EOB: Earth Out of Balance

by John Minichillo

In New New America, where the educated live alone and form better relationships with their computers than with each other, as human reproduction moves toward automation, where rations are scarce, and where an entire class is slated for instant eradication, one man hopes to find love while another dares to write the true history of the oppression of his people.

Genres: Dystopia

250 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 31, 2017

Reviews

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

EOB: Earth Out of Balance by John Minichillo is a free book I received from the Kindle Scout program. I am unsure of the plot of this book, it is sharing the horrible conditions/world that they live in but there doesn't seem to be a goal or climax to the story. Maybe it is to be thought provoking. Dystopian and satire is what Amazon has this book listed under, weird combination.

[David Caldwell · Rating 1 out of 5]

I recieved a free copy from the Kindle Scout program in exchange foran honest review. The story was listed as dystopia and satire.

I found this story to be a challenge to finish. I did not find it to be enjoyable. The characters were all self-centered, only caring about how they could make their own situation better. They would say they cared (or even loved) someone one moment to saying they had no use (or hated) them as soon as it became inconvenient to know them. I did not care what happened to any of the characters long before the book ended.

The author developed a miserable dystopian society. The biggest problem is that the author left the reader to figure out the world on his own (or explained it too late in the book.) For example, there are three classes to this society. The OP (overpopulated--defined in chapter two), MP and VP (neither were defined until the middle of the book-- MP is Middle People and VP is Very Important. Don't ask me why they weren't the VI unless the author just wanted to keep the theme going). The plot was almost nonexistant. Everything the characters did were either trivial or totally pointless. One of their big projects was transferring Wikipedia to stone and they were carving it one letter at a time. Just more pointless satire.

The characters did pointless things, were self-centered, and had no resolutions in their lives. The message of the book seemed to be that life is pointless but will continue no matter what people do.

[Susie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was supposed to be an interesting book, full of thought-provoking ideas. I’m quite interested in new interpretations of a futuristic dystopian society. That’s the main reason I supported this book through the Kindle Scout program. Unfortunately, once I started reading the book it failed to live up to its promise.

On the one hand, it was certainly thought provoking, as it presented the idea of water becoming currency in a society where it’s become a scarce commodity. Social position in this book appears to be primarily based on the amount of water one owns. Women earn far more than men, in water units, because their contribution to society is considered more valuable (primarily because of reproduction, with the females being required for the start of the incubation process). The main problem is, the societal structure was explained far too late; I was left fumbling around, guessing, as to what the abbreviations were supposed to mean, what certain words and terms were supposed to mean, until halfway into the book. Then there’s the characters themselves, who are all near-identical, self-seeking beings. Their emotions flip from love to contempt in a switch, yet they are still willing to do anything to acquire rare commodities, including water.

This book is supposed to be humorous, with elements of satire in it. Well, if you consider complete male-female role reversal, where men are used and raped for the pleasure of women, as “humour”, then I’m not sure what to think. Role reversal might be an interesting concept, but the scenes of abuse were shocking – I do not find that right whichever sex is taking the lead. Free sex is not a new idea, really, with people preferring not to make a lifelong commitment and instead getting relief wherever it is available (and primarily for procreation). Nudity, sex, and sexuality no longer being taboos, well I guess it has to come sometime. But why did there have to be such violence and force involved?

Another thing that was poorly explained was the robotic companions. I didn’t understand at all, until near the end, their form and role. They appear to be humanoid, yet with a lot of control over their human companion. But why couldn’t there have been a better description sooner?

I guess I can understand somewhat the appeal of this book, which had many good ideas within it, yet it was so poorly compiled. The characters, even the robotic ones, needed far better defining, and the universe needed far more depth. In the end I came away with more of a feeling of disgust than enjoyment. I think I’m being over-generous with my rating, but it at least had some unique concepts within.

Final rating: ★★☆☆☆ – Disliked

[Timothy Bateson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting, but hard to follow at times

I backed this book through the Kindle Scout program, and received a copy free as a result. This is an honest review, even though I struggled to read until the very end.
The book blurb was what drew me in, but unfortunately it didn't live up to the promises being made. The story was very slow to develop, and could have been much shorter in length without missing any of the key points. There were some great ideas, but the social and political issues seemed to be more important to the writer than the actual characters.
I've read dystopian and post-apocalyptic stories to know what I like, and I'm sorry to day that this book didn't meet my criteria.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story was just so strange that I had to finish it. I liked the concept behind the story with the reversal of roles (male/female; rich/poor). It's easy to see the discrimination in the world through this viewpoint. However, a lot of things could have been executed better. For one, if the beginning gave the reader a sense what the story was about, rather than seemingly mindless chatter about fluids. Granted, it's listed as satire, but world building should have been introduced to readers earlier to give them a sense of setting. A lot of times, the story felt more corny than humorous.

[Alicia Huxtable · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting

This book took a bit of getting used to, what with the companion appliances etc. But once you get used to that, it is great reading.

[Daniel Grad · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well built dystopia with well developed characters. I really liked that characters were believable, with complex and often unpredictable feelings and reactions. The world building itself is not as complex, but just enough to make for a believable environment, with the satire elements very clear. For some reason the world and writing felt to me similar to Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash.