What do you think?
Rate this book
Reality Testing
Welcome to Berlin. Population: desperate. In the throes of the climate crisis the green tech pioneers are king, and if you aren't willing to be their serf then you're surplus to requirements.
Carbon credit for sleeping on the job. That's the offer a dreamtech puts to Mara Kinzig, and she jumps on it. After all, the city ain't getting any cheaper.
Then somebody changes the deal while she's dreaming in the tank.
Now Mara has a body on her hands, an extra voice in her head, and the law on her tail. Only the Vanguard, a Foreign Legion of outcasts seeking an alternative path in the dust between the city states, might be able to help her figure out what went wrong. First, though, she'll have to escape the seething streets of Berlin alive.
Carbon credit for sleeping on the job. That's the offer a dreamtech puts to Mara Kinzig, and she jumps on it. After all, the city ain't getting any cheaper.
Then somebody changes the deal while she's dreaming in the tank.
Now Mara has a body on her hands, an extra voice in her head, and the law on her tail. Only the Vanguard, a Foreign Legion of outcasts seeking an alternative path in the dust between the city states, might be able to help her figure out what went wrong. First, though, she'll have to escape the seething streets of Berlin alive.
289 pages, ebook
Published January 6, 2021
27 people are currently reading
156 people want to read
About the author
Grant Price
4 books57 followersGrant Price is a writer of climate fiction. His debut novel, By the Feet of Men (Cosmic Egg, 2019), was submitted for consideration to the Arthur C. Clarke Award. His second novel, Reality Testing (Black Rose, 2022), is part of the Sundown Cycle and was listed in Kirkus's Top 100 Books 2021. Published in December 2023, Pacific State (Black Rose, 2023) is his latest release and the second book in the Sundown Cycle. Grant is currently based in Athens, Greece.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
January 25, 2021
Reality Testing is a colorful novel, generously long, pumped full of so much creativity that the experience of reading it can only be compared to an overdose of science-fiction brand narcotics. Blending a complex web of illusion and reality, with prose that is so tight, sleek, polished, and chromium-plated, it can only belong to a talented writer, giving voice to his vision within the peculiar demands of the cyberpunk realm.
I believe the stylings to be the essence of the book. You will notice the dense imagery right off the bat, with its grungy city atmosphere, and lightning-paced, adrenaline-fueled thriller tones, Reality Testing is a true test of fictional constraints. Getting used to the world-building and futuristic jargon can make for a bit of a learning curve, much like in the work of William Gibson, but the words begin to slot into place over time, filling in the blanks in a vast mosaic of author-trademarked background props. The Blade Runner grit and layering of imprints, tech conglomerates, slum dross, high concept drugs, mods, etc. provide profuse atmospheric accoutrements, along with the constant pleasure of discovery, as you navigate the break-neck plot.
The vicious society it depicts, the gritty landscape, flooded with sleazy grime, slime, and dense urban decay, is crowded with seething, plastic-drenched corporations, speedy, neurotic enclosures - conjuring a metropolis which is at once a melange of cultures, influences, languages, product placement, glitz, gliders, and well-sustained tension. Also sustained is the continuous action, like the non-stop gallop of a manufactured dream. Billowing beneath this construct are the dog-eat-dog politics, made-to-order for the chase through streets so teeming with commerce and potential as to embody a circuitboard of virtual lives. The hive-minded individuals hock their wares and enact the subtle subterfuge of a race lobotomized by its own innovations.
Our vibrant main character, via neural instructions, seeks to escape the microcosmic entanglement of her situation, but in a life oozing with so many engineered conveniences and rife with technical splendor, is there any hope but for a replacement peace, a static chaos? like a bridge of dead ants across a stream, sustaining a new army upon the carcasses of the fallen - such is history, our bridge. Luckily, Grant Price balances lengthy descriptions of immense imaginative power with bracing dialogue, cheeky narration and good storytelling. Every page makes consistent use of localized fictional bytes which add up to a convincing fictional software, to be downloaded directly into our collective unconscious. True science fiction establishes the sources of its fantastical elements, explains the unbelievable and renders it uncannily believable. The synthetic lives and overstimulated existence present here illustrate that principle magnificently. I do not think it is possible to rewrite cyberpunk with a more authentic display.
I believe the stylings to be the essence of the book. You will notice the dense imagery right off the bat, with its grungy city atmosphere, and lightning-paced, adrenaline-fueled thriller tones, Reality Testing is a true test of fictional constraints. Getting used to the world-building and futuristic jargon can make for a bit of a learning curve, much like in the work of William Gibson, but the words begin to slot into place over time, filling in the blanks in a vast mosaic of author-trademarked background props. The Blade Runner grit and layering of imprints, tech conglomerates, slum dross, high concept drugs, mods, etc. provide profuse atmospheric accoutrements, along with the constant pleasure of discovery, as you navigate the break-neck plot.
The vicious society it depicts, the gritty landscape, flooded with sleazy grime, slime, and dense urban decay, is crowded with seething, plastic-drenched corporations, speedy, neurotic enclosures - conjuring a metropolis which is at once a melange of cultures, influences, languages, product placement, glitz, gliders, and well-sustained tension. Also sustained is the continuous action, like the non-stop gallop of a manufactured dream. Billowing beneath this construct are the dog-eat-dog politics, made-to-order for the chase through streets so teeming with commerce and potential as to embody a circuitboard of virtual lives. The hive-minded individuals hock their wares and enact the subtle subterfuge of a race lobotomized by its own innovations.
Our vibrant main character, via neural instructions, seeks to escape the microcosmic entanglement of her situation, but in a life oozing with so many engineered conveniences and rife with technical splendor, is there any hope but for a replacement peace, a static chaos? like a bridge of dead ants across a stream, sustaining a new army upon the carcasses of the fallen - such is history, our bridge. Luckily, Grant Price balances lengthy descriptions of immense imaginative power with bracing dialogue, cheeky narration and good storytelling. Every page makes consistent use of localized fictional bytes which add up to a convincing fictional software, to be downloaded directly into our collective unconscious. True science fiction establishes the sources of its fantastical elements, explains the unbelievable and renders it uncannily believable. The synthetic lives and overstimulated existence present here illustrate that principle magnificently. I do not think it is possible to rewrite cyberpunk with a more authentic display.
October 28, 2022
Real Rating: 3.5* of five, rounded up because I'll read the next one
The Publisher Says: Welcome to Berlin. Population: desperate. In the throes of the climate crisis the green tech pioneers are king, and if you aren't willing to be their serf then you're surplus to requirements.
Carbon credit for sleeping on the job. That's the offer a dreamtech puts to Mara Kinzig, and she jumps on it. After all, the city ain't getting any cheaper.
Then somebody changes the deal while she's dreaming in the tank.
Now Mara has a body on her hands, an extra voice in her head, and the law on her tail. Only the Vanguard, a Foreign Legion of outcasts seeking an alternative path in the dust between the city states, might be able to help her figure out what went wrong. First, though, she'll have to escape the seething streets of Berlin alive.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: Another day, another dystopia. SF loves its dystopias, almost as much as YA does. The reason I rated this one three-and-a-half stars out of five is simple: I like the lesbian lead. She is a cool soul, struggling to make sense of her life while living it in a Grim New World that won't ever let her up or give her a break...and she doesn't carry that weight like it's a burden. She wants better for herself and her loved ones, like all people I've ever known. Daniel, another PoV, wasn't to my liking when I met him but he was compelling, driven by understandable needs and wants. He grows into someone I never expected him to be.
Also terrifically effective was the worldbuilding's slow-burn sensitivity to the plot. Permaybehaps the hardest adjustment was to the mixed slang spoken throughout, a heady brew of Chinese and German and so on and so forth. It's well deployed but still requires effort from the reader. We're in a climate-changed Berlin, a place not hugely resilient or possessed of reserves of natural diversity even now. Technology, that savior of all saviors, is pervasive in this climate-stressed world; I'd even say rampant. Its "blessings" are, as ever, unequally bestowed and frequently mitigated to the point of not being helpful.
The Publisher Says: Welcome to Berlin. Population: desperate. In the throes of the climate crisis the green tech pioneers are king, and if you aren't willing to be their serf then you're surplus to requirements.
Carbon credit for sleeping on the job. That's the offer a dreamtech puts to Mara Kinzig, and she jumps on it. After all, the city ain't getting any cheaper.
Then somebody changes the deal while she's dreaming in the tank.
Now Mara has a body on her hands, an extra voice in her head, and the law on her tail. Only the Vanguard, a Foreign Legion of outcasts seeking an alternative path in the dust between the city states, might be able to help her figure out what went wrong. First, though, she'll have to escape the seething streets of Berlin alive.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: Another day, another dystopia. SF loves its dystopias, almost as much as YA does. The reason I rated this one three-and-a-half stars out of five is simple: I like the lesbian lead. She is a cool soul, struggling to make sense of her life while living it in a Grim New World that won't ever let her up or give her a break...and she doesn't carry that weight like it's a burden. She wants better for herself and her loved ones, like all people I've ever known. Daniel, another PoV, wasn't to my liking when I met him but he was compelling, driven by understandable needs and wants. He grows into someone I never expected him to be.
Also terrifically effective was the worldbuilding's slow-burn sensitivity to the plot. Permaybehaps the hardest adjustment was to the mixed slang spoken throughout, a heady brew of Chinese and German and so on and so forth. It's well deployed but still requires effort from the reader. We're in a climate-changed Berlin, a place not hugely resilient or possessed of reserves of natural diversity even now. Technology, that savior of all saviors, is pervasive in this climate-stressed world; I'd even say rampant. Its "blessings" are, as ever, unequally bestowed and frequently mitigated to the point of not being helpful.
January 17, 2021
Grant Price’s latest offering, Reality Testing, will take you on a high stakes sci-fi adventure for sure. But there’s a lot more going on with this story than courageous likeable characters fighting corporate evil in a dark transactional world where no one trusts anyone, and nothing is any longer in harmony with nature. Price sparks the mind. He addresses the big issues of our time, of all times really. What makes us human? Where does our humanity reside? Certainly not simply in our physical body. Is our consciousness a function of our individual brains? Or maybe our brains are just receivers for a consciousness somewhere out there in the universe.
Spoiler alert. There’s a startling moment early on in the book when the heroine, Mara, realizes she’s in a body not her own. After that the surprises keep coming while you try to figure out who to trust as Mara faces one challenge after another until the final revelation. On the journey Price employs a lot of unusual sci-fi words I didn’t know that felt like they were made of sharp edges but in a way they added to the adventure for me. Compelling story telling and well-drawn memorable characters on a life and death adventure made Reality Testing a page turner for me.
If you enjoy thought provoking sci-fi don’t miss this one. Five Stars.
Spoiler alert. There’s a startling moment early on in the book when the heroine, Mara, realizes she’s in a body not her own. After that the surprises keep coming while you try to figure out who to trust as Mara faces one challenge after another until the final revelation. On the journey Price employs a lot of unusual sci-fi words I didn’t know that felt like they were made of sharp edges but in a way they added to the adventure for me. Compelling story telling and well-drawn memorable characters on a life and death adventure made Reality Testing a page turner for me.
If you enjoy thought provoking sci-fi don’t miss this one. Five Stars.
February 23, 2021
Grant Price catapults us into a dystopian sci fi future in the thrilling Reality Testing! In a climate ravaged future, Mara Kinzig is paid to be put in stasis. But while she’s under, the deal goes south. Awakening with an extra voice in her head, she must battle her way through corporate controlled Berlin in her search for answers. I love the throwback feel to classics like Total Recall and Minority Report, all dressed with some new surprises that Prince crafted using realistic issues from today! This one’s actiony, thoughtful, gritty, and all around a cyberpunk-esque experience I really enjoyed. If you loved the corporate dystopian nature of Blade Runner, definitely come claim your carbon credit with Reality Testing!
March 26, 2021
2021 reads, #7. As someone who was a big fan of the original wave of cyberpunk authors in the late 1980s and early '90s, one of the things that delights me the most about our current times is the wave of retro popularity this genre has seen in recent years; and Grant Price's Reality Testing is a fine example of a cyberpunk nostalgia novel, so pitch-perfect to the genre's tropes that I was expecting to read a review of it afterwards in Mondo 2000, right next to R.U. Sirius's interview with Lydia Lunch conducted on the set of Survival Research Laboratory's latest performance piece.
