Thursday, November 14, 2013

Hush / S.L. Baum

This is the front end of a doubleshot. This afternoon, look for Fredlet's take on the same book.


Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: YA/Dystopian

Approximate word count: 45-50,000 words

Availability    
Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: YES  Smashwords: NO  Paper: NO
Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

A former high school math teacher, S.L. Baum now works as a substitute elementary school teacher, chauffeur for her kids, and novelist. She lives with her family in the Southwestern United States. Her The Immortal Ones series has four books, thus far. Her book Lush began a dystopian serial for young adults with Hush as the continuation.

Description:

Hush is the continuation of the serial which began with Lush. In this installment Bluebell has a kind of coming out as the “Lush Ambassador.” She then does a tour of each of the four regions of Concord, the fictional dystopian world where the story takes place. As Bluebell visits each Concord region she learns more about the world she’s living in as well as more about things she’s not meant to find out, including her past.

Appraisal:

In my review of Lush, the first installment in this dystopian serial, I discussed how its world was unlike a typical dystopia. The primary difference is that the standard of living is high, lacking the squalor and poverty of a normal dystopia. But like most dystopias, life is far from ideal. In Concord, life appears good, with a healthcare system that provides a long, good life. However, with the government also making many life decisions for the people, maybe it isn’t so good after all.

As the story continues we, through Bluebell, begin to see the chinks in the armor. Maybe some of the positives about Concord are only illusion. As more information comes out about Bluebell’s mother, Bluebell is given clues to some of Concord’s faults. When I finished Lush, I was interested in seeing where this serial was headed, both because I found the world interesting and wanted to see what happened to the characters. But I didn’t feel fully invested. This installment changed that.

Format/Typo Issues:

Review is based on a beta copy which means I’m unable to grade the final product in this area.


Rating: ***** Five stars

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