual Reality, Eugenics, Dystopia, TEOTWAWKI, Artificial Intelligence, Drug Use, Violence, Sex for Hire
06/08/2013 6:46 AM
I'm going to update my review as I read the book!! Why? Because it's fun~
In this update I read: The Future World Dispatch (FWD), The Georgia Guidestones (GG) and the chapter entitled "A Brief History"
The Future World Dispatch and the Georgia Guidestones are spooky!! It's scary to think that world Mr Weatherby dreamed up has a basis in what the current trends are. Good choices here Mr. Weatherby~
"A Brief History" - ye gods, the word choice and the word usage... I'm reminded of the quote, "You keep using that word, and I don't think it means what *you* think it means..." I got jolted out of my reader's daze repeatedly by poor word choice and/or usage. I mean, it's *close* so I could decipher what he meant but *that* word does not go *there*.
Example (and only example though there are many, many more!): "Governments attempted other PASSIVITY measures." Pacification measures anyone? First of all, passivity is a noun, not an adjective. Second of all, passivity doesn't imply the idea of something *resulting* in less resistance the way that another word (I stick by my choice of pacification! XD) would. Did an editor work on this? If so, get a new editor!!! Or you can find a crack team of beta readers willing to work for free~
What I liked: I got the exposition all in one shot. I feel like I understand the circumstances the characters are going to be operating under. The stage is set!!!
06/08/2013 5:23 PM
In this update I read the chapters: Meat Hook, Booty Bandits, Angel City, Guttersnipe, and Transmogrified
Okay, say it with me now: Ed. I. Tor. Please - for the love of spelling and grammar - and to save a good story! Think about how many readers will hit the first rough bits of prose and give up! People have short attention spans nowadays, you gotta keep the flow going or they'll split!!!
My example of typos and spell-checking errors: "is" where "his" should have been. There were also some verb tense, word choice and word usage *issues* but overall it was a vast, vast, vast improvement over the expository chapter. Do I sense a late addition to the book (the exposition)?
Or. I could have just gotten used to it. Was Nina's near incomprehensible lingo naught but a stratagem to get me to accept the fact that "these future people just don't talk right" so I would move right along, no longer bothering to note the more relatively minor grammar and spelling faux pas because "that's just how they do"? If so, Sir, I salute you.
Speaking of near incomprehensible lingo, when I was looking through the table of contents for the chapter titles, I noticed a "Glossary of Terms". I briefly face-palmed and then frantically flipped to it. Yes... it was short... From now on you're going to be getting a running list of the words I would have liked to have understood at the time. I'm also making my Very. Own. Acronym. of that because it's way too long. The acronym will be... twiwhlthuatt because *that's* not unwieldy. Also, I am NOT reading that first chapter again hoping for greater comprehension.
With regard to invented dialects and salty speech, I loved http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/99... Blood Red Road, http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15... Orleans and http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63... Child of Fortune but A Clockwork Orange was a total no-go for me. I think Nina's viewpoint would flow better for me if I weren't consciously analyzing: she didn't use the right verb tense, so was it on purpose or was it a mistake... maybe it's just the way she talks? Yeah, that's not the best way to keep me in the story.
On to the characters!
In honor of the story being told in the first person, the viewpoint characters are going to introduce themselves!!!
Hi, my name is Nina, life is generally out to f*ck me over, but there's plenty of good things, wamchakka. (My response to Nina: Dear Nina, I like you a lot, so please stop using the words wamchakka and wammy because your constant overuse of these words makes the muscle behind my eye twitch. Thank you.)
Hi, my name is Reg. I'm a pretentious twat overly fond of big words who needs to be punched in the face. If you could hear the way I think, you would know why. (My response to Reg: ==punches Reg in the face repeatedly== )
Hi, my name is Quin. I'm a creepy, narcissistic stalker and voyeur. I embrace my creepiness. (My response to Quin: ==slowly backs away== "I am not interesting to you, not interesting at all!!!" ==runs== )
and finally!!!
Update sum-up: I like Nina, she takes hard knocks and just keeps knocking back. I don't like Reg, even *Quin* is more sympathetic to me then Reg is, and that's sad. I liked the multitude of languages scattered through the text because it let me exercise my infinitesimal knowledge of said languages and gave the story a real "melting-pot" kind of feeling. I also just love languages. I'm interested and it's a good story, but the execution - still a little lacking.
06/09/2013 9:10 AM
Final Update!!! I read the rest of the book.
It was too short!! The story's not done!!! Whine, whine, whine~
Final thoughts:
TWIWHLTHUATT: mali, khat, Wackenhut, (Coop - I gave in and skimmed that first chapter again), and then I was just in the zone and nothing else pinged me.
