Riot

by Sarah Mussi

It is 2018. England has been struggling under a recession that has shown no sign of abating. Years of cuts has devastated Britain: banks are going under, businesses closing, prices soaring, unemployment rising, prisons overflowing. The authorities cannot cope. And the population has maxed out.

The police are snowed under. Something has to give. Drastic measures need taking.

The solution: forced sterilisation of all school leavers without secure further education plans or guaranteed employment.

The country is aghast. Families are distraught, teenagers are in revolt, but the politicians are unshakeable: The population explosion must be curbed. No more free housing for single parents, no more child benefit, no more free school meals, no more children in need. Less means more.

But it is all so blatantly unfair - the Teen Haves will procreate, the Teen Havenots won't.

It's time for the young to take to the streets. It's time for them to RIOT:

OUR RIGHT TO CHOOSE, OUR BODIES, OUR FUTURE.

Genres: Dystopia, Young Adult, Fiction, Science Fiction, Romance, Speculative Fiction, Ebooks

352 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2014

About the author

Sarah Mussi was born in Gloucestershire. After her education at a girl’s school in Cheltenham, she completed a post graduate degree at the Royal College of Art before leaving the UK for West Africa. She lived in Ghana, West Africa for over eighteen years, marrying a Ghanaian and teaching in Accra. Sarah now lives in Brixton and teaches in Lewisham, splitting her holidays between England and Ghana.

Reviews

[Dear Faye · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are books that are bad, and there are books that are head-splitting bad. Unfortunately, I'd categorize Riot under the latter, as I got a huge clusterfuck of a migraine from reading this... this thing.

You see, I'm one of those people who believe not everything is black and white, even governments. In fact, I'd dare say they're the shadiest of the shadies. And why not? They govern the land and the people, they manage the country's funds, they are our representatives in international affairs, and they are considered the elite of the elite. With so much power, it's not rocket science to believe that they will always have their own interests prioritized (or rather, their underground businesses, or whatever puts them ahead of the game). Plus, I'm Filipino, and my country is full of rotten politicians who embezzle money so blatantly that my countrymen already consider them as normal as roosters cock-a-doodle-do-ing at first light.

So governments or politicians-gone-bad? I'm your expert here, folks. 

And that was why I wanted to read this one. I read the blurb and thought it was highly unrealistic and laughable, but I still wanted to know how it would be executed. Sometimes a premise can sound silly, but if it's done right, it can be the best of them all. Besides, my initial prejudices have been proven wrong countless times, so I wanted to try my luck.

But as fate would have it, my luck ran out. And all I got was a beastly headache. UGH.

Warning: long rants ahead. Like, whoa. That's long, dude.

Government-Gone-Bad?
More like "Government-Gone-Unrealistic"

Long story short, it's 2018 and England is overpopulated. The solution? The legislation of the Snip Bill, a forced sterilisation of the youth of the ballooning lower classes. This, of course, leads to unrest and much rioting of the masses, the latter spearheaded by the President's daughter, Tia Thomson, a self-proclaimed activist whose alter ego is EVE, Mother of the Future, leader and creator of DarkNet7. What should have been a peaceful riot turns into a deadly incident as snipers and helicopters start shooting and killing people. Tia Thomson escapes and gets aided by Cobain, a wanted terrorist, and she is about to discover the "shocking" truth.

Shocking, of course, being that the government is lying to the people and there is actually no overpopulation, and that they simply want to distribute resources to the middle and upper classes, and so they went ahead to do this huge propaganda by initiating the riot themselves (disguised as the rioters) and brainwashing the people into protesting, and... and... and...

...and I ask myself this: what the flying fuck for?

Nevermind the fact that the British "Government" killed countless people for a confusing, illogical reason. Let's talk about why the initial premise alone is laughable and ridiculous. I know stuff like this I should suspend my disbelief, but when a setting is very much grounded to our own world and time, I have this principle that it at least has to sound realistic, or, at most, feasible. So for me, it was highly uncanny that a Western government who are the pioneers of the protection of human rights such as the United Kingdom would spearhead an awful legislation that entails the forceful snipping of reproductive organs. I get that a lot of things could change in a year or two, but this?! Come on, dudes and dudettes. Humanity can be awful sometimes, but I'm certain we would not go this low.

And besides, say for example a Western and European government would devolve into primitives (which is highly doubtful, no matter how disgusting our politicians can be), where the heck were the NGOs who would usually try to ease tension? Or the UN? Or the ever-so present human rights groups?! Even wars in Syria and Libya had people from these organizations trying to help the wounded, and for such an unreasonably and violating Bill, they would also try to not make it happen.

So, yeah, I'm sorry, but I just couldn't buy the whole freaking thing. This is no longer far-fetched - it's so far gone into the abyss of unrealistic that it can no longer be salvaged. And oh, did I mention how utterly ridiculous the real reasons behind the Snip Bill, and how they manipulated everything to make it happen? My reaction to it is this:



Behold: Tia Thomson, She. Who. Has. The.
Most. Robotic. Voice. EVER.


I don't even care anymore that we were thrown into the middle of a situation, confused like a newborn babe, without anything to help us understand what the fuck was going on. It was an issue for me at first, but as I finished the last page of this book, my headache actually came from somewhere else - FROM THE NARRATION/WRITING ITSELF.

Dear lord jesus in a manger. Tia Thomson is a self-proclaimed hacktivist who supposedly knows her way into computers and gadgets, but the way she thinks is like that of a 5 year old. No, wait, I apologize - even 5 year olds have smoother way of thinking then hers. Her narration was absolutely horrendous. Even Simon Cowell would be saying "bloody hell" all day if he ever encountered such a thing (which I did, too, because god the migraine was terrible). They are all fragmented and choppy, some of them containing less than 10 words.

And I keep thinking: are you a frigging 5 year old, or what? x_x

I've been hit.
Lacey's here. She pulls my arm. They pain's unbearable.
She jolts me. "Tia!" she shrieks. "Get up, they're shooting!" She jolts me again.
I recoil. I try to get up. I put my good hand to my shulder. It comes away red. Lacey sees it and screams. Rushing air blasts overhead. The helicopter's still there.
"They're trying to kill us," sobs Lacey.
 I force myself up.

And as you can see, there's also a lot of telling than showing. We're always told that she felt this, that she felt that, that this is so and that's like that, but it's never shown to us in detail. We're just told and then that's that - no other explanation, no other exposition, no other anything.

"Keep going," he orders.
In the alley, he pulls me to a stop. I'm too out of breath to say anything. He drops us back, into an entrance, against a bricked-up doorway. He's panting and sweating. His face is half-lit, half in shadow. He lays a finger over his lips. I try to stop wheezing. Me shoulder throbs. My chest is on fire.

I apologize, but I think I got another headache from typing that. x_x

In any case, before I digress and go "woe-is-me!", the disorienting narration made it so hard for me to connect to Tia. I mean, I understand she's fighting for a cause, but I didn't feel attached enough to care. I just wanted it all to end.

It also doesn't help that the main character has no sense of self-preservation at all. Dudette is supposedly really good at computers and whatnot, so she should know THE MOST how it's so easy to get discovered simply by using a cellphone. But nope, Tia here keeps on using them anyway, and has been found and chased and targeted, like, I dunno, several times, just for using a freaking gadget. AND SHE EVEN ACKNOWLEDGES THAT IT MAY BE DANGEROUS BUT SHE KEEPS DOING IT LIKE A MORON (sorry for les caps).



This, of course, keeps resulting to her continuously being saved by her knight in shining armor...

Cobain and Tia: The Romance That Did Not Make Sense
(PLUS SEXIST ALERT)


I honestly do not know where this romance came from. One moment they're all angry at each other, and then boom, we get kisses and hugs and "I don't want to leave you" dialogues. Like, whoa! Fast-paced much?

It's not actually insta-love per se. It did take them a while to like each other, and Cobain did try to help and follow Tia because he had motives and agendas of his own, but I didn't see anything that could justify their attraction to one another (oh, fine, Tia kept complimenting his "cat-like" green eyes *grumble*). I may be acting really nit-picky right now, but for me to actually be into the romance, I have to at least see something (let it be a heartfelt conversation or an event) where sparks fly. I really didn't see anything of that sort here, to be honest.

