A review by secre
Riot by Sarah Mussi
1.0
The time is 2018 and Britain is in chaos. Years of cuts and austerity measures have devastated the country; the banks are going under, businesses are closing, prices are soaring, unemployment is rising and prisons overflowing. The population is rising and the authorities cannot cope. Something has to give. The solution that is found? Forced sterilisation of all school leavers without secure further education plans or guaranteed employment. The Teen Haves will procreate. The Teen Havenots will not.
The concept is striking and certainly one that attracted me; partly because actually many of the policies that are introduced are ones I can more than see our current Tory government trying to put through Parliament; no more free housing or housing benefits for the vulnerable or single parents. No more child benefits, no more free school meals or school milk. The way to no more children in need, is not letting those who cannot afford children breed. At age 17.
The actual implementation of this idea is where this novel falls down; Tia is the ‘leader’ of the rebellion, she is the Eve to the Adam and Eve story of the resistance. But Tia is a naïve little rich girl who actually states that she started the rebellion because she was bored. She knows all the hacking short cuts and procedures, despite having been raised in a rich girls school as a politicans daughter. This to start with jars. I can more than see the population rioting and rising together, but the movement would have been grass roots, not headed by a little rich girl who was never going to be in danger of having her tubes snipped. Daddy wouldn’t allow it.
Tia is also an extremely annoying character and it is therefore rather unfortunate that all of the story is narrated through her thoughts. And her thoughts would give the Virgin Mary a migraine. There’s no subtlety or clever writing behind the character. It’s short, sharp sentences, very few adjectives or explanations. This happened. Then this happened. And oh flip, this happened. Additionally, the word ‘flipping’ is hugely overused and often utterly inappropriately; _ I've just been flipping shot, and flipping roasted in a burning building and_ _now I'm crouching down behind a row of flipping trashed cars with a flipping yob._ Seriously? If I’d been shot, roasted and forced to hide with a yob you’d better believe there would be some choice invectives flying out of my mouth.
The politics behind this dystopia were as thin as ice as well; if you want to make me believe that such a radical decision would be made, you need to convince me. And for that you need a political system in which it works, you need a well-thought out and serious system behind this dystopia, particularly if you are setting it in the real world. And this, to put it simply, failed. The reason it fails is a spoiler, so I shall refrain from spoiling it for you, but there isn’t the depth of the thought that I had expected, instead it is just a cop out.
The love angle is equally annoying. Why oh why, oh why, oh why, oh why, do authors see the need to stick inappropriate and damn stupid love angles in teenage books? It never interested me as a teenager and it certainly doesn’t grip me now. Just because it’s young adult does not mean the protagonist has to fall in love with the rebel leaders green cat like eyes. Jesus, get a grip. If you’re writing a dystopia then give me a dytopia. If you’re writing a rebellion then give me a rebellion. If you’re writing a love story then stop trying to sell it me under the guise of a dystopia!
This is an interesting idea and concept that is let down by its writing style, inane characters, lack of vocabulary and lack of depth in brutal honesty. It is a book that had the potential to be awesome and instead ends up as just…meh. On the other hand it’s a quick and easy read, taking me about two hours to slam through on a train journey and promptly leave at the church for someone else to have a gander. It raises some interesting questions I guess; how far is too far? What is the difference between a protest and terrorism and how grey that line can get when the definition is set by the government. But there isn’t enough depth here to explore it.
===Do I Recommend?===
For adult readers, certainly that’s a no. It’s too simplistic with none of the exploration or depth that makes this a buyable dystopia. The main characters thoughts are jarring and insipid and the love story angle is just…bleh. Not interesting. For teenage readers, perhaps as a quick read to introduce them to dystopian fiction? It’s certainly not the best in its genre; Hunger Games and Divergent come immediately to mind as far superior modern alternatives and even Delirium which isn’t one of my favourites either but is better written than this. 1964 and Animal Farm are of course classics. Having read Siege by the same author though, that is far better.
The concept is striking and certainly one that attracted me; partly because actually many of the policies that are introduced are ones I can more than see our current Tory government trying to put through Parliament; no more free housing or housing benefits for the vulnerable or single parents. No more child benefits, no more free school meals or school milk. The way to no more children in need, is not letting those who cannot afford children breed. At age 17.
The actual implementation of this idea is where this novel falls down; Tia is the ‘leader’ of the rebellion, she is the Eve to the Adam and Eve story of the resistance. But Tia is a naïve little rich girl who actually states that she started the rebellion because she was bored. She knows all the hacking short cuts and procedures, despite having been raised in a rich girls school as a politicans daughter. This to start with jars. I can more than see the population rioting and rising together, but the movement would have been grass roots, not headed by a little rich girl who was never going to be in danger of having her tubes snipped. Daddy wouldn’t allow it.
Tia is also an extremely annoying character and it is therefore rather unfortunate that all of the story is narrated through her thoughts. And her thoughts would give the Virgin Mary a migraine. There’s no subtlety or clever writing behind the character. It’s short, sharp sentences, very few adjectives or explanations. This happened. Then this happened. And oh flip, this happened. Additionally, the word ‘flipping’ is hugely overused and often utterly inappropriately; _ I've just been flipping shot, and flipping roasted in a burning building and_ _now I'm crouching down behind a row of flipping trashed cars with a flipping yob._ Seriously? If I’d been shot, roasted and forced to hide with a yob you’d better believe there would be some choice invectives flying out of my mouth.
The politics behind this dystopia were as thin as ice as well; if you want to make me believe that such a radical decision would be made, you need to convince me. And for that you need a political system in which it works, you need a well-thought out and serious system behind this dystopia, particularly if you are setting it in the real world. And this, to put it simply, failed. The reason it fails is a spoiler, so I shall refrain from spoiling it for you, but there isn’t the depth of the thought that I had expected, instead it is just a cop out.
The love angle is equally annoying. Why oh why, oh why, oh why, oh why, do authors see the need to stick inappropriate and damn stupid love angles in teenage books? It never interested me as a teenager and it certainly doesn’t grip me now. Just because it’s young adult does not mean the protagonist has to fall in love with the rebel leaders green cat like eyes. Jesus, get a grip. If you’re writing a dystopia then give me a dytopia. If you’re writing a rebellion then give me a rebellion. If you’re writing a love story then stop trying to sell it me under the guise of a dystopia!
This is an interesting idea and concept that is let down by its writing style, inane characters, lack of vocabulary and lack of depth in brutal honesty. It is a book that had the potential to be awesome and instead ends up as just…meh. On the other hand it’s a quick and easy read, taking me about two hours to slam through on a train journey and promptly leave at the church for someone else to have a gander. It raises some interesting questions I guess; how far is too far? What is the difference between a protest and terrorism and how grey that line can get when the definition is set by the government. But there isn’t enough depth here to explore it.
===Do I Recommend?===
For adult readers, certainly that’s a no. It’s too simplistic with none of the exploration or depth that makes this a buyable dystopia. The main characters thoughts are jarring and insipid and the love story angle is just…bleh. Not interesting. For teenage readers, perhaps as a quick read to introduce them to dystopian fiction? It’s certainly not the best in its genre; Hunger Games and Divergent come immediately to mind as far superior modern alternatives and even Delirium which isn’t one of my favourites either but is better written than this. 1964 and Animal Farm are of course classics. Having read Siege by the same author though, that is far better.