Verdict: simply put, CITY-STATE DARK is a mess of a novel. 1 out of 5 stars.
Mini-Synopsis: in a future ravaged by a catastrophic drought, Manhattan Island is ruled over by a brutal regime controlling all access to drinkable water. But the revolution is brewing, leading to an apocalyptic conflict.
Works of science fiction often feature over-the-top premises. Even so, the set-up of CITY-STATE DARK strains credulity: in the future, the world (or at least New York City) has gone through an epic drought. Hudson River and the Atlantic Ocean are gone. How could anyone survive something like this? How is this disaster even physically possible? What little information …show more content…
Despite taking place among the poor and powerful alike, the story fails to convey the feeling it takes place in any kind of society. CITY-STATE DARK is a world of empty streets, deserted buildings, and long-dead bodies, making the whole struggle between the haves and have-nots feel emotionally hollow. Maybe this was the author's intent, but it only manages to alienate the reader from the story.
The struggle itself has no nuance. Rebel leader is a former medic named Cortez and his trusty lieutenant Rita who, before the world ended, helped prisoners finish school while in jail. On the other side are child-murdering corporate fat cats. Characterization is similarly crude. CITY-STATE DARK often stops the story to explain its characters in passages like this one:
Alison used to be a manizer, use whomever she wanted for whatever she needed. She did it because she could and because she felt empowered. Now she realizes that she was never really empowered at all, that she was always as weak as she is today, just totally in denial of it. Alison has been a pawn in Queen’s garb in her past life, and now she is a pawn in less than pawn’s clothing in the present. Alison has lost total track of