The Defectives

by Jim Bates

Life for Lenny and Alex is not pleasant. It’s the 27th century, and they are living in an orphanage with thirty other boys like themselves. They are labeled Defectives. They don’t fit the accepted mold for the appearance-based society. Their faces are covered in purplish/red birthmarks, their vision is poor, and they are slight in stature. They also live in an underground city like the rest of the world’s population. Humans were driven there by tracliodytes, cockroach-like creatures who attacked and took over Earth in the 22nd century. Because the boys are defective, they will be sent to work when they turn twelve, digging tunnels. For the rest of their lives. With this bleak future in front of them, Len and Alex decide to make a bold escape. They travel through the city’s ventilation system to the Earth’s surface. They are captured by a tracliodyte patrol, and so begins a new life for Len and Alex. Being held captive is not so bad for the two boys. The tracliodytes have evolved into a benevolent and peaceful society. For the two friends, it’s a life far better than the two ever imagined, especially compared to living underground. They love the sunshine and the fresh air and make many new friends. When word of their escape reaches the orphanage of defective girls, Kyla and Fae, the two of them also escape to the surface. However, along with themselves, they bring all of the other twenty girls of the orphanage with them. Their escape is an affront to Supreme Commander Botta. He vows revenge and plans are made to bring both the girls and Len and Alex back to face trial, torture, and a final hideous fate. With an army from underground led by Botta, he stages a surprise attack on the peace-loving tracliodytes. The stage is set for an epic confrontation that will determine the fate of not only the young Defectives but the future of life on Earth.

146 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2025

Reviews

[Rose Auburn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Science fiction/dystopian mash-up The Defectives is set in the 27th century. Cockroach-esque creatures, the Tracliodytes conquered Earth in the 22nd Century, and humans were driven underground to live in cities deep beneath the Earth’s surface. Over the next five hundred years, they segregated into the “Rich and Powerful” and the “Defectives”, and life for the latter is brutal under the diktats of the Supreme Commander, Reginald Botta.

When eleven-year-old Defectives Len and Alex escape to the surface, they discover that the Tracliodytes have evolved and are now an intelligent, compassionate, and understanding species, in contrast to the humans underground…

On a superficial basis, The Defectives is an easy, engaging, and exciting beginning to a promising YA series. However, there is definitely a sly contemporary commentary on the nature of perceived perfection and the hubristic follies of the human race bubbling away beneath the narrative, ensuring that The Defectives operates on several levels rather than just purely as a YA novel.

First, the focus is on Len and Alex, two young boys who are residents of an orphanage in the dystopian underground city of Metro Metropolis and who are shortly to be sent into forced labor.
Bates keeps their escape and time below ground relatively simple, preferring to concentrate on the boys’ experiences with the Tracliodytes, and there is definitely a touch of reverse psychology in Bates’s depiction of the insect-like creatures.

They are infused with a warm curiosity and a growing benevolence that becomes maternal toward the escapees. Yet, they remain formidable fighters, whereas the Supreme Commander and his acolyte army are depicted as self-serving, intensely unpleasant, and frankly quite stupid.

Bates paints Earth, now the land of the Tracliodytes, as a vibrant, visual Utopia. The boys work at Creekside Meadows, helping to harvest wildflowers, the primary food source for the Tracliodytes. There are some lovely, imaginative touches and highly inventive, sometimes magically quirky descriptive passages. Bates beautifully captures the innocence and childlike wonder of the Defectives. His writing, although gloriously offbeat in places, neatly mirrors the children's uncomplicated emotions and authenticity.

Whereas the chapters set within the halcyon environs of Creekside Meadows are suffused with a playful, eternal-summer glow, those below ground are infected with a stark, malign darkness, and Bates subtly alters the tone accordingly.

As further orphans escape their underground prison, he begins to layer the story, introducing factions and backstories, involving a host of interesting characters, some imbued with a comic energy, others, such as Rex and Orly, with poignancy and a sense of foreboding. Notwithstanding, at this stage, there is a definite heroes/villains demarcation, although the reader senses this may pivot or be sorely tested in future books.

However, overall, he maintains his cheery briskness, even during some murky scenes, such as Benton Snaggleroot’s abduction of six-year-old Stephanie. Nonetheless, Kyla and Fae, two escaped Defectives, are not quite so convincing in their portrayals as Len and Alex. Additionally, the book would have benefited from a sharper edit, there are areas of repetition.

The Defectives is an enjoyable, original, and thought-provoking start to Bates’s Creekside Chronicles that leaves the reader intrigued by how this versatile writer will further develop the clever, creative concept that underpins this opening instalment. Well worth a look.

[Books By Your Bedside · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Jim for sending me a gifted copy of this book in return for an honest review.

I have read several of Jim's novels, novellas, and short stories over the years, and I'm always very impressed by them. I've said before that whilst there's nothing "lesser" about self publishing instead of going the traditional route, I've always felt Jim's books could rival those in popular bookshops.

It does pose some interesting questions. Is it better to have your own life, but have your physical freedom taken away from you, being forced to stay underground, with no natural light, no fresh water, bad food? Or is it better to live under someone else's control but be able to live out in the world with fresh water and food and flowers? What do you value more?

I think it also looks at the way we treat others that don't look the same as the majority. And I mean this in two ways. Firstly, the children who look different due to birthmarks of bad eyesight or other "defective" qualities. Why should those that are, for all intents and purposes, perfect be more valued than others? But also it looks at the comparison between the humans and the Tracliodytes, the differences and similiarties in them.

I did enjoy the interactions between the human boys and girls, and then their interactions with the Tracliodytes, they were interesting to compare.

I did enjoy what was there, there's nothing wrong with it. But having finished it, I think I would have preferred it without the whole Tracliodytes invasion bit. I think it would have been a great commentary on society's obsession with perfection if it had just been focussed on the defectives being hidden away and only the "perfect" being allowed their freedom. But I'm aware this is aimed at young adults and perhaps that kind of thing is more attractive to them. So it's not a problem with the story as such or what Jim has written, it's just my preference.

But overall, Jim has created an interesting, thought-provoking, exciting story that captured my attention from the very first page.

[P.C. Darkcliff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has everything you could wish from a dystopian fantasy: endearing characters, terrifying villains, strong friendship, feats of heroism and defiance, and creatures that have taken over the crumbled world. The book is largely based on a paradox, which I enjoyed immensely but won't give away.
I've been privileged to follow Jim Bates' writing career for years, and I can assure you that he is becoming a master of the genre.