Broken Branches

by Ben Ellis

All men are sterile. Fertility drugs are given only to couples whose genetic matches are approved. Those without a family history to prove their genetic heritage are outcast from society.

Grace is a broken branch. As an orphan, she has no link to The National Family Tree, so she and her husband, Tom, are ecstatic when they’re approved to have a baby. But that was the easy part. Grace’s twin brother inadvertently gets a girl pregnant after a one-night stand, and his girlfriend isn’t happy because it should’ve been her. Both sets of parents soon become the target of a violent terrorist group that advocates genetic purity. To make matters worse, there’s something strange about the unborn children that’s attracting government attention …

Genres: Thriller, Science Fiction

356 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 9, 2018

About the author

Lives in Worthing, West Sussex, UK and writes in his spare time.

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Reviews

[Kath Middleton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Broken branches are people whose genetic inheritance isn’t provable. They’re not Thoroughbreds, and as such, they need permission to have children. This unpleasant future with meddling officials whose concern seems to be largely money, is horribly well imagined. There’s a vigilante group at large, who take it upon themselves to see that uppity broken branches are physically unable to have children.

I love this genre and Ben Ellis does it in such an imaginative way. The book moves at a good pace and the characters are sufficiently individual that they don’t all run together in the reader’s mind. There are danger points too, and a strange ‘correspondent’ who gives us a desperate glimpse of the truth. Imagination and humour characterise Mr Ellis’s books. They’re something out of the ordinary.

[Andy Thorn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A highly original and thoroughly entertaining read. I enjoy a dystopian novel very much and this is the type that is also imbued with social commentary and satire and so is thought-provoking as well. The story takes place in the UK in the not-too-distant future and society has evolved into a huge class divide between ‘thoroughbreds’ who have full documentation of their ancestry and therefore genetic makeup and links to the ‘National Family Tree’ and the ‘broken branches’ who do not. Men are sterile without pharmaceutical intervention and pregnancies need to be approved. This original and sadly, far too plausible premise is one of the books real strengths.

There are other original and unusual features that help give this book its unique feel. One of the characters breaks the fourth wall, regularly insulting the author who is merely a scribe, typing the words that the character puts into his head. The ‘DVD extras’ at the end are interesting and entertaining and demonstrate how well the author has done his research, which shines through in the book and makes it easy to suspend disbelief. Funny at times and gripping, I really enjoyed this book.

[D. Messing · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent story, I devoured the entire bit in just a couple of hours! I very, very rarely have a book stick with me to the point that I'm unable to put it down, but this one managed hands down! It really added to the dystopian feel with having a third party (narrator/commentator?) randomly insert his diatribe into the story. I loved it, and truly hope there is a second! Thank you for the opportunity to review this jewel!

[Sam Law · Rating 3 out of 5]

I reviewed this book via an ARC from the author, for Rosie Amber's Book Review Team.

Read More Book Reviews on my blog It's Good To Read

Summary:
This is a quirky future dystopia, where the controlling powers seem to be muddling through in a very British way. They are not boots-to-the-throat controlling, but want stuff done with a minimum of fuss. It is eugenics for the future, with all of the selective breeding, incarceration and enforced sterilisation of “unfit” people that that disgusting yet once-very popular theory advocated.

In Broken Branches, Thoroughbreds are those that can prove their genetic heritage, broken branches cannot. Non-thoroughbreds are not allowed to procreate, but there is a “work-around” application process. However, the prevailing sentiment seems to be “You mix champagne with dishwater, you still have sh***y dishwater”. All sorts of National Front, Aryan Supremacy, etc. overtones going on.

For me personally, not an inviting future! Most men are sterile, for reasons which are outlined much later in the book. It is a class-driven society, between Thoroughbreds on the one hand, and mutts/half-breeds/broken branches/whatever you want to call them on the other. Broken branches are those who have no genetic family history, so cannot take their place on the Family Tree.

The State is fixated on the genetic purity of the National Family Tree, so Thoroughbreds are allowed procreate once they receive approval, the others not. However, there seems to be some level of “inter-breeding” allowed. The genetic status of each potential parent is set out on the application form, and a majority of a randomly-selected jury of 40 “peers” [thoroughbreds] must approve each application.

This story is about two couples who slip through the net, having genetically advanced babies, and their journey.

Main Characters:
Tom Webb: Husband of Grace, he’s a Thoroughbred. Nice guy, grown-up attitude to life, very supportive and defensive of his wife, and always looking to reassure her.

Grace Webb: Wife to Tom, a broken branch. No self-confidence, thinks Tom is with her due to an “undiscovered genetic defect”. Extremely paranoid about being exposed as a broken branch.

Charlie Falkland: Grace’s twin brother. Lad-about-town, a player with a relatively short fuse, and completely self-absorbed for about two-thirds of the book.

Anna Rock: Charlie’s Thoroughbred one-night stand, who gets pregnant.

Head of Genetic Integrity: Sinister governmental figure looking to enhance his own reputation through using the babies as lab rats.

Minor Characters:
Shears: Leader of the Gardeners, a domestic terrorist organisation dedicated to “rooting out the broken branches” who would dare try to propagate. The Gardeners are the “pruners for the pure”.

William Lanne: Grace and Charlie’s dad. Appears late on the scene, bit of a Deus Ex Machina character.

Gregory Rock: Anna’s dad. Appalled she is pregnant by a broken branch. A bit naïve.

Maiya Lanka: Charlie’s sometime ex, who gets cheated on. Later, she becomes some type of earth-mother figure (rhymes with Gaia??) figure.

Plot:
We initially follow Tom and Grace, as they apply to become parents. They run a Gardener mob gauntlet to get to the relevant Ministry, seeing a broken branch being horrifically mutilated on the way, which causes severe trepidation in Grace.

In this case, the drugs DO work, and Grace becomes pregnant. The news is inadvertently broken at a family dinner, attended by Charlie and Maiya. Maiya is secretly upset, as she wanted to become a mother also, but her status as a broken branch kills that hope, She robs a couple of fertility tablets (hilariously named Go!Nads!), and slips them into Charlie’s drink.

Charlie ends up finding and sleeping with Anna, a Thoroughbred out on a hen night, and not knowing he’s on the ‘Nads he gets her pregnant. Her dad is suitably not impressed.

The couples and unborn babies then become the subject of a search, from the deranged Gardeners who want to kill them, to Head who wants to analyse them, to William Lanne who wants to protect them, the background being a society’s descent into chaos as broken branches agitate to become part of the Tree (with accompanying benefits), and government scrambles to contain the movement.

What I Liked:
There are original twists and plotlines, for example how men became sterile.
It is a fast-faced thriller, dressed up in dystopian clothes.
The plausibility of the eugenics story – it’s not so long since eugenics was considered serious science in pre-WWII USA and Britain, and it still has a large following today, though has mutated into more sinister and insidious thinking. I liked the author pointing out that medicine and science are NOT objective or neutral, and are used to forward particular social agendas.

What I Didn’t Like:
The alternate chapter character device – just seemed unnecessary and was slightly off-putting. It lifted me out of the suspension of disbelief, and diminished the story for me.
The lack of reasoning behind men becoming sterile (voluntarily!) – again it felt like a forced plot issue. There could have been more done to get it better cemented into the story.

Overall:
I’d give it a three star.

I think the author is not quite sure of his audience, or how he wants to book to be read.

Audience-wise, it’s hardly YA with the level of language the “alternative character” uses, yet it’s a bit too light on the thriller/world building for a fully-engaged adult reader.

Angle-wise, it has a light and easy tone, with some almost comedic moments in it (e.g. Charlie taking on the super-enhanced security guard in the helicopter). It has great potential and, with the amount of real history and human experience to draw on, I think the author could get to a deeper level with this story.

Acknowledgements:
Thanks to the author for giving me a free copy in return for an honest review.

[Simon Leonard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow this is such a unique and original book that I was hooked from the start.

This is a brilliant dystopian novel which revolves around an over-populated world and the only way to have a baby is if your genes are pure and you can trace your family history back.

The book was a very engaging story, which kept me hooked throughout.

The book starts off superbly and continues at a fantastic rate leaving me wanting more when I got to the end.

[Terry Tyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I reviewed this book via an ARC from the author, for Rosie Amber's Review Team

In the future, all men in Britain are sterile. Fertility drugs for procreation are given only to couples whose genetic matches are approved by the state. Those without a family history to prove their genetic heritage are known as broken branches, treated as inferior citizens and not allowed to breed, so that the genetic purity of the National Family Tree will be preserved. On presenting an application to have a child, each case is decided upon by a jury of over forty people, randomly chosen from the genetically approved public.

The novel contains some feasible ideas about the not too distant future: compulsory DNA sampling at birth, genetic enhancement of a foetus being the norm, and, of course, the necessity for health insurance, usually provided by an employer, which some say we are heading towards sooner rather than later. Mr Ellis shows some nice turns of phrase and imaginative metaphors, and I liked some of the philsophy (often inner dialogue) about the human race as a whole.

On the whole, though, I felt the finished article needed a bit more thinking through. I needed to know straight away why all the men were sterile, but it is not revealed until half way through. Several generations before, a male contraceptive pill had been introduced in order to control population, that ended up causing sterility. Hmm. I'm not convinced that many men would take it in the first place, given that virility is an important element of the masculine identity. A character called Maiya doesn't know she is infertile until told by a doctor that she was the victim of a government sterilisation programme, but neither we nor Maiya are not told what this programme was, and for some reason she doesn't ask. I had too many unanswered questions, generally.

Other stuff I liked: early on, the 'pub culture' scenes are well done and authentic. When protagonists Grace and Tom submit their application to become parents, we are shown snapshots of the conversations between couples chosen as the 'jury', to show how they arrived at the decision, an inspired touch which made for an entertaining and revealing sideshow about human nature; I would have loved more like this. Alas, there was a lack of individuality in the dialogue, generally; practically all couples call each other 'love'. Almost all the characters have short tempers and say 'f**k' a lot. Sometimes the technology appeared not to have moved on as it might; it's meant to be several generations into the future but people still talk about their 'mobile' phones, a phrase that's started to sound a little outdated even now.

Interspersed between the main chapters are some curious short ones written from the point of view of someone who turned out to be a computer programmer (I think). Some of it is a bit 'fourth wall', about the writing and publication of the book itself. He talks about a new programme called 4cast which can programme futures according to DNA and data collected all over the world ~ another of the great ideas present in the novel. Again, though, it all seemed a bit haphazard.

To sum up: an original story containing imaginative, unusual concepts. I read all the after-book acknowledgements, etc., and must thank the author for the Wikipedia entry about the Tasmanian aboriginals ~ fascinating stuff, it led me to look up more. Ellis thanks his beta readers for 'getting through the third draft' ~ speaking as a writer who still finds dodgy bits as late as the fifth draft, I felt it could have done with another one or two. The grammar and punctuation (copy editing) is mostly fine, but I think some professional content editing would make this book as good as it could be.

[B. Fleetwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love a good dystopian novel and was drawn to read this one by the exciting blurb: extreme birth control, a disturbing form of eugenics and a society of haves and have-nots (here the thoroughbreds who can prove they have a legitimate family tree, versus the broken branches who can’t). With a paranormal dimension and a futuristic UK setting, I was ready to thoroughly enjoy this book. However, I was left feeling ambivalent about the story for a host of reasons.

Aside from the ethos behind ‘The National Family Tree’ never being fully explained, the main protagonists seemed rather one-dimensional. There were barely any clues as to what made them tick and behave in the way they did. The characters did not have distinctive voices, all speaking in much the same manner, and many seemed stereotyped. Charlie, the hunk who walked straight out of a well-known cola advert (complete with fawning women watching him clean the windows from their office) is suddenly persuaded he wants to be a father, seemingly by gazing at a Babygro through a shop window. Abandoning his long-term girlfriend for his now pregnant one-night-stand, there is little sense as to why. Shears, the leader of the right-wing terrorist group, is a baddy who could have walked straight out of a comic book, like The Joker from Batman. Head is the archetypal evil scientist complete with James Bond gadgets. The consequence of this lack of tangible realism was that it was difficult to engage with any of the novel’s cast. I was also baffled by the ‘q’ chapters – the role of the distant narrator remaining obscure to me to the end.

That said, the author has a unique, engaging and humorous style. He draws the reader in and I kept with the story, despite reservations. Overall, I thought the premise of the book was unclear.

[Priya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got a real feel of a dystopian world in this one!
Set in a world where people are divided into thoroughbreds and broken branches, based on whether they can trace their roots back to the nationally maintained Family tree or not, it paints a picture of where the quest for total perfection may lead humanity.
Procreation is controlled by the government and breeding between the two groups is not encouraged
However, Grace,a broken branch, has discovered true love and got the opportunity to start a family with Tom, a thoroughbred who doesn't care for the rules.
But Grace's twin Charlie isn't authorized to start a family and he has!
As both couples grapple to protect themselves, the outside controlling forces close in.
Quite fast paced and thought provoking.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was interesting and piqued my curiosity, getting me thinking about how scientific advancements and government interference, can shape our future. But overall I didn’t think this novel was as strong as its predecessor, as it lacks some of the humour prevalent in his earlier work, and has a rather abrupt ending.

I received a free copy of this book directly from the author in exchange for an honest review, and you can read the full review here:
https://scifikingdom.wordpress.com/20...

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started really well and has an interesting concept for a story. Perhaps a bit illogical, but it’s fiction so you let these things go. The character building is good. The world is semi-real (the author explains at the end of the book). Where it fell down for me is the first half of the book flowed well, but it felt somewhat disconnected from the second half. I was left wondering if the author had an extended break during the writing of this book.

3 stars. It’s a fairly quick read. I enjoyed it.

[Kathi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do love dystopian future novels and this was a quick read. The idea is intriguing and I loved the explanation from the author at the end (why the number of chapters, etc). I would have liked the characters to be fleshed out a bit more. We got to see tiny bits of some of them and I'd like to learn more and the ending definitely left you hanging. Wondering if there is going to be a sequel to talk about what happens next?

Many thanks to the author and TBC Reviewer Request Group for the copy of the book!

[Lindsey Roberts · Rating 2 out of 5]

Original Review Here

Broken Branches left me with mixed feelings. I couldn’t quite figure out how I felt about the book but at the same time, I also wanted to know how it was going to end. I suppose something in it hooked me.

I liked the premise: children are only granted to approved couples. Due to all men being sterile, however, whether they were thoroughbred (able to identify their family) or not, meant that everyone had to go through the approval process. It meant I didn’t understand what the advantage of being thoroughbred was, apart from a whole load of snobbery attached to the name.

Tom is a thoroughbred. Grace, his wife, is not. But their application was still granted approval. So why did it make any difference what their family history was? Charlie, a broken branch like Grace, still gets a thoroughbred pregnant through taking fertility drugs. There was no evidence in the book about what the true differences between a broken branch and a thoroughbred were, apart from people’s attitudes.

I struggled to connect to the characters. I think this was partly due to the shifting narration. Grace was always torn between whether she should have this child or not. Charlie was likeable, but had an arrogance to him that made it hard to warm to him. You never get to know Amy or Tom enough to develop true feelings on them.

The second part of the book also introduces another narrator, Head. He has an agenda of his own and will do anything to accomplish that. Due to the lack of names, however, for both him and his colleagues, it makes it impossible to connect to his character; you don’t know who he is, meaning you can’t empathise with his actions.

Scattered throughout the book is an interruption from another narrator. He is distanced from the story and apparently talking to the author. I have no idea what his sections were about, they didn’t add anything to the story and there was too much repetition in trying to make the reader “believe” he had a machine that told the future. I personally found it didn’t add anything to the plot whatsoever, other than to confuse me.

While I have no problem with swearing in a book, it only works if it is natural and done in the right context. The fact that I noticed how many characters were swearing frequently in this one shows it wasn’t natural dialogue – what is the point of swearing if it is just to make an impact? All it does is break the natural flow of speech.

The book got stronger in the second half as the characters came together and worked as a team. The tension built with the threat of an enemy and answers being revealed rather than it just being about who got who pregnant. There’s potential here, but I felt it needed to go deeper, with more time spent developing the characters and the world.

Still, I did keep reading.

[Arkgirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

The concept and ideas in this book intrigued me and I do think there were some excellent characters that I wanted to find out more about but I think some aspects of the story could have been removed and allowed for even more character development.
Grace and Charlie are twins but their parentage is unknown so they are not on the National Family Tree thus they will need to go through hoops to have children of their own ... this is the starting point and there are some sickening scenes near the beginning with a rather cartoon-like villainous character who I felt lacked back story and development.
The story did capture my interest and I was wanting to know what what happened but I felt the set up offered even more than was delivered. The broken branches idea - not being part of the approved family structure - is actually frighteningly possible in a dystopian future so I think this series has a good chance of growing but I would like some more depth and explanation going forward.

[Claire Sinclair · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It was very easy to read. I found the concept intriguing and was really rooting for Grace and Anna. I did feel the story ended quite abruptly and left me wanting to know more. However, it may have set things up nicely for a sequel. I enjoyed the sections after the story that the author added.

[Steve Taylor-bryant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great to see a writer doing something different. Full review here http://www.thedreamcage.com/2018/03/b...

[Donna Huber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall I enjoyed the story. I'm not totally sure I like the structure it was told in and I found the ending unsatisfying unless a sequel is planned. I really liked the characters. Read my full review at Girl Who Reads.