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Sour Fruit
Onion is snatched. She wakes up chained to an armpit of a river city, earmarked for a skin-trader called The Toymaker. Surrounded by a creeping rot she has just three days to escape before the sold sticker becomes a brand.
Forced into a knife fight with a world that has just pulled an AK47 on her, all Onion has to fight with is; a sewer for a mouth, a rusted up moral compass and a spanking anger that can sucker-punch kindness at twenty paces. She might survive but probably not.
Sour Fruit is a dark dystopian novel set in northern Britain, in a river city called Kingston; a rotting scrap yard of misery. The VOIDs are forced to live there not by walls or fences but by being invisible in the new digital world.
The novel explores ideas about what is home, how friendship can come from strange places and the debts we can’t ever pay back.
Forced into a knife fight with a world that has just pulled an AK47 on her, all Onion has to fight with is; a sewer for a mouth, a rusted up moral compass and a spanking anger that can sucker-punch kindness at twenty paces. She might survive but probably not.
Sour Fruit is a dark dystopian novel set in northern Britain, in a river city called Kingston; a rotting scrap yard of misery. The VOIDs are forced to live there not by walls or fences but by being invisible in the new digital world.
The novel explores ideas about what is home, how friendship can come from strange places and the debts we can’t ever pay back.
298 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 16, 2018
4 people are currently reading
37 people want to read
About the author
Eli Allison
2 books14 followersEli Allison tells people at parties that she's a writer, but she mostly spends the day in her knickers swearing at the laptop. She lives in Yorkshire, works in her head and does not enjoy long walks on the beach or anywhere, in fact she gets upset at having to walk to the fridge for cheese.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
May 19, 2019
Well, that was fantastic.
Onion, Rhea and Jacob are a bunch of fun to follow around and eavesdrop on their conversations.
They curse, poke fun and are super weird. All things I like to have in close friends.
"Rhea warned me, "curiosity killed the cat." Well, since I'm not a metaphorical pussy I should be good."
The story itself is interesting and well paced with lots of action, sassy characters and strangeness.
What more could you want in this dystopian world?
I am super excited that this is only the first book in the series and am eager for the author to write the rest of the books!
"Assumption kills adventure."
Thank you NetGalley and Unbound for this free copy.
Onion, Rhea and Jacob are a bunch of fun to follow around and eavesdrop on their conversations.
They curse, poke fun and are super weird. All things I like to have in close friends.
"Rhea warned me, "curiosity killed the cat." Well, since I'm not a metaphorical pussy I should be good."
The story itself is interesting and well paced with lots of action, sassy characters and strangeness.
What more could you want in this dystopian world?
I am super excited that this is only the first book in the series and am eager for the author to write the rest of the books!
"Assumption kills adventure."
Thank you NetGalley and Unbound for this free copy.
September 28, 2019
Initial thoughts:
The story begins much like one of Luis’s stories in Ant-Man, but instead of his Michael Peña’s American accent, Onion sounds more like Eggsy from Kingsman (prior to his My Fair Lady transformation).
The bulk of the story is a flashback told by Onion to what seems to be a psych doc in the midst of some kind of evaluation. The story is broken up by her small conversations with him and on occasion, a side-story (though the stories are relevant, it’s my opinion that the girl has a touch of ADD.. ahem, like me). She’s recounting the story of how she was sold by her orphanage to the mysterious Toymaker, who’ll use her for some kind of unknown horrific purpose. During the three day journey it’ll take for her to be passed off to her purchaser, she’s left in the care of Rhea, a sweet older sister figure, whose affections Onion rebukes. The bulk of her three days in captivity is spent trying to figure out how to get rid of her implanted tracker and run away.
The world:
When Onion is sold, she’s moved to Kingston, an area beyond the wall that separates the citizens from the VOIDs (essentially the criminals and outcasts of their world). Kingston is almost like their prison system, but it’s impossible to get out and those born there must also stay there. Without citizen status, VOIDs must find a way to survive that involves bartering services or goods, serving one of the two crime bosses, or theft.
The government has made living almost impossible without citizen status. Onion doesn’t realize how essential it is until she can no longer use the implanted chip that denotes her citizenship. She's a stranger to this new world, and as much as she'd like to rely on herself, she can't adhere to the rules of a world she knows nothing about.
The characters:
Onion is a 15-year-old orphan with a chip on her shoulder. But then again, she is an orphan-turned-human-trafficking victim, so I don’t blame her. She has trouble trusting anyone. She’s determined to figure everything out for herself, and obviously the girl gets somewhere since in present day, she’s being evaluated by some mysterious doctor for some reason. There’s venom in everything she says, and half the fun of reading is in her insults. Though she’s fiercely independent and self-reliant, she’s still a child, and it shows in her lack of perspective and insight to her new situation. Her anger blinds her. She’s strong, but she’s also extremely flawed, which makes for a potentially compelling transformation arc.
Rhea is Onion’s metaphorical handcuffs, tied together by an implantable explosive tracker. If Onion strays too far, presumably Onion’s head will explode. Onion resents Rhea, and continually pushes her away. I get it, the girl is complicit in her kidnapping, even though it’s clear she’s at the mercy of the same people Onion is. And in the beginning, I totally was on Onion’s side. Rhea is against theft, and is all high and mighty playing the morality card when Onion steals something, but Rhea does nothing to help Onion’s predicament; she seems like a hypocrite. And Rhea is far too chipper for living in squalor––it’s annoying. Rhea is an eternal optimist, whereas Onion is all grit. It seems like their personalities should be switched, given their situations. Rhea grew up in Kingston, and yet she’s got the bright-eyed bushy-tailed demeanor of someone used to a better life.
Of course, the situation isn’t quite what it seems. We get Onion’s perspective, and she doesn’t really grasp the whole story. Rhea improves greatly on understanding, and became such a favorite of mine by the end. Rhea’s optimism in life becomes a testament of her resilience instead of the naïveté that it seems like initially.
The real draw to them is the dynamic they have together. Though there’s rough terrain initially, a sisterhood develops. It kind of reminds me of the book After You, and the relationship that develops between Louisa and Lily. Family isn’t just blood, but the relationships created by circumstance and mutual interest. And bonds formed during hardship are that much harder to break.
Final thoughts:
The writing is so stinking charming. It’s colorful and creative, and the wording is entertaining on its own. There’s a lot to dive into with the world-building, and many questions still unanswered. There’s some commentary on politics that isn’t overpowering, though I never really mind political commentary these days. There’s also a double twist at the end that really woke me up (I happened to be reading this on a particularly slow night at work).
The only real ding I have for the novel is that it's not divided by chapters, but rather by conversational intermissions between Onion and the doc. Stylistic choice perhaps, but I prefer division by chapters in order to plan out my reading. But that complaint has nothing to do with the actual story, so in my opinion, it's not really a big deal. Story is what matters, right?
Warning, spoiler!
In the story, present day for Onion is left as a complete question mark (unless there was some big hint that I just didn’t pick up on). I didn’t realize till the end that this’ll be a trilogy, as the mystery of what the heck she’s doing in that exam room and why her story is important is left in the shadows, presumably until the 2nd or 3rd book. Along with answers to that whole situation, in future novels I’m also looking forward to Onion’s further development. The girl has potential; she’s figured out how to stand. Now she needs to learn how to walk, and beyond that, hopefully run. I want her to be the strong heroine she’s capable of being.
I’ll definitely be continuing on in the series! There’s a theme of Onion accepting love and family, and the idea of people becoming your home, which is a sweet idea creatively placed in a dystopian environment. The book holds up to what it aims for––a gritty tale about a girl adapting to the loss of everything familiar and learning to accept love. And based on her conversations with the psych doc, it does seem like she gains a more secure sense of self by the end of all this. I’m looking forward to seeing that transformation.
The story begins much like one of Luis’s stories in Ant-Man, but instead of his Michael Peña’s American accent, Onion sounds more like Eggsy from Kingsman (prior to his My Fair Lady transformation).
The bulk of the story is a flashback told by Onion to what seems to be a psych doc in the midst of some kind of evaluation. The story is broken up by her small conversations with him and on occasion, a side-story (though the stories are relevant, it’s my opinion that the girl has a touch of ADD.. ahem, like me). She’s recounting the story of how she was sold by her orphanage to the mysterious Toymaker, who’ll use her for some kind of unknown horrific purpose. During the three day journey it’ll take for her to be passed off to her purchaser, she’s left in the care of Rhea, a sweet older sister figure, whose affections Onion rebukes. The bulk of her three days in captivity is spent trying to figure out how to get rid of her implanted tracker and run away.
The world:
When Onion is sold, she’s moved to Kingston, an area beyond the wall that separates the citizens from the VOIDs (essentially the criminals and outcasts of their world). Kingston is almost like their prison system, but it’s impossible to get out and those born there must also stay there. Without citizen status, VOIDs must find a way to survive that involves bartering services or goods, serving one of the two crime bosses, or theft.
The government has made living almost impossible without citizen status. Onion doesn’t realize how essential it is until she can no longer use the implanted chip that denotes her citizenship. She's a stranger to this new world, and as much as she'd like to rely on herself, she can't adhere to the rules of a world she knows nothing about.
The characters:
Onion is a 15-year-old orphan with a chip on her shoulder. But then again, she is an orphan-turned-human-trafficking victim, so I don’t blame her. She has trouble trusting anyone. She’s determined to figure everything out for herself, and obviously the girl gets somewhere since in present day, she’s being evaluated by some mysterious doctor for some reason. There’s venom in everything she says, and half the fun of reading is in her insults. Though she’s fiercely independent and self-reliant, she’s still a child, and it shows in her lack of perspective and insight to her new situation. Her anger blinds her. She’s strong, but she’s also extremely flawed, which makes for a potentially compelling transformation arc.
Rhea is Onion’s metaphorical handcuffs, tied together by an implantable explosive tracker. If Onion strays too far, presumably Onion’s head will explode. Onion resents Rhea, and continually pushes her away. I get it, the girl is complicit in her kidnapping, even though it’s clear she’s at the mercy of the same people Onion is. And in the beginning, I totally was on Onion’s side. Rhea is against theft, and is all high and mighty playing the morality card when Onion steals something, but Rhea does nothing to help Onion’s predicament; she seems like a hypocrite. And Rhea is far too chipper for living in squalor––it’s annoying. Rhea is an eternal optimist, whereas Onion is all grit. It seems like their personalities should be switched, given their situations. Rhea grew up in Kingston, and yet she’s got the bright-eyed bushy-tailed demeanor of someone used to a better life.
Of course, the situation isn’t quite what it seems. We get Onion’s perspective, and she doesn’t really grasp the whole story. Rhea improves greatly on understanding, and became such a favorite of mine by the end. Rhea’s optimism in life becomes a testament of her resilience instead of the naïveté that it seems like initially.
The real draw to them is the dynamic they have together. Though there’s rough terrain initially, a sisterhood develops. It kind of reminds me of the book After You, and the relationship that develops between Louisa and Lily. Family isn’t just blood, but the relationships created by circumstance and mutual interest. And bonds formed during hardship are that much harder to break.
Final thoughts:
The writing is so stinking charming. It’s colorful and creative, and the wording is entertaining on its own. There’s a lot to dive into with the world-building, and many questions still unanswered. There’s some commentary on politics that isn’t overpowering, though I never really mind political commentary these days. There’s also a double twist at the end that really woke me up (I happened to be reading this on a particularly slow night at work).
The only real ding I have for the novel is that it's not divided by chapters, but rather by conversational intermissions between Onion and the doc. Stylistic choice perhaps, but I prefer division by chapters in order to plan out my reading. But that complaint has nothing to do with the actual story, so in my opinion, it's not really a big deal. Story is what matters, right?
Warning, spoiler!
In the story, present day for Onion is left as a complete question mark (unless there was some big hint that I just didn’t pick up on). I didn’t realize till the end that this’ll be a trilogy, as the mystery of what the heck she’s doing in that exam room and why her story is important is left in the shadows, presumably until the 2nd or 3rd book. Along with answers to that whole situation, in future novels I’m also looking forward to Onion’s further development. The girl has potential; she’s figured out how to stand. Now she needs to learn how to walk, and beyond that, hopefully run. I want her to be the strong heroine she’s capable of being.
I’ll definitely be continuing on in the series! There’s a theme of Onion accepting love and family, and the idea of people becoming your home, which is a sweet idea creatively placed in a dystopian environment. The book holds up to what it aims for––a gritty tale about a girl adapting to the loss of everything familiar and learning to accept love. And based on her conversations with the psych doc, it does seem like she gains a more secure sense of self by the end of all this. I’m looking forward to seeing that transformation.
August 26, 2018
Eli Allison’s vibrantly realised post-apocalyptic genre-busting debut isn’t set in 2017—or, at least, not the one we lived through—but it shows all the energy that city displayed while it was the UK city of culture. Only, turned to the bad.
It may be set in the near future, or it may exist in an alternative now. Some technology is beyond us (an extraordinary regenerative drug, drones with advanced AI), but the pop culture references (Doctor Who!) are instantly recognisable, at least to the reader. Death stalks these streets in ways that are familiar (malnutrition, disease, exposure, gang violence), but also in ways that might be just around the corner (drones that spray the streets with bullets after curfew). And yet the sense of danger exists side-by-side with one of carnival, and it’s not only a case of panem et circenses. The ‘peacocking’ (body painting with glow-in-the-dark pigments) and attendance at a riotous street dance allow the trafficked orphan Onion and her minder Rhea to experience a few minutes of vivid joy before they are plunged again into peril.
There are two Hulls in this novel: the official city, home to registered citizens who can expect to enjoy all the protection and freedoms provided and permitted by the state; and Kingston, the place beyond the wall, where the unregistered VOIDS struggle for survival in a half-drowned, mostly toxic, dog-eat-dog environment. Onion, our protagonist and guide—speaking directly to a shadowy interrogator, and possibly not telling us the whole story—is stolen from the first and sold into the latter. Other reviews have noted something Dickensian about this tale, and they are right to do so. It’s not just that the novel features an urchin heroine, it’s also that Allison has something of the great Victorian’s gift for deftly presenting an enormous interconnected society in all its light and shade. I can’t remember a moment in Sour Fruit when I didn’t see my locale and the sharply drawn characters surrounding me with absolute clarity, except where darkness was the terrifying point.
Allison intends Sour Fruit to be the first in a trilogy, and certainly you finish the novel wanting more. We’ve only seen a partial view of Kingston’s sprawl, even if it has taken us from murky flood waters to a toppling rooftop garden. We need to know more about this place, and we want to see more of the ever-combative Onion and Rhea, and the host of supporting characters, which include a mysterious sea hag, a helpful Viking, and ferocious antagonists such as the Shard (think Miss Trunchball, but bigger, and she will actually kill you).
I can’t wait for the next one.
It may be set in the near future, or it may exist in an alternative now. Some technology is beyond us (an extraordinary regenerative drug, drones with advanced AI), but the pop culture references (Doctor Who!) are instantly recognisable, at least to the reader. Death stalks these streets in ways that are familiar (malnutrition, disease, exposure, gang violence), but also in ways that might be just around the corner (drones that spray the streets with bullets after curfew). And yet the sense of danger exists side-by-side with one of carnival, and it’s not only a case of panem et circenses. The ‘peacocking’ (body painting with glow-in-the-dark pigments) and attendance at a riotous street dance allow the trafficked orphan Onion and her minder Rhea to experience a few minutes of vivid joy before they are plunged again into peril.
There are two Hulls in this novel: the official city, home to registered citizens who can expect to enjoy all the protection and freedoms provided and permitted by the state; and Kingston, the place beyond the wall, where the unregistered VOIDS struggle for survival in a half-drowned, mostly toxic, dog-eat-dog environment. Onion, our protagonist and guide—speaking directly to a shadowy interrogator, and possibly not telling us the whole story—is stolen from the first and sold into the latter. Other reviews have noted something Dickensian about this tale, and they are right to do so. It’s not just that the novel features an urchin heroine, it’s also that Allison has something of the great Victorian’s gift for deftly presenting an enormous interconnected society in all its light and shade. I can’t remember a moment in Sour Fruit when I didn’t see my locale and the sharply drawn characters surrounding me with absolute clarity, except where darkness was the terrifying point.