Editors are our friends. They are giving, loving people who reward us with candy and/or cash money when we use them. They give us massages with or without happy endings. We will use editors or beta readers (editors without title or pay) in the future.
Nina is getting more articulate as we go along... See the author got tired of the wamchakkas too!!!
I want to punch Quin in the face now too, condescending bastard!!!
Reg has been upgraded to a pretentious TW*I*T. He's such a throwaway character though, aww tragedy aww I'm so bitter but I still can empathize with people's minor injuries as I cut out organs but oh no I don't *KILL* people not that. Yeah, definitely a twit. And he's STILL so full of himself... AaAargGgGgh ==punches Reg in the face== Okay that was the last one for this book, I *swear* it's out of my system now.
Quin was described as "an irresponsible pervert playing God" - I want Quin to respond, "Dude, I *am* an irresponsible pervert playing God."
NUMBER. ONE. FUNNY. TYPO: "fowl" instead of "foul" - I lol'd
Criticism:
The Quin/Reg/Nina viewpoints have too much common word choices and usage between them. Different characters should have different internal dialogues!! Quin and Nina's dialogues were *usually* well differentiated but Quin and Reg were blendy sometimes and even Nina started picking up words from the other two towards the end. Quin and Nina got blendy once and that was creepy and horrible... and confusing.
While I was thrilled by the steadily declining occurrences of the wamchakka, it's actually not a good sign. I also noticed that the speaking of foreign tongues became more and more sporadic. Basically I'm asking, where's the *consistency*? People's patterns of speech and internal dialogues don't change this fast. Even Nina's use of the l33tspeak steadily declined. Not. Complaining. Disappear it at the beginning too to make it all equal!!!
My biggest wish is just that the vehicle you use to express yourself is able to keep up with your imagination - so that I can fully submerge myself in that world, because I'm the important one, after all XD ...
:End Criticism
I had a good time, I want to read more, I went to website but no dice - 4 (FOUR!) stars
and one last thing:
==punches Reg in the face== What? I lied, so sue me~
and there, that's the end, there isn't any more~
DISCLAIMER: I FREELY USE AND ABUSE THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE FOR MY OWN AMUSEMENT
August 12, 2013
In compliance with FTC guidelines, I am disclosing that I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
Reminiscent of authors: Lisa Mason, Robert Heinlein, Robert Silverberg, Greg Bear, Piers Anthony
Stats:
2 first person narratives
1 third person narrative
3 viewpoints total
Tags: Virtual Reality, Eugenics, Dystopia, TEOTWAWKI, Artificial Intelligence, Drug Use, Violence, Sex for Hire
06/08/2013 6:46 AM
I'm going to update my review as I read the book!! Why? Because it's fun~
In this update I read: The Future World Dispatch (FWD), The Georgia Guidestones (GG) and the chapter entitled "A Brief History"
The Future World Dispatch and the Georgia Guidestones are spooky!! It's scary to think that world Mr Weatherby dreamed up has a basis in what the current trends are. Good choices here Mr. Weatherby~
"A Brief History" - ye gods, the word choice and the word usage... I'm reminded of the quote, "You keep using that word, and I don't think it means what *you* think it means..." I got jolted out of my reader's daze repeatedly by poor word choice and/or usage. I mean, it's *close* so I could decipher what he meant but *that* word does not go *there*.
Example (and only example though there are many, many more!): "Governments attempted other PASSIVITY measures." Pacification measures anyone? First of all, passivity is a noun, not an adjective. Second of all, passivity doesn't imply the idea of something *resulting* in less resistance the way that another word (I stick by my choice of pacification! XD) would. Did an editor work on this? If so, get a new editor!!! Or you can find a crack team of beta readers willing to work for free~
What I liked: I got the exposition all in one shot. I feel like I understand the circumstances the characters are going to be operating under. The stage is set!!!
06/08/2013 5:23 PM
In this update I read the chapters: Meat Hook, Booty Bandits, Angel City, Guttersnipe, and Transmogrified
Okay, say it with me now: Ed. I. Tor. Please - for the love of spelling and grammar - and to save a good story! Think about how many readers will hit the first rough bits of prose and give up! People have short attention spans nowadays, you gotta keep the flow going or they'll split!!!
My example of typos and spell-checking errors: "is" where "his" should have been. There were also some verb tense, word choice and word usage *issues* but overall it was a vast, vast, vast improvement over the expository chapter. Do I sense a late addition to the book (the exposition)?
