Tag: Dystopia

Posted in Book Reviews, Novels

REVIEW: After the Dragons by Cynthia Zhang

Posted on by elishasbookreview

*No Major Spoilers*

Dragons were fire and terror to the Western world, but in the East they brought life-giving rain…

Now, no longer hailed as gods and struggling in the overheated pollution of Beijing, only the Eastern dragons survive. As drought plagues the aquatic creatures, a mysterious disease—shaolong, or “burnt lung”—afflicts the city’s human inhabitants.

Jaded college student Xiang Kaifei scours Beijing streets for abandoned dragons, distracting himself from his diagnosis. Elijah Ahmed, a biracial American medical researcher, is drawn to Beijing by the memory of his grandmother and her death by shaolong. Interest in Beijing’s dragons leads Kai and Eli into an unlikely partnership. With the resources of Kai’s dragon rescue and Eli’s immunology research, can the pair find a cure for shaolong and safety for the dragons? Eli and Kai must confront old ghosts and hard truths if there is any hope for themselves or the dragons they love.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

So, just to start off, I did not finish this novel. I decided to jump ship and not force myself to read this even though there are aspects about this novel I liked. So let’s slay this quick talk about After the Dragons.

I love the world building this novel has done. It juxtaposes the effects of global warming, pollution, and just the deterioration of human society against these beautiful, magnificent dragons. Even though they are suffering the effects of human interference, they are still surviving.

The characters felt flat to me. Even though I learned more about Kai than I did about Eli, I felt there was no chemistry between the two. Eli learns of Kai’s terminal illness and he’s like ‘there must be something I can do to help him’ and I’m like dude, you spent a couple of hours with this guy and you two barely spoke to each other.

So overall, I’m giving this book two and 1/2 stars because of the amazing world-building and the dragons. I love stories with dragons that have personalities and help the main characters out. A couple of examples that come to mind are the dragons in The Last Dragon Chronicles by Chris d’Lacey and Mushu from animated Mulan movies.

However, just because this book wasn’t something I enjoyed doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy it. Maybe you’ll love this story and it becomes your favorite story of 2022. I’m just here sharing my thoughts and opinions into the void that is the Internet.

Posted in Audiobooks, Book Reviews, Novels

REVIEW: The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner

Posted on by elishasbookreview
the-sheep-look-up-5

*No Spoilers*

An enduring classic, this book offers a dramatic and prophetic look at the potential consequences of the escalating destruction of Earth. In this nightmare society, air pollution is so bad that gas masks are commonplace. Infant mortality is up, and everyone seems to suffer from some form of ailment.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I had never heard of this novel until recently. I was surprised how this novel was originally published in 1973, and how much this book rings true in today’s world and tomorrow’s possible future. I was shocked.

There’s an ingrained distrust in our society of highly intellegent, highly trained, highly competent persons. One need only to look at the last presidential election for proof of that.

John Brunner; The Sheep Look Up

This novel was terrifying in a subtle way. This novel reminded me of the battle with the anti-vaxxers, the vegans, and others who are “different”. The Sheep Look Up also discusses the issues of racial tension and prejudice that seems to have to be prevalent in the news again.

This novel does suffer from one common problem with apocalyptic aspects, too many characters. I don’t like having to take notes while I’m reading a book if I wanted to that I’d go back to college [heavy sarcasm].

Even so, I felt this novel was an excellent discovery and a terrifying read. Everyone wearing gas masks, everyone catching all kinds of diseases just by trying to survive, and all of the animals going extinct.

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Here’s my Doctor Who reference for the month!

With the fear of bees going extinct, and the rhinos and elephants being killed for their ivory, it is mostly foretold in this novel. The discussion for environmental change is on every page. Even though there are those of us who are trying to slow down the destruction of the world, the rest can’t seem to break those old habits.

You can’t blame the people who can’t hear the warnings; you have to blame the ones who can, and who choose to ignore them.

John Brunner; The Sheep Look Up

I would highly recommend this classic novel to those who enjoy the underrated classics. I think this novel is also for those people who like dystopic and apocalyptic future of our current world and possible future. This book is a great read if you’re looking for an apocalyptic read, but don’t want the zombie kind.