Allison intends Sour Fruit to be the first in a trilogy, and certainly you finish the novel wanting more. We’ve only seen a partial view of Kingston’s sprawl, even if it has taken us from murky flood waters to a toppling rooftop garden. We need to know more about this place, and we want to see more of the ever-combative Onion and Rhea, and the host of supporting characters, which include a mysterious sea hag, a helpful Viking, and ferocious antagonists such as the Shard (think Miss Trunchball, but bigger, and she will actually kill you).
I can’t wait for the next one.
Read
April 26, 2020The overall feel of Sour Fruit is dark, crazy, wildly imaginative. The world is described in baffling snatched as the protagonist, Onion, tries to unravel the fast-paced events that keep happening to her in a dizzying rush. Onion had to first unravel the strangeness of the situation she finds herself in, and then begin to make her way through it, out of the danger, back into control of her own destiny. It is a quest.
There is plenty of action. Full on and pacy. It’s exciting, and it’s funny. It’s a visual book, and, like a mad cabaret, it is fabulously enjoyable seeing it all unroll, leering and winking and limping and scowling and flirting before us, as we, dear reader, sit with our mouths open, gasping for breath.
Sour Fruit is set in a harsh future when the rights of people can be removed, making them Voids. Onion, after she is snatched from a gobby but essentially reasonable life, comes to be in this unenviable position, imprisoned in a black dungeon in Kingston where the rest of the Voids make their home. She finds herself on the wrong side of local big-wig and crime boss, and is forced into a death-race against time to try to escape a truly horrible fate. There seems to be no way to achieve this, but she finds, eventually, some precious allies and this at least helps the fight last. So much happens and it is a gripping story. The very best thing you could do is to pick it up and get as happily lost in it as I did.
The list of characters she has to badmouth, beat up, evade, get beaten up by, chase, find or badmouth again is carnivalesque - they are grand, dark and, sometimes, almost human. The adventure never stops and the imaginative world keeps unrolling. It is a world that. for all of its vicious dangers, has a human heart, beating somewhere deep inside. There is care and connections between the denizens, there is a coherence to the carnival. New rituals are realised and they bloom lushly from the darkness.
It is a fabulous ride in a funfair that is thrilling, scary and not necessarily that much fun for the protagonists - but it definitely is for us, the reader. It is very funny and well written and a gripping and enjoyable read. Highly recommended
There is plenty of action. Full on and pacy. It’s exciting, and it’s funny. It’s a visual book, and, like a mad cabaret, it is fabulously enjoyable seeing it all unroll, leering and winking and limping and scowling and flirting before us, as we, dear reader, sit with our mouths open, gasping for breath.
Sour Fruit is set in a harsh future when the rights of people can be removed, making them Voids. Onion, after she is snatched from a gobby but essentially reasonable life, comes to be in this unenviable position, imprisoned in a black dungeon in Kingston where the rest of the Voids make their home. She finds herself on the wrong side of local big-wig and crime boss, and is forced into a death-race against time to try to escape a truly horrible fate. There seems to be no way to achieve this, but she finds, eventually, some precious allies and this at least helps the fight last. So much happens and it is a gripping story. The very best thing you could do is to pick it up and get as happily lost in it as I did.
The list of characters she has to badmouth, beat up, evade, get beaten up by, chase, find or badmouth again is carnivalesque - they are grand, dark and, sometimes, almost human. The adventure never stops and the imaginative world keeps unrolling. It is a world that. for all of its vicious dangers, has a human heart, beating somewhere deep inside. There is care and connections between the denizens, there is a coherence to the carnival. New rituals are realised and they bloom lushly from the darkness.
It is a fabulous ride in a funfair that is thrilling, scary and not necessarily that much fun for the protagonists - but it definitely is for us, the reader. It is very funny and well written and a gripping and enjoyable read. Highly recommended
October 11, 2018
Sour Fruit feels like a Black Mirror double-bill that’s just downed a litre of Sunny Delight. The e-number buzz is fluorescent throughout as you leap into a visceral dystopian future I couldn’t tear my eyes away from.
The main characters are as vibrant as the writing, with a heroine you back from the beginning and a host of other characters you either despise or support with a passion.
A line which stuck in my mind was “Energy bars taste like hamster bedding and depression” which gives a feel of the tight prose and great descriptions scattered throughout the book.
This is an addictive, fast-paced read and I can’t wait for the next instalment of the INC trilogy!
The main characters are as vibrant as the writing, with a heroine you back from the beginning and a host of other characters you either despise or support with a passion.
A line which stuck in my mind was “Energy bars taste like hamster bedding and depression” which gives a feel of the tight prose and great descriptions scattered throughout the book.
This is an addictive, fast-paced read and I can’t wait for the next instalment of the INC trilogy!
October 23, 2018
Sour Fruit by author Eli Allison is an awesome, adult fiction/sci-fi read that takes the imagination to many places. The characters are really well thought out and the plot itself is well structured. A really fun book!
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of Sour Fruit in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of Sour Fruit in exchange for an honest review.
January 31, 2019
I was very curious about this book and haven't been disappointed. The dystopian context is interesting and very well outlined by the story: absolutely no infodump, the immersion is immediate and the comprehension gradual.
As a result the first 20% were easy to read but I had the feeling of a nightmare. Then gradually the world begins to unfurl and clear up, till the end, where nearly all the mysteries are unraveled (we even find about Onion's real name!), leaving just enough suspense for future developments.
The characters are quite good, the mad ones as much as the main characters, which are all likeable, despite or because of their flaws. Their psychologies are well nuanced and credible in the context, especially the heroine's ones. Onion is frequently rude and injust, even cruel, but the circumstances are so dire that her reactions are quite understandable, and it's easy to feel for her.
The narration is fluid and not difficult to follow, despite the absence of chapter. I had more difficulties with the vocabulary, loading with slang (hello Kindle dictionary!) and sometimes with sentences I didn't understand while understanding every word. But English isn't my first language and some books can sometimes be challenging...
The story has a lot of personality and a very strong atmosphere. It's also dark and nearly desperate and, if never gratuitous - the world imagined, in a not so far futur, is unjust and terrible - rather too oppressive for me. I appreciate my reading but the end of the book was a bit difficult. But I wasn't surprised, I knew that this kind of story is always hard for me to swallow! And the end was great, interesting and surprising.
A very good read, with a lot of personality, a graphic atmosphere and good characters, a book I strongly recommend to any reader intrigued by its synopsis.
(I thank Netgalley an Unbound Digital for sending me the ARC in exchange for my honest review)
As a result the first 20% were easy to read but I had the feeling of a nightmare. Then gradually the world begins to unfurl and clear up, till the end, where nearly all the mysteries are unraveled (we even find about Onion's real name!), leaving just enough suspense for future developments.
The characters are quite good, the mad ones as much as the main characters, which are all likeable, despite or because of their flaws. Their psychologies are well nuanced and credible in the context, especially the heroine's ones. Onion is frequently rude and injust, even cruel, but the circumstances are so dire that her reactions are quite understandable, and it's easy to feel for her.
The narration is fluid and not difficult to follow, despite the absence of chapter. I had more difficulties with the vocabulary, loading with slang (hello Kindle dictionary!) and sometimes with sentences I didn't understand while understanding every word. But English isn't my first language and some books can sometimes be challenging...
The story has a lot of personality and a very strong atmosphere. It's also dark and nearly desperate and, if never gratuitous - the world imagined, in a not so far futur, is unjust and terrible - rather too oppressive for me. I appreciate my reading but the end of the book was a bit difficult. But I wasn't surprised, I knew that this kind of story is always hard for me to swallow! And the end was great, interesting and surprising.
A very good read, with a lot of personality, a graphic atmosphere and good characters, a book I strongly recommend to any reader intrigued by its synopsis.
(I thank Netgalley an Unbound Digital for sending me the ARC in exchange for my honest review)
August 14, 2018
With the world we live in currently in a 'little bit of a mess' I wondered how this dark, dystopian novel would play out on the pages and I have to admit to being impressed with how quickly I adjusted to life in this world of the VOID's who have nothing, and the citizens who have rights! This is a messed up world that Onion finds herself part of, and therefore there are a lot of messed up characters throughout! And that appealed to me! They weren't perfect, they were often very sweary (I do like a sweary character!!) BUT they were there for one another when times were extremely tough and that was so touching considering what Onion and those around her were put through at times.
