Today's tour is for Laura Bynum's
Veracity, which I wanted after reading the first line of the blurb, "In the tradition of Margaret Atwood's
The Handmaid's Tale..." I'm a sucker for a good warning on what the world
could be like if we're not mindful of the decisions we make today.
FTC Disclosure: My ARC of Veracity was provided by Pocket Books for this blog tour. I am an IndieBound and Amazon affiliate, and any purchases made by clicking on the cover or the links provided may result in monetary compensation.
About the book:
Harper Adams was six years old in 2012 when an act of viral terrorism wiped out one-half of the country's population. Out of the ashes rose a new government, the Confederation of the Willing, dedicated to maintaining order at any cost. The populace is controlled via government-sanctioned sex and drugs, a brutal police force known as the Blue Coats, and a device called the slate, a mandatory implant that monitors every word a person speaks. To utter a Red-Listed, forbidden word is to risk physical punishment or even death.
But there are those who resist. Guided by the fabled "Book of Noah," they are determined to shake the people from their apathy and ignorance, and are prepared to start a war in the name of freedom. The newest member of this resistance is Harper -- a woman driven by memories of a daughter lost, a daughter whose very name was erased by the Red List. And she possesses a power that could make her the underground warriors' ultimate weapon -- or the instrument of their destruction.
In the tradition of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, Laura Bynum has written an astonishing debut novel about a chilling, all-too-plausible future in which speech is a weapon and security comes at the highest price of all.
drey's thoughts:
Veracity cannot be a debut novel... Really, it can't. It dragged me in and didn't let go, not even after I'd read the last word. Laura Bynum's world is disturbing, for the single reason that it is entirely
possible. Maybe not in its exact incarnation, but definitely possible.
The story weaves between different timelines... One from Harper's past, and one from the current day. The historical timeline covers Harper's growing up, how she got to be a Monitor, and what she did prior to the current day. It's not a character study, but more like a synopsis. They're short and sweet, and tell you exactly what you need to know about how she got to
here.
The one disappointing thing about
Veracity, for me, is the war and its conclusion. It doesn't seem like a "war" actually happened, but all of a sudden the resistance is in control. I guess if Harper successfully took down the redactors, then that's possible, but to me that's still stretching it quite a bit. However, all in all,
Veracity was a very good debut novel from Laura Bynum.
drey's rating: 3.5/5 Very Good
Title: Veracity
Author: Laura Bynum
ISBN-13: 9781439123348
Hardcover: 376 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2010
Purchase at
IndieBound,
Amazon
Challenges: 100+, Pub
