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The Land Creeps
The Global Resilience Effort controls a collection of former countries around the world, dominating not through traditional warfare, but through weather attacks. Since the Reset thirty years ago, the Collective has weaponized weather to move its citizens into confined Megacities. Kennedy knows better than anyone that when the government controls the weather, they control you.
All Kennedy has ever wanted is a family, and although she is pregnant with twins, this desire has never felt further from her reach. In The Collective, all children are property of the Global Resilience Effort. To keep her family intact, Kennedy must decide between security and risking everything to escape.
Agent Archer oversees the Ravona Program in an effort to reverse the mutation rate in children and save the human race from extinction. Balancing the program with his caseload for the Global Resilience Effort is simple. It was simple until his life was turned upside down by a nine-year-old subject whose mutation is far more dangerous than he could have ever anticipated. After the Ravona subject goes rogue, he must cover up her disappearance and his role in it to protect his career and the program's integrity.
All Kennedy has ever wanted is a family, and although she is pregnant with twins, this desire has never felt further from her reach. In The Collective, all children are property of the Global Resilience Effort. To keep her family intact, Kennedy must decide between security and risking everything to escape.
Agent Archer oversees the Ravona Program in an effort to reverse the mutation rate in children and save the human race from extinction. Balancing the program with his caseload for the Global Resilience Effort is simple. It was simple until his life was turned upside down by a nine-year-old subject whose mutation is far more dangerous than he could have ever anticipated. After the Ravona subject goes rogue, he must cover up her disappearance and his role in it to protect his career and the program's integrity.
317 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 14, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Author
4.5/5⭐️
Thank you to the author for providing an advanced copy of The Land Creeps for review.
The world we are dropped into is a post reset dystopia where the oppression is felt from the outset. Surveillance is simply part of the fabric of life here. Everything is accounted for, tracked, observed and very quickly you start to understand that stepping outside those boundaries is not framed as rebellion so much as a calculated risk with your own survival. What stood out most is how understated this is. The control is not constantly justified or explained, it just exists and that makes it more unnerving.
Woven through this is a set of narrative threads that give the story a layered and almost haunted quality. There are echoes here of something larger than the immediate events, particularly in the way prophecy and scriptural imagery sit beneath the surface. It creates a sense that the world is not only technologically controlled but also symbolically charged, like history and something more ancient are overlapping in the same space.
At the centre of everything is Kennedy and she is a compelling anchor for the story. We move with her through an escalating escape from the system that holds all the power and what works well, is how gradually the wider truth is revealed. It is not only about the chase itself but about what sits behind it, how the system functions, what it extracts from people and what kind of thinking allows it to sustain itself.
There are moments with real unease, scenes that are quietly unsettling and at times genuinely chilling. The antagonistic forces are drawn in a way that makes them easy to dislike without ever feeling exaggerated, which makes Kennedy’s position all the more compelling. You find yourself championing her almost instinctively, not because the book tells you to but because of how completely the world seems stacked against her.
By the end I was not just thinking about what happened to Kennedy, but about how close some of these ideas feel to things we already recognise. Surveillance, control, the slow narrowing of choice disguised as order. It is fiction, but it does not feel comfortably distant.
It is hard to believe this is a debut novel. There is a clarity here that suggests the author is already very sure of the story they want to tell.
Thank you to the author for providing an advanced copy of The Land Creeps for review.
The world we are dropped into is a post reset dystopia where the oppression is felt from the outset. Surveillance is simply part of the fabric of life here. Everything is accounted for, tracked, observed and very quickly you start to understand that stepping outside those boundaries is not framed as rebellion so much as a calculated risk with your own survival. What stood out most is how understated this is. The control is not constantly justified or explained, it just exists and that makes it more unnerving.
Woven through this is a set of narrative threads that give the story a layered and almost haunted quality. There are echoes here of something larger than the immediate events, particularly in the way prophecy and scriptural imagery sit beneath the surface. It creates a sense that the world is not only technologically controlled but also symbolically charged, like history and something more ancient are overlapping in the same space.
At the centre of everything is Kennedy and she is a compelling anchor for the story. We move with her through an escalating escape from the system that holds all the power and what works well, is how gradually the wider truth is revealed. It is not only about the chase itself but about what sits behind it, how the system functions, what it extracts from people and what kind of thinking allows it to sustain itself.
There are moments with real unease, scenes that are quietly unsettling and at times genuinely chilling. The antagonistic forces are drawn in a way that makes them easy to dislike without ever feeling exaggerated, which makes Kennedy’s position all the more compelling. You find yourself championing her almost instinctively, not because the book tells you to but because of how completely the world seems stacked against her.
By the end I was not just thinking about what happened to Kennedy, but about how close some of these ideas feel to things we already recognise. Surveillance, control, the slow narrowing of choice disguised as order. It is fiction, but it does not feel comfortably distant.
It is hard to believe this is a debut novel. There is a clarity here that suggests the author is already very sure of the story they want to tell.
July 15, 2026
Just completed the advanced reader copy and thoroughly enjoyed it! The book explores a lot of dark themes without being too explicit which I appreciated. I can definitely see some similarities to some aspects of this society to our own when it comes to manipulating the public with climate fears. The story is less predictable than I expected and even made me sad in some chapters.
Some chapters can feel a little slow at times but is probably meant to contrast the crazy things that happen later.
Would recommend if you want a casual quick read!
Some chapters can feel a little slow at times but is probably meant to contrast the crazy things that happen later.
Would recommend if you want a casual quick read!
September 10, 2026
A wonderful read
I had the privilege of beta reading this book. Now I’m reading the published version, and I absolutely love this novel. Immediately invested into each character and I have been staying up so late trying to finish, you just want to keep going! The plot is something you’ve probably never read before and it keeps you thinking. You will be left needing book 2!!
I had the privilege of beta reading this book. Now I’m reading the published version, and I absolutely love this novel. Immediately invested into each character and I have been staying up so late trying to finish, you just want to keep going! The plot is something you’ve probably never read before and it keeps you thinking. You will be left needing book 2!!
Review of advance copy received from Author
This is a partially biased review (I’m the editor), but I stand by my five stars.
This is such a good book. I love the characters, the writing is fantastic. The first time I read the book I couldn’t put it down. And I can’t wait to read the next book.
Incredible plot twists. Great characters. It feels original, creative, well researched, and so well done. I love this story C. Carlyle has created and the dystopian world she crafted.
Will definitely be rereading again and again.
This is such a good book. I love the characters, the writing is fantastic. The first time I read the book I couldn’t put it down. And I can’t wait to read the next book.
Incredible plot twists. Great characters. It feels original, creative, well researched, and so well done. I love this story C. Carlyle has created and the dystopian world she crafted.
Will definitely be rereading again and again.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews