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The Uprising #1
Hipstopia
It's been three years since Murphy led the Hipster uprising. For three years, Jay has been by his side. All that's about to change. It starts with the beautifully intense Prisoner Forty-Seven... and a loaded gun.
Hipstopia is the first book in Young Adult Dystopian duet, The Uprising.
Hipstopia is the first book in Young Adult Dystopian duet, The Uprising.
- GenresDystopia
110 pages, Paperback
First published July 22, 2013
1 person is currently reading
380 people want to read
About the author
R.A. Desilets
10 books88 followersR. A. Desilets was born in southern New Hampshire. She graduated from Emerson College with a B.A. in Writing, Literature, and Publishing. She lived in southern California for a bit and then decided it was too hot.
She currently resides in the rainy side of Oregon with her partner and cats.
She currently resides in the rainy side of Oregon with her partner and cats.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
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July 1, 2013Ah, I have to do this thing again, where I "review" my own book. Well, shenanigans to that. No reviews here, just insider information as to how this thing came to be about.
I like to call Hipstopia "silly in concept, but serious in writing." Because it is silly and came about via a twitter conversation. Once I got the idea drilled into my head, I couldn't let it go - even if it was meant to be a joke.
Jay and Murphy started forming their own lives, their own stories, and I had to write it down. An Iron Writer** competition later and I had an insanely rough draft of Hipstopia.
Now - why read Hipstopia? It has a little bit of satire, a little bit of love, a messed up society, and a coming-of-age story all wrapped up into the concept of a hipster dystopian novella.
** Iron Writer was created by Dreadful Cafe and is a 24-hour marathon of writing - highly competitive, and highly awesome.
I like to call Hipstopia "silly in concept, but serious in writing." Because it is silly and came about via a twitter conversation. Once I got the idea drilled into my head, I couldn't let it go - even if it was meant to be a joke.
Jay and Murphy started forming their own lives, their own stories, and I had to write it down. An Iron Writer** competition later and I had an insanely rough draft of Hipstopia.
Now - why read Hipstopia? It has a little bit of satire, a little bit of love, a messed up society, and a coming-of-age story all wrapped up into the concept of a hipster dystopian novella.
** Iron Writer was created by Dreadful Cafe and is a 24-hour marathon of writing - highly competitive, and highly awesome.
July 22, 2013
"Because it's fashionable"
Charismatic Murphy inspired a bunch of hipsters from Silverlake to stand against 'corporate personhood', and they chased out everyone who believed in it. With his biggest glasses, he created his own little pocket of hipsters built on being fashionable, changed their names to end in a more lyrical 'y' and have no televisions. This story is about Jay, his right-hand man. Jay smokes all day instead of eating, loves that everything is done locally and that he doesn't have to make decisions, and at the age of 18 he has never had a girlfriend. In this novelette, I watched him grow, questioning everything he'd known, and finally become a man.
The Good
I'm not a huge fan of novelettes in general. There just aren't enough pages in my opinion. However, I absorb Desilets writing like a sponge and love every minute of it. Do I pine for more when it's over? Yes! She is able to create a well-wrapped up story in a novelette. When I'm finished reading, I feel like I've gotten all the facts that I needed, even while I wish the story would continue. Thankfully, this one has a second, full-length book coming to follow it up in this series.
I'm amazed at how Desilets can take this concept and turn it into a mixture of absurdity and honesty, thoughtfulness and comedy. I'm giggling at these kids saying they won't do something because 'it's not fashionable', but at the same time there are poignant moments where true emotion comes out in the characters. It's a dystopain built on a unique and silly world with real characters and feelings. Also, even though it's not categorized as New Adult, I feel that it could easily be classed as that since it's a coming of age story about Jay and his growth. I love everything about how the mixtures came together to create a great story.
The Bad
There is insta-love, or rather insta-crush. Given that this is a novelette, there's not a lot of pages to get the romance going, so I understand the need to have it develop rather quickly.
The Romance
Jay is immediately drawn to Prisoner Forty-Seven. Never having had a girlfriend, it's easy to see why he would become quickly attached to her. Prisoner Forty-Seven is the catalyst that turns Jay on his head. She's fierce, smart, and beautiful, and he needs to be close to her. I love this character! She is exactly what he needs and he didn't even know he was missing anything.
Conclusion
I really hope you give this one a shot. With the follow-up full length book, this series is one to add to your too-read shelf. It's incredibly unique, very well-written, funny, honest, and enjoyable.
Original review located at JC's Book Haven and given 4.5 stars. Sent by author for honest review.