The plot is a little bit out there and sometimes I found it a little confusing, but the dark humour throughout had me laughing out loud on many an occasion and that really helped pull the story together for me and made me so invested in the characters and their plight! Life is a struggle for these characters but it brings out the best in some of them - it also brings out the worst in others and there are some characters who are total slimebags!
As Onion and Rhea find themselves in various situations, their concern for one another was quite endearing, and this was another way you got to see the different sides of the characters - beneath the swagger and the swearing there was just a normal girl trying her best to live life the only way she knows how.
I always like to discover new authors and different types of stories and Sour Fruit has been a wonderful introduction to a fascinating genre and exciting new author! Highly recommended!!
The plot is a little bit out there and sometimes I found it a little confusing, but the dark humour throughout had me laughing out loud on many an occasion and that really helped pull the story together for me and made me so invested in the characters and their plight! Life is a struggle for these characters but it brings out the best in some of them - it also brings out the worst in others and there are some characters who are total slimebags!
As Onion and Rhea find themselves in various situations, their concern for one another was quite endearing, and this was another way you got to see the different sides of the characters - beneath the swagger and the swearing there was just a normal girl trying her best to live life the only way she knows how.
I always like to discover new authors and different types of stories and Sour Fruit has been a wonderful introduction to a fascinating genre and exciting new author! Highly recommended!!
August 20, 2018
Dystopian Hull. That may sound like a tautology, but the imagined future in Sour Fruit is more real than many of us might want to believe. Eli Allison’s speculative fiction novel follows the misfortunes of a teenage girl kidnapped to be trafficked.
Initially, I thought that the book was almost a set of short stories with the same two characters passing through each setting and interacting with a different group of characters in each one. Whilst that is the case, Allison has done a good job of finally weaving the slightly disconnected sections into a coherent story. But, rather like Great Expectations, it all only comes together right at the end. Actually, that's about the only similarity with the Dickens classic - this is more like Dismal Expectations. Which is not a problem - that's the whole atmosphere of the story, it's supposed to be dismal. Hmm, I wonder if that's how Hull sees itself: 'we're supposed to be dismal' ? The natural Yorkshire dialect of some of the characters is kept unobtrusive, but sometimes that meant that when it did appear it was actually a bit surprising.
Milton the self-styled king of Kingston rules the disengaged, disenfranchised, disenchanted masses who swarm in the underbelly of society. It's an elites separate from proles society in the extreme. Those masses eke out a life in a city that struggles to supply water and food. The INCs (empowered and wealthy citizens) appear to have pushed the VOIDs (the dregs, with no legal rights as citizens, not even really classified as citizens) into Kingston, locked the door and thrown away the key. The de facto imprisonment is enforced by privately outsourced police and live-rounds-drones, so that they are kept out of sight, out of mind, and out of interest.
Onion is the young female heroine of the story. She suffers not-quite-Stockholm syndrome. Or actually maybe it really is Stockholm; or perhaps not actually relevant. The relationship with Rhea, Onion's jailer-cum-companion who becomes in the end ... actually no spoilers ... is consistently strained and mis-trusting. It is grim and frustrating, one of those shout at the page/screen type relationships where you are rooting for them to become friends and help each other. And every time you think they've moved that close, Onion tries an escape, or Rhea tries to sell her out. By the end, you aren't sure whether they can ever overcome their past deceits to each other, or indeed whether you now want them to. This relationship is the key high point in Sour Fruit , and is so deftly played by Allison that you don't even really notice it happening. And for that, I take my hat off to her!
Initially, I thought that the book was almost a set of short stories with the same two characters passing through each setting and interacting with a different group of characters in each one. Whilst that is the case, Allison has done a good job of finally weaving the slightly disconnected sections into a coherent story. But, rather like Great Expectations, it all only comes together right at the end. Actually, that's about the only similarity with the Dickens classic - this is more like Dismal Expectations. Which is not a problem - that's the whole atmosphere of the story, it's supposed to be dismal. Hmm, I wonder if that's how Hull sees itself: 'we're supposed to be dismal' ? The natural Yorkshire dialect of some of the characters is kept unobtrusive, but sometimes that meant that when it did appear it was actually a bit surprising.
Milton the self-styled king of Kingston rules the disengaged, disenfranchised, disenchanted masses who swarm in the underbelly of society. It's an elites separate from proles society in the extreme. Those masses eke out a life in a city that struggles to supply water and food. The INCs (empowered and wealthy citizens) appear to have pushed the VOIDs (the dregs, with no legal rights as citizens, not even really classified as citizens) into Kingston, locked the door and thrown away the key. The de facto imprisonment is enforced by privately outsourced police and live-rounds-drones, so that they are kept out of sight, out of mind, and out of interest.
Onion is the young female heroine of the story. She suffers not-quite-Stockholm syndrome. Or actually maybe it really is Stockholm; or perhaps not actually relevant. The relationship with Rhea, Onion's jailer-cum-companion who becomes in the end ... actually no spoilers ... is consistently strained and mis-trusting. It is grim and frustrating, one of those shout at the page/screen type relationships where you are rooting for them to become friends and help each other. And every time you think they've moved that close, Onion tries an escape, or Rhea tries to sell her out. By the end, you aren't sure whether they can ever overcome their past deceits to each other, or indeed whether you now want them to. This relationship is the key high point in Sour Fruit , and is so deftly played by Allison that you don't even really notice it happening. And for that, I take my hat off to her!
February 24, 2023
To Hull and Back
As you might guess from the pun in the title above, Sour Fruit is set in and around Hull. It is Hull (and Kingston-Upon-Hull) - but most definitely NOT as we know it. Sour Fruit's Hull is set in a dystopian, but not too distant future. Like most of the best Sci-Fi , Sour Fruit's possible future is not too difficult to extrapolate from our own present. Eli creates a veritable hell-on-earth showing where some of today's attitudes and dogma might lead.
I'm sure you're thinking "Gee, sounds boring and depressing, I could read 1984 if I want that." If you are you'll miss out on the gloriously foul-mouthed Onion, Sour Fruit's protagonist. Funny, fierce and - as we all are, inside - fragile. Onion carries this book through its thrilling journey on her narrow shoulders. Right alongside the massive chip.
Despite all of that Eli Allison managed to make this reader think about society's disenfranchised, immigrants, the poor and our treatment of them without banging him over the head with one of the (truly hideous) Nails's hammer. Ah yes, the villains: horribly believable, not for the squeamish and therefore superbly delineated by the author. One last word on the characters. Jacob reminded me of Caractacus Potts and Professor Branestawm with a touch of Bakunin hidden in his past. If that doesn't make you want to pick this book up, I don't know what will.
As you might guess from the pun in the title above, Sour Fruit is set in and around Hull. It is Hull (and Kingston-Upon-Hull) - but most definitely NOT as we know it. Sour Fruit's Hull is set in a dystopian, but not too distant future. Like most of the best Sci-Fi , Sour Fruit's possible future is not too difficult to extrapolate from our own present. Eli creates a veritable hell-on-earth showing where some of today's attitudes and dogma might lead.
I'm sure you're thinking "Gee, sounds boring and depressing, I could read 1984 if I want that." If you are you'll miss out on the gloriously foul-mouthed Onion, Sour Fruit's protagonist. Funny, fierce and - as we all are, inside - fragile. Onion carries this book through its thrilling journey on her narrow shoulders. Right alongside the massive chip.
Despite all of that Eli Allison managed to make this reader think about society's disenfranchised, immigrants, the poor and our treatment of them without banging him over the head with one of the (truly hideous) Nails's hammer. Ah yes, the villains: horribly believable, not for the squeamish and therefore superbly delineated by the author. One last word on the characters. Jacob reminded me of Caractacus Potts and Professor Branestawm with a touch of Bakunin hidden in his past. If that doesn't make you want to pick this book up, I don't know what will.
August 6, 2018
Sour Fruit is a dark, at times laugh-out-loud funny and thoroughly enthralling page-turner. The protagonist is a young girl who finds herself in an awful, human-trafficking nightmare that she must escape from. I was gripped from start to finish. I empathised with the characters, their interactions and language are very well crafted and believable, and I found myself almost holding my breath at some of the more edgy scenes.
I would highly recommend this book and cannot wait for the next instalment of the trilogy.
I would highly recommend this book and cannot wait for the next instalment of the trilogy.
October 15, 2018
I don't normally read Sci-fi but after reading the reviews thought id give it a go... and I have to say I really enjoyed it. Loved the fact it was a female heroine, loved the rudeness,loved the wrongness. Just came back from a girly holiday couldn't put it down
August 16, 2018
What a wonderful and unique book
October 19, 2018
Delightfully irreverent!
I can't wait to find out what happens next!
I can't wait to find out what happens next!
March 13, 2020
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Onion thinks she’s tough, but then she gets snatched from her foster home and finds out she’s not as tough as she thinks. Kidnapped by the de facto head of Kingston’s seedy underworld and promised to a trafficker known only as the Toymaker, she’s dragged around a city of non-citizens by Reah, the two of them chained together by circumstance and the explosive device implanted in Onion’s neck. Now Onion has three days to figure out an escape route, and all she has going for her is a smart mouth and never-say-die attitude.
This is definitely not a book for the faint-hearted. Told almost entirely from the point of view of its main protagonist, Onion, it has an almost overpowering intensity to it that makes it difficult to put down. It’s one hell of a roller-coaster of a read, dark, brutal, violent and bleak, and yet somehow it also manages to be uplifting and hopeful just when you think there’s no way out.
The main character of Onion is every rebellious teenager from the wrong side of the tracks, but turned up to eleven and then some. Dragging herself from one crisis to the next through a combination of sheer bloody-mindedness and extreme snark she somehow manages to invoke sympathy from the reader, even when she’s at her most obnoxious, her most hateful. As a result she’s one of those protagonists you’re either going to love or hate, but whichever it is you’re still going to root for her when the chips are down.
Of the other characters, Reah is ostensibly the ‘hooker with a heart of gold’ stereotype, though she does occasionally show there’s something darker in her make-up. It’s Reah who’s tasked with the job of making sure Onion gets to the Toymaker on time, and while she seems dead set on making sure that happens (she’s paying off a debt to head honcho Milton) she does go out of her way to try to help Onion accept her new life in the ruins of Kingston. And then there’s Jacob.
Jacob is Reah’s closest friend, an amalgam of big brother, doting father and guardian angel, and of all the characters Onion encounters during her journey through Kingston he’s the one who seems the most genuine, the one who seems to be the most real. He’s probably the closest this book ever gets to presenting a good guy, though it’s fair to say that distinctions such as good and evil are more than a little moot when it comes to this particular tale. Better to say that if everybody is one shade of grey or another, Jacob is the one who’s closest to white.
At the other end of the scale we have the bad guys, Milton Mooluke, Shard and Nails. Milton is the king of Kingston, the seemingly undisputed head of the criminal underworld that runs things in the remains of the city, the heir to the kingdom originally set up by his father, Books Mooluke. Milton is quite definitely a nasty piece of work, but he also comes across as being highly insecure in his power, constantly aware of the fact he hasn’t earned the respect his position should demand. He makes mistakes, and some of those mistakes have repercussions that he seems far from ready to handle.
His two chief enforcers are Shard and Nails. Sister and brother, these two are chalk and cheese in the way they work. Shard is cold, quiet and calculating, never using more than the minimum effort to achieve her goals, while Nails is more like a hyperactive attack dog with rabies and a thing for hammers, hence the name. Both of these inflict terror in their own way, but of the two it’s Nails that creates the most immediate, in-your-face horror. Maybe because he makes no secret about how much he enjoys his work.
If you like high-octane tales set in a dystopian future then this is definitely a book to look out for. I for one enjoyed it far than I thought I would, and I can’t wait for the next instalment in the life of Onion.
Onion thinks she’s tough, but then she gets snatched from her foster home and finds out she’s not as tough as she thinks. Kidnapped by the de facto head of Kingston’s seedy underworld and promised to a trafficker known only as the Toymaker, she’s dragged around a city of non-citizens by Reah, the two of them chained together by circumstance and the explosive device implanted in Onion’s neck. Now Onion has three days to figure out an escape route, and all she has going for her is a smart mouth and never-say-die attitude.
This is definitely not a book for the faint-hearted. Told almost entirely from the point of view of its main protagonist, Onion, it has an almost overpowering intensity to it that makes it difficult to put down. It’s one hell of a roller-coaster of a read, dark, brutal, violent and bleak, and yet somehow it also manages to be uplifting and hopeful just when you think there’s no way out.
The main character of Onion is every rebellious teenager from the wrong side of the tracks, but turned up to eleven and then some. Dragging herself from one crisis to the next through a combination of sheer bloody-mindedness and extreme snark she somehow manages to invoke sympathy from the reader, even when she’s at her most obnoxious, her most hateful. As a result she’s one of those protagonists you’re either going to love or hate, but whichever it is you’re still going to root for her when the chips are down.
Of the other characters, Reah is ostensibly the ‘hooker with a heart of gold’ stereotype, though she does occasionally show there’s something darker in her make-up. It’s Reah who’s tasked with the job of making sure Onion gets to the Toymaker on time, and while she seems dead set on making sure that happens (she’s paying off a debt to head honcho Milton) she does go out of her way to try to help Onion accept her new life in the ruins of Kingston. And then there’s Jacob.
Jacob is Reah’s closest friend, an amalgam of big brother, doting father and guardian angel, and of all the characters Onion encounters during her journey through Kingston he’s the one who seems the most genuine, the one who seems to be the most real. He’s probably the closest this book ever gets to presenting a good guy, though it’s fair to say that distinctions such as good and evil are more than a little moot when it comes to this particular tale. Better to say that if everybody is one shade of grey or another, Jacob is the one who’s closest to white.
At the other end of the scale we have the bad guys, Milton Mooluke, Shard and Nails. Milton is the king of Kingston, the seemingly undisputed head of the criminal underworld that runs things in the remains of the city, the heir to the kingdom originally set up by his father, Books Mooluke. Milton is quite definitely a nasty piece of work, but he also comes across as being highly insecure in his power, constantly aware of the fact he hasn’t earned the respect his position should demand. He makes mistakes, and some of those mistakes have repercussions that he seems far from ready to handle.
His two chief enforcers are Shard and Nails. Sister and brother, these two are chalk and cheese in the way they work. Shard is cold, quiet and calculating, never using more than the minimum effort to achieve her goals, while Nails is more like a hyperactive attack dog with rabies and a thing for hammers, hence the name. Both of these inflict terror in their own way, but of the two it’s Nails that creates the most immediate, in-your-face horror. Maybe because he makes no secret about how much he enjoys his work.
If you like high-octane tales set in a dystopian future then this is definitely a book to look out for. I for one enjoyed it far than I thought I would, and I can’t wait for the next instalment in the life of Onion.
February 3, 2019
*I received a free copy of this novel, with thanks to the author. The decision to review and my opinions are my own.*
Sour Fruit took me a little while to get into, as the story is told by Onion and we are pretty much thrust straight into the action with her, stumbling to keep up with the patois and slang of an entirely new societal structure.
However, once we regain some sense of orientation (poor Onion takes a lot longer to find her feet!) then…WOW!
This is Is for adults; a twisted Oliver Twist; 1984 on acid and A Clockwork Orange on crack.
Onion makes an amazing narrative protagonist: spiky and street-smart and yet still clearly childishly vulnerable and naive. My heart broke for her again and again, even as she proved her resilience and proclaimed her independence. She is exasperating and thoroughly admirable in equal proportions and I could read about her endlessly.
Most of the other characters are a split between endearingly pitiable or outright horror: Nails, Teddy, The *shudders* Toymaker.
Obviously trigger warnings abound – this is not a book for the sensitive of heart or stomach. Full of bad language; the dipping procedure is appalling; the whole plot hinges around child abduction for the purposes of torture and sexual slavery; there is graphic violence (physical and sexual); and the Toymaker section is… well… indescribable. Ugh.
The framing narrative of the ‘medical’ audio-recording and the mystery surrounding it is a gripping hook to draw the reader eagerly into the next instalment but most will be sufficiently invested in Onion to follow her anyway.
If you like your dystopian sci-fi gritty, gory and with an acid-sharp edge then Sour Fruit is definitely your poison of choice. Hold tight to your INC, pinkies, and avoid that dip-debt!