Set in a gritty futuristic Germany with lots of shades of William Gibson's famous "Sprawl" trilogy (for example, like Gibson's portrayal of a futuristic American Eastern Seaboard, in Price's world the entire area between Dusseldorf and Bonn is essentially one giant megapolis), the main nod Price makes here to the book actually being written in the 21st century is the fact that our own age's utopian "green smart buildings" have become the new slums of Price's universe, in a world where carbon credits have become the new de facto currency and "cloud computing" is done with human brains among a permanently cowed lower class.
Other than that, though, nearly every other beat of this fun, fast-paced thriller follows all the tropes first established by people like Neal Stephenson and Bruce Sterling now 30 years ago, essentially starting with a mysterious death on the first page and then falling down the rabbithole of its investigation as the novel continues, revealing conspiracies among self-autonomous corporations, back-alley wetware engineers, freakishly alien-looking sex workers and a lot more. If you don't already like cyberpunk, there ain't even a single chance you're going to like this book; but if you do, you'll find a great exercise in time-capsule pastiche here, a book that had me reaching for my pleated pegged pants and 33k modem the entire time I was reading it. It comes with a limited but spirited recommendation to this specific audience.
Set in a gritty futuristic Germany with lots of shades of William Gibson's famous "Sprawl" trilogy (for example, like Gibson's portrayal of a futuristic American Eastern Seaboard, in Price's world the entire area between Dusseldorf and Bonn is essentially one giant megapolis), the main nod Price makes here to the book actually being written in the 21st century is the fact that our own age's utopian "green smart buildings" have become the new slums of Price's universe, in a world where carbon credits have become the new de facto currency and "cloud computing" is done with human brains among a permanently cowed lower class.
Other than that, though, nearly every other beat of this fun, fast-paced thriller follows all the tropes first established by people like Neal Stephenson and Bruce Sterling now 30 years ago, essentially starting with a mysterious death on the first page and then falling down the rabbithole of its investigation as the novel continues, revealing conspiracies among self-autonomous corporations, back-alley wetware engineers, freakishly alien-looking sex workers and a lot more. If you don't already like cyberpunk, there ain't even a single chance you're going to like this book; but if you do, you'll find a great exercise in time-capsule pastiche here, a book that had me reaching for my pleated pegged pants and 33k modem the entire time I was reading it. It comes with a limited but spirited recommendation to this specific audience.
May 22, 2021
“The fish trap exists because of the fish. Have you caught yours?”
▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪
Trigger Warnings : None
Huge thanks to @blackthornbooktours for sending me a free ecopy of this book in exchange for an honest review and for making me a part of the book tour for Reality Testing.
A dystopian world set in the far-future of the earth. Its the time of implants, brain wiping, data farming and robot-bull cops. New inventions, new ideas, new discoveries, new thoughts, new people— new everything. However, not all is savvy in this high-tech, sci-fi world (it's dystopian for a reason). Somewhere along building a "better" future and employing AI's, humans have abandoned humanity like a broken gadget gone out of trend.
And Mara Kinzig, a mechanic in Berlin, is forced to admit and acknowledge the crumbling edge of the society she lives in when she has to face the perplexing and dangerous consequences of a plan gone wrong (on her side for sure). Too soon, Mara is hunted across the city and the murky undergrounds for having the blood of a higher-up on her hands. The robo-bull cops seem to be the type of kill (more like obliterate)-on-sight and Mara has to hide and duck to find answers for the questions that arose from regretful decisions and ill-intentional offers from a dreamtech.
It's been so long since I've touched a dystopian novel that it took me four chapters, a blatant murder in plain sight, and uncaring authorities to realize it. Though in my defense, I was much too concentrated on drinking in the world-building. It felt overwhelming at first but the mix of Chinese, Japanese and German slang and Mara's thoughts helped soothe the intensity. I do, however, admit that a few things regarding the science behind the tech went over my head at times. I had trouble understanding or imagining those parts.
▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪
Speaking of imagining, many times throughout the story, I wished there was a visualization of this wonderful novel. This probably stemmed from the realization that this book gave me some serious CyberPunk (the game) and Doctor Who feels. As a result, each scene from the book is burnt in my mind in images I conjured vividly.
One of the things I liked in this story was how the author took care to add what could be varied possibilities as norms in the plot. Being set in the far future, it was (obviously) no surprise to find characters with diversified pronouns. That was very refreshing. Although, further chapters led me to believe it had more to do with technology than sexual orientation.
Other few elements that imprinted the story in my mind were the author's wordings, literary sense, word orders, and the language— all of which oddly fit the high-tech world. The variety of lingo (or slang) Price used were my favorite parts of the story. Some were confusing, some unfamiliar, and some odd— but their meanings could be roughly guessed with the help of the sentences they called home. Gradually, I came to immensely enjoy this little "guess what" activity and it was a nice distraction from the tumultuous thoughts of Mara.
▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪
It was also nice to see (read) the connection between Mara and Xi Yang. She was a calming hand that Mara needed in her chaotic world. The friendship slowly being built between Mara and Daniel was beautiful to read about and it warmed my heart. Along with these two relationships (both platonic and romantic), I would love to explore more about Abadine, Theo, and surprisingly, Mantis. Mantis was mysterious and yet not, at the same time. Their character intrigued me very much.
All the questions, mystery, adrenaline, split blood, and shed tears— the ending strangely felt like the click of a door closing shut. Although the answers received at the end were very surprising, the "final showdown" was… not a "showdown" (or at least, the action movie kind's) after all. And I felt it was perfect for the eco-punk story of this dystopian sci-fi world.
Reality Testing has left me looking forward to more works by Grant Price.
▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪
Trigger Warnings : None
Huge thanks to @blackthornbooktours for sending me a free ecopy of this book in exchange for an honest review and for making me a part of the book tour for Reality Testing.
A dystopian world set in the far-future of the earth. Its the time of implants, brain wiping, data farming and robot-bull cops. New inventions, new ideas, new discoveries, new thoughts, new people— new everything. However, not all is savvy in this high-tech, sci-fi world (it's dystopian for a reason). Somewhere along building a "better" future and employing AI's, humans have abandoned humanity like a broken gadget gone out of trend.
And Mara Kinzig, a mechanic in Berlin, is forced to admit and acknowledge the crumbling edge of the society she lives in when she has to face the perplexing and dangerous consequences of a plan gone wrong (on her side for sure). Too soon, Mara is hunted across the city and the murky undergrounds for having the blood of a higher-up on her hands. The robo-bull cops seem to be the type of kill (more like obliterate)-on-sight and Mara has to hide and duck to find answers for the questions that arose from regretful decisions and ill-intentional offers from a dreamtech.
It's been so long since I've touched a dystopian novel that it took me four chapters, a blatant murder in plain sight, and uncaring authorities to realize it. Though in my defense, I was much too concentrated on drinking in the world-building. It felt overwhelming at first but the mix of Chinese, Japanese and German slang and Mara's thoughts helped soothe the intensity. I do, however, admit that a few things regarding the science behind the tech went over my head at times. I had trouble understanding or imagining those parts.
▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪
Speaking of imagining, many times throughout the story, I wished there was a visualization of this wonderful novel. This probably stemmed from the realization that this book gave me some serious CyberPunk (the game) and Doctor Who feels. As a result, each scene from the book is burnt in my mind in images I conjured vividly.
One of the things I liked in this story was how the author took care to add what could be varied possibilities as norms in the plot. Being set in the far future, it was (obviously) no surprise to find characters with diversified pronouns. That was very refreshing. Although, further chapters led me to believe it had more to do with technology than sexual orientation.
Other few elements that imprinted the story in my mind were the author's wordings, literary sense, word orders, and the language— all of which oddly fit the high-tech world. The variety of lingo (or slang) Price used were my favorite parts of the story. Some were confusing, some unfamiliar, and some odd— but their meanings could be roughly guessed with the help of the sentences they called home. Gradually, I came to immensely enjoy this little "guess what" activity and it was a nice distraction from the tumultuous thoughts of Mara.
▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪▫▪
It was also nice to see (read) the connection between Mara and Xi Yang. She was a calming hand that Mara needed in her chaotic world. The friendship slowly being built between Mara and Daniel was beautiful to read about and it warmed my heart. Along with these two relationships (both platonic and romantic), I would love to explore more about Abadine, Theo, and surprisingly, Mantis. Mantis was mysterious and yet not, at the same time. Their character intrigued me very much.
All the questions, mystery, adrenaline, split blood, and shed tears— the ending strangely felt like the click of a door closing shut. Although the answers received at the end were very surprising, the "final showdown" was… not a "showdown" (or at least, the action movie kind's) after all. And I felt it was perfect for the eco-punk story of this dystopian sci-fi world.
Reality Testing has left me looking forward to more works by Grant Price.
January 15, 2021
This is one of the most fun sci fi books I've ever read.
It's a great refreshment to the bleary, dystopian worlds that seem so popular these days. Although the world IS a dystopian future of sorts, this mostly comes from the frame of reference from which ever character we're looking through at the time.
It's not necessarily clear cut whether or not the future is so bad for everybody (Hello well-balanced author!) as the world is very nuanced, taking our present day's sociatal trends and amplifying them into the future by perhaps a hundred years or so.
As a result, the technology in the novel is familiar with our current lifestyle, whilst fringe technology that may be just emerging now is common place in this novel. Refreshingly, the minutia of how everything works scientifically is happily left out for a smooth ride leaving the story open for high octane enjoyment! The author understands that the story is more important than trying to show how smart he is and how much research he's done :)
What stood out the most for me, making this book one of the most fun reads of the last few years, is that it reads not like a sci-fi novel, but more like an adventure novel.
Think Joe Abercrombe's 'The First Law' trilogy. Every scene is like a hyper visual set-piece of memorable characters, incidents, conversations, and environments without overloading the reader with any drawn-out, overtly alagorical observations of the character's world to our own world. They are certainly there to see in passing, and add to the fun, while the novel goes on its own relentless whirlwind adventure.
The characters deserve a special mention. They reminded me a little bit of Terry Pratchett's Discworld style of characterisation whereby every person seems to be so DEFINED in themselves. Nobody seems to fade into the background and each has their own super unique quality which just adds to that old timey adventurous serial feeling. They're not caricatures, they're all just real, 3D solid, and offer their own personality to the plot.
In terms of plot, this is another area where the writer really shines. He has really pushed the envelope with intelligent thought experiments regarding scientific concepts that are just emerging as problems to be solved today as we merge more and more with technology in 2021.
I won't spoil any areas where he's tried to imagine the potential future from where we are now, but I'll just say if you're a fan of sci-fi thought experiments and how things might pan out in the near future, then you'll enjoy how he's extrapolated how our modern day technological ethical dilemas might be solved, or not, 100 years from now.
The main plot focuses around a strong female lead, and when I say strong I mean strong. As in, goddamn I hate when a book or movie tries to pander to the "strong female lead" trend, but goddamn did he knock it out the park on this. Think Signourney Weaver strong. Like...it's just awesome. And her presence is complimented by that full cast of previously mentioned unique supporting characters weaving an intensely satisfying journey for our main hero, Mara.
The premise is one of those instantly intriguing hooks that pull you along for the ride. Poor Mara is put through tough physical and mental trials the moment we meet her that will leave the reader blown away by the ending.
Loved it. I really hope the writer comes back to this world and gets back in touch with some of the lovable characters in Reality Testing for another gripping, yet relevent, adventure. I think it could easily become a modern scifi classic series alongside Asimov's Foundation series.
5 Stars, 10/10, would recommend!
It's a great refreshment to the bleary, dystopian worlds that seem so popular these days. Although the world IS a dystopian future of sorts, this mostly comes from the frame of reference from which ever character we're looking through at the time.
It's not necessarily clear cut whether or not the future is so bad for everybody (Hello well-balanced author!) as the world is very nuanced, taking our present day's sociatal trends and amplifying them into the future by perhaps a hundred years or so.
As a result, the technology in the novel is familiar with our current lifestyle, whilst fringe technology that may be just emerging now is common place in this novel. Refreshingly, the minutia of how everything works scientifically is happily left out for a smooth ride leaving the story open for high octane enjoyment! The author understands that the story is more important than trying to show how smart he is and how much research he's done :)
What stood out the most for me, making this book one of the most fun reads of the last few years, is that it reads not like a sci-fi novel, but more like an adventure novel.
Think Joe Abercrombe's 'The First Law' trilogy. Every scene is like a hyper visual set-piece of memorable characters, incidents, conversations, and environments without overloading the reader with any drawn-out, overtly alagorical observations of the character's world to our own world. They are certainly there to see in passing, and add to the fun, while the novel goes on its own relentless whirlwind adventure.
The characters deserve a special mention. They reminded me a little bit of Terry Pratchett's Discworld style of characterisation whereby every person seems to be so DEFINED in themselves. Nobody seems to fade into the background and each has their own super unique quality which just adds to that old timey adventurous serial feeling. They're not caricatures, they're all just real, 3D solid, and offer their own personality to the plot.
In terms of plot, this is another area where the writer really shines. He has really pushed the envelope with intelligent thought experiments regarding scientific concepts that are just emerging as problems to be solved today as we merge more and more with technology in 2021.
I won't spoil any areas where he's tried to imagine the potential future from where we are now, but I'll just say if you're a fan of sci-fi thought experiments and how things might pan out in the near future, then you'll enjoy how he's extrapolated how our modern day technological ethical dilemas might be solved, or not, 100 years from now.
The main plot focuses around a strong female lead, and when I say strong I mean strong. As in, goddamn I hate when a book or movie tries to pander to the "strong female lead" trend, but goddamn did he knock it out the park on this. Think Signourney Weaver strong. Like...it's just awesome. And her presence is complimented by that full cast of previously mentioned unique supporting characters weaving an intensely satisfying journey for our main hero, Mara.
The premise is one of those instantly intriguing hooks that pull you along for the ride. Poor Mara is put through tough physical and mental trials the moment we meet her that will leave the reader blown away by the ending.
Loved it. I really hope the writer comes back to this world and gets back in touch with some of the lovable characters in Reality Testing for another gripping, yet relevent, adventure. I think it could easily become a modern scifi classic series alongside Asimov's Foundation series.
5 Stars, 10/10, would recommend!
May 21, 2021
When I read the announcement for 'Reality testing', I felt pure excitement with regard to the various elements that seemed to be combined in this story and I promise: You won't be disappointed. This novel presents the finest selection of horror and horror-related delicacies one can think of: confusion, blood, brutality, fraud, Sci-Fi, hopelessness, desperation, authentic characters, breathlessness, a little bit of dystopian fiction and this significant trait of bravery that puts suspense in the story. 'Reality testing' is definitely not "too soft for the horror".
The story is thoughtful constructed without any breaks in logic. In the presented futuristic world, everything fits perfectly well (especially the jargon caught my attention) and makes you imagine a Berlin that would make - in comparison - hell blush because of its own chastity. I've never read a story before in which I found so many sentences of which I thought: "These statements really belong into our time" like "Am I me? I feel like I am, but this isn't my head" or "On the surface, green was the only colour that mattered". The relation in this case seems to be turned upside down: Not you understand the story, but the story understands you.
I normally don't say this, but I absolutely enjoyed the beginning. Here you won't find a usual in-medias-res opening, but one that catches you on the hop. As a reader, you are as well as the protagonist Mara completely confused about the situation she finds herself in and you also think the same because necessary information is missing: Where am I? What am I? Why am I? What time is it? What is my role? This lack of information pulls you out of your comfort zone. You have no other option than following Mara on her escape, from time to time being scared of getting lost in this labyrinth of frauds, too.
I could go on praising and praising. And I won't. Why? Because the narrative quality of this adorable piece of horror fiction can't be squeezed in a small review box. The range of vocabulary that drips out of every slot, the precise descriptions that make this imaginary world vivid, the underlying dark atmosphere that opposes you, the mixture of emotions you have to conquer on every page, the shocks and surprises that make you stumble: In this novel, you find an adventure nothing prepared you for. Well done.
The story is thoughtful constructed without any breaks in logic. In the presented futuristic world, everything fits perfectly well (especially the jargon caught my attention) and makes you imagine a Berlin that would make - in comparison - hell blush because of its own chastity. I've never read a story before in which I found so many sentences of which I thought: "These statements really belong into our time" like "Am I me? I feel like I am, but this isn't my head" or "On the surface, green was the only colour that mattered". The relation in this case seems to be turned upside down: Not you understand the story, but the story understands you.
I normally don't say this, but I absolutely enjoyed the beginning. Here you won't find a usual in-medias-res opening, but one that catches you on the hop. As a reader, you are as well as the protagonist Mara completely confused about the situation she finds herself in and you also think the same because necessary information is missing: Where am I? What am I? Why am I? What time is it? What is my role? This lack of information pulls you out of your comfort zone. You have no other option than following Mara on her escape, from time to time being scared of getting lost in this labyrinth of frauds, too.
I could go on praising and praising. And I won't. Why? Because the narrative quality of this adorable piece of horror fiction can't be squeezed in a small review box. The range of vocabulary that drips out of every slot, the precise descriptions that make this imaginary world vivid, the underlying dark atmosphere that opposes you, the mixture of emotions you have to conquer on every page, the shocks and surprises that make you stumble: In this novel, you find an adventure nothing prepared you for. Well done.
February 5, 2021
I have a new favorite adjective thanks to author Grant Price: taufed. (More on that later.) Price’s gorgeous new novel, “Reality Testing,” introduces readers to a terrifying but not unimaginable future: a dramatically altered Europe (Germany, to be precise) decimated by climate change, among other crises, where tech and flesh are one, where reality means nothing, and where women like the protagonist Mara are labeled “obsols.” It’s a bullet-quick read thanks to Price’s talent for writing action interspersed with razor-sharp dialogue. Mara is a terrific character, fighting multiple battles — including one inside her own head — in a fast-paced whodunnit where the bodies and existential threats pile up. Thankfully, she gathers assistance from an equally engaging supporting cast from start to finish.
The world in “Reality Testing” has a vernacular all its own, including “tauf,” which comes from a very colorful acronym, but Price does a great job of sprinkling in subtle details about the way this upside-down world works — who wins, who loses, and who lives on the margins, settling for scraps. I’ve read some imaginative sci-fi over the years, and I have to say this is one of the best genre novels I’ve paged through in quite some time. I could compare it to some of the genre’s standard bearers, but what would be the point? It’s a completely original work, and I’m in awe of Price’s imagination. The story is both completely alien and utterly believable — insane and absurd but, based on the way the world seems to be trending, a likely end point for our species.
As much as technology has changed our world for the better, I’m leery of giving it too much power, of sacrificing so much of our real-life experiences in exchange for an ersatz existence powered by AI and the kinds of next-gen tech Price imagines here. Though the novel certainly had its share of bleakness, I was heartened by Mara’s transformation and, better, her refusal to stand still as the world changed around her. An absolutely terrific read ... and I hope to read more from Price’s pen.
The world in “Reality Testing” has a vernacular all its own, including “tauf,” which comes from a very colorful acronym, but Price does a great job of sprinkling in subtle details about the way this upside-down world works — who wins, who loses, and who lives on the margins, settling for scraps. I’ve read some imaginative sci-fi over the years, and I have to say this is one of the best genre novels I’ve paged through in quite some time. I could compare it to some of the genre’s standard bearers, but what would be the point? It’s a completely original work, and I’m in awe of Price’s imagination. The story is both completely alien and utterly believable — insane and absurd but, based on the way the world seems to be trending, a likely end point for our species.
As much as technology has changed our world for the better, I’m leery of giving it too much power, of sacrificing so much of our real-life experiences in exchange for an ersatz existence powered by AI and the kinds of next-gen tech Price imagines here. Though the novel certainly had its share of bleakness, I was heartened by Mara’s transformation and, better, her refusal to stand still as the world changed around her. An absolutely terrific read ... and I hope to read more from Price’s pen.
May 24, 2021
What’s Real?
A question we often ask ourselves, more so after the advent of the internet and Social Media.
Filtering out to get to the truth we often rely on people we trust.
And the person we trust the most for the truth...is us.
So what happens when we don’t know if we are REAL?
Reality Testing by Grant Price is a dystopian tale, a murder mystery, a thriller and a hard look at where we are headed in the not too distant future.
This tale is set in a world collapsing under climate crisis, where megalomaniacs are coming up with a way for men to reproduce ‘perfect’ offspring and women are called “obsul” because they are on the way to be obsolete.
One of these “obsuls” is Mara Kinzig and Reality Testing is her tale.
Mara wakes up one night from an extended sleep in a dreamtank to a nightmare on the ground. A dead body on the floor and a body that is not her own.
Here on begins Mara’s quest to find reality.
Who is she?
Where is her body?
Who is the ‘other’ voice in her head?
This search for answers leads Mara from the dusty and wild Berlin underground, towards a foreign legion, the Vanguard for hopes of salvation.
Pneumatic trains, augmented people and robotic bulls that can annihilate you in the blink of an eye, every second of Mara’s journey is super action packed.
Price has created a virtual cornucopia that rings a huge bell in our minds, warning us of the consequences of our actions not just on the climatic front but also with Technology and Artificial Intelligence. About humanity’s constant intervention and destruction of the things around us, as we move to become perfect, efficient and ‘GOD’-like.
As Mara battles her inner and external demons we get to see a future that looks freakishly real and one that could be coming our way very soon. SCARY.
A book that will leave you questioning reality and humanity.
So glad that i got this RC, it sparked a lot of questions and was an eye-opening read. Hope you liked my fair and honest review.
Happy Reading:)
A question we often ask ourselves, more so after the advent of the internet and Social Media.
Filtering out to get to the truth we often rely on people we trust.
And the person we trust the most for the truth...is us.
So what happens when we don’t know if we are REAL?
Reality Testing by Grant Price is a dystopian tale, a murder mystery, a thriller and a hard look at where we are headed in the not too distant future.
This tale is set in a world collapsing under climate crisis, where megalomaniacs are coming up with a way for men to reproduce ‘perfect’ offspring and women are called “obsul” because they are on the way to be obsolete.
One of these “obsuls” is Mara Kinzig and Reality Testing is her tale.
Mara wakes up one night from an extended sleep in a dreamtank to a nightmare on the ground. A dead body on the floor and a body that is not her own.
Here on begins Mara’s quest to find reality.
Who is she?
Where is her body?
Who is the ‘other’ voice in her head?
This search for answers leads Mara from the dusty and wild Berlin underground, towards a foreign legion, the Vanguard for hopes of salvation.
Pneumatic trains, augmented people and robotic bulls that can annihilate you in the blink of an eye, every second of Mara’s journey is super action packed.
Price has created a virtual cornucopia that rings a huge bell in our minds, warning us of the consequences of our actions not just on the climatic front but also with Technology and Artificial Intelligence. About humanity’s constant intervention and destruction of the things around us, as we move to become perfect, efficient and ‘GOD’-like.
As Mara battles her inner and external demons we get to see a future that looks freakishly real and one that could be coming our way very soon. SCARY.
A book that will leave you questioning reality and humanity.
So glad that i got this RC, it sparked a lot of questions and was an eye-opening read. Hope you liked my fair and honest review.
Happy Reading:)
May 24, 2021
See more of my reviews and other bookish content here!
This was a really good book. The pacing was great. There was always something happening or a new bit of interesting information being dropped to keep the reader engaged. The world was captivating and believable as a potential future for the human race on Earth, which was terrifying because it seemed to be the last horrific gasp of humanity before extinction. The author did an excellent job of unveiling details about the world and characters as the story progressed rather than dumping a lot of information at once. However, this approach did make the reading experience somewhat jarring at first with all of the unexplained concepts and terminology. I still really liked it, though, because it became like a puzzle throughout the book to figure out what all the jargon meant. I was especially proud of myself once I learned how to interpret the number system used in the book since I had no idea what it meant at first.
The main characters were fascinating and well-developed. Mara was a mystery with a riveting backstory, and the chapters from her POV were my favorite. The struggle she faced in figuring out her identity after the events she faced was incredibly compelling and kept me hooked until the very end. I also enjoyed the other characters, especially Daniel. It was interesting to see him go from someone always running from the things he did in the past to an individual who overcame his self-blame, took responsibility, and fought back. The freakish way technology was integrated into most of the characters' lives, and bodies, made each character unique, and seeing the different ways they each related to the tech, especially Mantis and the other underground individuals, was intriguing.
The world and characters were fantastic, but my favorite thing about this book was its ability to make me think about some pretty powerful issues that are facing mankind. It is one of the things I love about this entire genre, and this book pulls it off well. The story posed so many thought-provoking questions wrapped in the guise of the engrossing narrative. What are the potential impacts of a widespread environmental crisis? What is the endpoint of a society/economy that treats people as commodities with value based only what they can produce? How will the continued enmeshment of technology in every aspect of life impact humanity? And most fascinating, what is consciousness, and how does it relate to what it means to be human? This book attempts to tackle them all while also exploring the line between what we can do and what we should do in relation to scientific advancement.
Overall, this book was a thought-provoking, fun ride into a fascinating, yet horrifying, vision of humanity's future. The characters, technology, and imaginative, well-paced world-building were excellent vehicles for considering important questions about the direction of society. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys science fiction about dystopian futures.
This was a really good book. The pacing was great. There was always something happening or a new bit of interesting information being dropped to keep the reader engaged. The world was captivating and believable as a potential future for the human race on Earth, which was terrifying because it seemed to be the last horrific gasp of humanity before extinction. The author did an excellent job of unveiling details about the world and characters as the story progressed rather than dumping a lot of information at once. However, this approach did make the reading experience somewhat jarring at first with all of the unexplained concepts and terminology. I still really liked it, though, because it became like a puzzle throughout the book to figure out what all the jargon meant. I was especially proud of myself once I learned how to interpret the number system used in the book since I had no idea what it meant at first.
The main characters were fascinating and well-developed. Mara was a mystery with a riveting backstory, and the chapters from her POV were my favorite. The struggle she faced in figuring out her identity after the events she faced was incredibly compelling and kept me hooked until the very end. I also enjoyed the other characters, especially Daniel. It was interesting to see him go from someone always running from the things he did in the past to an individual who overcame his self-blame, took responsibility, and fought back. The freakish way technology was integrated into most of the characters' lives, and bodies, made each character unique, and seeing the different ways they each related to the tech, especially Mantis and the other underground individuals, was intriguing.
The world and characters were fantastic, but my favorite thing about this book was its ability to make me think about some pretty powerful issues that are facing mankind. It is one of the things I love about this entire genre, and this book pulls it off well. The story posed so many thought-provoking questions wrapped in the guise of the engrossing narrative. What are the potential impacts of a widespread environmental crisis? What is the endpoint of a society/economy that treats people as commodities with value based only what they can produce? How will the continued enmeshment of technology in every aspect of life impact humanity? And most fascinating, what is consciousness, and how does it relate to what it means to be human? This book attempts to tackle them all while also exploring the line between what we can do and what we should do in relation to scientific advancement.
Overall, this book was a thought-provoking, fun ride into a fascinating, yet horrifying, vision of humanity's future. The characters, technology, and imaginative, well-paced world-building were excellent vehicles for considering important questions about the direction of society. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys science fiction about dystopian futures.
February 27, 2021
Reality Testing (Sundown, Book 1)
By Grant Price
Genre - Fiction/Science Fiction/Cyberpunk
Pages - 289
Format - Digital (Kindle)
Publication Info - Down by Law Books, (January 6, 2021), ASIN: B08SNP5F34
Rating - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Reviewed by - William C. Bitner, Jr. https://booksinmylibraryblog.wordpres...
Move over Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell and Freejack, there’s a new contender in town and the name is Reality Testing. Mr. Price ticks off all the boxes of the cyberpunk subgenre with this well imagined, nonstop action packed futuristic dystopian adventure. I was mesmerized and on the edge of my seat reading each and every page of this masterfully crafted bit of science fiction. With page after page of nonstop action, along with some incredibly imagined characters and world building skills beyond our imaginations you will soon find yourself deeply immersed and unable to escape the murky landscape. At the book's end I found myself yearning for only one thing. . . more! This is my first read by this talented author. I am so looking forward to reading more of his work.
From the back page (synopsis) - Welcome to Berlin. Population: desperate. In the throes of the climate crisis the green tech pioneers are king, and if you aren't willing to be their serf then you're surplus to requirements.
Carbon credit for sleeping on the job. That's the offer a dreamtech puts to Mara Kinzig, and she jumps on it. After all, the city ain't getting any cheaper.
Then somebody changes the deal while she's dreaming in the tank.
Now Mara has a body on her hands, an extra voice in her head, and the law on her tail. Only the Vanguard, a Foreign Legion of outcasts seeking an alternative path in the dust between the city states, might be able to help her figure out what went wrong. First, though, she'll have to escape the seething streets of Berlin alive.
About the Author - Grant Price is a British-German author originally from Plymouth, UK. His first novel, Static Age, appeared in 2016. His second novel, By the Feet of Men, was published by Cosmic Egg Books in 2019. His work has appeared in The Daily Telegraph and various magazines and journals. He lives in Berlin, Germany, in the heart of the neon-lit sprawl.
Other work by Grant Price - Static Age, By the Feet of Men: A Novel.
By Grant Price
Genre - Fiction/Science Fiction/Cyberpunk
Pages - 289
Format - Digital (Kindle)
Publication Info - Down by Law Books, (January 6, 2021), ASIN: B08SNP5F34
Rating - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Reviewed by - William C. Bitner, Jr. https://booksinmylibraryblog.wordpres...
Move over Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell and Freejack, there’s a new contender in town and the name is Reality Testing. Mr. Price ticks off all the boxes of the cyberpunk subgenre with this well imagined, nonstop action packed futuristic dystopian adventure. I was mesmerized and on the edge of my seat reading each and every page of this masterfully crafted bit of science fiction. With page after page of nonstop action, along with some incredibly imagined characters and world building skills beyond our imaginations you will soon find yourself deeply immersed and unable to escape the murky landscape. At the book's end I found myself yearning for only one thing. . . more! This is my first read by this talented author. I am so looking forward to reading more of his work.
From the back page (synopsis) - Welcome to Berlin. Population: desperate. In the throes of the climate crisis the green tech pioneers are king, and if you aren't willing to be their serf then you're surplus to requirements.
Carbon credit for sleeping on the job. That's the offer a dreamtech puts to Mara Kinzig, and she jumps on it. After all, the city ain't getting any cheaper.
Then somebody changes the deal while she's dreaming in the tank.
Now Mara has a body on her hands, an extra voice in her head, and the law on her tail. Only the Vanguard, a Foreign Legion of outcasts seeking an alternative path in the dust between the city states, might be able to help her figure out what went wrong. First, though, she'll have to escape the seething streets of Berlin alive.
About the Author - Grant Price is a British-German author originally from Plymouth, UK. His first novel, Static Age, appeared in 2016. His second novel, By the Feet of Men, was published by Cosmic Egg Books in 2019. His work has appeared in The Daily Telegraph and various magazines and journals. He lives in Berlin, Germany, in the heart of the neon-lit sprawl.
Other work by Grant Price - Static Age, By the Feet of Men: A Novel.
May 29, 2021
I gave it 4,5⭐/5⭐
🔥First, I want to start with my biggest issue. When I started reading this and before I get used to all the unknown terms and style of writing, I was so lost, confused and couldn't get into it. I had to read first 30 pages twice, before I knew exactly what was going on.
🔥But it was a fast read after those 30 pages. And not only because of the style of writin. One of the reasons it was hard to put down was the amount of action this book has.
🔥It was really interesting watching how author took the biggest issues we now face in real life and turned them out in this, not that fictional, world. And to be honest, it was also a bit terrifying to read about it.
🔥I loved how he plays with questions I'm sure a lot of people had asked themselves. For example about human existence.
🔥Our main character, Mara Kinzig, who is trully an interesting character to read about (not only her, but I won't tell you more as it is a spoiler). Since the beginning, she struggles not only with society she lives in, but mainly with her mind. As her path goes, she's slowly getting in touch with what's the author serving her. And yeah, she's really strong character.
°
🔥I really enjoyed this book. And I'm sure I'll read it more times.
🔥First, I want to start with my biggest issue. When I started reading this and before I get used to all the unknown terms and style of writing, I was so lost, confused and couldn't get into it. I had to read first 30 pages twice, before I knew exactly what was going on.
🔥But it was a fast read after those 30 pages. And not only because of the style of writin. One of the reasons it was hard to put down was the amount of action this book has.
🔥It was really interesting watching how author took the biggest issues we now face in real life and turned them out in this, not that fictional, world. And to be honest, it was also a bit terrifying to read about it.
🔥I loved how he plays with questions I'm sure a lot of people had asked themselves. For example about human existence.
🔥Our main character, Mara Kinzig, who is trully an interesting character to read about (not only her, but I won't tell you more as it is a spoiler). Since the beginning, she struggles not only with society she lives in, but mainly with her mind. As her path goes, she's slowly getting in touch with what's the author serving her. And yeah, she's really strong character.
°
🔥I really enjoyed this book. And I'm sure I'll read it more times.
May 26, 2021
Taufed might be my new favorite word 🤣 it stands for Totally And Utterly F*cked Up. This novel is not the typical genre that I gravitate towards, but I have to admit that it was quite the experience and a breathe of fresh air.
The story is set in Berlin, in a dystopian sci fi future where the world has been ravaged by the climate. Mara Kinzig is involved with a deal that has gone wrong, her memories wiped and a dead body on her hands.
The writing style took a little getting used to but I was hooked after the first couple of chapters. The author created such a vivid and descriptive story I can’t get enough of. I love how this reminded me of Total Recall and The Blade Runner! Thank you @blackthorntours for this copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
The story is set in Berlin, in a dystopian sci fi future where the world has been ravaged by the climate. Mara Kinzig is involved with a deal that has gone wrong, her memories wiped and a dead body on her hands.
The writing style took a little getting used to but I was hooked after the first couple of chapters. The author created such a vivid and descriptive story I can’t get enough of. I love how this reminded me of Total Recall and The Blade Runner! Thank you @blackthorntours for this copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
May 4, 2021
Deeply integrated story. Read on kindle and kindle audio/Alexa text read to assist. A dystopian novel of mind-controlled distress - reminds me of the movie 'Total Recall'. note: received as a kindle owned free from Amazon -- requested review by author in exchange for a free copy.
May 24, 2021
One word, refreshing!
Reality testing is a very interesting novel with an intense futuristic storyline that grabs the readers attention immediately. The story is set in a world where climate change has wrecked havoc on the world and the events are told in such a detailed way that explains just how exactly the new laws and changes have affected the human race. Things are so different in this new world. Technology, food, entertainment...everything that we deem important. Even the language. And nothing has changed for the better - which is even more shocking.
This all showed just how much imagination and work from the author went into this novel to show and explain all of those changes in that world.
The main character for me was exciting to follow. I loved how I couldn't really predict what was going to happen to her or what exactly was going on with her. The fact that her mind was put in another person's body and she was on the run for commiting a murder she could not remember... the suspense will leave you tunrning pages to figure it all out.
The story takes you from where it all begins, to underground and then back up again. Just when you think you have figured it out, it throws you in a different direction.
Its refreshing to have such a story to read as it keeps your mind open to so many possibilities. I really enjoyed reading this novel and recommend it to everyone looking for an enjoyable read.
Reality testing is a very interesting novel with an intense futuristic storyline that grabs the readers attention immediately. The story is set in a world where climate change has wrecked havoc on the world and the events are told in such a detailed way that explains just how exactly the new laws and changes have affected the human race. Things are so different in this new world. Technology, food, entertainment...everything that we deem important. Even the language. And nothing has changed for the better - which is even more shocking.
This all showed just how much imagination and work from the author went into this novel to show and explain all of those changes in that world.
The main character for me was exciting to follow. I loved how I couldn't really predict what was going to happen to her or what exactly was going on with her. The fact that her mind was put in another person's body and she was on the run for commiting a murder she could not remember... the suspense will leave you tunrning pages to figure it all out.
The story takes you from where it all begins, to underground and then back up again. Just when you think you have figured it out, it throws you in a different direction.
Its refreshing to have such a story to read as it keeps your mind open to so many possibilities. I really enjoyed reading this novel and recommend it to everyone looking for an enjoyable read.
August 1, 2021
**I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.**
There are things to fear in life. It’s just the nature of being human. Grant Price preys on every single one of them. Reality Testing is a dark and twisted tale regarding the future that seems all too possible if humanity continues on its current trajectory.
The story introduces us to Mara Kinzig, someone who works hard and tries to live life according to the laws in Berlin. She struggles, but compared to others, Mara is doing all right. But she could have a better life and when a legal opportunity to earn a large sum of carbon comes her way – she ignores her partner’s concerns and does it.
That’s when her life changed forever…
Reality Testing shows us a world where power and technology are in control of the narrative. They have all the carbon and live enviable lives. Those at the bottom live with knock off implants, some that have gone horribly wrong. Others live underground in service to the wealthy, creating things they will never enjoy and losing what humanity they have left.
Then there’s Mara – who comes out of the dream tank with a body on her hands, her name on every law robots’ manifest and an unknown voice in her head. We get to witness her fear, the flight from Berlin to discover what happened when she was “sleeping”, and unique characters along the way.
One of my favorite things is the lack of the stereotypical good or evil. Everyone has a bit of each within them. Even the ones you want to hate have moments of goodness within them. You can see why people chose the way they did. You can sympathize with them, even though you want to argue or hate their decision.
Overall, it really is an excellent read. Mr. Price expertly weaves the futuristic, cyberpunk style into a thrilling novel. The twist at the end, while I had an inkling it might happen, was still a surprise. I admit it took me a bit of time to catch on to the lingo. That knocked me out a bit, but only in the beginning. It’s also a fast read and will leave you wanting more.
There are things to fear in life. It’s just the nature of being human. Grant Price preys on every single one of them. Reality Testing is a dark and twisted tale regarding the future that seems all too possible if humanity continues on its current trajectory.
The story introduces us to Mara Kinzig, someone who works hard and tries to live life according to the laws in Berlin. She struggles, but compared to others, Mara is doing all right. But she could have a better life and when a legal opportunity to earn a large sum of carbon comes her way – she ignores her partner’s concerns and does it.
That’s when her life changed forever…
Reality Testing shows us a world where power and technology are in control of the narrative. They have all the carbon and live enviable lives. Those at the bottom live with knock off implants, some that have gone horribly wrong. Others live underground in service to the wealthy, creating things they will never enjoy and losing what humanity they have left.
Then there’s Mara – who comes out of the dream tank with a body on her hands, her name on every law robots’ manifest and an unknown voice in her head. We get to witness her fear, the flight from Berlin to discover what happened when she was “sleeping”, and unique characters along the way.
One of my favorite things is the lack of the stereotypical good or evil. Everyone has a bit of each within them. Even the ones you want to hate have moments of goodness within them. You can see why people chose the way they did. You can sympathize with them, even though you want to argue or hate their decision.
Overall, it really is an excellent read. Mr. Price expertly weaves the futuristic, cyberpunk style into a thrilling novel. The twist at the end, while I had an inkling it might happen, was still a surprise. I admit it took me a bit of time to catch on to the lingo. That knocked me out a bit, but only in the beginning. It’s also a fast read and will leave you wanting more.
May 21, 2021
One of the current Science Fiction Novels which explores the theme of overabundance of technology is Reality Testing by Grant Price, the first book in a series that deals with a young woman rebelling against the dystopian future of a world destroyed by corporate greed, environmental catastrophe, and a cabal of governments, corporations, and scientists that use that technology on human guinea pigs. Again these are not new themes, but what makes this book good is the intricate plot and the benefit of using technology we see every day to higher and more frightening levels.
In Reality Testing, our protagonist and potential rebel is Mara Kizing, a mechanic who lives in near future Germany. She is inside a dream tank reliving her apparent murder of a man. As Mara makes her escape from the tank and the building in which this experiment is taking place, she remembers that she signed on for some project to get creds but the details are not yet known. It becomes clearer when she goes to see her wife, Jema and Jema doesn't recognize her. The techs at LINK inserted her mind and consciousness into a completely different body.
Now Mara is on the run because of the escape and murder. Even though it means separation, Jema (who was already anxious about Mara signing up in the first place) suggests that she hide out in a semizdat settlement with one of the resistance groups like the Vanguard. After a violent encounter, Mara is left alone and seeks redemption by finding the Vanguard.
There are two distinct separate sections that explores the impact of technology so much that it is clearly emphasized in Price's writing. The first section is more technical as Mara stumbles through the city hiding from her pursuers. It is fascinating and horrifying as we look at this new transformed world. Berlin is awash with technology so much that it is omnipresent and suffocates the human elements as much as the dense polluted clouds overhead. The walls speak and sing every advertisement to the point that they become a cacophonous symphony. The "bulls" catch their prey using augmented eyes to scan information like a robot Gestapo. A person is not only killed but their information is erased from records as though they never existed.
The vidlinks are everywhere and give the power to turn anyone from hero to villain as they do for Mara by turning her into a coldblooded killer when she was really just a desperate woman longing to escape. Unemployment is high so people sign on to be test subjects in some of the most bizarre experiments.
Many of the experiments are not purposely completely explained possibly for future volumes, but also because these characters live in this environment and they know what they are. They are familiar and have been exposed to them their whole lives.
However, Price leave clues for the Reader to guess. For example, besides Mara's LINK, we are also told about the Seahorse project. We aren't completely given all the details but there are hints. Volunteers are only men. Women are considered "obsos" or obsolete. A quick study of male seahorses and knowing that they can do what few biological male species can do naturally, well it doesn't leave much to the imagination what the Seahorse project is about. (The next volume should feature a man who has actually been through the Seahorse project to get a more inside view of what it's like.)
Because of the emphasis more on setting and world building, there isn't much on character except between Mara and Jema. They are a couple who are on their last nerve. Mara is a woman so desperate for money that she will put herself through physical torture. Jema is worried and anxious about her, but is tired of the danger, the stress, and is ready to file for divorce for a peace of mind. It's doubtful that I
if things didn't end up the way they did that Mara and Jema would have had a happily ever after.
In contrast to the Berlin setting, when the plot shifts to the Vanguard we are given more emphasis on character and less on setting. We are shown a cooperative community which lives off of minimal technology. They use solar energy and grow their own food. The members plan acts of rebellion that go from mere pinpricks to major consequences. It's all nothing new but we see strong sense of character in this section that was absent in the previous.
Even before Mara encounters the Vanguard, we get a whole chapter devoted to their founder known as The Abbot. We learn that she was a scientist whose research was used for the Seahorse project. She abandoned her cushiony life and high paying job to fight the system that she had once been a member.
The Vanguard is very secretive. Many of the characters use pseudonyms and put Mara through a variety of tests to prove her loyalty. This is a group that is wary of outsiders almost paranoiac. But as some say just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that someone isn't out to get them.
The suspicion is a natural reaction to a group that is close to and protective of their members and don't want to see them get hurt or destroyed. They have worked hard for this new way of life and don't want to see it go the way of the old one, especially when they have the chance to rebuild society and start over again and make it better.
In Reality Testing, our protagonist and potential rebel is Mara Kizing, a mechanic who lives in near future Germany. She is inside a dream tank reliving her apparent murder of a man. As Mara makes her escape from the tank and the building in which this experiment is taking place, she remembers that she signed on for some project to get creds but the details are not yet known. It becomes clearer when she goes to see her wife, Jema and Jema doesn't recognize her. The techs at LINK inserted her mind and consciousness into a completely different body.
Now Mara is on the run because of the escape and murder. Even though it means separation, Jema (who was already anxious about Mara signing up in the first place) suggests that she hide out in a semizdat settlement with one of the resistance groups like the Vanguard. After a violent encounter, Mara is left alone and seeks redemption by finding the Vanguard.
There are two distinct separate sections that explores the impact of technology so much that it is clearly emphasized in Price's writing. The first section is more technical as Mara stumbles through the city hiding from her pursuers. It is fascinating and horrifying as we look at this new transformed world. Berlin is awash with technology so much that it is omnipresent and suffocates the human elements as much as the dense polluted clouds overhead. The walls speak and sing every advertisement to the point that they become a cacophonous symphony. The "bulls" catch their prey using augmented eyes to scan information like a robot Gestapo. A person is not only killed but their information is erased from records as though they never existed.
The vidlinks are everywhere and give the power to turn anyone from hero to villain as they do for Mara by turning her into a coldblooded killer when she was really just a desperate woman longing to escape. Unemployment is high so people sign on to be test subjects in some of the most bizarre experiments.
Many of the experiments are not purposely completely explained possibly for future volumes, but also because these characters live in this environment and they know what they are. They are familiar and have been exposed to them their whole lives.
However, Price leave clues for the Reader to guess. For example, besides Mara's LINK, we are also told about the Seahorse project. We aren't completely given all the details but there are hints. Volunteers are only men. Women are considered "obsos" or obsolete. A quick study of male seahorses and knowing that they can do what few biological male species can do naturally, well it doesn't leave much to the imagination what the Seahorse project is about. (The next volume should feature a man who has actually been through the Seahorse project to get a more inside view of what it's like.)
Because of the emphasis more on setting and world building, there isn't much on character except between Mara and Jema. They are a couple who are on their last nerve. Mara is a woman so desperate for money that she will put herself through physical torture. Jema is worried and anxious about her, but is tired of the danger, the stress, and is ready to file for divorce for a peace of mind. It's doubtful that I
if things didn't end up the way they did that Mara and Jema would have had a happily ever after.
In contrast to the Berlin setting, when the plot shifts to the Vanguard we are given more emphasis on character and less on setting. We are shown a cooperative community which lives off of minimal technology. They use solar energy and grow their own food. The members plan acts of rebellion that go from mere pinpricks to major consequences. It's all nothing new but we see strong sense of character in this section that was absent in the previous.
Even before Mara encounters the Vanguard, we get a whole chapter devoted to their founder known as The Abbot. We learn that she was a scientist whose research was used for the Seahorse project. She abandoned her cushiony life and high paying job to fight the system that she had once been a member.
The Vanguard is very secretive. Many of the characters use pseudonyms and put Mara through a variety of tests to prove her loyalty. This is a group that is wary of outsiders almost paranoiac. But as some say just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that someone isn't out to get them.
The suspicion is a natural reaction to a group that is close to and protective of their members and don't want to see them get hurt or destroyed. They have worked hard for this new way of life and don't want to see it go the way of the old one, especially when they have the chance to rebuild society and start over again and make it better.
May 21, 2021
Over the course of recent months and years, I have come to the firm belief that whatever is in store for humanity, it’s not going to be good. Too many countries have elected indiduals to positions of power who have no right to be there. They have little experience or worse, they couldn’t care less what happens to the people they were elected by and the world around them. To them it’s all about power and how to maintain it. They pay lip service to climate change, and brush the refugee crisis under the carpet. To them, such catastrophes are always someone else’s problem. Very few novels published today focus on what happens when things go well for humanity, instead dydtopian fiction forms the bedrock of a lot of speculative fiction you see in bookstores or online, especially since 2016. In short, bad news sells books.
But that doesn’t mean these books are bad. Quite the opposite, in fact. Some of them are really good. Allow me to introduce you to Reality Testing, by Berlin-based author Grant Price. You’re probably familiar with the cyberpunk genre, made famous by William Gibson’s 1984 novel Neuromancer, which combines a hi-tech futuristic setting with general societal degradation: basically the rich get richer and have access to all the mod cons in technology, and the poor are so far down the bottom of the ladder they have no chance of improving their lot in life. The Berlin of Grant Price’s novel is a perfect example of a society gone worng. It’s the aftermath of the Second Water War, and the Big Five conglomerates have taken control of the city and its citizens, advertising their products and services in very obtrusive ways. They say their technology and policies are in aid of the failing environment, whereas in fact they’re outbidding and out-manoeuvering each other to get a bigger slice of the pie. Automatons known as bulls patrol the streets, dishing out instant justice for even the most petty of crimes. Citizens make ends meet how they can, working enough jobs to ensure they get cheap food and entertainment. Mara Hinzig gets a lot more than she bargains for when she signs up for a gig which will allow her to be paid while she undergoes a few months of sleep in a programme called LINK, run by Ahe+d, and overseen by the mysterious Klaus Koje.
Mara wakes up next to a dead body. She’s got blood on her hands and she has no idea what happened. She runs for it and ends up at the door of her ex-partner Jema. The only problem is, the body Mara how inhabits isn’t her own. Not only is she wanted for a murder she doesn’t remember committing, but she now has a face she doesn’t recognise and a voice inside her head is giving her instructions and at times taking control over her body. This is not a good time to be Mara. When tragedy ensues, Mara is driven literally underground, where she meets a cohort of individuals who either want to kill her, turn her over to the authorities for a reward. Price creates a beautifully realised subterranean world with characters that are unique and off-the-wall crazy. I loved Mantis and Prestone, both augmented and damaged human beings, victims of circumstance and hubris. With their help, Mara is led to another part of Germany where the mythical Vanguard await. There she finds a group of people, mainly women, who live off-grid, and with the aid of the Abbot, the group’s leader, she tries to understand what’s happening to her and how she can get revenge on Koje. Her right-hand man is Daniel Van Morden, a veteran with a secret of his own. Along with Abbadine, Xi Yang, and Theo, Mara plots a way to get back control of her life and identity.
Reality Testing is a fast-paced and action-packed novel that I raced through in a couple of sittings. It brought back memories of Total Recall, Minority Report, and Blade Runner. The aesthetics are similar but Price tells his own story. This is a world that is terrifying, where life has little value, and where the stakes are so high, it’s obvious that not everyone is going to come through unscathed. I especially enjoyed the author’s depiction of a society where, despite everything else going on, people are allowed to be whatever they prefer to be: gender is fluid, and non-binary characters are front and centre of this fascinating future. Grant Price makes us think about how the next step in human evolution might look, and we wonder whether or not it would be best for the planet and ourselves if we just die off as a species and let the Earth start again. There are no easy answers, but there are plenty of adventures to have in the meantime.
May 23, 2021
This review was originally posted at https://bit.ly/3yr4i9b.
Mara Kenzing decided to join the LINK program in order to gain some extra carbon so she and her partner would not be so hard pressed. Jema warned her against it and it seems the feisty reporter was correct, as Mara has woken up ahead of schedule in a body that is not her own and a corpse in front of her. Now, Mara must escape Berlin and try to find out not only what happened to her but what the future may hold. What makes it worse is there is another consciousness in her mind as well, the Other. Can she carve her way with the group on the outside of the city or will the true purpose of the Other come to fruition?
A woman in a "progressed" world tries her best to save herself from her new reality. While trying to escape the lower class she finds herself out of the caste all together and with less than she ever had to begin with. She has lost her home, her partner, and even her body. Now, she must leave the only home she has ever known in order to track down a band of people that may not even exist in order to have some hope of survival.
I was approached to read and review this book as part of the Blackthorn Book Tours and I agreed readily. All in all I liked the book that being said unless you have a very broad vocabulary over multiple languages be prepared to translate a lot. Some of it you can get by context, some of it Google translate had no idea and I am still lost on. Also, numbers are a lie. 15 is ten-five. I don't know why that irks me so much, but it really really does. Alright, now that I have ranted about the things that drove me absolutely nuts during this book for the goods.
Mara was in the body of a savant, which is an orphan that passed a certain test and is trained in certain areas of expertise with everything else essentially removed. There actually is a Savant syndrome where someone is highly specialized in a few areas while lacking in all other areas. Something I did not know before beginning this book. She loses everything and still she presses on. Many would have just given in to the bulls after any of the things she encountered before leaving Berlin, but at each obstacle she buttoned down and was able to make it through. Yes, she had the guiding hand of the Other and once outside the city she had the Vanguard, but there were things that she had to do for herself. Things that if she had done nothing would not have been possible. For that I give her Kudos.
There are a lot of same sex relationships in this book, money is not a thing, them/theys seem more commonplace than he/shes, men can have babies, food is not even real food, rain is the result of engineers, and life does not exist outside of cities. I don't really know if the world is one giant Pangea kind of thing or if this book is just centralized in Asia. America was mentioned once stating that they fully embraced the Seahorse program (how men were able to have babies), but that is the only instance that I can recall. Theses are things that are just facts from the book and do not mean them all in a bad light. Except the food one. I like food.
Honestly, this is a fast paced, survival of the fittest type book where we have to choose between "progress" or reverting to how things once were done. How things are mostly done now. Planting crops and not relying on physical augmentations to survive. Personally give me blue clouds and plants any day over engineered rain.
If you don't mind all of the translations or the annoying number thing this book is a great read and one that I hope you take the time to enjoy as well.
Mara Kenzing decided to join the LINK program in order to gain some extra carbon so she and her partner would not be so hard pressed. Jema warned her against it and it seems the feisty reporter was correct, as Mara has woken up ahead of schedule in a body that is not her own and a corpse in front of her. Now, Mara must escape Berlin and try to find out not only what happened to her but what the future may hold. What makes it worse is there is another consciousness in her mind as well, the Other. Can she carve her way with the group on the outside of the city or will the true purpose of the Other come to fruition?
A woman in a "progressed" world tries her best to save herself from her new reality. While trying to escape the lower class she finds herself out of the caste all together and with less than she ever had to begin with. She has lost her home, her partner, and even her body. Now, she must leave the only home she has ever known in order to track down a band of people that may not even exist in order to have some hope of survival.
I was approached to read and review this book as part of the Blackthorn Book Tours and I agreed readily. All in all I liked the book that being said unless you have a very broad vocabulary over multiple languages be prepared to translate a lot. Some of it you can get by context, some of it Google translate had no idea and I am still lost on. Also, numbers are a lie. 15 is ten-five. I don't know why that irks me so much, but it really really does. Alright, now that I have ranted about the things that drove me absolutely nuts during this book for the goods.
Mara was in the body of a savant, which is an orphan that passed a certain test and is trained in certain areas of expertise with everything else essentially removed. There actually is a Savant syndrome where someone is highly specialized in a few areas while lacking in all other areas. Something I did not know before beginning this book. She loses everything and still she presses on. Many would have just given in to the bulls after any of the things she encountered before leaving Berlin, but at each obstacle she buttoned down and was able to make it through. Yes, she had the guiding hand of the Other and once outside the city she had the Vanguard, but there were things that she had to do for herself. Things that if she had done nothing would not have been possible. For that I give her Kudos.
There are a lot of same sex relationships in this book, money is not a thing, them/theys seem more commonplace than he/shes, men can have babies, food is not even real food, rain is the result of engineers, and life does not exist outside of cities. I don't really know if the world is one giant Pangea kind of thing or if this book is just centralized in Asia. America was mentioned once stating that they fully embraced the Seahorse program (how men were able to have babies), but that is the only instance that I can recall. Theses are things that are just facts from the book and do not mean them all in a bad light. Except the food one. I like food.
Honestly, this is a fast paced, survival of the fittest type book where we have to choose between "progress" or reverting to how things once were done. How things are mostly done now. Planting crops and not relying on physical augmentations to survive. Personally give me blue clouds and plants any day over engineered rain.
If you don't mind all of the translations or the annoying number thing this book is a great read and one that I hope you take the time to enjoy as well.
March 25, 2022
Grant Price writes a cyberpunk dystopian tale that grabs you right off the bat.
“The man’s blood was on her skin and now she would have to run.”
Mara Kinzig agreed to a stint in a dreamtank for easy money, because life in the city doesn’t come cheap. But she wakes up to something other than what she bargained for. A dead man she doesn’t recognize. A body that isn’t the one she went to sleep in. And a second voice in her head that most definitely isn’t hers.
She’s desperate to figure out who she is, but she knows she can’t stay where she is. The body has been discovered, the robotic bull cops are hot on her tail, and there’s a price on her head high enough to make just about anyone who sees her turn her in. So she flees outside the city to the Vanguard, a mysterious group that may or may not exist. She’s hoping that, if she finds them, they can help her survive long enough to solve both the mystery of the dead man and the mystery of who she is. Who is the dead man? Why was she framed for his murder? Who (or what) is the voice Mara has begun hearing in her head? Does she – does Mara – even really exist anymore?
Grant Price crafts an engrossing and slightly disturbing vision of a future Earth. The story is set in a future Berlin. Carbon credits are currency, and climate crisis has wreaked havoc. Technology is king, the wealthy call the shots, and the poor are human test subjects in every kind of scientific experiment you can imagine. The green infrastructure that was supposed to be society’s salvation is a crumbling mess. The haves care only about having more, and the have-nots are disposable.
I get serious Blade Runner vibes from Price’s story, with a touch of Firefly coming through in some of the jargon he uses. There’s rather a lot of jargon included without much overt explanation, but I was able to determine the meaning pretty well from context. A couple of chapters in, and it all made sense to me just fine.
The world Price has constructed is incredibly detailed and well thought out. I could just feel the noise and overwhelm of the city as Mara tried to break free of it. I mean, the mental clutter of a world where the advertisements tailor themselves to your frequency – thinking about it makes my brain itch! The squalor of the underground, the unexpected open spaces Mara finds, I can see all of it in my mind’s eye because Price puts it together so effectively.
His characters are well-constructed, too. No one, not even the most minor character, feels like an afterthought or a throwaway. Everyone in the story has a role to play, and they do so admirably.
The story moves pretty quickly, and that makes it a fast read. It’s thought-provoking, because who knows but that our society couldn’t end up like the one envisioned here. With its questions of environmental preservation, how to survive with limited resources, ethically and morally questionable technological procedures, and more, this is a book that really gives you pause to consider where our world may be headed.
Five stars for a dang good story. I want to know what happens next!
Disclaimer: I was provided a review copy of this book by the author. All opinions here are mine, and I don’t say nice things about books I don’t actually like.
Check out my other reviews at http://www.theplainspokenpen.com.
“The man’s blood was on her skin and now she would have to run.”
Mara Kinzig agreed to a stint in a dreamtank for easy money, because life in the city doesn’t come cheap. But she wakes up to something other than what she bargained for. A dead man she doesn’t recognize. A body that isn’t the one she went to sleep in. And a second voice in her head that most definitely isn’t hers.
She’s desperate to figure out who she is, but she knows she can’t stay where she is. The body has been discovered, the robotic bull cops are hot on her tail, and there’s a price on her head high enough to make just about anyone who sees her turn her in. So she flees outside the city to the Vanguard, a mysterious group that may or may not exist. She’s hoping that, if she finds them, they can help her survive long enough to solve both the mystery of the dead man and the mystery of who she is. Who is the dead man? Why was she framed for his murder? Who (or what) is the voice Mara has begun hearing in her head? Does she – does Mara – even really exist anymore?
Grant Price crafts an engrossing and slightly disturbing vision of a future Earth. The story is set in a future Berlin. Carbon credits are currency, and climate crisis has wreaked havoc. Technology is king, the wealthy call the shots, and the poor are human test subjects in every kind of scientific experiment you can imagine. The green infrastructure that was supposed to be society’s salvation is a crumbling mess. The haves care only about having more, and the have-nots are disposable.
I get serious Blade Runner vibes from Price’s story, with a touch of Firefly coming through in some of the jargon he uses. There’s rather a lot of jargon included without much overt explanation, but I was able to determine the meaning pretty well from context. A couple of chapters in, and it all made sense to me just fine.
The world Price has constructed is incredibly detailed and well thought out. I could just feel the noise and overwhelm of the city as Mara tried to break free of it. I mean, the mental clutter of a world where the advertisements tailor themselves to your frequency – thinking about it makes my brain itch! The squalor of the underground, the unexpected open spaces Mara finds, I can see all of it in my mind’s eye because Price puts it together so effectively.
His characters are well-constructed, too. No one, not even the most minor character, feels like an afterthought or a throwaway. Everyone in the story has a role to play, and they do so admirably.
The story moves pretty quickly, and that makes it a fast read. It’s thought-provoking, because who knows but that our society couldn’t end up like the one envisioned here. With its questions of environmental preservation, how to survive with limited resources, ethically and morally questionable technological procedures, and more, this is a book that really gives you pause to consider where our world may be headed.
Five stars for a dang good story. I want to know what happens next!
Disclaimer: I was provided a review copy of this book by the author. All opinions here are mine, and I don’t say nice things about books I don’t actually like.
Check out my other reviews at http://www.theplainspokenpen.com.
May 21, 2024
Grant Price writes a cyberpunk dystopian tale that grabs you right off the bat.
“The man’s blood was on her skin and now she would have to run.”
Mara Kinzig agreed to a stint in a dreamtank for easy money, because life in the city doesn’t come cheap. But she wakes up to something other than what she bargained for. A dead man she doesn’t recognize. A body that isn’t the one she went to sleep in. And a second voice in her head that most definitely isn’t hers.
She’s desperate to figure out who she is, but she knows she can’t stay where she is. The body has been discovered, the robotic bull cops are hot on her tail, and there’s a price on her head high enough to make just about anyone who sees her turn her in. So she flees outside the city to the Vanguard, a mysterious group that may or may not exist. She’s hoping that, if she finds them, they can help her survive long enough to solve both the mystery of the dead man and the mystery of who she is. Who is the dead man? Why was she framed for his murder? Who (or what) is the voice Mara has begun hearing in her head? Does she – does Mara – even really exist anymore?
Grant Price crafts an engrossing and slightly disturbing vision of a future Earth. The story is set in a future Berlin. Carbon credits are currency, and climate crisis has wreaked havoc. Technology is king, the wealthy call the shots, and the poor are human test subjects in every kind of scientific experiment you can imagine. The green infrastructure that was supposed to be society’s salvation is a crumbling mess. The haves care only about having more, and the have-nots are disposable.