Or. I could have just gotten used to it. Was Nina's near incomprehensible lingo naught but a stratagem to get me to accept the fact that "these future people just don't talk right" so I would move right along, no longer bothering to note the more relatively minor grammar and spelling faux pas because "that's just how they do"? If so, Sir, I salute you.
Speaking of near incomprehensible lingo, when I was looking through the table of contents for the chapter titles, I noticed a "Glossary of Terms". I briefly face-palmed and then frantically flipped to it. Yes... it was short... From now on you're going to be getting a running list of the words I would have liked to have understood at the time. I'm also making my Very. Own. Acronym. of that because it's way too long. The acronym will be... twiwhlthuatt because *that's* not unwieldy. Also, I am NOT reading that first chapter again hoping for greater comprehension.
With regard to invented dialects and salty speech, I loved http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/99... Blood Red Road, http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15... Orleans and http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63... Child of Fortune but A Clockwork Orange was a total no-go for me. I think Nina's viewpoint would flow better for me if I weren't consciously analyzing: she didn't use the right verb tense, so was it on purpose or was it a mistake... maybe it's just the way she talks? Yeah, that's not the best way to keep me in the story.
On to the characters!
In honor of the story being told in the first person, the viewpoint characters are going to introduce themselves!!!
Hi, my name is Nina, life is generally out to f*ck me over, but there's plenty of good things, wamchakka. (My response to Nina: Dear Nina, I like you a lot, so please stop using the words wamchakka and wammy because your constant overuse of these words makes the muscle behind my eye twitch. Thank you.)
Hi, my name is Reg. I'm a pretentious twat overly fond of big words who needs to be punched in the face. If you could hear the way I think, you would know why. (My response to Reg: ==punches Reg in the face repeatedly== )
Hi, my name is Quin. I'm a creepy, narcissistic stalker and voyeur. I embrace my creepiness. (My response to Quin: ==slowly backs away== "I am not interesting to you, not interesting at all!!!" ==runs== )
and finally!!!
Update sum-up: I like Nina, she takes hard knocks and just keeps knocking back. I don't like Reg, even *Quin* is more sympathetic to me then Reg is, and that's sad. I liked the multitude of languages scattered through the text because it let me exercise my infinitesimal knowledge of said languages and gave the story a real "melting-pot" kind of feeling. I also just love languages. I'm interested and it's a good story, but the execution - still a little lacking.
06/09/2013 9:10 AM
Final Update!!! I read the rest of the book.
It was too short!! The story's not done!!! Whine, whine, whine~
Final thoughts:
TWIWHLTHUATT: mali, khat, Wackenhut, (Coop - I gave in and skimmed that first chapter again), and then I was just in the zone and nothing else pinged me.
Editors are our friends. They are giving, loving people who reward us with candy and/or cash money when we use them. They give us massages with or without happy endings. We will use editors or beta readers (editors without title or pay) in the future.
Nina is getting more articulate as we go along... See the author got tired of the wamchakkas too!!!
I want to punch Quin in the face now too, condescending bastard!!!
Reg has been upgraded to a pretentious TW*I*T. He's such a throwaway character though, aww tragedy aww I'm so bitter but I still can empathize with people's minor injuries as I cut out organs but oh no I don't *KILL* people not that. Yeah, definitely a twit. And he's STILL so full of himself... AaAargGgGgh ==punches Reg in the face== Okay that was the last one for this book, I *swear* it's out of my system now.
Quin was described as "an irresponsible pervert playing God" - I want Quin to respond, "Dude, I *am* an irresponsible pervert playing God."
NUMBER. ONE. FUNNY. TYPO: "fowl" instead of "foul" - I lol'd
Criticism:
The Quin/Reg/Nina viewpoints have too much common word choices and usage between them. Different characters should have different internal dialogues!! Quin and Nina's dialogues were *usually* well differentiated but Quin and Reg were blendy sometimes and even Nina started picking up words from the other two towards the end. Quin and Nina got blendy once and that was creepy and horrible... and confusing.
While I was thrilled by the steadily declining occurrences of the wamchakka, it's actually not a good sign. I also noticed that the speaking of foreign tongues became more and more sporadic. Basically I'm asking, where's the *consistency*? People's patterns of speech and internal dialogues don't change this fast. Even Nina's use of the l33tspeak steadily declined. Not. Complaining. Disappear it at the beginning too to make it all equal!!!
My biggest wish is just that the vehicle you use to express yourself is able to keep up with your imagination - so that I can fully submerge myself in that world, because I'm the important one, after all XD ...
