{"id":1243,"date":"2011-10-11T01:55:19","date_gmt":"2011-10-11T05:55:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/?p=1243"},"modified":"2013-04-26T16:36:55","modified_gmt":"2013-04-26T20:36:55","slug":"book-review-children-of-paranoia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/2011\/10\/book-review-children-of-paranoia.html","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Children of Paranoia"},"content":{"rendered":"

[amazon_link id=”0525952373″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]\"Children[\/amazon_link]Title : Children of Paranoia<\/strong>
\n Author : Trevor Shane<\/strong>
\n Publisher : Dutton<\/strong>
\n Genre : Dystopian Thriller<\/strong>
\n Release Date : September 8, 2011<\/strong>
\n Source : Publisher ARC<\/strong>
\nPages : 371<\/strong>
\n Rating : 4.5\/5<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is a war on and Joseph is in the thick of it. It\u2019s Us vs. Them with the Rules of War clearly laid out. Not obeying the Rules has harsh consequences, and those who dare to do so find themselves hunted by both sides. Joseph or Joe, is a good soldier, fighting the war which generations before him have fought. But, lately, he is beginning to wonder about his steadfastness to it. He is beginning to ask questions. And when he meets Maria, and falls in love with her, he must break the Rules anyway . . .<\/p>\n

This is a dystopian novel. Joe’s world could be the one you and I inhabit. It looks the same for people outside the war. But if you are in it, you belong to one side or the other. And you have to be constantly on your toes, because “they” could be coming for you. The book itself is unusual one for me, since I hadn\u2019t read a novel where the hero was an assassin. In the first chapter itself Joe kills a woman and the murder is described in quite a bit of detail. And while I\u2019ve watched \u201cassassin\u201d films (a la Jason Bourne) and seen people kill each other on screen \u2013 plop! plop! Two sound-muted bullets! People drop dead! – reading about it is a whole new level of unsettling.<\/p>\n

Joe then, starts off as a very unlikely hero. Still, the author manages to build him up as a sympathetic character, because he is beginning to question this mindless killing. The book is told in the first person from Joe\u2019s point of view, and I quite liked that. The tone and narrative is that of a person recalling memories, and relating them. This is a really interesting technique, since it pulls the reader right into the book. It not only defines Joe\u2019s character for us, but lets us get a look-see into his mind and innermost thoughts. When the action happens, we\u2019re in it, blow by blow. And when Joe is plagued by doubt, we can feel his desperation, raw and unconcealed :<\/p>\n

The following morning, I remember waking up with my eyes still closed. I just lay there for a few minutes. I didn\u2019t want to be awake. I didn\u2019t want the morning to come. With the morning came the payment of debts unpaid, the revealing of truths unspoken. I could hear you next to me. You were awake. I glanced through partially closed eyelids. You were sitting up in bed, the sheets wrapped around under your armpits for warmth. I could see the fear in your face \u2013 fear and determination. Slowly, I opened my eyes.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cChildren of Paranoia\u201d was a pretty intense read, and completely un-put-down-able once I had started on it. It moves fast, with unexpected twists and turns and you are hanging in there, just hoping for the best. This is an outstanding debut, and since this book has an ending which bodes well for a sequel (it is set to be a trilogy) I hope I can get my hands on it the moment it comes out! Highly recommended.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[amazon_link id=”0525952373″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][\/amazon_link]Title : Children of Paranoia Author : Trevor Shane Publisher : Dutton Genre : Dystopian Thriller Release Date : September 8, 2011 Source : Publisher ARC Pages : 371 Rating : 4.5\/5 There is a war on and Joseph is in the thick of it. It\u2019s Us vs. Them with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_17000648_17000648":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[49,75,53,3,58,9,62,81,97,24,4,50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-49","category-4-5_star_rating","category-arc","category-books","category-crime","category-culture-and-society","category-dystopian","category-must-read","category-penguin_books","category-recommended","category-review","category-series"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"post-thumbnail":false,"sow-carousel-default":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"amodini","author_link":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/author\/admin"},"uagb_comment_info":5,"uagb_excerpt":"[amazon_link id=”0525952373″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][\/amazon_link]Title : Children of Paranoia Author : Trevor Shane Publisher : Dutton Genre : Dystopian Thriller Release Date : September 8, 2011 Source : Publisher ARC Pages : 371 Rating : 4.5\/5 There is a war on and Joseph is in the thick of it. It\u2019s Us vs. Them with…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1243"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2618,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1243\/revisions\/2618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}