I get serious Blade Runner vibes from Price’s story, with a touch of Firefly coming through in some of the jargon he uses. There’s rather a lot of jargon included without much overt explanation, but I was able to determine the meaning pretty well from context. A couple of chapters in, and it all made sense to me just fine.
The world Price has constructed is incredibly detailed and well thought out. I could just feel the noise and overwhelm of the city as Mara tried to break free of it. I mean, the mental clutter of a world where the advertisements tailor themselves to your frequency – thinking about it makes my brain itch! The squalor of the underground, the unexpected open spaces Mara finds, I can see all of it in my mind’s eye because Price puts it together so effectively.
His characters are well-constructed, too. No one, not even the most minor character, feels like an afterthought or a throwaway. Everyone in the story has a role to play, and they do so admirably.
The story moves pretty quickly, and that makes it a fast read. It’s thought-provoking, because who knows but that our society couldn’t end up like the one envisioned here. With its questions of environmental preservation, how to survive with limited resources, ethically and morally questionable technological procedures, and more, this is a book that really gives you pause to consider where our world may be headed.
Five stars for a dang good story. I want to know what happens next!
Disclaimer: I was provided a review copy of this book by the author. All opinions here are mine, and I don’t say nice things about books I don’t actually like.
“The man’s blood was on her skin and now she would have to run.”
Mara Kinzig agreed to a stint in a dreamtank for easy money, because life in the city doesn’t come cheap. But she wakes up to something other than what she bargained for. A dead man she doesn’t recognize. A body that isn’t the one she went to sleep in. And a second voice in her head that most definitely isn’t hers.
She’s desperate to figure out who she is, but she knows she can’t stay where she is. The body has been discovered, the robotic bull cops are hot on her tail, and there’s a price on her head high enough to make just about anyone who sees her turn her in. So she flees outside the city to the Vanguard, a mysterious group that may or may not exist. She’s hoping that, if she finds them, they can help her survive long enough to solve both the mystery of the dead man and the mystery of who she is. Who is the dead man? Why was she framed for his murder? Who (or what) is the voice Mara has begun hearing in her head? Does she – does Mara – even really exist anymore?
Grant Price crafts an engrossing and slightly disturbing vision of a future Earth. The story is set in a future Berlin. Carbon credits are currency, and climate crisis has wreaked havoc. Technology is king, the wealthy call the shots, and the poor are human test subjects in every kind of scientific experiment you can imagine. The green infrastructure that was supposed to be society’s salvation is a crumbling mess. The haves care only about having more, and the have-nots are disposable.
I get serious Blade Runner vibes from Price’s story, with a touch of Firefly coming through in some of the jargon he uses. There’s rather a lot of jargon included without much overt explanation, but I was able to determine the meaning pretty well from context. A couple of chapters in, and it all made sense to me just fine.
The world Price has constructed is incredibly detailed and well thought out. I could just feel the noise and overwhelm of the city as Mara tried to break free of it. I mean, the mental clutter of a world where the advertisements tailor themselves to your frequency – thinking about it makes my brain itch! The squalor of the underground, the unexpected open spaces Mara finds, I can see all of it in my mind’s eye because Price puts it together so effectively.
His characters are well-constructed, too. No one, not even the most minor character, feels like an afterthought or a throwaway. Everyone in the story has a role to play, and they do so admirably.
The story moves pretty quickly, and that makes it a fast read. It’s thought-provoking, because who knows but that our society couldn’t end up like the one envisioned here. With its questions of environmental preservation, how to survive with limited resources, ethically and morally questionable technological procedures, and more, this is a book that really gives you pause to consider where our world may be headed.
Five stars for a dang good story. I want to know what happens next!
Disclaimer: I was provided a review copy of this book by the author. All opinions here are mine, and I don’t say nice things about books I don’t actually like.
March 14, 2022
I received an advance reader copy of Reality Testing for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Like all good cyberpunk stories should, Grant Price's Reality Testing utilises today's issues under the microscope. While this features cyberpunk hallmarks like power hungry corporations, urban decay and an increasingly violent population, its takes on the climate crisis and gender politics that truly shine through.
Telling the story of Mara who awakens from an artificial coma in a body that isn't hers, and alongside a body she appears to have murdered, the author unveils a mystery that takes Mara (and the reader) through a world where corporations cash in on the climate emergency by mining carbon, women are deemed "obsol" now that technology enables men to bear genetically perfecr children in under nine months, and Berlin is a police state patrolled by automotons.
This is a bleak world where, from the outset, I felt like I was living in this world, feeling claustrophobic and bombarded by all the stimuli hitting the protagonist. This is a beautifully realised world, but at points while reading, I found this to be at the book's detriment, putting more focus on the world (which is its own character) than on the characters and events.
This may have been distracting, but in all, it's only a minor issue. This also felt very deliberate, so your mileage on this may vary. This is a fast-paced book that keeps the plot moving quickly, despite the amount of focus on the world, and the book skillfully weaves all the twists and turns, as well as great action scenes.
The prose is skillfully written, and the editing is great. I didn't find a single part of it awkwardly written, or using words that don't belong. Yes, this tells a thoroughly entertaining story, but it is superbly written; one of the best-written books I've had the pleasure of reading so far this year.
The characters are well-realised, and as the narrative shifts its point of view it never suffers. Even the minor characters shine brightly - so brightly, in fact, that they could all likely support their own story. I need to mention the number of nonbinary and genderqueer characters included in the book, and how matter-of-factly they are presented. Characters are characters, and it's great to see.
Although this forms part of a series, it works on its own, and feels like a complete story (even if there's so much potential for more). That said, don't be surprised if, after reading this, you're left wanting Volume 2 sooner rather than later.
Aside from the world occasionally obscuring the rest of the book, this is an excellent book that I wholeheartedly recommend. If you enjoy cyberpunk, dystopian stories, speculative fiction or even simply science fiction, you should definitely take a look.
My full review will be posted on my website on 23 March. For my full thoughts (and thoughts about other books), click here.
Like all good cyberpunk stories should, Grant Price's Reality Testing utilises today's issues under the microscope. While this features cyberpunk hallmarks like power hungry corporations, urban decay and an increasingly violent population, its takes on the climate crisis and gender politics that truly shine through.
Telling the story of Mara who awakens from an artificial coma in a body that isn't hers, and alongside a body she appears to have murdered, the author unveils a mystery that takes Mara (and the reader) through a world where corporations cash in on the climate emergency by mining carbon, women are deemed "obsol" now that technology enables men to bear genetically perfecr children in under nine months, and Berlin is a police state patrolled by automotons.
This is a bleak world where, from the outset, I felt like I was living in this world, feeling claustrophobic and bombarded by all the stimuli hitting the protagonist. This is a beautifully realised world, but at points while reading, I found this to be at the book's detriment, putting more focus on the world (which is its own character) than on the characters and events.
This may have been distracting, but in all, it's only a minor issue. This also felt very deliberate, so your mileage on this may vary. This is a fast-paced book that keeps the plot moving quickly, despite the amount of focus on the world, and the book skillfully weaves all the twists and turns, as well as great action scenes.
The prose is skillfully written, and the editing is great. I didn't find a single part of it awkwardly written, or using words that don't belong. Yes, this tells a thoroughly entertaining story, but it is superbly written; one of the best-written books I've had the pleasure of reading so far this year.
The characters are well-realised, and as the narrative shifts its point of view it never suffers. Even the minor characters shine brightly - so brightly, in fact, that they could all likely support their own story. I need to mention the number of nonbinary and genderqueer characters included in the book, and how matter-of-factly they are presented. Characters are characters, and it's great to see.
Although this forms part of a series, it works on its own, and feels like a complete story (even if there's so much potential for more). That said, don't be surprised if, after reading this, you're left wanting Volume 2 sooner rather than later.
Aside from the world occasionally obscuring the rest of the book, this is an excellent book that I wholeheartedly recommend. If you enjoy cyberpunk, dystopian stories, speculative fiction or even simply science fiction, you should definitely take a look.
My full review will be posted on my website on 23 March. For my full thoughts (and thoughts about other books), click here.
May 11, 2021
This dad read “Reality Testing (Sundown, #1)” by Grant Price. Set in dystopian Berlin, Germany “Reality Testing” fully immerses readers into a bleak future existence where the planet’s resources have been depleted and humanity is on the brink of self destruction.
Protagonist Mara Kinzig wakes up to find that she’s just killed someone, no idea who or how. Her only instinct is to run which catapults the story into a mysterious adventure thriller that kept me on my toes the entire time!
Set somewhere in the near-ish future, this isn’t your everyday apocalyptic tale. Price has done an amazing job of creating a world for his characters to live in. Gritty, dark and chillingly probable, the world has become a place where the divide between rich and poor has never been more palpable. In this version of the future humans and computers have become one – its commonplace to have surgical procedures throughout your body to make it more efficient, often with dangerous side effects. The earth has become so depleted of resources that one promising new program has found a way for men to bear children. With shorter birth cycles, enhanced DNA and none of the “messy” after effects, this new way is touted as the best way forward for humanity.
It’s actually quite challenging to lay out the plot anymore than that. I will just say that body Mara wakes up in isn’t one she recognizes, more people die in her wake and she might not be the only occupant in her brain. At first I found it a little difficult to download and keep up with the lexicon Price has crafted here. He’s created futuristic colloquialisms that work really well in-universe but take a few chapters to get used to.
The pace never lets up, right to the final chapter with a finale that left me wanting more. “Reality Testing” succeeds because while the future might look bleak, it’s still a fun ride. I look forward to seeing where these characters might go in book 2 in the Sundown series! 🧢 🧢 🧢 🧢/5 – recommend!
Side note: I can’t help but think how well this book could translate to a tabletop game, someone get on that!
Protagonist Mara Kinzig wakes up to find that she’s just killed someone, no idea who or how. Her only instinct is to run which catapults the story into a mysterious adventure thriller that kept me on my toes the entire time!
Set somewhere in the near-ish future, this isn’t your everyday apocalyptic tale. Price has done an amazing job of creating a world for his characters to live in. Gritty, dark and chillingly probable, the world has become a place where the divide between rich and poor has never been more palpable. In this version of the future humans and computers have become one – its commonplace to have surgical procedures throughout your body to make it more efficient, often with dangerous side effects. The earth has become so depleted of resources that one promising new program has found a way for men to bear children. With shorter birth cycles, enhanced DNA and none of the “messy” after effects, this new way is touted as the best way forward for humanity.
It’s actually quite challenging to lay out the plot anymore than that. I will just say that body Mara wakes up in isn’t one she recognizes, more people die in her wake and she might not be the only occupant in her brain. At first I found it a little difficult to download and keep up with the lexicon Price has crafted here. He’s created futuristic colloquialisms that work really well in-universe but take a few chapters to get used to.
The pace never lets up, right to the final chapter with a finale that left me wanting more. “Reality Testing” succeeds because while the future might look bleak, it’s still a fun ride. I look forward to seeing where these characters might go in book 2 in the Sundown series! 🧢 🧢 🧢 🧢/5 – recommend!
Side note: I can’t help but think how well this book could translate to a tabletop game, someone get on that!
May 24, 2021
Reality Testing offers a fascinating look into a future of capitalist environmentalism and raises many intriguing questions about the direction our current world is heading in.
I found the two protagonists - Mara and, later on, Daniel - were both fully fleshed out, as were many of the side characters, and easy to root for; I was strongly invested in their survival. Jema was also a highlight, especially in the way she was woven through the plot. Daniel's development from liar to returning hero was paced well and felt natural. Similarly, Mara's investigation into what happened to her was captivating and just enough hints were dropped to keep it interesting. I read the second half of this book in one sitting, I was so intrigued by the mystery.
There were some parts of the narrative that were a little slow. Since this novel is set in the future, there are many unique terms in the prose. It can be hard to manage a new language like this and find a balance between explaining every little thing and letting the reader figure everything out for themselves. I thought Price handled this excellently. The first few chapters were a little intimidating due to the amount of jargon, but definitions were easily worked out through context and there were no patronising infodumps.
