Genre: LGBTQIA | New Adult | Dystopian Survival | Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Publication Date: June 21, 2022
Series: The Watchers Trilogy
Kindle Unlimited: No
Audiobook: No/Not yet
Received From: Free from NetGalley
Blurb
1984 meets The Hunger Games in this 2018 Watty Award winner and two-time Wattpad Featured Pick enjoyed by over 125,000 readers.
A game show with sadistic secrets. Ten contestants with nothing to lose. Who will be ruthless enough to win?
A decade after the end of American democracy, a privatized police force maintains law and order with drones, 24-hour surveillance, and brute force. Jobs are scarce, poverty is everywhere, and privacy is nonexistent.
Entertainment provides the only escape, and when a new game show promises to put the power back into the hands of ordinary citizens by putting them behind the camera lens, they’re dying to control something – even each other.
For 20-year-old Sasha, the world has always been broken and she’s been alone since the foster system dumped her on the streets on her eighteenth birthday. All she wants is a safe and comfortable life.
But when her only friend goes missing, Sasha’s quest to find her leads her into a monster’s lair – and onto the set of the game show taking the nation by storm.
Trapped and panicking, Sasha soon learns that vulnerable people in her city are being targeted by the show – and the game’s true nature is far more sinister than anything the police have done.
Review
Let me start by saying that I felt this book leaned more toward fantasy than science fiction. In a way, the drones give the book a science fiction component but that is the extent of the technology in the plot thus far. The plot arc, however, leans more toward dystopian fantasy. In more contemporary terms, this book resembles a mix of the "Survivor" tv show and Hunger Games.
There are slow parts in the book, but I believe that is due to the amount of time it took for the character- and world-building. I think if readers are patient, they'll discover a new, totalitarian world that is more insidious than meets the eye.
The issue I had was that I didn't find Sasha all that interesting. Sasha grew up in the foster system, she's kind-hearted, and she doesn't seem to have the burning desire to be a forward-thinking leader and rebel. However, I found the secondary protagonist far more interesting. Their background isn't fully fleshed out, but there is a lot of potential in their story that would make the second book in the series interesting.
I did enjoy the world-building and the plot itself. The world-building helped me to immerse myself in the plot and it made me want to learn more about the insidious political games that are being played behind the deplorable game show. I'd be willing to read the second book in the trilogy to learn more about the game show's seedy underbelly.
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