And anyway, even if sparks did fly (I assure you they didn't), I never really found Cobain that swoon-worthy. And there were times he was incredibly sexist as well, especially in the beginning, when he was talking and walking with his friends. So they're talking about EVE (Tia Thomson), making fun of her and her HANDS OFF! campaign. Behold, Cobain Reilly, your love interest:

     "Too right," laughs a friend. "I don't know why she's so fussed about having her tubes snipped - it's not like anyone'd want to do her, anyway."
     They laugh. Laugh and laugh. I press harder on my arm. Dear God, let them go.
     "You know why she hides her identity?" says another. "Why she calls herself EVE? Mother of the Future?"
     "No?"
     "Because she's so ugly even Frankenstein ran away."
     Cobain opens his mouth and laughs. "That's good. That's really good. I heard she really is ugly."
     "All that lot are ugly," says his friend, "that's why they're so angry, because they're panting for it and no guy'd ever look at them."
     "Not this guy anyway," says Cobain. "Like would I be bothered about some random bit of pussy that's got to whip up support to get itself noticed?"

Friends, if I heard anyone say this about me or about my mom or my sister or my cousins or my female friends or anyone female in general, I would kick them so hard in the fucking balls.

The fact is, Tia heard this, and she didn't even react. She heard this, and she still fell in love with Cobain. LIKE WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU SMOKING GIRL?! This guy just degraded you even if he didn't know a single thing about you, and you're fine with that?

I. Cannot.

Overall...

This book is horrendous. The premise is laughable at best, the writing is migraine-inducing, the main character is a moron, and the love interest is a pathetic asshole who is as fleeting as a goldfish's memory. You want my recommendation? Stay. Away. But feel free to read it to form your own conclusion - just don't say I didn't warn you.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. These are all my opinions. Quotes are from an advanced uncorrected copy, and may be subject to change.

[Ash Wednesday · Rating 1 out of 5]

.025 STAR

We are the people!
We are the image of the future.
We are the first drops of a flood.
We are the lightning on the horizon.
We are the sound of the coming storm.
We are the wolves at your door.

Well there’s hating a book and there’s hating THIS book. It’s quite strange, this dumbfounded feeling after reading something that I found so terrible. I’m usually left speechless when I’m graced by something so good that conveying how much I love it is a pain. Riot is certainly a pain to remember, so much so that I’m having a great difficulty expressing just how bad it was.

The story opens with someone being forced to undergo a surgical procedure. Elsewhere, a group of protesters is staging a rally against the Snip Bill which provisions the forced sterilisation of youths who have discontinued their education without any prospects for employment or wealthy sponsors. This “flash mob” (which confuses me because I usually associate that term with organised dancing) was put together by Tia Thomson, a self-professed hacktivist and daughter of the Minister of State who in turn has been lobbying for strong legislative changes to counteract the growing population, poverty and unemployment. The protest ends violently with Tia finding herself being helped by an unlikely ally, Cobain Reilly, the notorious self-styled anarchist with a penchant for looting, as she evades capture. Together they discover the depth of the Minister’s deception and the appalling steps he’s intent on taking to get what he wants.

I suppose Riot did pull a fast one on me in making me believe that this was going to delve into birth control and feminist issues when it was really about a conspiracy theory that belongs right beside the man on the moon hoax, vaccination kills babies and global warming is God hugging us a little closer (credit to Tina Fey). So while the premise was interesting in terms of shock value, the gravity was lost on the fact that the very transparent twist hinges on utter bullcrap. This posits that the government is deceiving its people that there’s overpopulation when there’s none. And the unemployment, the poverty, the depleting resources is just a product of the government’s manipulative tactics… or perhaps the people's hallucinations out of starvation.

Tia is possibly the worst heroine I’ve ever read in a long while. She’s an armchair activist. A privileged brat who hates her dad for beating up her mom and for telling her Santa Claus isn’t real. Her braveness to oppose her father’s abominable plans only goes up to a certain point such that soon as she gets injured in a protest rally, she can’t wait to get back to her boarding school, worrying about some test she has to take. She’s a snob who looks down at looters, calling Cobain a yob an astounding 12 times just on the first time they’ve met alone. She’s also a hypocrite seeing as she detests looters but downloads illegal music off illegal sites. And when asked why she thinks her mom is the most awesome mom ever:

”She is saving the world - well, a small part of it. You don’t even know what she does.” Suddenly I want to tell him, make him ashamed. “She’s got a clinic with another doctor - he’s Indian - they use microsurgery to repair bladders and internal pelvic organs of girls who’ve been raped or forced to deliver children too young.”

That racial qualifier just rubs me so very wrong. Like a form of reverse racism of some sort, the way someone would brag that he helped the poor and the hungry. Not in your neighbourhood but in AFRICA, bitchez!

Her thought process is so bizarrely naive one has to wonder how she manages to not kill herself just by stepping outside of her house.

I’m ready.
I’m going to team up with him.
I untrust him.
It’s a new kind of trust. I trust him to be a yob, to think like one. I trust him to at least do that, like trusting a snake to bite or something. Or a star to shine. And I untrust him with my life.

Oh my gad why can’t you just DIE already?!?!

Because there has to be that romance where she falls for the yob she has so judged from the very beginning… right after he bashes some random guy’s head right in front of her. I suppose the flying brain matter and skull fragments enhanced her attraction to Cobain better than his supposed yobby ways. Usually, when all else fails in a book, I’d have the romance to hope for at the very least to pull me through the pages. These two just made me want to quit this all the more. I suppose some chemistry is asking for far too much from a a pair of soggy cardboard cut-outs (yes, because being cardboardish is not enough of an insult to these people).

When I first started being a serial reader/reviewer, I used to gripe a lot about the use of the word “conscious” when the speaker means “conscience” in stories set in Britain. I’ve seen it quite a lot of times that I’m beginning to believe it’s the norm. In which case I have to ask if this is a British thing to say:

I’m writing this now from my little veranda outside the back of the clinic Dr. Shah has started. Yes, he has a surgery in India! And I am employed in it!

Because I’d interpret the use of ‘a surgery’ as clinic… but the speaker made use of ‘clinic’ beforehand. Or Dr. Shah is about to undergo a surgical procedure and Tia’s mom is scrubbing in. Or Tia’s mom just has poor sentence construction skills.

I wish my rant ends here but the idea of a British Minister of State quoting Goebbels is just one of the WTF highlights of this bizarre book. I suppose it was meant to make him more threatening but I’m sorry, any evil mastermind who maps out his evil plans to eradicate the poor people, enumerating the steps in fucking BULLETPOINT and saving it in ONE convenient document (probably labeled as evilplans.doc) just loses any points of credibility in my book. The vilification of her father was overly simplified to the point of making him cartoonish. What else was in her father's computer that Tia so quickly “hacked in to”? Plans to steal the moon?



There were continuity issues (with Tia’s busted shoulder turning up in an as needed basis), plausibility problems (the Minister’s apartment has one guard and one CCTV camera) and just plain stupid things that you don’t do while being on the run for your life.

”Can you send out a message for me too?”
“Yep,” I reply. “What d’you wanna say?”
‘Prisoners unite, you have nothing to lose but your freedom.’
I start typing.
“Not really,” he says.
I obediently stop keying it in. “I want you to message out: COBAIN HEARTS TI,” he says, “in caps. To the universe.”

Usually I’d get the strongest desire for a time machine after a phenomenal read, wanting to recapture the first read high. This one makes me want to go forward, to when I’ve already forgotten about this catastrophe.

Review Copy courtesy of the publishers.

Also on Booklikes.

[Banana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review at Smudged

I received a free copy of this book on netgalley in return for an honest review and quotes taken from this uncorrected version, subject to change in the final edition.

The year is 2018, England is overpopulated and the government has decided that mandatory sterilization of the unemployed and uneducated is the answer. The story opens to the scene of the first male citizen being "snipped." And, honestly, I have never heard or read about a man's balls in such a non-sexual, intimate manner.

"The taut flesh parted, exposing the tube. There it lay, slim as a flower stalk, bedded in pink-soft tissue."

