This Anjenique Hughes novel is a dystopian story in the vein
of George Orwell’s 1984, occurring in the twenty-third century, when Earth is
ruled by a totalitarian world government known as the Sovereign Regime. Part of
the reason for the dictatorship’s success is identity chips implanted into all
humans recording all their occurrences, alongside the abolition of things such
as bank accounts and smartphones. The narrative’s protagonist, Goro, hears a
conversation meant to be secret that makes him face the truth of his world and
loyalties, making him something of a revolutionary and getting his closest
friends into his cause.
The author dedicates her book to her deceased cousin Mariah,
who she suggests will forever be loved. The story opens with a prologue
narrated in the first person, with Goro indicating the limitless nature of
twenty-third century technology and exposing some of the backstory of the
regime that reigns across his futuristic world, with one-zettabyte microchips
implanted into every individual’s wrists, a procedure originally done to the
brain, although to do that proved to be expensive and time-consuming, due to
possible incidents such as brain injuries that could cause people to go
berserk.
The main chapters appropriately open with a quote from
Albert Einstein about how appalling it was that technology exceeded humanity,
with subsequent chapters having quotes relational towards the story’s milieu. Goro
has a five-year-old younger brother named Josiah, not to mention friends such
as the eighteen-year-old technocratic Alex and the pragmatic Cory, with
additional backstory gradually revealed that proves the high point of the book,
the present storyline being strong, as well, and a very satisfying read, if
somewhat reminiscent of other works such as the aforementioned 1984.
With master's degrees in education, special education, and counseling, Anjenique "Jen" Hughes is a high school English and math teacher who loves teaching and mentoring young people. She enjoys traveling and has worked with youth on five continents. Saying she is "young at heart" is an understatement; she is fluent in sarcasm, breaks eardrums with her teacher voice (students have complained when they were within earshot), and cracks sarcastic jokes with the best of her students. Her work with ethnically and socioeconomically diverse youth has inspired her to write books that appeal to a broad variety of students seeking stories of bravery, perseverance, loyalty, and success.
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