Genre: Dystopian/Satire
Description:
“DV-8 lives in a dystopian, totalitarian, Orwellian nightmare...and he
loves it!
After all, when every single aspect of your life is dictated, it takes
a lot of the pressure off you.
He never has to worry about making plans for the weekend as he’s not
allowed to do anything; he never has to worry about making small talk with
strangers since any topics outside of party business are outlawed and he never
has to worry about meeting someone as he already has a partner assigned to him.
He’s living the dream.
So, when the revolution comes and DV-8 is granted his freedom (and a
new name), he finds he has absolutely no idea what to do with it. Eventually he
does what we all do when we are scared and clings on to his safe, familiar ways
for dear life. While the majority are out enjoying their new found freedom, DV
finds himself ostracised for living by the same rules that used to promise him
safety, security and a sense of purpose. When DV discovers there are others
like him who are not quite ready to give up the old ways, they team up and
hatch a plan to put things ‘right’.
A twist on a traditional Orwellian tale that will make you say, ‘Bring
Back Big Brother'.”
Author:
Luke Richards describes himself as being a guinea pig enthusiast,
author, and comedian (in that order). Dave’s New World is his first
book.
Appraisal:
A dystopian novel that is also satire or comedic is a twist I’ve never
seen before and I loved it. Seeing things from the protagonist’s point of view
was different. You might think the protagonist is named Dave, but don’t be
fooled. People who aren’t with the program start to call him that, but his real
name is DV-8. Everyone has a serial number assigned that is made up of a couple
digits or letters, a dash and one or two additional digits or letters. (Yeah,
If I had done the math to figure things out I’d realize that there couldn’t
possibly be enough combinations for the number of people in the country he
lives in, but I didn’t feel like doing math.) The overall story is engaging as
we try to figure out whether DV-8 is going to see the light or not. But there
are also a bunch of comedic things buried in there for people familiar with
popular literature and popular music. For example, I kept expecting to run into
a person called MC-5 in reference to the 60s rock band from Detroit. That
didn’t happen, but we did see other bands show up, UB-40 for example, along
with other musical and cultural references used in a humorous way. How it all
shakes out and what DV-8 or Dave think of it, I’ll leave you to find out when
you give this book a read, but if you’re into the dystopian genre and comedic
or satirical stories as much as I am, you’re going to love this book.
Buy now
from: Amazon US Amazon UK
FYI:
The author is from the UK and uses UK spelling conventions.
Format/Typo
Issues:
No significant issues.
Rating: *****
Five Stars
Reviewed
by: BigAl
Approximate word count: 55-60,000 words
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