One minute I was asleep; the next, a hand covered my face. A needle in my neck. The covers twisted between my thighs. I was dragged out of bed. I kicked, fought to get free, grunted for help, but…
The last thing I saw was Chats. Chats who kept dead ladybirds in jars around her bed, who’d tap at the glass with bitten-raw fingernails. Chats who only ever wore eye-itching pink. Chats the silent. I liked her. She just lay there, her eyes carved closed, the drip, drip, drip of piss soaking through her mattress.
I don’t remember being dumped into a black hole but I know it must have happened because that’s where I woke up. Grasping around for my blanket, I was cold, cursing Vera for not switching the heating on. Then the flash of a hand. I screamed. But it was nothing. Nobody was grabbing me… Just a nightmare… It was all OK.
But when I opened my eyes, it wasn’t.
– Eli Allison, Sour Fruit
Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog
https://bookshineandreadbows.wordpres...
Sour Fruit took me a little while to get into, as the story is told by Onion and we are pretty much thrust straight into the action with her, stumbling to keep up with the patois and slang of an entirely new societal structure.
However, once we regain some sense of orientation (poor Onion takes a lot longer to find her feet!) then…WOW!
This is Is for adults; a twisted Oliver Twist; 1984 on acid and A Clockwork Orange on crack.
Onion makes an amazing narrative protagonist: spiky and street-smart and yet still clearly childishly vulnerable and naive. My heart broke for her again and again, even as she proved her resilience and proclaimed her independence. She is exasperating and thoroughly admirable in equal proportions and I could read about her endlessly.
Most of the other characters are a split between endearingly pitiable or outright horror: Nails, Teddy, The *shudders* Toymaker.
Obviously trigger warnings abound – this is not a book for the sensitive of heart or stomach. Full of bad language; the dipping procedure is appalling; the whole plot hinges around child abduction for the purposes of torture and sexual slavery; there is graphic violence (physical and sexual); and the Toymaker section is… well… indescribable. Ugh.
The framing narrative of the ‘medical’ audio-recording and the mystery surrounding it is a gripping hook to draw the reader eagerly into the next instalment but most will be sufficiently invested in Onion to follow her anyway.
If you like your dystopian sci-fi gritty, gory and with an acid-sharp edge then Sour Fruit is definitely your poison of choice. Hold tight to your INC, pinkies, and avoid that dip-debt!
One minute I was asleep; the next, a hand covered my face. A needle in my neck. The covers twisted between my thighs. I was dragged out of bed. I kicked, fought to get free, grunted for help, but…
The last thing I saw was Chats. Chats who kept dead ladybirds in jars around her bed, who’d tap at the glass with bitten-raw fingernails. Chats who only ever wore eye-itching pink. Chats the silent. I liked her. She just lay there, her eyes carved closed, the drip, drip, drip of piss soaking through her mattress.
I don’t remember being dumped into a black hole but I know it must have happened because that’s where I woke up. Grasping around for my blanket, I was cold, cursing Vera for not switching the heating on. Then the flash of a hand. I screamed. But it was nothing. Nobody was grabbing me… Just a nightmare… It was all OK.
But when I opened my eyes, it wasn’t.
– Eli Allison, Sour Fruit
Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog
https://bookshineandreadbows.wordpres...
February 1, 2019
Gritty, Grim and Gorgeous.
Sour Fruit is quite the perfect name for this astonishingly vivid book. Throughout reading this book, pretty much all in one go, I had the impression of neon colours masking something rotten.
The dystopia we find ourselves in with Onion is a strange and brutal one, but so incredibly immersive. Onion, a fiercely unbowed trafficked orphan, makes her way through situations that will make you flinch while reading as she encounters characters so fully fleshed out you'll half expect to see them in the streets long after you put this book down.
I enjoyed this book thoroughly and am extremely excited for a sequel as this is the first in a trilogy. The writing is fresh, no holds barred and absolutely superb. Dialogue and characterisation are spot on and never feel false or exaggerated. Scenery and location are always painted beautifully in neon colours, sour and mesmerising. The journey is an incredible one for Onion and Rhea and so will it be for any lucky readers who find this book.
5/5 - gritty, grim and gorgeous.
Comment
Sour Fruit is quite the perfect name for this astonishingly vivid book. Throughout reading this book, pretty much all in one go, I had the impression of neon colours masking something rotten.
The dystopia we find ourselves in with Onion is a strange and brutal one, but so incredibly immersive. Onion, a fiercely unbowed trafficked orphan, makes her way through situations that will make you flinch while reading as she encounters characters so fully fleshed out you'll half expect to see them in the streets long after you put this book down.
I enjoyed this book thoroughly and am extremely excited for a sequel as this is the first in a trilogy. The writing is fresh, no holds barred and absolutely superb. Dialogue and characterisation are spot on and never feel false or exaggerated. Scenery and location are always painted beautifully in neon colours, sour and mesmerising. The journey is an incredible one for Onion and Rhea and so will it be for any lucky readers who find this book.
5/5 - gritty, grim and gorgeous.
Comment
March 12, 2019
Onion is a teenage girl who has spent her life being moved from care home to care home. It's not much of a life but at least she understands it - until she is kidnapped and taken to Kingston, where the population given VOID status are forced to live. This is a Britain in which those people deemed not worthy of their Identity Nano Certificate - immigrants, criminals, anybody who fails the Citizen Suitability Test - becomes a VOID. Children are raised to fear and hate the VOIDs; they're scroungers and dangerous criminals and keeping them in VOID-hubs is safer for everyone.
Her prejudices seem to be confirmed at first when she is dragged before the deranged boss of Kingston, Milton Mooluke and learns she has been sold to The Toymaker. A delay means she can't be delivered for three days and in the meantime is handed over to the terrified Rhea and discovers that any attempt to escape will result in instant death. It seems hopeless and Kingston really is the stuff of nightmares - confusing, unpredictable and violent.
Despite the Squids - the VOID name for people with INC - warnings about VOIDS, Onion begins to slowly realise they perhaps aren't all losers and no-hopers, solely responsible for their predicament. She needs to learn to trust but this isn't easy for her and one of the most striking things about Sour Fruit is how for much of it, Onion should be a really difficult character to like. She responds to kindness with rude retorts and actively tries to find ways to spark reactions in people, using her words like weapons. However, it doesn't take too long to realise that her obstreperousness is her way of protecting herself - better to be alone than let down. For all her foul-mouthed insults, she is quick-witted and resourceful with a dark sense of humour and is astutely observant.
Sour Fruit is one of those books in which at first, very little makes much sense. This cleverly reflects Onion's own experiences as she is cast from a life she understood, even if she wasn't loved, cared for or particularly happy, into a strange world where the little she thinks she knows is frequently proved wrong. As she and Rhea move through the city, interacting with the Greenies and the Skimmers, trying to avoid the Bone Men and the Shanty Rats, how this odd place works becomes clearer - although as the first part of a trilogy, I'm sure there is still much to discover. The story is actually told from Onion's perspective as she talks to a mysterious doctor and I'm especially intrigued to learn more about what eventually leads her to this point.
Onion's vivid descriptions of both the strange landscape and the people who inhabit it are a joy throughout and create a real sense of place to a city and population which may be fictional but were easy to picture. As an urban dystopia, the residents of Kingston have utilised what remains of the previous infrastructure to build their homes, creating a fragile semblance of order from their chaos.
While the reader is never left in any doubt of just how brutal this world is - the threat of violence is never far away and when it comes, is delivered with chilling depravity, Sour Fruit is not a depressing read. It has a twisted sense of humour and is a sharp warning about where divisions in society could eventually lead and is an exciting race against time and unhinged enemies. However, it is also a thoughtful and poignant exploration of family, home, belonging and perhaps most touchingly, of redemption. I was gradually drawn into this weird world and while I'm glad I can escape, I fully intend to find my way back there for book two. Sour Fruit is dark, strange and insightful speculative fiction with memorable, flawed characters who are often gleefully offensive yet still often somehow more sympathetic than I first expected. Highly recommended!
Her prejudices seem to be confirmed at first when she is dragged before the deranged boss of Kingston, Milton Mooluke and learns she has been sold to The Toymaker. A delay means she can't be delivered for three days and in the meantime is handed over to the terrified Rhea and discovers that any attempt to escape will result in instant death. It seems hopeless and Kingston really is the stuff of nightmares - confusing, unpredictable and violent.
Despite the Squids - the VOID name for people with INC - warnings about VOIDS, Onion begins to slowly realise they perhaps aren't all losers and no-hopers, solely responsible for their predicament. She needs to learn to trust but this isn't easy for her and one of the most striking things about Sour Fruit is how for much of it, Onion should be a really difficult character to like. She responds to kindness with rude retorts and actively tries to find ways to spark reactions in people, using her words like weapons. However, it doesn't take too long to realise that her obstreperousness is her way of protecting herself - better to be alone than let down. For all her foul-mouthed insults, she is quick-witted and resourceful with a dark sense of humour and is astutely observant.
Sour Fruit is one of those books in which at first, very little makes much sense. This cleverly reflects Onion's own experiences as she is cast from a life she understood, even if she wasn't loved, cared for or particularly happy, into a strange world where the little she thinks she knows is frequently proved wrong. As she and Rhea move through the city, interacting with the Greenies and the Skimmers, trying to avoid the Bone Men and the Shanty Rats, how this odd place works becomes clearer - although as the first part of a trilogy, I'm sure there is still much to discover. The story is actually told from Onion's perspective as she talks to a mysterious doctor and I'm especially intrigued to learn more about what eventually leads her to this point.
Onion's vivid descriptions of both the strange landscape and the people who inhabit it are a joy throughout and create a real sense of place to a city and population which may be fictional but were easy to picture. As an urban dystopia, the residents of Kingston have utilised what remains of the previous infrastructure to build their homes, creating a fragile semblance of order from their chaos.
While the reader is never left in any doubt of just how brutal this world is - the threat of violence is never far away and when it comes, is delivered with chilling depravity, Sour Fruit is not a depressing read. It has a twisted sense of humour and is a sharp warning about where divisions in society could eventually lead and is an exciting race against time and unhinged enemies. However, it is also a thoughtful and poignant exploration of family, home, belonging and perhaps most touchingly, of redemption. I was gradually drawn into this weird world and while I'm glad I can escape, I fully intend to find my way back there for book two. Sour Fruit is dark, strange and insightful speculative fiction with memorable, flawed characters who are often gleefully offensive yet still often somehow more sympathetic than I first expected. Highly recommended!
October 24, 2018
Inventive and amazing, Sour Fruit does dystopian fiction a little along the lines of Anthony Burgess, and stands on its own too.
This is a book I wish I had written...but I’m glad I got to read it.
This is a book I wish I had written...but I’m glad I got to read it.
November 28, 2018
This was a wild ride! I kept thinking it would make a good graphic novel, or even a computer game - Eli Allison is also an artist, and it shows. It's a very visual book, full of colours, action, violence, bodily fluids...The review that says "Sour Fruit feels like a Black Mirror double-bill that’s just downed a litre of Sunny Delight" pretty much sums it up.
In Sour Fruit Kingston upon Hull is a dystopian wasteland, where the foul-mouthed teenage heroine, Onion, has to fight for survival. It's a disorientating read at times - who's this character? where are we? what's going on? - and it wasn't until towards the end that I felt I was really getting a grip on it. But like Onion, the reader is an outsider to this nightmarish world, so you should feel disorientated.
I can honestly say I've never read anything quite like Sour Fruit, and the combination of imaginative world building and a sparky, visceral style of writing creates something that's truly original. Onion is an unforgettable (if not always likeable) heroine, and I liked the fact that the "relationship" focus of the book was an unconventional friendship between two female characters.
If the idea of witty, sweary dystopian fiction with a strong female protagonist appeals to you, give it a try!
In Sour Fruit Kingston upon Hull is a dystopian wasteland, where the foul-mouthed teenage heroine, Onion, has to fight for survival. It's a disorientating read at times - who's this character? where are we? what's going on? - and it wasn't until towards the end that I felt I was really getting a grip on it. But like Onion, the reader is an outsider to this nightmarish world, so you should feel disorientated.
I can honestly say I've never read anything quite like Sour Fruit, and the combination of imaginative world building and a sparky, visceral style of writing creates something that's truly original. Onion is an unforgettable (if not always likeable) heroine, and I liked the fact that the "relationship" focus of the book was an unconventional friendship between two female characters.
If the idea of witty, sweary dystopian fiction with a strong female protagonist appeals to you, give it a try!
August 10, 2018
“Desperation is a commodity as valuable as gold” is one of the many great lines in this book and sums it up perfectly. A disturbing dystopian world where life is traded as a commodity makes for a dark but gripping read. This book is a treat for the imagination with the writer’s ability to conjure up a sinister future that at the same time seems possible. The richness of the story is enhanced through a delicate balance of complex emotions from helplessness to hope, misery to humour and hatred to (borderline) affection. Although this book lives firmly on the dark side it showcases our inherent humanness brilliantly with flashes of enterprise and hedonism but mostly survival. Well worth a read.
March 2, 2019
A heartless world of treachery and murder, experiences through the eyes of a world hardened young girl with colourful vocabulary.
Quite out the blue, she is plucked from her life in an institute, and dropped unceremoniously in Kingston. A place you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy.
And just when you thought KINGSTON must surely be an analogy for hell, we find surprising acts of kindness and love. HopeS flowers growing in the waste and detritus.
A bittersweet end that leaves you wanting to know, ‘what next?’ We’ll I can’t wait to find out....an excellent, original read from Eli Allison ⭐️
Quite out the blue, she is plucked from her life in an institute, and dropped unceremoniously in Kingston. A place you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy.
And just when you thought KINGSTON must surely be an analogy for hell, we find surprising acts of kindness and love. HopeS flowers growing in the waste and detritus.
A bittersweet end that leaves you wanting to know, ‘what next?’ We’ll I can’t wait to find out....an excellent, original read from Eli Allison ⭐️
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 12, 2018
The world of Kingston upon Hull at some time in the future is wonderfully grim and exciting and full to the brim with amazing characters. Every line is full of life, excitement, wit and thoughfulness. As a Doctor Who geek I enjoy the subtle references too! A wonderfully crafted novel full of wit and beauty against an enjoyably dark and visceral backdrop.
May 17, 2019
Onion is snatched. She wakes up chained to an armpit of a river city, earmarked for a skin-trader called The Toymaker. Surrounded by a creeping rot she has just three days to escape before the sold sticker becomes a brand.
It's Onion's anger that propels us through the disorienting opening scenes, as Onion is thrown from one crisis to the next (think out of the frying pan into the fire and then into the volcano, followed possibly by the sun) and the reader tries to figure out what's going on. Onion's voice is hugely compelling: furiously teenagerish in its bravado without ever quite hiding the fact that there's a scared kid underneath.
But a book doesn't stand on one character alone, and thankfully we also have Rhea, appointed as Onion's unwilling jailer until she's handed over to the appropriately ominous-sounding Toymaker, to guide us. Ostensibly a frightened mouse, Rhea takes everything Onion throws at her and basically gets on with doing the best she can in the circumstances. It's as she leads Onion around the streets of Kingston that we really start to get a sense of the world behind the breakneck action - a world in which people who aren't deemed worthy of citizenship are dumped in flooded Kingston (upon Hull, for those wondering) and left to fend for themselves.
While the evolving relationship between Rhea and Onion is the true high point of the story (for me), Eli Allison has also done a magnificent job of reimagining Hull as a flooded disaster city in which kindness can still flourish. It's impossible to miss the fact that we're in a dystopia, but Onion's descriptions paint the crowded world in technicolour detail, while also making time for quiet beauty, like "The last of the light had turned the estuary bruise-purple, and the sky blood-red. If I squinted I could just make out the shadow of the bridge. I've always loved suspension bridges."
The writing is always interesting: characters don't jump, they "jack-in-the-box jump". The deckchair "looked like a debutante's fart could do it in" (Onion's voice is truly a joy!). And I'm delighted to know this is only the first book in a trilogy, because if the first book packs this much in, I can't wait to see what the next two will do.
It's Onion's anger that propels us through the disorienting opening scenes, as Onion is thrown from one crisis to the next (think out of the frying pan into the fire and then into the volcano, followed possibly by the sun) and the reader tries to figure out what's going on. Onion's voice is hugely compelling: furiously teenagerish in its bravado without ever quite hiding the fact that there's a scared kid underneath.
But a book doesn't stand on one character alone, and thankfully we also have Rhea, appointed as Onion's unwilling jailer until she's handed over to the appropriately ominous-sounding Toymaker, to guide us. Ostensibly a frightened mouse, Rhea takes everything Onion throws at her and basically gets on with doing the best she can in the circumstances. It's as she leads Onion around the streets of Kingston that we really start to get a sense of the world behind the breakneck action - a world in which people who aren't deemed worthy of citizenship are dumped in flooded Kingston (upon Hull, for those wondering) and left to fend for themselves.
While the evolving relationship between Rhea and Onion is the true high point of the story (for me), Eli Allison has also done a magnificent job of reimagining Hull as a flooded disaster city in which kindness can still flourish. It's impossible to miss the fact that we're in a dystopia, but Onion's descriptions paint the crowded world in technicolour detail, while also making time for quiet beauty, like "The last of the light had turned the estuary bruise-purple, and the sky blood-red. If I squinted I could just make out the shadow of the bridge. I've always loved suspension bridges."
The writing is always interesting: characters don't jump, they "jack-in-the-box jump". The deckchair "looked like a debutante's fart could do it in" (Onion's voice is truly a joy!). And I'm delighted to know this is only the first book in a trilogy, because if the first book packs this much in, I can't wait to see what the next two will do.
November 8, 2018
Typically, I am one for reading words, many words, many books. I’m not so much one for writing; the novel in me hasn’t escaped as yet. However here I am penning, or rather typing my first review for any book.
I found Sour Fruit, the dystopian world, the characters and the story line edgy, gritty, darn right rude and above all refreshingly different and original. To some degree it put me out of my comfort zone for a short while. However, it soon had me hooked, line sinker and all! I ended up reading it in one night, I didn’t put it down.
I read the e-book version and as is the nature of an electronic book you don’t get the same sense of it coming to an end as you would if you were turning actual pages. Given that fact the end of the book came up on me too fast and my apologies Eli Allison but there were a few choice expletives, I may have called you some names….. I think I woke my wife up at some daft time in the morning. I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!
So, I purposefully haven’t summarized the story line or given away any spoilers but if you want to read something new, a bit different, original and captivating then pick this book up. Sit back with a bottle of wine or two and enjoy, I thoroughly recommend it and can’t wait for the sequel!
I found Sour Fruit, the dystopian world, the characters and the story line edgy, gritty, darn right rude and above all refreshingly different and original. To some degree it put me out of my comfort zone for a short while. However, it soon had me hooked, line sinker and all! I ended up reading it in one night, I didn’t put it down.
I read the e-book version and as is the nature of an electronic book you don’t get the same sense of it coming to an end as you would if you were turning actual pages. Given that fact the end of the book came up on me too fast and my apologies Eli Allison but there were a few choice expletives, I may have called you some names….. I think I woke my wife up at some daft time in the morning. I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!
So, I purposefully haven’t summarized the story line or given away any spoilers but if you want to read something new, a bit different, original and captivating then pick this book up. Sit back with a bottle of wine or two and enjoy, I thoroughly recommend it and can’t wait for the sequel!
January 16, 2019
Posted to Zerofiltersaurus.wordpress.com on 11/1/19-
The plot, in a nutshell: A teenage girl is abducted from her children’s home and wakes up in an eerie new world, an urban hell where it’s citizens are called Voids and are treated worse than rats.
The things I loved about it: It’s a dark humoured dystopian thriller, one of my my favourite literary combinations. The world building is fun but grim, and has a bit of a Hunger Games feel in that it is fantastical but you really wouldn’t want to wake up there. The concept of the book is fascinating, the story being told as part of a transcript in some kind of study, and the ending is obscenely curious, and makes wanting to read the sequel an absolute no-brainier. Gripping and unputdownable, with more twisted humour than a bad joke shop. There are so many things in this book that could be offensive to anyone which is so crude that I couldn’t love it more if I tried. Oh, and Jacob is without a doubt one of my most favourite characters ever and has absolutely brilliant dialogue.
The things I didn’t: Right at the beginning I could not tell what the hell was going on. To be honest, I still don’t think I do now.
The most damning truth... ‘People don’t like looking too closely at mental illness, scared they’ll catch it...It’s offensive, but so is the world we’re living in.’
A reassuring truth... ‘But pressure makes diamonds from dirt.’ The author: Eli Allison, debut novelist who is also a very entertaining tweeter and a very talented artist. (You should check out her blog)
I rate this: 5 big sweary stars! (Definitely not sweaty stars, ffs autocorrect)
Sour Fruit was published on 16th August 2018 by Unbound. Thank you to Unbound (via NetGalley) for the ARC.
The plot, in a nutshell: A teenage girl is abducted from her children’s home and wakes up in an eerie new world, an urban hell where it’s citizens are called Voids and are treated worse than rats.
The things I loved about it: It’s a dark humoured dystopian thriller, one of my my favourite literary combinations. The world building is fun but grim, and has a bit of a Hunger Games feel in that it is fantastical but you really wouldn’t want to wake up there. The concept of the book is fascinating, the story being told as part of a transcript in some kind of study, and the ending is obscenely curious, and makes wanting to read the sequel an absolute no-brainier. Gripping and unputdownable, with more twisted humour than a bad joke shop. There are so many things in this book that could be offensive to anyone which is so crude that I couldn’t love it more if I tried. Oh, and Jacob is without a doubt one of my most favourite characters ever and has absolutely brilliant dialogue.
The things I didn’t: Right at the beginning I could not tell what the hell was going on. To be honest, I still don’t think I do now.
The most damning truth... ‘People don’t like looking too closely at mental illness, scared they’ll catch it...It’s offensive, but so is the world we’re living in.’
A reassuring truth... ‘But pressure makes diamonds from dirt.’ The author: Eli Allison, debut novelist who is also a very entertaining tweeter and a very talented artist. (You should check out her blog)
I rate this: 5 big sweary stars! (Definitely not sweaty stars, ffs autocorrect)
Sour Fruit was published on 16th August 2018 by Unbound. Thank you to Unbound (via NetGalley) for the ARC.
December 3, 2018
This is not generally my first choice genre but with such a striking cover it had to be worth a try. The beginning was quite hard to read but I kept going and I am so glad that I did. By page 30ish I was absolutely griped. Meals went unmade, washing piled up but I had to find out what happened to Onion and Rhea. I read nearly the whole book in one sitting but then I put off reading the last few pages because I didn't want it to end. By the end so many of my questions had been answered but then so many new ones had been thrown up. Please hurry up and write the next one, I need to know what happens next. Well written and a brilliant read.
September 20, 2018
I really enjoyed this book. It took me a little while to get into, but that's always the way with sci fi - there's so much info thrown at you. But once you find your feet, sci fi books can go either way. This one went a very good way. I really got on Onion's side, and felt what she was feeling. I felt her sadness, anger, betrayal, it was written so well I couldn't help it. The story is fantastic - I could barely put the book down such was my need to know what was going to happen next. I'm so glad it's the first of a trilogy, as I need to read more!
November 30, 2018
Brilliant read, I would highly recommend. The night party scenes were my favourite. As an avid traditional sci-fi reader this was a little out of my wheelhouse but I am really glad I read it.
March 13, 2019
Rating: 2,5 stars
The story is told by Onion, as she explains what happened to her in an interview, with a guy, that is called Doc. What I missed from the book were the actually chapters. Chapters help me read a book faster and also keeps my attention. However this book got only “broken up” into parts when it actually came to the interview questions. I think many people like when there are short chapters, it helps us keep going and the lack of chapters made it a little hard for me to stay focused. If you read my February Wrap Up, I mentioned there that I think the book could have used another round of editing as well. The sentences were structured in a way that didn’t flow together, I tried to read it out loud to myself and I kept stumbling upon the words.
More on the blog: https://berriesandbooksblog.wordpress...
The story is told by Onion, as she explains what happened to her in an interview, with a guy, that is called Doc. What I missed from the book were the actually chapters. Chapters help me read a book faster and also keeps my attention. However this book got only “broken up” into parts when it actually came to the interview questions. I think many people like when there are short chapters, it helps us keep going and the lack of chapters made it a little hard for me to stay focused. If you read my February Wrap Up, I mentioned there that I think the book could have used another round of editing as well. The sentences were structured in a way that didn’t flow together, I tried to read it out loud to myself and I kept stumbling upon the words.
More on the blog: https://berriesandbooksblog.wordpress...
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