Charismatic Murphy inspired a bunch of hipsters from Silverlake to stand against 'corporate personhood', and they chased out everyone who believed in it. With his biggest glasses, he created his own little pocket of hipsters built on being fashionable, changed their names to end in a more lyrical 'y' and have no televisions. This story is about Jay, his right-hand man. Jay smokes all day instead of eating, loves that everything is done locally and that he doesn't have to make decisions, and at the age of 18 he has never had a girlfriend. In this novelette, I watched him grow, questioning everything he'd known, and finally become a man.
The Good
I'm not a huge fan of novelettes in general. There just aren't enough pages in my opinion. However, I absorb Desilets writing like a sponge and love every minute of it. Do I pine for more when it's over? Yes! She is able to create a well-wrapped up story in a novelette. When I'm finished reading, I feel like I've gotten all the facts that I needed, even while I wish the story would continue. Thankfully, this one has a second, full-length book coming to follow it up in this series.
I'm amazed at how Desilets can take this concept and turn it into a mixture of absurdity and honesty, thoughtfulness and comedy. I'm giggling at these kids saying they won't do something because 'it's not fashionable', but at the same time there are poignant moments where true emotion comes out in the characters. It's a dystopain built on a unique and silly world with real characters and feelings. Also, even though it's not categorized as New Adult, I feel that it could easily be classed as that since it's a coming of age story about Jay and his growth. I love everything about how the mixtures came together to create a great story.
The Bad
There is insta-love, or rather insta-crush. Given that this is a novelette, there's not a lot of pages to get the romance going, so I understand the need to have it develop rather quickly.
The Romance
Jay is immediately drawn to Prisoner Forty-Seven. Never having had a girlfriend, it's easy to see why he would become quickly attached to her. Prisoner Forty-Seven is the catalyst that turns Jay on his head. She's fierce, smart, and beautiful, and he needs to be close to her. I love this character! She is exactly what he needs and he didn't even know he was missing anything.
Conclusion
I really hope you give this one a shot. With the follow-up full length book, this series is one to add to your too-read shelf. It's incredibly unique, very well-written, funny, honest, and enjoyable.
Original review located at JC's Book Haven and given 4.5 stars. Sent by author for honest review.
July 5, 2013
Rachel Desilets does it again...
with her witty dystopian YA world that Jay, the main character, lives in. It is fun to "hang out" with him and the other characters. I loved Rachel's satiric "hipster" sort of parodies, putting a unique twist on the story. Jay is solid, believable, full of emotion, and just plain fun!
So glad this ended the way it did, and can't wait to follow him around in Rachel's next book.
Thank you for allowing me the privilege to ARC it for you, Rachel. It was well written, witty, with a nice 'sizzling spark' at the end! Congrats to you!
with her witty dystopian YA world that Jay, the main character, lives in. It is fun to "hang out" with him and the other characters. I loved Rachel's satiric "hipster" sort of parodies, putting a unique twist on the story. Jay is solid, believable, full of emotion, and just plain fun!
So glad this ended the way it did, and can't wait to follow him around in Rachel's next book.
Thank you for allowing me the privilege to ARC it for you, Rachel. It was well written, witty, with a nice 'sizzling spark' at the end! Congrats to you!
July 31, 2013
My one and only complaint upon finishing this novella is that it is too short. I would happily have spent days reading about Jay rather than a measly afternoon. Le sigh. But at least there is going to be a sequel... Hopefully it will be quick in arriving.
July 12, 2013
Loved this book. Great hipster references, entertaining story, very engrossing and leaves you pondering if the grass really is greener...
July 4, 2023
I really had no idea what to expect when I started reading this, but I was not disappointed. The author took a fun, quirky idea (a hipster dystopia) and effectively made it workable. While some of the things may have been a bit ridiculous because, well, hipsters, the book still touched on more serious topics and made for an interesting read.
August 1, 2013
Hipstopia by R. A. Desilets
Hipstopia by R. A. Desilets is about the dystopian society Hipstopia, which is governed by a charming and captivating man named Murphy. Murphy talked people into taking a stand against Corporate America. Murphy used Los Angeles and created Hipstopia where peoples name had to end in “y”, it was fashionable to smoke(and I mean a lot, the kind of smoking where when you start coughing , you hack up a lung), no televisions and he promised no corporations and that people would have 7 choices.