The book then moves into a first-person narrative through the main character Tia, known by her alias EVE. As EVE, Tia has set up a site called Darknet7 with her anonymous partner ADAM to form a resistance group against the "No More Children in Need Bill." The group is a meant to be a non-violent movement against the bill. Tia's story starts at one of these non-violent rallies where you quickly discover that not only is she the anonymous hacker EVE but the daughter of the politician in charge of the new bill, referred to as the "Snip Bill." The first chapter is a bit confusing because Tia's thoughts are quick and hard to understand without knowledge of what exactly is going on. She spouts a lot of Anti-Snip rhetoric and panics about when she should send out a message to the other ralliers to reveal their undershirts.

"A chant reverberates from the front, back down through the march: 'HANDS OFF OUR BODIES!' I chant along too, loud and proud. Stop taking orders, start taking over!"

"They steal our dreams, we steal their thunder."

While she and ADAM have set this rally up to be non-violent, the military presence quickly changes the tone. After bullets start flying, the entire rally changes from a non-violent protest to an all out riot. Tia is shot and the story spins itself into a classic, run-for-your-life novel.

Soon-after Tia and her friend observe a bunch of yobs (which if you didn't know like me, is a slang term used in England to describe "a rowdy, aggressive, or violent young man") looting and destroying things, with the well-known criminal Cobain Reilly, she ends up pairing up with him after he saves her life.

Now, at this time in the book I had gotten over my confusion and had a grasp of who the narrator was and what exactly was happening in the book, however, at the same time that I came to this realization I also was very, very annoyed. There is a flagrant overuse of the word "flipping" in Tia's vocabulary. I wanted to throw my Kindle at the wall. I do not even need to quote it, because I would need to quote 3/4 of the book to show you all of the sentences that the word "flipping" is in. Ugh.

I honestly think that Tia's voice as narrator is the number one reason I didn't like this book. There were so many times that I was annoyed by the lack of vocabulary that it made her seem much like a dimwit and less like the hacker genius she was suppose to be.

This is rather unfortunate because I think that the idea is intriguing and one of the reasons I was interested in this book in the first place. There were a few places in the book that I caught myself rolling my eyes, but I think I can attribute some of that to the way Mussi wrote Tia's character.

The relationship in this book between Tia and Cobain is solid. I appreciated the automatic disgust Tia felt towards Cobain, because he was violent and she was against rioting. She didn't drop her ideals automatically because of his amazing green eyes (although, she did swoon a few times over them). At first it feels as though Cobain may be following her around in an obsessive, insta-lust kind of way, but instead we find out that he just needs her for his own plans and that is just fine with me. It's a wonderful relationship that feels real and isn't forced upon the reader. Even after a connection is established, the uncertainty of one another remains, leaving the realistic nature in tact.

"'Don't trust anyone,' says Cobain. 'Not even me.'"

(This quote gave me deja vu to Uninvited)

"I untrust him. It's a new kind of trust. I trust him to be a yob, to think like one. I trust him to at least do that, like trusting a snake to bite something. Or a star to shine. And I untrust him with my life."

Her father is the ideal antagonist in this novel, only because he is the most obvious villain. I found him over dramatic and quite predictable.

The final thing I had a problem with is the timing of the plot. It is suppose to be set in 2018... which is in four years. I find it hard to believe that any bill which is so anti-human rights would go much farther than being spoken in the privacy of the home. England is a world leader for human rights and in four year, I doubt they'd panic enough to allow a bill that discriminates so heavily against the poor would ever be taken seriously. If the timeline where to jump 50 years into the future, it could be more believable with the attribution to some horrible event.

I just wasn't feeling this book, two stars.

[sallanvaara · Rating 1 out of 5]

CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS!

If you're my friend on Goodreads you are likely to have noticed that I don't give two star ratings lightly (Edited to note that I've since changed it to one star because dear lord). If a book is good enough to keep me engaged 'til the end and isn't actively offensive, my soft heart tends to go for three stars regardless of if I actually truly LIKED it. I also have never reviewed a book here before, but I feel like this book won't let me rest until I explain why it pissed me off so badly.

First of all, this book was a quick read and I was relatively interested in the story, so it must have done something right. The premise, in fact, I found truly fascinating and I am kinda frustrated that such a creative idea was wasted on such an average book. Part of my annoyance with this book probably stems from that wasted potential, to be honest. Anyway, the concept is the part I actually liked about this book.

The rest? Not so much. First of all the style, while not aggressively poor, did get on my nerves quite a bit. If you write a gruesome dystopian story about a world where people are forcibly sterilised and shot on sight, you can't really excuse the blatant avoidance of swear words harsher than "flipping". Needless to say, after a description of a violent riot, there is no way you can get away with a sentence like "I've just been flipping shot, and flipping roasted in a burning building and now I'm crouching down behind a row of flipping trashed cars with a flipping yob." Yeah no. That shatters the credibility of the book immediately.

Also how is it, that a story about a police state that does unspeakably horrible things to its lower class citizens is narrated from the point of view of a rich girl who is hardly in any risk of these horrors herself? For the love of god, this is storytelling 101! Also I find it incredible that Mussi managed to create a heroine who is supposedly a genius hacker and damn near a cult leader, yet who is also a gaping charisma vacuum and a regular damsel in distress. She is rescued by the male hero of the story approximately four times throughout the story and keeps messing things up and getting people killed. Some leader. Where is the voice of the actual oppressed? Privileged teen turned rebellion leader can be a fascinating story, but you can't just ignore the people who are actually touched by the horrors your story depicts. Also if your main character is as naïve and gullible (which the book repeatedly underlines) as this, you really can't hope for the reader to take her seriously as a leader of the revolution. You simply can't have it both ways. The book LITERALLY states that she started acting as some revolutionary leader because she was BORED. There's no coming back from that.

As much as all these things irritated me, I was fine with them all until the end of the book where our Main Bad Guy aka the main character's father was introduced. Of course we had been told how awful and manipulative he was before, but when he actually appeared in the story, he was a complete cartoon villain. As two-dimensional as they come, and then some. At that point I completely gave up on believing anything the book had to say about corrupt governments and revolutions because once you introduce a villain so cliché, there is no salvation for your book any longer. And the end gave me the letdown the story had been leading up to; killing one evil and corrupt person in position of power is enough to take down the entire corrupt system and end all the horrors the society had experienced. Yup! All it takes is one man to bring about a dystopian future and all it takes is the angry mob axing that man for things to go back to how they were. No hard feelings on either side, I'm sure.

That was the final nail to the coffin for this book for me. I was hoping for an intense and thought-provoking story about the horrors of a classist and totalitarian system and the people who took a stand against it, but all I got was a bland story about a privileged girl playing at revolution and her like totally hot revolutionary boyfriend and how she cocked up a lot of things and got a lot of people killed because she was completely inept at being a revolutionary leader. The premise had so much potential, but it was told through the worst possible main character and it focused on all the wrong things, and it was simply flipping annoying on all accounts. This book frustrates me increasingly the more I think about it, and I am annoyed that such a creative idea was wasted on this half-baked, bland story.

[Jules · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating:1.5 Stars

My current status: Has pounding headache. Aaaaaah.

-----------------------
MY OPINION

The main thing I remembered while reading this book is the headache that always accompanied it while I read. It was that bad. I kinda even wanted to stop reading it because it really made my head ache (Literally!) The only reason why I’m giving it a 1.5 rating is because the plot of the book was actually good. Too bad everything else is bad.

The plot was great. It had the very dystopian feel. I could imagine what would happened just by seeing the blurp in the book. But my imagination was not in the book. In fact, everything other than the plot in the book is disappointing. Even when I started reading it, up to end. I found nothing I could consider “amazing” or even “good” or “okay” with it.

The first problem I encountered in this book is the confusion. It was very hard to understand things when it started. Its as if I was thrown into a pool without me knowing how I got in the first place. I had to be in the middle of the book to be able to at least comprehend how the book would go on. And the answers to my questions came in late, and I'm not happy that I had to endure fillers in the book that made my head ache, just to get my questions answered.

My second problem with the book is the writing. There were a lot of scenes that I never understood even if I reread it. Another thing I don’t like about the writing is the musings that Tia had. Sometimes I like that in books, with this one… not so much.

The third problem; The characters. two of them Three I’m not liking. I’m only going to consider that this book only had three characters ‘cuz they were the only ones left alive. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against killing characters, but if it’s a massacre, then that’s just going overboard. Though I don’t care actually, I don’t even like the characters.

Tia was annoying. I can’t tell you the specifics because I don’t remember anymore, but I just know one thing. TIA IS VERY VERY ANNOYING. I hated reading her POV, she’s so push and pull. Before she’s be determined, the next she’d hide and cower in fear. Its just irritating! Then there’s Cobain. He’s a very bland character, this book was fairly long, but I have not gotten one clue to who he really is as a character. I don’t even know what’s his freaking last name. Then there's the main antagonist, he didn't seem scary to me. Honestly, I see him as a big greasy fat guy.

The fourth problem, and the most irritating for me: The love part of the book. Its not insta-love, but its so unreasonable you want to knock their heads to each other. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY THEY ARE FREAKING IN LOVE WITH EACH OTHER! Okay, so the guy probably saved you two times. So freaking what!? Sure you’d develop respect for the guy and be grateful for him. BUT HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT YOU LOVE HIM!? And the best thing yet : She doesn’t know a fudging thing about him!

Huff, basically this book irritated the hell out of me, and I just needed to get this

MY FINAL NOTE

There was such a big potential to this book. I knew in my heart that I could've enjoyed it, but the writing style and the characters was just not for me. It was there, the girl was a hacker, their was this underground internet ish place called Darknet7 but I just feel like there was something big missing. I don't like the characters and I don't understand most of what I read. Sadly, I can't give this anything higher than a 1.5

[Abi · Rating 2 out of 5]

(I received a copy from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review)

Actual rating - 1.5

Riot started out okay, but it quickly got boring.

When books have a part where the main characters go on the run, they can get quite boring.
There's usually some action that saves it, though.

There was some action in Riot, but unfortunately, it didn't save it, and i was still bored.
It felt a lot longer than what it was because of that, and by the halfway point, i was wishing that the end would come.

Overall, a very dull read.

[Fiona · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, though I can’t completely disagree with a lot of the negative reviews this book has received, I did actually enjoy it. The premise, this dystopian near future where the working class are demonised and forcible sterilised was a believably bleak vision of things to come.

Agreed, the choice of narrator was questionable and overuse of unconvincing language (“flipping”) was jarring. The story itself, however, remained dramatic and I found I couldn’t put this book down.

I was quite annoyed by the female lead being constantly portrayed as clueless and having to be saved by her much more competent male counterpart, and the fact she very quickly became smitten with this handsome gent and his …eyes (I forget what it was about his eyes). I don’t know what purpose all this served the author. As a young adult I would have hated that forced hetero romantic element, as an adult I just found it tiresome and lazy.

Overall, I did enjoy the book, I think it expresses important themes re media influence, shady government policies etc. Improvement could be made in the strong female lead department, and also a few stronger swears were needed.

[Stuti Rai · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book raises several interesting questions, and more than that, makes you think of several situations that could easily be. What happens when the government stops being responsive? How does a peaceful congregation turn into headlining terrorists? et cetra...

Albeit Riot doesn't do the best job of defining, or answering all that, it was a fast-paced and interesting read, and that is where its strength really lies. It can hook you in, being a short and engaging story.

My problem lies in that the characters were very uni-dimensional, and there was no dynamic between them. The worst was the romantic interest, because I couldn't begin to figure out where his actions stemmed from, nor what they intended to end in. Moreover, there was no chemistry in their romance, but the initial processes and the progression of feelings between them was believable, if a bit rushed. The tension in the beginning was catching; the atmosphere about the protest was well-set. And what ensues later seems to be frighteningly similar to what's going on in several countries right now. Not the cause, but the actions of the government. The villain was predictably villainous and simply villainous; there was no more depth to him, and that was a damn shame.

The climax and the way they found resolution didn't sit right with me, nor did it satiate me.

But like I mentioned:

There's something weirdly awesome about it.

Thank you Hachette Children's Books!

[Luna's Little Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sarah Mussi has done it again.

I didn’t think the adrenaline rush of SIEGE could be topped but reading Riot is like diving head first of a cliff. It never stops, from the first chapter till the last page. How Sarah Mussi doesn’t lose the tension in 350+ pages I do not know. It’s an amazing skill – something that guarantees her a spot on my insta-buy list.

Both main characters, Tia (our narrator) and Cobain are sympathetic but not faultiness i.e real. I particularly appreciated Tia’s character development from the idealised girl at the beginning of the book. Sarah Mussi has provided the first “villain” I’ve utterly detested. I don’t remember ever wanting to climb into a book to yell at someone so much. Of course they weren’t solely responsible but in regards to Tia I really want to step in. *grr*

Riot is one of the most horrifying books I’ve read, because the future Sarah Mussi has built is all too probably. That’s more terrifying than any horror story could ever be.

[Beth Kemp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having both loved and been terrified by Sarah Mussi’s Siege, I was keen to read her next near-future dystopian, Riot. While Siege is set in a school and deliciously claustrophobic in its tension, Riot mostly takes place outside and features uprising, rioting and an extended on-the-run sequence. Both are well worth a read if you enjoy fast-paced and gritty teens-against-the-system dystopias.

Riot’s narrator is a hacktivist, whom we quickly learn is leading a dangerous double life, protesting against the government’s new forced sterilisation bill. The bill would see all teens with low prospects sterilised due to overpopulation. Riot opens right in the thick of things, violence kicks in quite quickly, and the pace rarely lets up. As a result, the narration uses a lot of simple sentences and has a breathless quality that some Goodreads reviewers have been quick to criticise, but which I feel perfectly suits the urgency and pace of the situation in which the characters find themselves.

There are themes of friendship, commitment and connection running through this novel, underscored and heightened by the extremity of the plot’s events. I feel many readers will be able to enjoy and appreciate the novel’s keen moral core, and will be prompted to think about the ways the characters behave and the choices they make.

Despite its somewhat far-fetched premise and technology in advance of our own, the events of the novel rang true sufficiently that I was quite frightened of the possibilities suggested. As a teacher of teens, I can definitely see this book helping to politicise some of its readers – never a bad thing – and would love to introduce it to a school reading group. I think it would spark really interesting discussions. There is less strong violence in this novel than in Siege, and the dystopian elements feel slightly closer to reality in this one to me.

Overall, I’m recommending this for its action, its morality and its investigation of relationships forged in extreme circumstances. If all this appeals to you, definitely give it a go (and Siege too!).

[Mary M · Rating 4 out of 5]

lol. Sarah Mussi actually came to my school for an assembly and I'm surprised alot of her books are actually alright.

So far this book has been absolutely amazing. And I'm all for Cobain heart Ti , lol. I was so sad when they had to split up, they've been nothing but adorable and heart-warming.

Can't wait to get to the end of it :)

___________________________
Ok so. read it and it was Amazing. It was the epitome of satisfaction

[Charlotte Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

This overpopulation storyline is something that I have never read before so I was really intrigued to pick this one up. At 352 pages it is a really quick read and fits into the dystopian genre even though it isn’t set too far in the future.

There were a few things that originally annoyed me about this book when I first started reading it. There were a few Americanisms, such as ‘mall’, that were included even though it is set in London and Tia, the female protagonist, is slightly irritating throughout due to her conflicting thoughts on some subjects, but I could look past this because of the good points that this book contains.

The writing style is made up of quite choppy sentences, which I usually don’t like, but in this book I think it worked really well. The short sentences really add to the pace of the book and make it a fast paced read.

The action starts right from the first page and carries on throughout the entire book. Although the plot was exciting and a lot more brutal than I thought it would be, with this being a Young Adult book, I did feel like it was a little too predictable at points though I still did enjoy some of the unexpected twists and turns.

The villain in this book was so scary to me because he was so realistic. I won’t say who that character was because I don’t want to spoil anything but I will say that I found him scary and I was satisfied with the way the book ended, despite the almost out of place romance.

I wouldn’t say that this is a perfect dystopian by any means but I think the way that this didn’t have any fantasy/sci-fi elements, unlike a lot of dystopians, really worked in Riot‘s favour as it made it more realistic and made it feel as though this kind of thing could actually happen in a way.

Overall I would recommend this is you want a fast-paced dystopian read that is very much based in reality.

[Nisma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hmm.

I definitely liked this, but I'm not sure how much, exactly.

