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A review by fawnsbooks
Utopia PR by Adam Bender
3.0
Utopia PR by Adam Bender - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Listened to the ARC of the Audiobook on May 5th and 6th. Special thanks to NetGalley for sharing this ARC with me in exchange for my honest review.
Summary
Blake Hamner (the 'n' is silent and he will tell you) helped the Leader with his political campaign for president. Currently, he is the Crisis Communications Manager of this Leader/President/King. Utopia PR is a dystopian novel about Blake, who tries to navigate his career and marriage while working for an increasingly authoritarian president.
Writing - 7/10 ⭐️
The writing itself might be the best part of the novel. It's clear why Bender is an award-winning journalist, as his texts are easy to understand and are filled with jokes. However, decent or even good writing cannot quite make up for an undeveloped plot and lack of personality in characters. I would have given an 8 for writing but had to distract one point for the narrator here. Tristan Wright's voice sounds Blake well enough, but I'm not convinced that's a good thing and would have preferred a more likable voice.
Pace - 5/10 ⭐️
The plot did not really start until halfway through the book, so where it started out slow, everything then happened really fast.
Plot - 5/10⭐️
Due to the story being relatively short and the plot not starting until about halfway through, there was not much of a plot. The characters weren't fleshed out and so it felt like a lot of things were rather random, rather than well thought out. I feel like the author could have made the book a lot better with just a bit more details.
Characters - 5/10 ⭐️
The main character, Blake, is completely unlikeable. If this man managed to land a wife like Maria and is considered a 'PR extraordinaire', I worry about what an average man would be like in the novel's universe. As a PR man, he always has something to say, unless it's banter with his wife, a prominent news anchor. Not only is Blake pretty boring, he is also unfriendly. To the point of forgetting the interns' name for most of the story. I believe her name is Victoria, but I've seen so many different names for her, I'm not even sure. Victoria, who becomes a relatively important character, also has a very poorly explored arc, and neither she nor Blake seems to have any motives for their actions.
Enjoyability - 7/10⭐️
Since I don't read a lot of books like this, it was definitely an interesting read/listen. The story was simple enough, despite its topic, to not require a lot of focus. I got through most of the audiobook over the course of one afternoon, while going through my chores. I preferred listening to this over listening to my music or watching a show.
Listened to the ARC of the Audiobook on May 5th and 6th. Special thanks to NetGalley for sharing this ARC with me in exchange for my honest review.
Summary
Blake Hamner (the 'n' is silent and he will tell you) helped the Leader with his political campaign for president. Currently, he is the Crisis Communications Manager of this Leader/President/King. Utopia PR is a dystopian novel about Blake, who tries to navigate his career and marriage while working for an increasingly authoritarian president.
Writing - 7/10 ⭐️
The writing itself might be the best part of the novel. It's clear why Bender is an award-winning journalist, as his texts are easy to understand and are filled with jokes. However, decent or even good writing cannot quite make up for an undeveloped plot and lack of personality in characters. I would have given an 8 for writing but had to distract one point for the narrator here. Tristan Wright's voice sounds Blake well enough, but I'm not convinced that's a good thing and would have preferred a more likable voice.
Pace - 5/10 ⭐️
The plot did not really start until halfway through the book, so where it started out slow, everything then happened really fast.
Plot - 5/10⭐️
Due to the story being relatively short and the plot not starting until about halfway through, there was not much of a plot. The characters weren't fleshed out and so it felt like a lot of things were rather random, rather than well thought out. I feel like the author could have made the book a lot better with just a bit more details.
Characters - 5/10 ⭐️
The main character, Blake, is completely unlikeable. If this man managed to land a wife like Maria and is considered a 'PR extraordinaire', I worry about what an average man would be like in the novel's universe. As a PR man, he always has something to say, unless it's banter with his wife, a prominent news anchor. Not only is Blake pretty boring, he is also unfriendly. To the point of forgetting the interns' name for most of the story. I believe her name is Victoria, but I've seen so many different names for her, I'm not even sure. Victoria, who becomes a relatively important character, also has a very poorly explored arc, and neither she nor Blake seems to have any motives for their actions.
Enjoyability - 7/10⭐️
Since I don't read a lot of books like this, it was definitely an interesting read/listen. The story was simple enough, despite its topic, to not require a lot of focus. I got through most of the audiobook over the course of one afternoon, while going through my chores. I preferred listening to this over listening to my music or watching a show.