Empath

by Simon Brading

At the beginning of the third millennium the Earth was dying. Just like any other species, when it finds its habitat becoming hostile to it, humanity found it had two choices - adapt or die. The rich paid to change and became the Enhanced. The few who were stuck on the surface and lived became the Evolved. The rest did what they could with the materials at hand, poorly imitating the rich, and became the Boosters. Billions upon billions died. In an effort to ensure the survival of the race, huge Habitats were put into orbit, anchored to the Earth’s equator by space elevators, and since then humanity has clustered together like rats in cages, waiting for the planet to recover. For ordinary people, the working classes like the Evolved, life is hard, it is a struggle just to survive, to find their next meal. The ruling class, the Enhanced, on the other hand are bored. Life is easy for them, they don’t need to work or search for their next meal, instead they have the Game. Whoever wins the Game, rules the Habitat. Angelica Bowden is one of the Evolved. She is plucked from her life and brought in by Victor Vargas, son of the Habitat's ruler, to try to shake things up in the Game. Usually, someone like her would have no chance, but she has an advantage. She is an Empath.

502 pages, Paperback

Published August 31, 2023

About the author

NEWSLETTER - https://simonbrading.kit.com/d505dade6d
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From a very young age, Simon Brading was in no doubt that he wanted to be a writer. Life got in the way a bit, though, and it was thirty years before he sat down and put pen to paper.
Less than a decade later he has more than twenty books published in various genres of fiction (sci-fi, steampunk, time travel, ballet...) and has no intention of being slowed down by anything except his son's demands on his time.

Reviews

[Miranda Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Earth. It was beautiful. She knew it was a dead planet but even so; the way the sun reflected off the green oceans, the swirling of the dark storms, lit by sporadic flashes, even the dusty brown land, all was fascinating..."

Loved the premise of this one.

Centuries ago the earth was ruined. The richest escaped to their Habitats (satellites) and became "the Enhanced." While they circled the globe, they spent their time enhancing their bodies, lifespans (etc) with technology while the remaining humans on Earth were left to rot.

The humans on earth (due in part to intense natural selection and radiation) developed what would be considered superpowers thus becoming the Evolved.

Once the world became too inhospitable for even the Evolved to survive, the Enhanced finally ( finally ) took pity and brought the bedraggled remains of the human race to the Habitats.

Centuries after that event, everyone (more or less) settled down. The Evolved live in the bowels of the habitat while the Enhanced have their high-society, glittering homes.

"Angelica was an Empath, an extremely rare ability for an Evolved, but utterly useless in the world they lived in."

A mysterious Enhanced man (A Vargus - one of the original families) hires Angelica to do the unthinkable (and practically impossible) - join the Enhanced society and kill his father.

Suddenly Angelica is swept into a society where the laws, the players and the game is set against her. And her one special talent is now useless. Will she succeed? Or be forced to "disappear" in the middle of the night? It's all a game to them but to her, it's life.

"The Game. The only one that matters, the one that has been played over and over since one man first gained dominion over another. It is the acquisition of power and the social ladder you must climb to reach my father."

I really enjoyed the storyline of this book. However, I couldn't quite get into this one like I have with Brading's other novels (i.e. The Pirate's Heir or The Lifeboat at the End of the Universe). This is in part because (to put it bluntly) all the sex.

Now, when I read a book, I am very, very particular about the sex. I dislike it when I have to read a sex scene and the plot is put on hold. If there isn't a build-up to a relationship, I have a hard time believing the characters. I want love, not casual affairs.

Heck, I even start to worry if there is no mention of birth control. That's right. I worry about pregnancy when my fictional characters are having sex. This is why I don't read/review erotica - I would have an aneurysm by the third chapter.

While this book wasn't fully erotica, it did toe the line several times. (To clarify: this book had too much of a solid plot to be under the erotica category).

Angelica is a prostitute and her Empath powers pigeon-hole her into that career (at least it does in the Evolved society). And when she joins Vargas and the society, she leaves her prostitutin' ways behind.

"My father won't touch you if you sleep your way up. You're going to have to be classy. Save the whoring for him."
"Classy? Yeah, I can do classy."
"Yes, I'm sure you can."

But, she still has a very, very healthy libido and so did everyone around her. Everyone who met Angelica thought A) she was unbelievably gorgeous and B) when can I get this chick in bed? And while I understand that that is just how their society worked, there were several of these interactions that had me rolling my eyes at the improbability.

There was one scene that did really bother me (and this is (in part) due to how I was raised/the laws in the US.

In the US, the age of consent is 18 and that is something we take very, very seriously. In the UK it is 16 (where the author is from).

When Angelica was 15, and just coming into her Empath powers, every time someone is turned on around her, she gets turned on. So, when a 40 year old governor spies 15-year-old Angelica up to no good in the alley, he gets turned on. Which turns her on. Which leads to wild sex in an alley.

To me, that read like a statutory rape. It's like if you drug someone and they get horny. Just because they were enthusiastic, doesn't mean there was consent. Plus, he was the governor and her family was in a dire situation, - so there's this whole power dynamics to boot.

And while I don't think that was what the author was going for, it still bothered me and colored my interpretation of the rest of the sex scenes. Could she honestly ever give full consent when people around her decide they want to have sex with her? (Again, probably not the author's intention - I did warn you all that I'm particular.)

That scene, plus the one when she was 13 and discovered her parents were having sex in the room next door (she could feel it due to her powers) were the only vaguely non-con ones. So, you could conceivably skip them (or if you aren't as much of a stickler as I am read them).

Overall - I enjoyed the premise and the plot. Just kept getting distracted by all the sex.

The 2018 ABC Reading Challenge - E

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[Amber Tucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Resources were being wasted, people were over populating, and the end of the world came about.

Habitats were set up and the richest of the rich escaped and continued their upscale lifestyles and became the "Enhanced". The "Boosters" are below them, slightly modified, and the dogs of the Enhanced. The "Evolved" live at the bottom, barely scraping by, population control in effect, generations of families living together to survive.

Angelica is an Evolved with a rare ability, she is an Empath. Unfortunately for her it is useless. Her family does not treat her like she matters and she turns to prostitution at a very young age.

Her skills have made it to where she is hired on by the mysterious Victor Vargos and is roped into the "Game". Life or Death, Angelica is pushed to her limits time and again. She has no choice but to continue on if she wants to survive, and with no family left she has no choice but to fight her way to the top.

I thought this would be a series, but it was a really good novel. I hope there is a book 2, I would like to see more of this world. If you like the post-apocalyptic or dystopian world, try this book.