Thank you so much to Angry Robot for having me on the book tour for Twenty Five to Life by R.W.W. Greene!
This book is a futuristic “what-if”- what will happen when sea levels rise and pollution is unbreathable? How will the governments manage the end of the world crisis? The book starts at an end of the world party as colony spaceships are deserting the Earth, and everyone left is going to have to fend for themselves.
Bookish Quick Facts:
- Title: Twenty Five to Life
- Series: N/A
- Author: RWW Greene
- Publisher & Release: Angry Robot, 8/24/21
- Length: 279 pgs
- Rate & Recommend: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 yes for Scifi, dystopian fans!
Here is the book blurb:
Life goes on for the billions left behind after the humanity-saving colony mission to Proxima Centauri leaves Earth orbit … but what’s the point?
Julie Riley is two years too young to get out from under her mother’s thumb, and what does it matter? She’s over-educated, under-employed, and kept mostly numb by her pharma emplant. Her best friend, who she’s mostly been interacting with via virtual reality for the past decade, is part of the colony mission to Proxima Centauri. Plus, the world is coming to an end. So, there’s that.
When Julie’s mother decides it’s time to let go of the family home in a failing suburb and move to the city to be closer to work and her new beau, Julie decides to take matters into her own hands. She runs, illegally, hoping to find and hide with the Volksgeist, a loose-knit culture of tramps, hoboes, senior citizens, artists, and never-do-wells who have elected to ride out the end of the world in their campers and converted vans, constantly on the move over the back roads of America
It’s hard to pinpoint this book, but I think it’s really about living out your days as best as you can, keeping hope in the worst situations, and finding “the point”.
Most of the population has moved into these tiny cube apartments in towers in the big cities, where the government can offer housing, food, and keep everyone happy aka addicted to pharma emplants and living in Virtual Reality. While this is life for most of the world, a few citizens live out their lives roaming America’s roads and seeing the sights in caravans. That certainly sounds better than living as an avatar with no purpose, and no sense of how to interact with anyone anymore!
Julie isn’t quite legal age but she decides to risk running away to join these drifters rather than live out the days till the end of the world in a box. I really liked Julie and the lady that kind of adopts her on the road, called Ranger. The roads are dangerous and filled with caravans, gangs, and tons of other dangers including disease and weather phenomenon. I like that these people would rather be free than submit to VR, and most have become survivalists.
There are themes of looking out for your neighbor, taking care of the Earth before it is too late, addiction, friendship, sickness and loss, hope and generally making the most of one’s life. It’s almost a plausible future too, who’s to say what would happen if the population has to converge mostly on one continent? Yikes!
The book is funny at times with great banter and plenty of girl power, I gave this one a strong four stars!
Please do check out the other tour hosts as well!
OneReadingNurse.com 