:End Criticism
I had a good time, I want to read more, I went to website but no dice - 4 (FOUR!) stars
and one last thing:
==punches Reg in the face== What? I lied, so sue me~
and there, that's the end, there isn't any more~
DISCLAIMER: I FREELY USE AND ABUSE THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE FOR MY OWN AMUSEMENT
Reminiscent of authors: Lisa Mason, Robert Heinlein, Robert Silverberg, Greg Bear, Piers Anthony
Stats:
2 first person narratives
1 third person narrative
3 viewpoints total
Tags: Virtual Reality, Eugenics, Dystopia, TEOTWAWKI, Artificial Intelligence, Drug Use, Violence, Sex for Hire
06/08/2013 6:46 AM
I'm going to update my review as I read the book!! Why? Because it's fun~
In this update I read: The Future World Dispatch (FWD), The Georgia Guidestones (GG) and the chapter entitled "A Brief History"
The Future World Dispatch and the Georgia Guidestones are spooky!! It's scary to think that world Mr Weatherby dreamed up has a basis in what the current trends are. Good choices here Mr. Weatherby~
"A Brief History" - ye gods, the word choice and the word usage... I'm reminded of the quote, "You keep using that word, and I don't think it means what *you* think it means..." I got jolted out of my reader's daze repeatedly by poor word choice and/or usage. I mean, it's *close* so I could decipher what he meant but *that* word does not go *there*.
Example (and only example though there are many, many more!): "Governments attempted other PASSIVITY measures." Pacification measures anyone? First of all, passivity is a noun, not an adjective. Second of all, passivity doesn't imply the idea of something *resulting* in less resistance the way that another word (I stick by my choice of pacification! XD) would. Did an editor work on this? If so, get a new editor!!! Or you can find a crack team of beta readers willing to work for free~
What I liked: I got the exposition all in one shot. I feel like I understand the circumstances the characters are going to be operating under. The stage is set!!!
06/08/2013 5:23 PM
In this update I read the chapters: Meat Hook, Booty Bandits, Angel City, Guttersnipe, and Transmogrified
Okay, say it with me now: Ed. I. Tor. Please - for the love of spelling and grammar - and to save a good story! Think about how many readers will hit the first rough bits of prose and give up! People have short attention spans nowadays, you gotta keep the flow going or they'll split!!!
My example of typos and spell-checking errors: "is" where "his" should have been. There were also some verb tense, word choice and word usage *issues* but overall it was a vast, vast, vast improvement over the expository chapter. Do I sense a late addition to the book (the exposition)?
Or. I could have just gotten used to it. Was Nina's near incomprehensible lingo naught but a stratagem to get me to accept the fact that "these future people just don't talk right" so I would move right along, no longer bothering to note the more relatively minor grammar and spelling faux pas because "that's just how they do"? If so, Sir, I salute you.
Speaking of near incomprehensible lingo, when I was looking through the table of contents for the chapter titles, I noticed a "Glossary of Terms". I briefly face-palmed and then frantically flipped to it. Yes... it was short... From now on you're going to be getting a running list of the words I would have liked to have understood at the time. I'm also making my Very. Own. Acronym. of that because it's way too long. The acronym will be... twiwhlthuatt because *that's* not unwieldy. Also, I am NOT reading that first chapter again hoping for greater comprehension.
With regard to invented dialects and salty speech, I loved http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/99... Blood Red Road, http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15... Orleans and http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63... Child of Fortune but A Clockwork Orange was a total no-go for me. I think Nina's viewpoint would flow better for me if I weren't consciously analyzing: she didn't use the right verb tense, so was it on purpose or was it a mistake... maybe it's just the way she talks? Yeah, that's not the best way to keep me in the story.
On to the characters!
In honor of the story being told in the first person, the viewpoint characters are going to introduce themselves!!!
Hi, my name is Nina, life is generally out to f*ck me over, but there's plenty of good things, wamchakka. (My response to Nina: Dear Nina, I like you a lot, so please stop using the words wamchakka and wammy because your constant overuse of these words makes the muscle behind my eye twitch. Thank you.)
Hi, my name is Reg. I'm a pretentious twat overly fond of big words who needs to be punched in the face. If you could hear the way I think, you would know why. (My response to Reg: ==punches Reg in the face repeatedly== )
Hi, my name is Quin. I'm a creepy, narcissistic stalker and voyeur. I embrace my creepiness. (My response to Quin: ==slowly backs away== "I am not interesting to you, not interesting at all!!!" ==runs== )
and finally!!!
