Dystopian Fiction | Self-Publishing Review

Review: Golden Dreg Boy Book 1: The Slums by D.K. Dailey

With the world on the delicate edge of disaster, a young boy must face the truth about his past, the sins of the present, and the possibility of a revolutionary future in Golden Dreg Boy: The Slums by D.K. Dailey. This first book sets the stage for a longer series in which the remains of civilization have sequestered in the cities that have been transformed into starkly divided kingdoms of the rich and the poor.

The protagonist, Kade, brings an original narrative voice as a “Golden” firmly set in his ways, accepting of the brutally unequal world order out of […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-07-03T03:30:57+02:00June 17th, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Dystopian Fiction|

Final Act by Van Fleisher

Author Van Fleisher continues his near-future saga with Final Act, the second installment of his Final Series. Two years after Vijay Patel invents a death-predicting sports watch, he and the FBI are still dealing with the murderous fallout from such a perspective-changing invention. With six million gun-toting VT2 wearers still roaming the country, it’s impossible to know when the next spate of violent, no-consequence retribution will break out.

Well-penned vignettes from victims and wearers alike swirl around the main core of the plot, in which the coming American election looms large, paired with the impact of thousands of […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2021-10-29T07:15:37+02:00April 19th, 2020|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Dystopian Fiction, Van Fleisher|

Review: A True Map of the City by J Guenther

Horus Blassingame travels from Albion to Deresthia for a business conference that will change his identity forever in A True Map of the City by J Guenther. The fictional setting of this twisted novel creates tangible discomfort on every page, and the tragic spiral of Horus from suspicious stranger to local legend makes for a quick and bizarre read.

As Horus attempts to navigate his surroundings in a foreign land, he encounters a colorful stream of characters, but it is difficult to determine help from harm in such a backwards place. Only a handful of people speak Anglic (English), and […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-05-20T05:04:56+02:00March 30th, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Dystopian Fiction, J Guenther, Literary Fiction|

Review: The Capsule by Olga Loukianova

As our world continues to be increasingly reliant on technology, the fear of losing one’s individuality is similarly growing. Author Olga Loukianova presses hard on that slow-burning wound with her dystopian novel, The Capsule, a chilling take on the fate our species.

During the so-called “Age of Perfection,” life has been simplified and streamlined. People exist within perfect capsules, where all their physiological needs are met and managed by Systema, the technological savior of humanity. Interaction with reality outside the capsules is discouraged, and in most cases, unnecessary, as you can instead exist in Net City, which offers all […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-07-19T05:11:28+02:00June 19th, 2019|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Dystopian Fiction, Science Fiction|

Review: The Last Defender by Travis Pearson

If you were witnessing the end of free will and life as you know it, would you have the courage to stand up and defend what you believe in? This is the gripping question that author Travis Pearson tackles in his rapid-fire new novel, The Last Defender. Seamlessly blending social commentary, dystopian science fiction and thrilling action, this novel casts a wide net in terms of a potential audience.

When a larger-than-life politician is elected to rule a sovereign nation, his constituents have no idea what horror they’ve signed up for. A shift in tactics is one thing, but […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-06-03T03:20:46+02:00April 2nd, 2019|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Dystopian Fiction, Thriller, Travis Pearson|

Midnight Black: The Purge by R.J. Eastwood

Imagine being isolated from society for more than a decade, only to find out that the entire world has fallen to pieces when you return. In Midnight Black: The Purge, a new thriller by author R.J. Eastwood, that exact scenario plays out for the protagonist, Billy Russell, an ex-cop who had served 15 of his 20 years for taking well-deserved justice into his own hands.

Russell is brought back to the land of the living only to find that a nuclear conflict has ushered in a new world order, and his newly granted freedom will start with him swallowing […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-03-08T10:12:28+02:00March 8th, 2019|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Dystopian Fiction, Thriller|

Review: Radioactive Evolution by Richard Hummel

In Radioactive Evolution, a new iteration of a dystopian world, is painted in graphic detail by debut author Richard Hummel. After humanity has destroyed itself through nuclear destruction, the wealthy have fled to their safe havens in the sky, leaving the rest of humanity behind to fend for themselves in a world all too eager to destroy them.

The focal character of this novel, MC, is not your typical dystopian hero; in fact, in many respects, he is quite the average protagonist, but with endless potential. This lends itself well to the style of the book, which reflects a […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-03-26T07:35:46+02:00March 4th, 2019|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Dystopian Fiction, Fantasy, Post-Apocalyptic|

Review: Profit Wars by Mac Whitesides

Sometimes the near future can be far more terrifying than some far-distant dystopian hellscape, and in Profit Wars, author Mac Whitesides hits close to home with a tale set only a stone’s throw ahead of humanity’s present day.

In the year 2020, war has finally shed its façade and revealed itself as a game of profit. Victory goes to the highest bidder, particularly when you have the Global Force Protection (GFP) fighting in your corner. This massive global corporation can basically shift the tides of world power, selling its elite mercenary services for almost any cause.

Even those who […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-01-22T05:41:26+02:00September 25th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Dystopian Fiction, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction|