by NRB | 16 Jan 2020 | Fiction, SFF |
Marc-Uwe Kling’s satirical dystopia QualityLand is set in a world uncomfortably close to our own, where algorithms rule. Welcome to QualityLand by Marc-Uwe Kling (translated from the German by Jamie Lee Searle), the newest book in the over-the-top,...
by NRB | 20 Aug 2019 | Fiction, SFF |
Rob Hart’s dystopian novel about an online fulfilment warehouse describes a world that feels disturbingly familiar. Consumerism and the American Dream are in the firing line in Rob Hart’s debut novel The Warehouse. David Eggers mashed Google, Microsoft and Apple...
by NRB | 2 Apr 2019 | Fiction, SFF |
In Melissa Ferguson’s imaginative and original debut, Homo Sapiens and Neanderthal clones inhabit a bleak and desperate dystopia. The Shining Wall questions the nature of humanity and compassion in a world bereft of both. The depiction of an unhappy future, societal...
by NRB | 7 Feb 2019 | SFF |
In this new part-noir, part-dystopian novel, Ben H Winters imagines a world where the state records everything and lying is a crime. Ben H Winters has made a habit of writing what might be called crime fiction/dystopian mash-ups. His trilogy The Last Policeman...
by NRB | 28 Aug 2018 | SFF |
Lifel1k3 is the first of a new series from internationally best-selling and prize-winning Australian author Jay Kristoff. Your body is not your own. Your mind is not your own. Your life is not your own. Humorous and profound in equal measure, Lifel1k3 is a...
by NRB | 23 Nov 2017 | SFF |
Louise Erdrich successfully joins a long line of novelists exploring current issues through a cracked, extreme reflection of our own world. Dystopia has a long history in literary fiction. A breakdown in social order or a reshaping of society are useful lenses through...
by NRB | 26 Oct 2017 | Fiction |
A great deal goes on in All the Galaxies as boy and his dog search the secular afterlife, while Scotland groans under a dystopian vision. All the Galaxies is a book that is hard to categorise. It is an odd mixture of dystopian vision, some light horror with a...
by NRB | 8 Jun 2017 | SFF |
Year of the Orphan is a distinctive story of bravery, resilience and self-sacrifice in a vicious, haunting future. Sometimes it feels as though the most pressing question of the 21st century is how we can best prepare for the apocalyptic collapse of civilisation...
by NRB | 4 May 2017 | Fiction |
This is a powerful portrayal of what can happen in war and in the skilful hands of Claire Corbett the message is clear: there but for the grace of God … The world is at war. It always has been. Our sense of security is an illusion. At any moment, on any day, in...
by NRB | 6 Oct 2016 | SFF |
A killer ride packed with punches, this riveting cross-genre urban-fantasy thriller is set in dystopian Los Angeles. Ava Sykes is a 24-year-old in her final year of studying medical science at UCLA. After graduation she hopes to be accepted for an internship with the...
by NRB | 30 Aug 2016 | SFF |
A dystopian future, inventive language and an irresistible finish distinguish Briohny Doyle’s debut novel. This is an exciting and fascinating read, a very clever speculative dystopian novel set in a not too distant future. The world faces...
by NRB | 19 Nov 2015 | SFF |
The author of An Instance of the Fingerpost explores what happens when words create worlds. What if Alice’s Wonderland was a science fiction creation rather than a fantastic one? By what previously undiscovered scientific laws would that be possible? In Arcadia, Pears...
JUNE WRIGHT Mother Paul series. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm6 December 2024June Wright has faded from view, but in 1948 her novel Murder in the Telephone [ … ]
ANDREW O’HAGAN Caledonian Road. Reviewed by Catherine Pardey5 December 2024This new novel from the author of Mayflies is set in London, but Glasgow is [ … ]
IAIN RYAN The Dream. Reviewed by Ben Ford Smith3 December 2024Iain Ryan’s latest novel continues his fascination with 1980s Queensland and [ … ]
MARINA YUSZCZUK Thirst. Reviewed by Ann Skea28 November 2024Argentinian writer Marina Yuszczuk puts her twist on the vampire novel in [ … ]