Genre: Satire
Description:
“A post-Brexit, post-Trump romp through the world of what-if...
In a world where democracy has been declared no longer fit for
purpose, a cohort of randomly-selected British Republic citizens receives their
call to serve in parliament. As the strangers gather to learn their tasks for
the next three years, the Cabinet Support Team tries to fit jobs to skills—but
Queenie can’t do nuffin’. Naturally she becomes head of state. Together the new
government muddles through, tackling unrest on the streets and a spot of global
bioterrorism in addition to their own journeys of self-discovery.”
Author:
A native of the UK, Carolyn has worked in a number of professions,
from psychologist to driving a semi-truck to an editor and proofreader. Then
there's this author thing too, with two non-fiction books to her credit as well
as contributing to several more. This book appears to be her first published
work of fiction.
Appraisal:
I'm not sure where to start in trying to describe Queenie's Teapot,
even in picking a genre. The premise is much like you'd expect from a dystopian
novel, a “what if” imagined to the ultimate, but things never get bad enough to
qualify as a dystopia. (Of course, the opposite of a dystopia is a utopia, and
that doesn't fit either.) The author described it as satire, and that's not
totally unreasonable.
At least satire is reasonable other than the quibble that satire is
typically based on reality, but the world imagined here isn't reality with the
figureheads of government (heads of state, cabinet ministers, etc.) picked
semi-randomly by people working in the background. Well, not reality unless you
buy into some of the more wild conspiracy theories floating around. I'll assume
you don't.
Lack of knowing how to describe the story didn't stop me from getting
drawn in. The protagonist, Queenie Mason, was likeable and made me want her to
succeed. (That's why she got picked as head of state, not because of her name,
although that couldn't have hurt.) The deeper into the story I got, the more I
understood the satire. I got the point of the what if. Some of you might see it
as a dystopia after all. At a minimum it's a fun little political adventure and
if you want, it'll also get you thinking.
Buy now
from: Amazon US Amazon UK
FYI:
Uses UK spelling. Also, lots of UK slang and forms of expression.
Original review posted January 25, 2017.
Format/Typo
Issues:
No significant issues
Rating: *****
Five Stars
Reviewed
by: BigAl
Approximate word count: 95-100,000 words
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