Review: Forager - A Dystopian Trilogy

Forager - A Dystopian Trilogy by Peter Stone


Kindle price: $2,91
File Size: 738 KB
Print Length: 297 pages
ISBN: 1492949701
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B00GUB9DGA

Synopsis:

Eighteen-year-old Ethan Jones lives in Newhome, a town built upon the decaying ruins of post-apocalyptic Melbourne, ruins haunted by the ferocious Skel, a nomadic tribe of degenerate savages. 

The Skel are ramping up their attacks on Newhome's foraging teams and infesting Melbourne's ruins in ever greater numbers. Is this part of a larger plan that could spell the town's doom? 

Meanwhile, the last thing Ethan expects when he and his companions rescue a two-car convoy from the Skel is a Japanese teenage girl with an outlandish dress-sense, who after they take her back to Newhome, goes to great lengths to ingratiate herself into his life. But is it in gratitude for saving her life or is she seeking something more? 

And what a quandry she places him in, for he knows the rules, that no man is permitted to be alone with an unmarried woman. But how can he drive such a gentle soul away when she touchs his heart so deeply, even though she clearly carries the pain of a broken heart. 

At the same time, Newhome's police force, the Custodians, are suspicious of Ethan's foraging team's successes and are pulling out the stops to find out which member of his team has the illegal mutant ability that gives them an edge over the other teams. Should these peacekeepers discover Ethan is the mutant they seek, they will haul him away and dissect him like a frog.

My Review:  It was hard to put down

The story is told by Ethan’s voice, and describes the world a century after the World War Three.

Ethan lives in Newhome, a well guarded town constructed inside the ruins of what once was the city of Melbourne, and works as a forager, retrieving non-corrosive metals from the ruins around them.

The society changed and the people had little to no freedom. It sucked most for the women, who didn’t have a say in anything at all. They weren’t allowed to go out of their homes without a chaperone, didn’t have permission to go to school, or date, or even talk with their own sons alone.

All the marriages were arranged by the fathers and any kind of misbehave was punished by the Custodians.

But the people who lived inside the walls of Newhome weren’t the only survivors. There were other towns and also the feared Skel (in the beginning of the book, I thought they were zombies or something like that, but that’s not it at all), who raided civilized towns and settlements to steal supplies and abduct captives to be their slaves.

Ethan had an accident two years before the beginning of the book, and because of that, he didn’t remember anything that happened in a whole year of his life. He also was what the Custodians called aberration (people with some kind of genetic mutation) and had the ability to use a sonar, much like bats do, and see through darkness and inside buildings.

Ethan struggles to live up the strict rules of Newhome, and often rebels against them, even more when his father tries to set up his marriage with a girl he can’t stand. He is already in love with a Japanese girl he saved from the Skels

Some things that happens in the book were very predictable, but it didn’t take away the fun I had reading it.

There are also some contradictions, again nothing too relevant to the plot and there is always so much going on that you quickly forget about them.

What I liked: Ethan – he is stubborn and brave, even when he is almost peeing his pants with fear; Nanako – the girl Ethan is in love with. She is very lovable and her feelings for him are endearing. Michal – Ethan’s best friend; and the plot. It was intriguing and fast paced.

What I didn’t like: Some things that happened near the end of the book (and that I will not list here to avoid spoils). But I can say that those things were what made me give this book four instead of five stars.

I read this book in one night and I recommend it to all who loves the dystopian theme with a beautiful love story.

You can buy the book on Amazon
For more information, visit the blog - Forager or go to it's page on Goodreads.