Update sum-up: I like Nina, she takes hard knocks and just keeps knocking back. I don't like Reg, even *Quin* is more sympathetic to me then Reg is, and that's sad. I liked the multitude of languages scattered through the text because it let me exercise my infinitesimal knowledge of said languages and gave the story a real "melting-pot" kind of feeling. I also just love languages. I'm interested and it's a good story, but the execution - still a little lacking.
06/09/2013 9:10 AM
Final Update!!! I read the rest of the book.
It was too short!! The story's not done!!! Whine, whine, whine~
Final thoughts:
TWIWHLTHUATT: mali, khat, Wackenhut, (Coop - I gave in and skimmed that first chapter again), and then I was just in the zone and nothing else pinged me.
Editors are our friends. They are giving, loving people who reward us with candy and/or cash money when we use them. They give us massages with or without happy endings. We will use editors or beta readers (editors without title or pay) in the future.
Nina is getting more articulate as we go along... See the author got tired of the wamchakkas too!!!
I want to punch Quin in the face now too, condescending bastard!!!
Reg has been upgraded to a pretentious TW*I*T. He's such a throwaway character though, aww tragedy aww I'm so bitter but I still can empathize with people's minor injuries as I cut out organs but oh no I don't *KILL* people not that. Yeah, definitely a twit. And he's STILL so full of himself... AaAargGgGgh ==punches Reg in the face== Okay that was the last one for this book, I *swear* it's out of my system now.
Quin was described as "an irresponsible pervert playing God" - I want Quin to respond, "Dude, I *am* an irresponsible pervert playing God."
NUMBER. ONE. FUNNY. TYPO: "fowl" instead of "foul" - I lol'd
Criticism:
The Quin/Reg/Nina viewpoints have too much common word choices and usage between them. Different characters should have different internal dialogues!! Quin and Nina's dialogues were *usually* well differentiated but Quin and Reg were blendy sometimes and even Nina started picking up words from the other two towards the end. Quin and Nina got blendy once and that was creepy and horrible... and confusing.
While I was thrilled by the steadily declining occurrences of the wamchakka, it's actually not a good sign. I also noticed that the speaking of foreign tongues became more and more sporadic. Basically I'm asking, where's the *consistency*? People's patterns of speech and internal dialogues don't change this fast. Even Nina's use of the l33tspeak steadily declined. Not. Complaining. Disappear it at the beginning too to make it all equal!!!
My biggest wish is just that the vehicle you use to express yourself is able to keep up with your imagination - so that I can fully submerge myself in that world, because I'm the important one, after all XD ...
:End Criticism
I had a good time, I want to read more, I went to website but no dice - 4 (FOUR!) stars
and one last thing:
==punches Reg in the face== What? I lied, so sue me~
and there, that's the end, there isn't any more~
DISCLAIMER: I FREELY USE AND ABUSE THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE FOR MY OWN AMUSEMENT
August 17, 2013
A mere 22 years into the future and things look pretty bleak. The wealthy elite live in secluded paradise, while all others deal with pollution and merciless Trog (humans with cybernetic implants) gangs. This story follows Nina, a dominatrix with an abused past. She also - thanks to a military mother - is one of very few unsterilized women. Quin, a crazy cyberstalker, hires Reg under false pretenses to steal her womb. While seeking shelter from a melee, Reg discovers something even more special than Nina’s ability to reproduce.
I felt like this book was 75% exposition. Reg and Nina met up with, like, four chapters left. Granted, there was tons of action. But there was also a lot of sexual violence. I think one awful scene is quite enough. Pretty sure the author was trying to show how strong Nina is to overcome it all, but it was just too much for me. Any woman to survive one such attack shows great inner strength as far as I’m concerned.
I want Nina to survive. But I don’t think I’m interested enough to see her story through to its ultimate end .
I felt like this book was 75% exposition. Reg and Nina met up with, like, four chapters left. Granted, there was tons of action. But there was also a lot of sexual violence. I think one awful scene is quite enough. Pretty sure the author was trying to show how strong Nina is to overcome it all, but it was just too much for me. Any woman to survive one such attack shows great inner strength as far as I’m concerned.
I want Nina to survive. But I don’t think I’m interested enough to see her story through to its ultimate end .
July 21, 2013
I won this book on Good reads. Thank you to the author!
This is a futuristic novel with very interesting characters indeed! The only problem is...it is " to be continued". And I hate that , because I want to know now what happens to Nina. Oh well, nevertheless, I enjoyed thebook. Thank you.
This is a futuristic novel with very interesting characters indeed! The only problem is...it is " to be continued". And I hate that , because I want to know now what happens to Nina. Oh well, nevertheless, I enjoyed thebook. Thank you.
June 5, 2013
Interesting and somewhat plausible world... The writing needs some work though.
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