For one, it felt like there was too much in too little time. Like, with Siege, it all made sense to squeeze it in that time frame, because it was something that would realistically unfold like that. But this... this was... No. Actually. When I think about it, it's not impossible. I mean, we do get a history of how things have been going on for a while, how the unrest has been simmering, and it makes sense that this is where it finally reaches it's boiling point. And from my knowledge of a couple of revolutions, it is just those few days of Grand Scale Crazy Chaos that pushes forward the most dramatic change. So yeah, it makes sense.

Uhm, second... okay. The romance. I feel like it developed a little too fast. As in, I could see it was going to happen, and I wanted it to happen 'cause I'm cheesy like that, but I think they were just more besotted than they needed to be, by the end. Or in the middle. I think that by the end of the novel, their relationship should have been starting, not them literally dreaming about running off together and cuddling by the beach for the rest of their days. Literally. They didn't know each other that much.

Anything else? I kind of liked and disliked that it had no connection to Siege, in the sense that I appreciate that there will always be little, individual stories that will get lost in the grander scheme of things, but I still wish someone mentioned that school shooting, even if it was just briefly. Uhm. Atmospherically: the revolutionary vibe was flipping awesome. And the conspiracy stuff. Again, it feels like it has ties to the world today. Again, I wish I could write this sort of thing, except I get lost in trying to build it up. But it's amazing.

Still love Mussi, I hope there's more to come, 'cause I'm definitely looking for more ♥

[Chantelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I first saw the blurb for this book, I was intrigued with the plotline and applied to get the book early before release, which they allowed. (Netgalley)
Riot follows the story of Tia Thomson, born to a control freak of a dad, who happens to be an evil politician. Tia goes against everything he stands for. This book is set in England, and shows the manipulation of the government and the reaction from the public towards the introduction of a new snip bill. Which proposes to sterilise youths from poor backgrounds, with no hope of employment. Tia is obviously caught up in the middle of this, she is mixed up in the rioting, goes under the name Eve and helps to lead the revolution. Along the way she meets the mysterious Cobain, who repeatedly saves her butt even though he is classed as a yob.
I liked the plot, however at times I thought the author could have gone into more depth. A lot of the time it was pretty anti-climatic. I liked Cobain more than I did Tia, I felt that her character was a bit emotionally detached at times, then suddenly overflowing with emotions at other parts, such as with the death of a friend, she didn't show any real sadness, she was more interested that Cobain called her Ti for the first time. It was like the author put in her emotions as an afterthought. Throughout this book, it would only have been two stars, but I really liked the happy ending, so I pushed it up to 3. Overall, it wasn't the best book, but by far it wasn't the worst.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a wicked and strange story, but absolutely unique. I can honestly say I have never read anything like it before, and that's saying something. This book starts out... strong and the prologue alone sets the scene for a dramatic story and world, the surgical scene is without a doubt a bit scary and crazy.

This books plot is about excessive population, and the governments tactics in rectifying the overpopulation. This is a dysfunction and uncommon dystopian with a new and original world.
Most dystopians take in my opinion a lot of imagination because you are literally painting a new and believable world that can connect with the reader, I honestly felt like the author was able to achieve this, though it wasn't quite as descriptive or vivid as I like, it was still very engaging.

In addition to a well painted world, the author made a fast-pace story filled with drama, action and intrigue, though it was down right rough and savage at some points.
Riot has a lot of twists and turns and plenty of surprises, which was great. I can honestly say I was entertained throughout most of this book and that the ending was more than satisfying for me, and I actually commend Sarah Mussi for it!

Basically guys, if you are looking for a good book filled with true darkness and realism with a side of energy and power, than I think you should read this book, if you want a fast-paced dystopian with truth, read this. If you do, I hope you like it :)

[Alice-Elizabeth (Prolific Reader Alice) · Rating 2 out of 5]

(I'm having such a disappointing reading year so far, emotional sigh.)

Let's stress readers, I did read all of the reviews on here for this story and on Amazon before borrowing from my local library. Now, I really wished I hadn't. What a waste of time. Almost immediately, we are thrown into this situation and at eight in the morning here, it's too gruesome to talk about. I felt physically sick as I tried to plough on into the story just to see if anything picked up. But, it was too slow and boring for me. I'm really surprised due to the amount of disturbing scenes in this, why this is YA fiction. If it was Adult Fiction, I would understand but for YA? Some of the YA readers are young teens. This story will potentially give me nightmares and them nightmares too.

DNF after 35 pages, extremely disappointed with the outcome. Will most likely not be reading any more books by this author. Simply wasn't for me.

[old account (rl) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Review copy provided by Hatchette Children's Books for an honest review.

Well, where to start...?



I didn't like Riot. Not at all. I could barely follow what was happening during the book. The plot didn't seem to follow any sort of logical sequence and jumped around to random events that seem to have no significance to the last thing that happened. I barely understood the dialogue - there were so many unusual words introduced with no explanations with them. I wasn't sure if they were related to the dystopian world this is set in or if they were some sort of British slang that I am unfamiliar with.

Also I felt that there was a significance lack of explanation into the actual No More Children in Need bill, its purpose, the government's reasoning behind it, the anti-campaigns, Hands Off, Darknet7 - everything to do with the dystopian society was disregarded in favour of the action and the romantic angle. There was not nearly enough background information into the bill for me to understand or sympathize with Tia's Hand Off campaign, I didn't quite understand what she was protesting about.

What I did get about it, I didn't like. How the heck is "snipping" going to stop overpopulation anyway? Isn't that going to rapidly reduce future generations and thus destroy the economy and everything? Look I am no political or economic student but surely that doesn't seem logical.

The characters were so bad I could cry. I have one thing to say to Tia:




What is wrong with you? No, I am serious: what really is? I don't understand how you could be so positively stupid, insensitive and just well, dumb. You barely acknowledge your friends and their help, despite the risks that they take for you. Plus for the tech head, computer geek or whatever the term you use that you supposedly are, you sure didn't seem to know much about staying off the radar. The helicopters were always tracking you.

The romantic angle that was attempted was such a lame effort that all I could do was laugh. Colbain and Tia become all "I cannot leave you" in a split second. One minute they were accidentally saving each others' butts and the next they are kissing and inseparable - what!? The whole damsel-in-distress act that Tia pulls was so stupid that I cannot even comment. Plus here wasn't any chemistry between them at all and it isn't slightly believable that they would get together.

Oh, I just have to say how stupid is Colbain for thinking that a girl wouldn't want to be with him because he was wrongly accused of a crime and tossed in jail. If the girl knows you weren't guilty then why is she going to hold it against you? I don't follow you logic at all.

In the end, I think I was sucked in by the pretty cover. Not a good read and I wouldn't recommend it - not at all. What a shame...

[Kirndeep · Rating 2 out of 5]

*2.5 stars*
The concept of the book was interesting and held promise but the narrative felt too rushed, it wasn't really fully explained. There was too much time spent on them escaping and there was a lack of development between characters. However, the last few chapters started to pick up slightly. Mussi has a nice concept but the narrative was just too slow.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kept me turning the pages just to find out the ending but I found the lead female MC somewhat irritating, too much 'poor little me' at times (probably my age vs the YA audience it's aimed at)

[meow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never finished it even if I liked it because lazy

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most addicting book I've ever read.

[Amanda G. (Nellie and Co. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very rarely do I come across a book that zones in and targets British culture to the point where I feel so in sync with each of the characters and to the world they live in, but Riot is one of those rare occasions. However, before I get into the nitty gritty of this review, I've seen other reviews that rated this book less than I have because they didn't and couldn't understand some of the language used, insulting the language and dismissing their own lack of knowledge in British slang as the books fault, not their own, so if you're not blessed with speaking fluent British slang and aren't willing to spend 10 minutes just scanning a list of them and their definitions, then trust me, this book is not for you. This book is also not for the faint of heart. I shall begin.

I'm not going to beat around the bush, the book starts with the scene of a young boy getting 'the snip', which to you and me is getting a medical treatment done to stop him from reproducing; it's gruesome, it's cruel and in my personal opinion, it is wrong on so many levels and in so many ways, lets just say that opening prologue will flush out the people this book is written and designed for, and those who won't give it a chance. Once we get past that utterly shiver inducing opening scene, Mussi thrusts the book head strong into a protest march, which are pretty popular in Britain, and we finally get to meet the young protagonist in this story, Tia, also known as EVE. Tia for me was a brilliant character; she knew her rights, she knew her opinions and she knew what she wanted to fight for, and she didn't just fight for herself, she fought for so many others too. Yes, her character could have done with thinking less and acting more, and with a little more polish around the edges, but I loved that she didn't have that polish. I really came to relate to her and understand why she felt what she did, and why she chose the actions she did. She may not have been one of the most developed characters I've ever read about, but that girl had courage, strength and some balls to go up against her Father and government like she did. I didn't however appreciate the routes Mussi took that enabled Tia to become the 'damsel in distress' when she did, and I understand that it was done in order to strengthen the little romance she was creating, but in truth, I don't think it helped much in the way at all; I honestly think the romance was quite steady and subtle enough as it was, there was no 'instalove', there was no 'you're beautiful, why can't you see that' soppy stuff you get elsewhere, it was as simple as two teens, fighting for what they believe is right, and coming to like one another, and I mean like, not love.

For me, what won me over entirely was the whole idea behind the book and the plot twists that occurred. As somebody who is British born and bred, I understood perfectly the whole reason behind the NoMoreChildrenInNeed and the HANDSOFF sides to this book; Mussi created a near future where the population of people on benefits has risen to an alarming state, were there's more money come out of the system than going in, and that's exactly what Britain already looks like today. Everyday on the news I hear about there not being enough school places for children, how the benefits system is being taken advantage of, and how the poor are targeted while the richer of the population get a free pass and Mussi took it to another level in Riot and I loved it. It covered the nature of riots and how they can be orchestrated by people in a higher power, it highlighted the barrier between those in the poorer areas of the country to those in the higher and how the gap between them continues to increase, and it highlighted how even in the most private of places, especially online, someone somewhere can be tracking you, watching you, following your every move and it was a real reality check for me personally. When it came to the HANDSOFF protests, I could really relate to the people involved, and it challenged my beliefs and made me question the ethical and moral implications of their actions; yes, some parts weren't as flushed out and developed as they could have been, but they were good enough for me.

Riot wasn't perfect; the use of American slang such as the ATM's annoyed me, as did the lack of grief Tia showed towards the end, and while the ending the was a little cliche, I liked it overall. This book had a unique quality about that I seriously loved; I loved the unplanned action element, the slow burn romance that developed and the revelations that showed themselves and answered a lot of my questions were well received. This book will be very and hit and miss for many, the swearing, the language, the shocking scenes that show humanity at it's worse and the way it questions your belief in government and their systems won't be pleasing for everyone, but it was definitely a hit for me, and I'm so glad I gave it a go.

[Alyssia Cooke · Rating 1 out of 5]

The time is 2018 and Britain is in chaos. Years of cuts and austerity measures have devastated the country; the banks are going under, businesses are closing, prices are soaring, unemployment is rising and prisons overflowing. The population is rising and the authorities cannot cope. Something has to give. The solution that is found? Forced sterilisation of all school leavers without secure further education plans or guaranteed employment. The Teen Haves will procreate. The Teen Havenots will not.

The concept is striking and certainly one that attracted me; partly because actually many of the policies that are introduced are ones I can more than see our current Tory government trying to put through Parliament; no more free housing or housing benefits for the vulnerable or single parents. No more child benefits, no more free school meals or school milk. The way to no more children in need, is not letting those who cannot afford children breed. At age 17.

The actual implementation of this idea is where this novel falls down; Tia is the ‘leader’ of the rebellion, she is the Eve to the Adam and Eve story of the resistance. But Tia is a naïve little rich girl who actually states that she started the rebellion because she was bored. She knows all the hacking short cuts and procedures, despite having been raised in a rich girls school as a politicans daughter. This to start with jars. I can more than see the population rioting and rising together, but the movement would have been grass roots, not headed by a little rich girl who was never going to be in danger of having her tubes snipped. Daddy wouldn’t allow it.

Tia is also an extremely annoying character and it is therefore rather unfortunate that all of the story is narrated through her thoughts. And her thoughts would give the Virgin Mary a migraine. There’s no subtlety or clever writing behind the character. It’s short, sharp sentences, very few adjectives or explanations. This happened. Then this happened. And oh flip, this happened. Additionally, the word ‘flipping’ is hugely overused and often utterly inappropriately; _ I've just been flipping shot, and flipping roasted in a burning building and_ _now I'm crouching down behind a row of flipping trashed cars with a flipping yob._ Seriously? If I’d been shot, roasted and forced to hide with a yob you’d better believe there would be some choice invectives flying out of my mouth.

The politics behind this dystopia were as thin as ice as well; if you want to make me believe that such a radical decision would be made, you need to convince me. And for that you need a political system in which it works, you need a well-thought out and serious system behind this dystopia, particularly if you are setting it in the real world. And this, to put it simply, failed. The reason it fails is a spoiler, so I shall refrain from spoiling it for you, but there isn’t the depth of the thought that I had expected, instead it is just a cop out.

The love angle is equally annoying. Why oh why, oh why, oh why, oh why, do authors see the need to stick inappropriate and damn stupid love angles in teenage books? It never interested me as a teenager and it certainly doesn’t grip me now. Just because it’s young adult does not mean the protagonist has to fall in love with the rebel leaders green cat like eyes. Jesus, get a grip. If you’re writing a dystopia then give me a dytopia. If you’re writing a rebellion then give me a rebellion. If you’re writing a love story then stop trying to sell it me under the guise of a dystopia!

This is an interesting idea and concept that is let down by its writing style, inane characters, lack of vocabulary and lack of depth in brutal honesty. It is a book that had the potential to be awesome and instead ends up as just…meh. On the other hand it’s a quick and easy read, taking me about two hours to slam through on a train journey and promptly leave at the church for someone else to have a gander. It raises some interesting questions I guess; how far is too far? What is the difference between a protest and terrorism and how grey that line can get when the definition is set by the government. But there isn’t enough depth here to explore it.

===Do I Recommend?===
For adult readers, certainly that’s a no. It’s too simplistic with none of the exploration or depth that makes this a buyable dystopia. The main characters thoughts are jarring and insipid and the love story angle is just…bleh. Not interesting. For teenage readers, perhaps as a quick read to introduce them to dystopian fiction? It’s certainly not the best in its genre; Hunger Games and Divergent come immediately to mind as far superior modern alternatives and even Delirium which isn’t one of my favourites either but is better written than this. 1964 and Animal Farm are of course classics. Having read Siege by the same author though, that is far better.

[Megz · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the near future, Britain is overpopulated and poverty is at an all-time high. Parliament has drafted the “No More Children In Need Programme” to reduce the population and so to reduce poverty and tax expenditure. But the program is colloquially known by a much more descriptive name: The Snip Bill. The program will sterilise all young people who are not guaranteed a job, university placement or another form of financial support.

AND THE YOUTH RIOT.

I have so many feelings about this book. For one, its setting: I feel like I’ve read so little good YA set in Britain - but this one is grimy and action-packed and the setting is unlike any other that I have read. And, oh, I love it.

For another, the story is a great idea – not the least because it is an idea that many people have considered, albeit perhaps not in real-life Britain. You might recall that the South African Apartheid government had its own programme researching mass-sterilisation, as did Hitler’s Nazi Germany. And today, with many suffering countries experiencing continuously booming populations, “birth control” is the buzzword of the century.

I felt that the plot was well-devised and thrilling. There are some slow moments, but hardly enough to make me consider putting the book down. And frankly, I think a well-placed slow moment can do wonders for a novel.

Mussi’s manner of writing fits the story perfectly. She is not verbose. Sometimes I felt it was a bit too brief, but in a way, it works. You can hear the thousands of feet marching. You can smell the acrid smoke burning.

This book would do really well in a class discussion with high school kids. Although it appears that there are clear-cut good guys and bad guys, there is enough grey area for fascinating discussion. For example, just because nobody should be sterilised without consent, what can we do about the trend of the rich’s taxes funding the subsidies of the poor? Obviously there is a big discussion to be had in this regard, because often the poor are poor because they are exploited, but that is a discussion for another post.

Things I did not enjoy so much do unfortunately come into play. I could not always gel with Tia’s character. She is a bit labile – but then, I suppose, that is the way teenagers are! One moment wise beyond their years, another moment the most childish brat.

The biggest turn-off for me was the relationship between Tia and her man-candy. It’s not exactly insta-love, but it comes pretty close to being insta-love. And then there’s that thing where they are fleeing for their lives, and they stop to make out. I’m sure the younger audience will love reading that, but for me… it’s unrealistic even for fiction. If a mad man is chasing you, you should run for your life, yo!

I wasn’t so sure about using Anonymous slogans as chapter headings – those slogans are AWESOME, but are they not copyrighted, or something? I thought it was a good way of making the whole thing more real though: including this element of our current lives.

Mussi also weaves a lot of revolutionary history into the novel, even equating Tia’s father, the villain, with Joseph Goebbels. Again, I love this real-world element to the novel.

This book is bigger than dystopian fiction. It has the potential to be like Golding’s Lord of the Flies. It is more than a book about riots – it is a book about anarchy, and my only criticism in this regard is that such a heavy topic perhaps deserved better conclusions. When you read this book, you will find yourself in one second becoming an anarchist yourself, and in the next second crying out that anarchy is a very, very bad idea. Mussi does not prescribe a viewpoint, which is good, but there is certainly room for further discussion. Perhaps the publishers could consider a "reader's guide" for questions and discussions.

Many readers have a problem with the ending - I can't say I'm thrilled by it either, but it certainly isn't the most important part of this book, and so, I can live with that.

I strongly recommend this book to anybody who enjoys dystopians, computer geekery, and socio-political activism. And teenagers – especially the ones that get angry at the System (I do, too). Somebody in some school library is going to try to ban this book, and that will be testament to its importance.

One last thing: I think this cover is awesome.

NOTE: I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Kristin (Blood,Sweat and Books) · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I believe the children are our future.
Arm them well, and help them fight for their rights."-Sarah Mussi

Riot follows the story of a hacker named Tia who under the guise of her username Eve starts a revolution with her Hands Off: My Body, My Choice campaign. Along with teen criminal hottie Cobain it's up to Tia to stop the one man who can put an end to all this No More Children In Need bill. Easier said than done considering that man also happens to be her farther.

Riot should of been a great book. It certainly had all the makings of being one. So why am I left feeling so underwhelmed?

I think my main problem with Riot stems from the direction the book takes early on. What I thought was going to be a near future dystopian ended up being an action adventure romance with dystopian type elements thrown in for good measure. Not necessarily a bad thing but certainly not what I was expecting or wanting to read either.

Another thing I didn't like was the hacker aspect. Tia is supposed to be gifted at it yet is easily duped by her mysterious mentor. I mean c'mon girl you can't be that gullible. It was frustrating and ruined some very key moments for me.

What however really grinds my gears is the romance. It was so unbelievably forced and unnecessary. Why did Tia need Cobain even in the first place? Yes, he rescues her from being burned alive but afterwards they could've easily parted ways and it wouldn't of hurt the plot one bit. To further explain my issue, in the beginning Tia seems so sure of herself. She's planned everything out to stay undetected by tbtb and yet here comes Cobain and suddenly she can't figure the simplest things out for herself and needs him to rescue her more times than I can count. Maybe the romance wouldn't of bugged me so much if it was subtle but this insta love bs just is not appealing to me. I can't count the times I rolled my eyes at the pair thinking to myself "Get a room already!". One kiss and your soul mates, destined to be together? Yeah right. This ain't no Disney movie.

Now despite it's flaws I did actually really enjoy parts of Riot.

First off, I actually think the fact it was set nearly in present day made sense. Whether you live in the U.K. , the U.S. or somewhere else entirely if you have socialized welfare people will abuse it. So for all intents and purposes it isn't such a far stretch to imagine those same leaders becoming tiresome of it and wanting to enact a radical change such as the one proposed in Riot.

Secondly, aside from her interactions with Cobain I liked Tia. Sure she was a bit of a damsel in distress at times but that didn't make her a bad character. I think she just lived a very sheltered life and maybe was a bit more impulsive than say you or me because of that.

Lastly, I think the action in the later half of the book was great. While the book has action throughout it is simply written better in the back half than it was in the front. I found myself eye rolling way too much when those blasted helicopters came around for it all to be enjoyable.

Final Thoughts
Did I enjoy Riot? Sure. Am I glad that I read it? Yes. However, would I rush out to buy a copy or even recommend others do the same? Probably not. Truth of the matter is that while Riot is a good book it didn't bring anything new to the table that hasn't been done before and more importantly better. Would I still recommend reading it? Of course. Like I said it was good. Just maybe borrow from a friend or library before purchasing. With that being said, I'll be rating Riot by Sarah Mussi ★★★.

*Copy provided by Netgalley. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated in an which way for providing them.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

At the beginning of Riot, I was in love. I loved everything. I loved the premise. I loved the writing. I loved Tia's voice and I wasn't expecting it to go where it did in the early pages. But somewhere along the way, the book seemed to step back from its original idea and went somewhere else. Riot is kind of a political thriller, but it takes a big step beyond its original premise. I eventually decided I was okay with that, but it wasn't what I thought I was getting into, so on that front, I couldn't help but be at least a little disappointed.

I liked Tia a lot. I liked that she was naive in some ways and not in others, though at times it got a bit frustrating because she wasn't cluing in on things when she should have been, but overall I thought she was an interesting choice of heroine for this type of book. I didn't think the dynamic it created between her and Cobain was very original, but it did help form a kind of dichotomy between them. I liked the way Mussi demonstrated their different methods of dealing with what was thrown at them.

I liked the book's spin on social media - I thought it was an interesting idea, and while I wasn't entirely convinced, it definitely intrigued me. I would have liked it if the book could have gone into the origins of Darknet7 and the ADAM and EVE stuff in more detail, but I guess that isn't really what the book was about, so I'm sort of okay with what we got.

There were some religious undertones throughout the book that felt okay at first (with the ADAM and EVE stuff, and a few other things), but by the end of the book, they were more frequent and I will admit I was left feeling a little lost and confused by all of it. There were a few times that the book got a bit carried away with technical stuff and I lost track of what was going on as well. Tia talks like she knows what she's talking about, but the hows and whys aren't really explained at all, and while I was okay with that to an extent, it also made for some very confusing passages.

I will also say that I disliked the romance. I liked Tia and Cobain as characters, and liked their interactions and the way they treated each other in general, but to put a romance between them in this book felt very tacked on and I couldn't really get past that. I did roll my eyes a bit at the constant "cat-green eyes" mentions early on in the book, though. I don't think that's something I would have focused on if I had been so afraid of or intimidated by someone with his reputation, haha, so I had a hard time finding that aspect very believable. I was also a bit disappointed with the ending for reasons I won't get into in this review; it does bring things together, but not in the most satisfactory fashion.

In the end, though, Mussi's writing made me really happy, and that made me really like this book. I loved Tia's almost-stream of consciousness voice, and I... just loved it. I can't really describe it any other way. It felt genuine to me in a lot of ways. I am definitely interested in picking up more of her books in the future.

Overall, while Riot pulls you in with one idea and then goes running with another, I thought it was a really interesting ride, though brutal at times. I had a hard time putting it down and definitely found my mind wandering during shifts at work, wondering what was going to happen next.

[The Book Spine · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was something utterly compelling about Riot, back when I first heard about its publication, that simply caught my attention—and I was so damn eager to read it! I started it as soon as I was able to put my hands on a copy, and luckily enough I was given a proof copy ahead of time. Unfortunately, I’m now experiencing major mixed feelings, as I absolutely loved some of the details Sarah Mussi incorporated in the novel and some of her choices plot-wise but, at the same time, there are several things that didn’t seem quite right.

I believe the one thing that ‘bothered’ me the most was the time period in which the action takes place—we’re talking about the year of 2018 which will occur only 4 years from now, and I honestly think that it is way too near to us to be completely convincing, even when the author portrays issues and scenes that could easily develop catastrophically in a short period of time like it happens in Riot. On the other hand, it is extremely easy to forget that key element of the story once you get deep into the lives of all these men and women who are being forced to give up on something that should clearly be theirs to judge and decide—their bodies and, therefore, their ability to reproduce. Sterilization of the masses was definitely a clever problem to exploit in a book like this—the sort of dystopian feel to it with the overpowering government and the division of classes with each one’s rights and duties was really interesting to read despite everything sounding pretty straightforward and a little bit common and close to our reality. I also really enjoyed the way Mussi slowly revealed Cobain’s and Tia’s feelings for each other—they start out as friends and keep exactly like that for most of the story and that allows readers to have a better sense of fullness and credibility regarding the romance instead of the overly-common insta-love thing.

This is one hell of a fast-paced story. There’s always something happening or about to happen, and the fact that there aren’t many—if any—dead moments in the plot it makes this book a seriously quick read. I flipped through its pages so rapidly that I even surprised myself! However, just because the writing is interesting and enthusiastic with a bit of a conflicting feel to it, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the same is perceived from and by the characters—what I mean with this is that often I felt like the characters weren’t giving enough importance to some of the things that were happening around or to them thus lacking a certain sense of emotion and fear that, in my opinion, would grab the reader even more. I think that even though I was somewhat enjoying what I was reading, in a way I wasn’t completely immersed in the story and this sort of detachment still makes me a bit angry seeing that this is a first-person written novel in which emotions should be the main core of the book.

Overall, Riot has its good things and bad things. It’s not a flawless book and personally I think Sarah Mussi can do much, much better but I also believe that this story will appeal and please many readers who are now starting to discover the dystopia genre. The plot is really interesting and there are several elements in the book that create a certain awareness to what the world as we now know might later on become, but as a whole it didn’t fill my expectations.

Review also available here:
http://thebookspinereviews.blogspot.c...

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review also on http://kkatiereads.blogspot.com.au

I received this courtesy of Hachette Children’s Books through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Riot had all the makings of a great book but fell short on the follow through of a pretty cool idea. We start off in the year 2018 and things have really changed and certainly not for the better, England is crowded to the max and there are people living in poverty and need everywhere. The government has come up with a bill to take down the number of people in need. If a teenager doesn’t have money, a job or plans to study further they then get ‘the snip’ which is the nickname given to being castrated and they are given no choice about it. From here everything gets confusing and an interesting idea goes downhill. To the point where this would have been a one star book but it got two for the premise.

Lets start with the bit I hate most then go from there. The time period this is set in is literally only four years on from now. It is very unbelievable that England, a country that is pretty well off in the scheme of things has suddenly fallen to nearly complete ruin. Why has the no one else in the world been like ‘hey that’s defying so many human rights, you shouldn’t do that’, also considering England has a flipping (something Tia says way to often like every paragraph) Monarchy. Where were they in this whole bill situation? The Monarch does have the power to say no to any bill and then its done and dusted. Everything about the book would have been so much more realistic if it was not in a time frame that is easily envisioned.

Now to the characters whom I really didn’t like or feel connected to at all. Tia the protagonist and narrator is one of the most naïve and irritating characters that’s had the joy of frustrating the hell out of me. For a hacker that has organised protests and knows all about an underground network she really knows nothing about the real world, for a lot of the first part of the book, when people are being shot and everyone is rioting all she’s worried about is getting back to school so they don’t call her father, really Tia, really. I did enjoy the style that Tia’s narration was in but that’s really it other than her relationship with Corbain that redeemed her. As every girl knows your relationship should be the best part about you. Tia and Corbain’s relationship is very cute and thankfully is not instalove they learn to trust and rely on each other before them being together is even a thing.

Some other things I didn’t enjoy were how obvious the villain was and the horrible ending that wrapped everything in the most simple and neat way possible. I’m not going to fully explain the ending as not to give any accidental spoilers but its gag worthy.

To sum up my thoughts about this book, yes it was action packed but very confusing and not greatly written in a sense that nothing was really explained or given a reason as to why it happen and it. I would read Sarah Mussi’s other book to see if it was her writing I don’t personally enjoy or if this book is a fluke.

[Ellen-Arwen Tristram · Rating 4 out of 5]

2018. That is what makes this book different.

There are a lot of dystopian YA books out there at the moment (believe me – I've read most of them!), but the majority are set in other similar world to our own, or our own world but further in the future. The unique thing about riot is we are only talking about four years time. AND it's in Britain – not America. That's terrifying; the events of Riot could really happen in the very near future. And that is precisely what makes it such fascinating reading.

Mussi tells the story through first person in the eyes of Tia, daughter of a key politician. Overpopulation has pushed the government into a highly unpopular bill called the “No More Children in Need Bill.” This means that people of the unemployed and uneducated classes will be “snipped” and therefore be sterile. Tia and thousands of others take to the streets and to the murky back alleys of the internet to undermine and overthrow the bill. But events spiral way beyond what Tia even thought possible...

Tia is an excellent central protagonist: she is likeable, gutsy and down-to-earth (although I got annoyed by how often she said 'frigging!') Both her and her key partner-in-crime character, Cobain, were very well portrayed and, as a reader, I cared about what happened to them. Never underestimate the power of likeable characters. Although the subject matter of the book is very heavy, there were lighter moments as well: banter and an evolving relationship between the pair alleviated what could otherwise have been a very dark story.

Chapter one throws you straight into the action: Tia is at a march where they chant “HANDS OFF OUR BODIES!”, telling the government that there is no way they will let this bill go forward. I was drawn straight in; unfortunately, Tia's thoughts were a little all over the place for the first chapter which meant it was a little confusing. I would have preferred the first chapter to be more clear and I also would have scrapped the prologue, which details someone having the “snip.” It was so much more exciting to be brought straight into the march.

Although Tia and Cobain were strong characters, I found Tia's father too much of an archetypal villain: he was predictable and a little unrealistic. Tia's mother also seemed to be the epitome of a stereotype (although a very different one) and I couldn't quite believe in either of them. This was unfortunate because such feisty people as Tia and Cobain need equal rivals. The only aspect of Tia's character that I felt dubious about was her fairly limited vocabulary; it made me doubt her reputation as a master hacker, as she sometimes came across as fairly simple. And, as I've mentioned, if I never hear the word “frigging” again, I'll be happy!

Overall, a really enjoyable book. I haven't come across Sarah Mussi before, but I'm on the lookout for her other books. I would recommend Riot to anyone into YA fiction, dystopia and contemporary politics; it is captivating and exhilarating.

And I know we should never judge a book by this, but the cover is awesome!

[Alice Reeds · Rating 5 out of 5]

Find my review (also) on my Blog Bettgeschichten

I received a free copy of Riot from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Beware; if the introduction of Riot doesn’t scare you off and you get through it, a unique story awaits you.

Riot is an action roller-coaster which definitely didn’t disappoint me, despite its rating on goodreads, which discouraged me for just a moment. But, I sat down and read it over a pretty short time span.
In chapter one the reader finds himself in the middle of a massive protest where the protagonist, Tia Thomson AKA EVE, The Mother of the Future, is participating with her friend. The riot gets out of control and the action kicks off. The storyline had me on the edge of my seat, figuratively speaking, at a lot of times.

"Shoot on sight. Check that bullet. This is Britain and of course we shoot demonstrators. And how typical of my father! Shoot first, legalise later.”

The topic of Riot is one, which scarily enough sounds like something which might just be likely to happen one day, considering the way todays governments are handling things. A new Bill is on the verge of being accepted which would force those without a “good future” to get the Snip which would stop them from being able to become parents one day. Tia and many others are trying to stop this Bill from happening.
The plotline is as plausible as can be considering the short amount of time over which the story unfolds and the fact that Riot is a standalone novel, which means that there are no sequels during which the whole story could unfold.

The characters are likable and interesting. Tia is a ‘rebel’ which still has not lost the fear of consequences and, as I’ve seen many people say, she may or may not be a “spoiled brat” who still has a sense of what is right and wrong. She knows how much her father has wronged her mother and knows that he wouldn’t stop at nothing to get what he wants. I liked her.
And Cobain make me both like and doubt him. As we encounter him the first time I had my doubts as to what he really planned as he helped Tia but I soon came to the conclusion that I like him.

“We are the spark that starts the wildfire. We are the lightning on the horizon.”

I really liked the writing style of Sarah Mussi, though there were a few places where Tia’s thinking and evaluating was dragged out a bit too much for me, but that’s all right. I think Mussi has created a very intriguing and unique story in Riot which I am very happy that I read.
The initial reason why I decided to apply for reading Riot was the cover which I love. It immediately caught my eye and made me curious, which as we all know is the purpose, oftentimes, of a cover.

All in all I can honestly say that I enjoyed reading Riot a lot and was intrigued by the story. I can recommend it to anyone who likes action packed stories without the typical cheese love story woven into it.