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thebookishdesigner's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
“After the pandemic, people hugged, friends and families reconnected, but a few short years later we were back to shooting each other. David, son, we're a disease.”
Fauxville is the indie debut from D.K. Pike, the book follows David Miller a war veteran who is suffering from amnesia and trying to put the pieces of his life back together, until an old army buddy tell’s him the war is not over and this is in fact a simulation.
For a debut novel this is a solid effort from Pike, it tackles a very interesting subject matter that I’ve not read on before, it was defiantly a page turner and I wanted to see how the story was going to pan out. Since the publication at the back end of 2021 some of the topics that Pike has touched upon have become more relevant in real life and this brings a new level to the book, causing the dystopia created to become all the more eerie.
Whilst the characters are likeable and we do get some of their backstory, I didn’t get enough to feel too emotionally invested in them, but with approx 300 pages and a complicated plot it’s a sacrifice that I feel needed to be made to make the book work. If you are a more character focussed reader you may struggle a bit with this one.
One of the biggest things I enjoyed about this book was the writing style and the language used. This felt like it was narrated by one of my people, having grown up in the same town as the author the language felt like home (and worth nothing this was a conscious decision made by Pike to have a more British working class feel to the narration), which is at first was a bit odd because we don’t see this style very often, but quickly seemed like the correct decision. Slight warning there is a fair amount of swearing in here.
My only criticism’s of Fauxville is that at times I struggled to keep up with the non-linear timeline and if we were in reality, the fauxville or a flashback and I found myself having to re-read parts to get back on track. My only other issues we incredibly personal and should not effect anyone else’s enjoyment of the book was the character names I could match these to real life people and it was hard to separate the real people to the fictional counterparts.
connorjdaley's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The author very graciously sent me a copy for my reading enjoyment. The paperback is a nice quality with some thicc pages.
In this scifi debut, I was pleased to feel refreshed with a new take on some very science fiction threads. It is both well written, and simply written, which to me is one of my favorite types of reading.
To me, this definitely felt like it was pulling from elsewhere out in the world, but not at all in the negative way. It is like a futuristic-Slaughterhouse-Five, with elements of Fight Club, Otherworld, Ready Player One, 1984, I, Robot. It touches upon all of these different elements whilst not being like any of them. For spoilers sake, that’s about as far as I will go!
One thing that was a little shell-shocking—as an American—was to read a futuristic story where from multiple perspectives, America, now called the Anarcho-Capitalists (or Ancaps), are the bad guys. No redemption story or redeeming qualities, just outright bad and in the wrong. I of course know my country’s history, so it’s not like I don’t understand it, or that it’s any kind of stretch, but just to read a perspective like that was very different for me. However, with the story being multilayered, the enemies are everywhere, so look out!
There was a change added in part three that made the ending more concise. Therefore, there is less room for confusion overall and it helps it all come together. The narration by Dan Matha was fantastic. Damn that man has a deep voice.
Absolutely worth your time, effort, and money to acquire and read this one.
In this scifi debut, I was pleased to feel refreshed with a new take on some very science fiction threads. It is both well written, and simply written, which to me is one of my favorite types of reading.
To me, this definitely felt like it was pulling from elsewhere out in the world, but not at all in the negative way. It is like a futuristic-Slaughterhouse-Five, with elements of Fight Club, Otherworld, Ready Player One, 1984, I, Robot. It touches upon all of these different elements whilst not being like any of them. For spoilers sake, that’s about as far as I will go!
One thing that was a little shell-shocking—as an American—was to read a futuristic story where from multiple perspectives, America, now called the Anarcho-Capitalists (or Ancaps), are the bad guys. No redemption story or redeeming qualities, just outright bad and in the wrong. I of course know my country’s history, so it’s not like I don’t understand it, or that it’s any kind of stretch, but just to read a perspective like that was very different for me. However, with the story being multilayered, the enemies are everywhere, so look out!
There was a change added in part three that made the ending more concise. Therefore, there is less room for confusion overall and it helps it all come together. The narration by Dan Matha was fantastic. Damn that man has a deep voice.
Absolutely worth your time, effort, and money to acquire and read this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Cursing, Drug use, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Alcohol, Blood, Kidnapping, Colonisation, Confinement, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
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