Ryan Winfield

I have been through hell and back, more than once, and came out the other side. I'm a little sad, more than a little dazed, and can only throw back my head and yell YES! I LOVED THIS BOOK!

Generally speaking, the story grabs you right away, refusing to let go until the last sentence (and what a good one it is). The prose flows freely, yet it can be choppy and disjointed, much like the mind it's pouring out from. Trevor is... I don't even know how to describe him. He's a total mess, and yet show more you're on his side the entire time, hoping today's the day he's going to pull his head out of his ass and run away from the mess in which he has immersed himself. This is a man completely at the will of his addictions, too enthralled to even question the walls of his life crumbling around him. His story begins at the bottom, and then just goes downhill from there.

Oh, but what a wonderful thing a second chance can be... and sometimes, a third.

Personally speaking, this story ripped me wide open and bled me nearly dry, then picked me up, dusted me off, and gave me a little hug before sending me on my way with just a little more hope than I had before. Trevor spoke directly to my past, and it was truly one of the hardest reads in a very long time. Necessary, I think, but so very hard.

Read this book! Let the prose take you where you might be afraid to go, and don't let yourself get caught up on details like quotation marks or the need for a story to march forward relentlessly. Trevor reveals himself to us with both his past and present, weaving together to show us the entire picture at once. Don't be afraid of the subject matter, because Trevor can teach us all something, regardless of if we relate to him or not.

So well done! I'd give it ten stars if I knew how to hack! ;) show less

Another book read as an audiobook during the great cross country criss crossing I'm currently undertaking (CT to MI to LA to CA). I only got through this one due to some rather large areas of no cell service in the upper peninsula that made it literally impossible to find a different book.

That bit out of the way, let's move on to the real issue with this story: rampant stupidity. Attributed intelligence is less than worthless when you fail to actually show it- it makes it much harder to show more excuse when the characters do stupid things... And this story is literally built upon stupid things.

The plot can be summarized thus: there was a war, and so a bunch of intelligent immortal scientists decide to save the world and prevent global warming by killing off humanity in the least efficient manner possible (drones), only to be stopped by the plucky teen who they've trained to be their successor. Along the way we're shown apparently functioning virtual reality being put to use in experiments actually less scientifically useful than the stated purpose they lie to the general populace about, several increasingly ridiculous manhood rites, and the complete failure of anyone involved to see the blindingly obvious.

It's not just that the characters weren't smart. It's that none of them acted in a manner consistent with a basic human level of sentience. A lot of the decisions made were so incoherently dumb I think a five year old could have spotted the problems.

So yeah. Aggressively cliche without any worthwhile underpinning. Even if "dystopia" seems to be genre enough to support sales in and of itself, writing about human characters requires a baseline level of competence for them to qualify as "human". show less

Continuing the intriguing and ingenious plot begun in “The Park Service,” the second part of the trilogy finds our reluctant hero, Aubrey, setting out on a quest to save his people still down in Holocene II and unaware of the whole world that exists above them. Aubrey is determined to end the Park Service, but to do so he and Jimmy must embark on a quest with the newly discovered professor whose loyalties are questionable. There is betrayal and death and nothing is as it seems. While show more Winfield weaves an interesting plot, it is really his characterization of Aubrey that draws my interest. Aubrey is every bit a sixteen year old: conflicted and self-centered, wanting to do the right thing, but reluctant in many ways to take responsibility. His loyalty to his friend is challenged by his love for his girlfriend, and his desire to help his people is at war with his desire to simply live a peaceful, worry and conflict free life. It is his multifaceted persona that really drives the story and it is Winfield’s complex characterizations and interpersonal relationships that make his writing compelling and engaging. show less

What would you give up for paradise? If you had spent your whole life in an underground habitat where society lived in fear of radiation and nuclear winter, what would you give for an idyllic mountain chateau beside a beautiful lake with a beautiful woman, unlimited food, servants and the task of ruling a new paradise on earth? Would you give up your friends? Your family? Your humanity? What if, to ensure this idyllic existence you had to tend the machinery that was systematically wiping out show more the rest of humanity? What would you do? And what would you do if you were a fifteen year old boy who had met his perfect mate in this paradise home, only to find that to keep her you had to sacrifice every morality and every bit of humanity you have? Meet Aubrey Van Houten – he is the fifteen year old who occupies this dystopian world that he has discovered is not what he has been told it is. And now with his best friend and the girl he loves he is forced to grow up quickly to try and save the very world that he thought was already lost. This is a very good dystopian novel, combined with a coming of age story that is well developed with good characterization and a plot that keeps the pages turning quickly. I will definitely read the next two. show less