Murphy’s right and left hand men were Jay and Sky (Murphy’s girlfriend). Jay follows Murphy around like a little puppy dog. He likes what Hipstopia has to offer. Recently however, there have been more people rioting and during one of those riots he was beaten up by a girl. They end up arresting her and taking her back to the city to lock her up. The girl is now referred to as prisoner 47. Jay finds this girl fascinating. He becomes infatuated with her. Later, Jay and Sky are called away to a very large riot, were 10 other Quieters were sent to disperse and quiet the crowd. They both are overrun with rebels almost immediately. Jay sees Sky getting the crap kicked out of her and he is approached by someone. He raises his gun to try to scare him away but the guy laughs at him. Jay shoots and kills him. Jay is very upset because he was always told that the guns were filled with rubber bullets, that they wouldn’t kill anyone. Jay feels betrayed by Murphy and starts to think about what other things he may have been lied to about.
The uprisings continue and Jay becomes closer with Prisoner 47 who we later find out her name to be Kiera. Jay also tells Kiera his real name is Jason. Sky questions Jay’s loyalty and then so does Murphy (but not in so many words). Jay tells Sky that he is all for Hipstopia but all the while he is still questioning it. During one of the major riots, after Jay gets his gear and gun, he rides back to the prison cell and gets Kiera. Jay drives her out of town on his scooter. They stop to make a plan. Kiera starts kissing Jason and knocks him out with the butt of his gun.
Murphy finds Jason. Murphy isn’t mad and tells Jason he is welcome back to Hipstopia if he wants. Murphy tells Jason he never wanted to become a leader but one thing led to another and he ended up becoming the leader of Hipstopia. As Jayson watches Murphy drive away, he finds a note from Kiera in his pocket that tells him where he could meet her if he still wanted. So Jason goes to meet Kiera and they go back to where she lives. Jason believes he is now living as an individual, making his own decisions and not living a life that someone has constructed for him.
The story is a unique idea. The story is written well and was enjoyable. I don’t know whether the author quit smoking and regrets it, whether she is dissatisfied with government interfering in smoker’s rights or she just loves to smoke but holy phlegm balls. The book has some subtle humor. I did enjoy the book.
3.4 stars
I won this book through Goodreads Giveaway and have given my honest review of the book.
Hipstopia by R. A. Desilets is about the dystopian society Hipstopia, which is governed by a charming and captivating man named Murphy. Murphy talked people into taking a stand against Corporate America. Murphy used Los Angeles and created Hipstopia where peoples name had to end in “y”, it was fashionable to smoke(and I mean a lot, the kind of smoking where when you start coughing , you hack up a lung), no televisions and he promised no corporations and that people would have 7 choices.
Murphy’s right and left hand men were Jay and Sky (Murphy’s girlfriend). Jay follows Murphy around like a little puppy dog. He likes what Hipstopia has to offer. Recently however, there have been more people rioting and during one of those riots he was beaten up by a girl. They end up arresting her and taking her back to the city to lock her up. The girl is now referred to as prisoner 47. Jay finds this girl fascinating. He becomes infatuated with her. Later, Jay and Sky are called away to a very large riot, were 10 other Quieters were sent to disperse and quiet the crowd. They both are overrun with rebels almost immediately. Jay sees Sky getting the crap kicked out of her and he is approached by someone. He raises his gun to try to scare him away but the guy laughs at him. Jay shoots and kills him. Jay is very upset because he was always told that the guns were filled with rubber bullets, that they wouldn’t kill anyone. Jay feels betrayed by Murphy and starts to think about what other things he may have been lied to about.
The uprisings continue and Jay becomes closer with Prisoner 47 who we later find out her name to be Kiera. Jay also tells Kiera his real name is Jason. Sky questions Jay’s loyalty and then so does Murphy (but not in so many words). Jay tells Sky that he is all for Hipstopia but all the while he is still questioning it. During one of the major riots, after Jay gets his gear and gun, he rides back to the prison cell and gets Kiera. Jay drives her out of town on his scooter. They stop to make a plan. Kiera starts kissing Jason and knocks him out with the butt of his gun.
Murphy finds Jason. Murphy isn’t mad and tells Jason he is welcome back to Hipstopia if he wants. Murphy tells Jason he never wanted to become a leader but one thing led to another and he ended up becoming the leader of Hipstopia. As Jayson watches Murphy drive away, he finds a note from Kiera in his pocket that tells him where he could meet her if he still wanted. So Jason goes to meet Kiera and they go back to where she lives. Jason believes he is now living as an individual, making his own decisions and not living a life that someone has constructed for him.
The story is a unique idea. The story is written well and was enjoyable. I don’t know whether the author quit smoking and regrets it, whether she is dissatisfied with government interfering in smoker’s rights or she just loves to smoke but holy phlegm balls. The book has some subtle humor. I did enjoy the book.
3.4 stars
I won this book through Goodreads Giveaway and have given my honest review of the book.
September 4, 2014
Hipstopia tells the tale of a group of disaffected youngsters who under the leadership of a cult-like leader rebelled against the structure of modernity and carved out Los Angeles as their refuge from the world they disdain. There they must “quiet” dissenters who are themselves rising against the order that Murphy, Hipstopia's leader, has erected.
We see this world though Jay, a head Quieter who becomes increasingly disenchanted with his life. Two key incidents I won’t spoil force him to face a decision that leads to the end of this story – or is it the cliff-hanger leading to the next?
That question expresses the potential difficulty with Hipstopia. If you come into it with expectations of a fully drawn and resolved story, you’re likely to be disappointed in some ways. Desilets structured Hipstopia as novella that is also episode 1 in an ongoing Young Adult fiction saga. As such, the story will at times feel incomplete in two ways: not yet finished and without all the back-story. Personally, this only bothered me marginally as I can look forward to future installments to fill in the missing details. As for the story we do read within the pages of Hipstopia, we are presented with enough information to appreciate the protagonist's plight, namely the world he has chosen to inhabit and the immediate situation that presents him with difficult, life-changing choices.
For my taste, I did feel in the end that Desilets could have added a little bit more flesh toward the end, where the story felt rushed and sudden as it approached its end. In total, though, I did find this a well-written and satisfying read, and thus give it four out of five stars, with plans to pick up book #2.
We see this world though Jay, a head Quieter who becomes increasingly disenchanted with his life. Two key incidents I won’t spoil force him to face a decision that leads to the end of this story – or is it the cliff-hanger leading to the next?
That question expresses the potential difficulty with Hipstopia. If you come into it with expectations of a fully drawn and resolved story, you’re likely to be disappointed in some ways. Desilets structured Hipstopia as novella that is also episode 1 in an ongoing Young Adult fiction saga. As such, the story will at times feel incomplete in two ways: not yet finished and without all the back-story. Personally, this only bothered me marginally as I can look forward to future installments to fill in the missing details. As for the story we do read within the pages of Hipstopia, we are presented with enough information to appreciate the protagonist's plight, namely the world he has chosen to inhabit and the immediate situation that presents him with difficult, life-changing choices.
For my taste, I did feel in the end that Desilets could have added a little bit more flesh toward the end, where the story felt rushed and sudden as it approached its end. In total, though, I did find this a well-written and satisfying read, and thus give it four out of five stars, with plans to pick up book #2.
July 23, 2014
Hipstopia was written by Google+'s +Rachel Desilets. In fact, I got to know about the book through Google+! Does this make me hipster? I'm not sure, since I don't even know what a hipster is.
But, even with my woeful lack of knowledge of contemporary culture and subculture, I found this short novel to be an entertaining read. It envisions a world where the hipsters have broken away from America to form.... Hipstopia. There, everyone is unique - which is to say that everyone smokes, drinks coffee and wears glasses. That would be me, except that I don't smoke or drink coffee. Darn, I wanted to ride on one of those scooters too!
Anyway, while Hipstopia seems like the perfect place, free of marketing from the Big Corporations (and with seven, count'em seven choices!), it's not. At least that's what Jay, the right hand man of the guy running Hipstopia is starting to find out. When he gets sent to quiet a disturbance, he meets prisoner number forty seven, a beautiful girl that grabs his attention immediately. Add that to a shock that he receives when he accidentally kills someone and Jay is disillusioned with the place.
Personally, I found Jay's escape from Hipstopia too easy. While this book is supposed the first in a series, the latter half felt rather free of conflict. Sure, there's a covert war going on between Hipstopia and the rest of America, but Jay seems to resolve his problems a bit too easily.
Overall though, this was an entertaining book. I'm not sure if I want to read more yet, but I suppose the blurb of book two (which I haven't seen yet) will convince me yes or no.
This review was first posted at Inside the mind of a Bibliophile
But, even with my woeful lack of knowledge of contemporary culture and subculture, I found this short novel to be an entertaining read. It envisions a world where the hipsters have broken away from America to form.... Hipstopia. There, everyone is unique - which is to say that everyone smokes, drinks coffee and wears glasses. That would be me, except that I don't smoke or drink coffee. Darn, I wanted to ride on one of those scooters too!
Anyway, while Hipstopia seems like the perfect place, free of marketing from the Big Corporations (and with seven, count'em seven choices!), it's not. At least that's what Jay, the right hand man of the guy running Hipstopia is starting to find out. When he gets sent to quiet a disturbance, he meets prisoner number forty seven, a beautiful girl that grabs his attention immediately. Add that to a shock that he receives when he accidentally kills someone and Jay is disillusioned with the place.
Personally, I found Jay's escape from Hipstopia too easy. While this book is supposed the first in a series, the latter half felt rather free of conflict. Sure, there's a covert war going on between Hipstopia and the rest of America, but Jay seems to resolve his problems a bit too easily.
Overall though, this was an entertaining book. I'm not sure if I want to read more yet, but I suppose the blurb of book two (which I haven't seen yet) will convince me yes or no.
This review was first posted at Inside the mind of a Bibliophile
October 30, 2014
I have to say I read it in a few hours. Two whole hours, and one was at the gym. I really enjoyed it. It's listed on Amazon as a Kindle for 0.99$ which I think is a great price for the 110 pages or so of reading.
The writing is great, and it's superbly edited. I only found one typo, a switching of words, and that's it. That is an incredible feat even for major publishing companies. In big 5 books I always notice at least a few typos.
R.A. Desilets is a self-published author, or indie author, and she's done a fabulous job setting up her work as professional. The cover is simple, yet eye-catching. The story itself is very tongue-in-cheek, yet has a very deep, underlying meaning.
It is a dystopian, hipsters take over L.A. story. The Hipsters rebel from Corporate Government we all know it is, and occupy L.A., creating rules for their society and limited choices. Everything they do is ruled by what's considered 'fashionable.' One of the more amusing lines: "If anyone asked why Murphy was the ruler, I would say it was because he had the thickest glasses of us all."
Snarky, and hilarious, but the MC (main character) Jay is really, quite complex. His thoughts are different than the masses, and he constantly questions what he's doing, and tries to find himself. Something I think we all do, and should do more of. We should unplug and find out who we are, rather than letting pop culture, and the media tell us who we are: "Reinventing myself and figuring out what I liked instead of depending on fashion was going to take a while, but it would be worth it."
I would definitely recommend this book.
The writing is great, and it's superbly edited. I only found one typo, a switching of words, and that's it. That is an incredible feat even for major publishing companies. In big 5 books I always notice at least a few typos.
R.A. Desilets is a self-published author, or indie author, and she's done a fabulous job setting up her work as professional. The cover is simple, yet eye-catching. The story itself is very tongue-in-cheek, yet has a very deep, underlying meaning.
It is a dystopian, hipsters take over L.A. story. The Hipsters rebel from Corporate Government we all know it is, and occupy L.A., creating rules for their society and limited choices. Everything they do is ruled by what's considered 'fashionable.' One of the more amusing lines: "If anyone asked why Murphy was the ruler, I would say it was because he had the thickest glasses of us all."
Snarky, and hilarious, but the MC (main character) Jay is really, quite complex. His thoughts are different than the masses, and he constantly questions what he's doing, and tries to find himself. Something I think we all do, and should do more of. We should unplug and find out who we are, rather than letting pop culture, and the media tell us who we are: "Reinventing myself and figuring out what I liked instead of depending on fashion was going to take a while, but it would be worth it."
I would definitely recommend this book.
July 19, 2015
I picked up this book expecting a fun, tongue-in-cheek send-up of Hipster culture. I mean, there are Chucks on the cover. And it is that, but it is so much more. This book *does* beautifully capture and gently mock the Hipster culture, but it then goes on to tell a very compelling story. I would liken it to "The Giver" in terms of tone and quality. It also reminded me somewhat of Margaret Peterson Haddix's books about the Shadow Children. It is a short book, and a quick read because you just can't stop turning the pages. I got to the end, and immediately bought book two.
May 14, 2014
I received this from a Goodreads First Reads giveaway. When I first read the synopsis, I rolled my eyes a bit. I mean, it sounds kind of silly, right? Well, it's supposed to be kind of silly and spends much of its time poking fun of Hipsters (or at least the Hipster stereotype). This was an amusing, entertaining read and I'm looking forward to the next book.
August 4, 2013
I got this book in a giveaway and I loved it I could not put done the book after I started it.
September 28, 2014
I honestly thought this book was a little short. I understand that yes, it's one of her first books. Everything just felt a little rushed, though the plot seemed pretty okay.
February 28, 2015
I liked this book. I thought it was funny and had a lot of truth to it.
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