My absolute favourite thing about this book was the genre. I believe Reality Testing represents a resurgence of cyberpunk, a genre first coined in the 60s and 70s. Cyberpunk stories focus on the lowest tiers of a technologically advanced society and are inherently anti-capitalist. As our own technology advanced, cyberpunk stories became less popular. Price has captured the essence of cyberpunk and reshaped it into something new by adding an environmentalist edge, making it more relevant to our current predicament. This is evident in the setting, a vibrant merge of Germany and Japan, and the themes of the novel, which focus on the importance of emotion and maintaining our humanity in a world of artificial intelligence and genetic enhancements.
In all, Reality Testing is an utterly fascinating read, and the first in what I hope will be a revived cyberpunk movement.
I was offered a copy of this book with a request for an honest review.
I found the two protagonists - Mara and, later on, Daniel - were both fully fleshed out, as were many of the side characters, and easy to root for; I was strongly invested in their survival. Jema was also a highlight, especially in the way she was woven through the plot. Daniel's development from liar to returning hero was paced well and felt natural. Similarly, Mara's investigation into what happened to her was captivating and just enough hints were dropped to keep it interesting. I read the second half of this book in one sitting, I was so intrigued by the mystery.
There were some parts of the narrative that were a little slow. Since this novel is set in the future, there are many unique terms in the prose. It can be hard to manage a new language like this and find a balance between explaining every little thing and letting the reader figure everything out for themselves. I thought Price handled this excellently. The first few chapters were a little intimidating due to the amount of jargon, but definitions were easily worked out through context and there were no patronising infodumps.
My absolute favourite thing about this book was the genre. I believe Reality Testing represents a resurgence of cyberpunk, a genre first coined in the 60s and 70s. Cyberpunk stories focus on the lowest tiers of a technologically advanced society and are inherently anti-capitalist. As our own technology advanced, cyberpunk stories became less popular. Price has captured the essence of cyberpunk and reshaped it into something new by adding an environmentalist edge, making it more relevant to our current predicament. This is evident in the setting, a vibrant merge of Germany and Japan, and the themes of the novel, which focus on the importance of emotion and maintaining our humanity in a world of artificial intelligence and genetic enhancements.
In all, Reality Testing is an utterly fascinating read, and the first in what I hope will be a revived cyberpunk movement.
I was offered a copy of this book with a request for an honest review.
November 23, 2021
** This book was provided to me by the author in exchange for a fair and honest review **
It’s funny how one doesn’t realize how much they miss a solid slab of cyberpunk until they have one under their nose. Mr. Price absolutely owns the genre with Reality Testing. It’s got everything a good cyberpunk novel should have: dystopian future, techno-bio-enhancements, specialized slang, and massive classist conspiracy.
The story opens up with our protagonist, Mara Kinzig, waking up to having apparently murdered someone she does not know. Mara had signed up to basically have her dreams harvested (oh yeah, and that’s just the tip of the techno-weird iceberg for this amazing world), but now is apparently in this situation.
Mara then does the only thing she knows to do and heads out for the tiny apartment she previously shared with her girlfriend. Here’s where it starts to get weird. Mara, apparently, isn’t Mara. It’s her brain and personality, but it’s been all decanted into a different body.
Then the real trouble starts. Mara is hunted by the law, and a lot of bad things happen forcing her to seek out the Vanguard: a sort of utopian semi-terroristic cell of outcasts trying to change the current plight of the world.
That’s all I’m going to share because this story is very very hard to describe without diving deep into the spoilers.
Mr. Price definitely excels at creating a very gritty and highly polarized world where the divide between the haves and the have-nots is utterly massive. This dystopia is an absolute chef’s kiss of “wow, everybody got fucked really badly.”
The twists and turns of Reality Testing are what really make it a winner, though. We meet characters who, despite all odds, still find faith in humanity in a world where people are rapidly removing bits of what makes them human. We have a transformed Berlin where the “old ways” of building/living/working/polluting are looked down upon with such disdain that it basically becomes criminal to exist. The darkness set up in the first part of the story is so palpable that every small step towards the revealing of answers seems like a herculean task.
This book is really really fun, but, at the same time, Mr. Price tricks the reader into thinking about what is going on in our own world through acid-etched carbon nantotube silica lenses. Don’t sleep on this book
It’s funny how one doesn’t realize how much they miss a solid slab of cyberpunk until they have one under their nose. Mr. Price absolutely owns the genre with Reality Testing. It’s got everything a good cyberpunk novel should have: dystopian future, techno-bio-enhancements, specialized slang, and massive classist conspiracy.
The story opens up with our protagonist, Mara Kinzig, waking up to having apparently murdered someone she does not know. Mara had signed up to basically have her dreams harvested (oh yeah, and that’s just the tip of the techno-weird iceberg for this amazing world), but now is apparently in this situation.
Mara then does the only thing she knows to do and heads out for the tiny apartment she previously shared with her girlfriend. Here’s where it starts to get weird. Mara, apparently, isn’t Mara. It’s her brain and personality, but it’s been all decanted into a different body.
Then the real trouble starts. Mara is hunted by the law, and a lot of bad things happen forcing her to seek out the Vanguard: a sort of utopian semi-terroristic cell of outcasts trying to change the current plight of the world.
That’s all I’m going to share because this story is very very hard to describe without diving deep into the spoilers.
Mr. Price definitely excels at creating a very gritty and highly polarized world where the divide between the haves and the have-nots is utterly massive. This dystopia is an absolute chef’s kiss of “wow, everybody got fucked really badly.”
The twists and turns of Reality Testing are what really make it a winner, though. We meet characters who, despite all odds, still find faith in humanity in a world where people are rapidly removing bits of what makes them human. We have a transformed Berlin where the “old ways” of building/living/working/polluting are looked down upon with such disdain that it basically becomes criminal to exist. The darkness set up in the first part of the story is so palpable that every small step towards the revealing of answers seems like a herculean task.
This book is really really fun, but, at the same time, Mr. Price tricks the reader into thinking about what is going on in our own world through acid-etched carbon nantotube silica lenses. Don’t sleep on this book
May 24, 2021
Rating: 3.5/5
I received an ARC book of Reality Testing through Blackthorns Book Tours. Thank you so much for this opportunity! I really enjoyed reading this one!
I will say right away, you could probably just ignore my rating. I struggled with what I should rate this one. I believe my rating is fair for how I felt after reading this. However, I can easily see this being a 5-star read for the right reader. That being said, I don’t know if this is a book for everyone.
Right away I was getting so many vibes of similar books and movies. When it came to books I primarily thought of The Maze Runner series by James Dashner, The Host by Stephenie Meyer, and The Running Man by Stephen King. For movies… oh man, there were so many! They were mostly older movies like Total Recall and Demolition Man. However, when it came to all these that I was reminded of, I had enjoyed all of them. But I didn’t love them. That’s how I felt about Reality Testing.
The main reason I didn’t love this for me was I think this fell much deeper into the sci-fi realm than I’ve gone before when it’s come to what I read. There was a lot of world-building, and some of it was hard for me to wrap my brain around. Not everything was fully explained. There was a little too much guesswork for my tastes. But as I said, this could simply be due to the fact I don’t read science fiction that often and this was much deeper into sci-fi than I’m used to reading.
Besides all the worldbuilding, I truly enjoyed the storyline. There were plenty of shocking twists along the way too! I didn’t see any of them coming. Even though this had given me several vibes of other movies and books, I thought this was still a very unique story!
If you’re interested in books like The Maze Runner series or movies like Total Recall, then I think this would be the perfect book for you! It’s definitely a creative take on the future of our world!
I received an ARC book of Reality Testing through Blackthorns Book Tours. Thank you so much for this opportunity! I really enjoyed reading this one!
I will say right away, you could probably just ignore my rating. I struggled with what I should rate this one. I believe my rating is fair for how I felt after reading this. However, I can easily see this being a 5-star read for the right reader. That being said, I don’t know if this is a book for everyone.
Right away I was getting so many vibes of similar books and movies. When it came to books I primarily thought of The Maze Runner series by James Dashner, The Host by Stephenie Meyer, and The Running Man by Stephen King. For movies… oh man, there were so many! They were mostly older movies like Total Recall and Demolition Man. However, when it came to all these that I was reminded of, I had enjoyed all of them. But I didn’t love them. That’s how I felt about Reality Testing.
The main reason I didn’t love this for me was I think this fell much deeper into the sci-fi realm than I’ve gone before when it’s come to what I read. There was a lot of world-building, and some of it was hard for me to wrap my brain around. Not everything was fully explained. There was a little too much guesswork for my tastes. But as I said, this could simply be due to the fact I don’t read science fiction that often and this was much deeper into sci-fi than I’m used to reading.
Besides all the worldbuilding, I truly enjoyed the storyline. There were plenty of shocking twists along the way too! I didn’t see any of them coming. Even though this had given me several vibes of other movies and books, I thought this was still a very unique story!
If you’re interested in books like The Maze Runner series or movies like Total Recall, then I think this would be the perfect book for you! It’s definitely a creative take on the future of our world!
March 1, 2021
I was torn on how many stars to give this one. I'm familiar with cyberpunk works and have enjoyed them in the past. Price is very obviously intelligent, knows his genre, and is excellent at worlds building. The plot is complex, but it isn't so complicated it's difficult to follow. It is the tale of mechanic Mara, who one day wakes up in the wrong body, beside a corpse she is then accused of murdering. She goes on the run, trying to find out what's happened to her.
That's just the beginning of the action. She meets seedy underworld dwellers, an off-the-grid commune, and a wannabe cowboy, who is probably one of my favorite characters.
The beginning is strong, but there came a point in the first third where I began to find Mara a bit tedious, and the story dragged for me. But then she meets the cowboy and then the protein the commune, and I regained interest. The last third was actually quite fun.
So, the strengths are plotting and worlds building. The main drawback for me were the characters. I wasn't as engaged with them as much as I'd have liked, particularly Mara. But I'd like to read more, and I'll certainly look for Price again. 3.5 stars rounded to 4.
I received an ARC for free in exchange for a review.
That's just the beginning of the action. She meets seedy underworld dwellers, an off-the-grid commune, and a wannabe cowboy, who is probably one of my favorite characters.
The beginning is strong, but there came a point in the first third where I began to find Mara a bit tedious, and the story dragged for me. But then she meets the cowboy and then the protein the commune, and I regained interest. The last third was actually quite fun.
So, the strengths are plotting and worlds building. The main drawback for me were the characters. I wasn't as engaged with them as much as I'd have liked, particularly Mara. But I'd like to read more, and I'll certainly look for Price again. 3.5 stars rounded to 4.
I received an ARC for free in exchange for a review.
January 28, 2021
Having been a big fan of this author for quite some time and being particular fond of dystopian sci-fi in general, it was a no brainer when deciding to purchase his latest offering.
Once I got over the sheer volume of new lexis within the first chapter, I couldn't put the book down. I felt myself deeply involved in the well-being of Mara and the people she encounters, helped in no small part by the authentic, well-paced and meaningful dialogue interspersed throughout the book.
A lot of dystopian novels can ironically end up being fairly formulaic and predictable, but this isn't one of them. I was constantly left pleasantly surprised by the twists and turns involving Mara and her past right up until the very end.
I for one have got my fingers crossed for a sequel.
Once I got over the sheer volume of new lexis within the first chapter, I couldn't put the book down. I felt myself deeply involved in the well-being of Mara and the people she encounters, helped in no small part by the authentic, well-paced and meaningful dialogue interspersed throughout the book.
A lot of dystopian novels can ironically end up being fairly formulaic and predictable, but this isn't one of them. I was constantly left pleasantly surprised by the twists and turns involving Mara and her past right up until the very end.
I for one have got my fingers crossed for a sequel.
May 23, 2021
Thanks to blackthornbooks and the author for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
Reality Testing is a book of great abundance of technology and have the taste of dystopian setting in it. The theme of the novel presents human brutality, depletion of human and earth resources and human conscience that though it is set in the far future it still applies to our world as of today. The world building is something that proved quite difficult for me at the beginning but soon I got used to it.
And of course there are memorable characters that compels the story in such a way that it proves quite difficult to stop reading. Right from the onset of the book, it captures you as the reader and leads down a complicated but a fun ride.
I loved it.
Reality Testing is a book of great abundance of technology and have the taste of dystopian setting in it. The theme of the novel presents human brutality, depletion of human and earth resources and human conscience that though it is set in the far future it still applies to our world as of today. The world building is something that proved quite difficult for me at the beginning but soon I got used to it.
And of course there are memorable characters that compels the story in such a way that it proves quite difficult to stop reading. Right from the onset of the book, it captures you as the reader and leads down a complicated but a fun ride.
I loved it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews