Scan barcode
A review by margot_meanders
Orange City by Lee M. Goldberg
3.0
I received a copy of the book for an honest review. I thank Blackthorn Tours for my copy.
What will you do to fight for yourself, if at all? Is it better to say shackled as a mindless, comfortable cypher, afraid to act, or take matters into your own hand? The protagonists of Orange City tackle this problem in different ways.
The shortest way I'd describe this book is lurid dystopian pulp fiction.
When the main protagonist, Graham, gets a chance to leave his life behind, little does he know what forces stand behind his fate. Without realising that he is the chosen one, he becomes one of many faces living in the City controlled by a mysterious creature, its dictator who decides everyone’s fate.
Graham’s closest surrounding consists of E - his boss, Gayle with her own, underdeveloped, problems, a rowdy buddy Mick, and a beautiful intern Marlena - Graham has developments with her that didn’t feel very authentic or organic to me. Like there just had to be something between them and I rolled my eyes. The players are set up, Graham is given a special task - test new soda flavours. This opens up a whole new set of experiences, including vivid dreams and pretty wild behaviour that leads him to suspect something is afoul. The plot takes Graham from a poor pawn to a rebel, fighting forces he had little idea about.
What I liked
The city is grungy and lurid, but world building too, while organic, still feels like it could be something more. Influences from classic dystopias are felt, I even thought back to the Sturgatsky brothers’ ”The Roadside Picnic” when the story mentioned the Zones, which, in this case, are areas where certain humans are discarded. The lore and worldbuilding, the concept, were on the interesting side.
There is one scene I liked and that was how the hospital scene with Graham was foreshadowed; for all the negatives I’ve found, the world and plot have logic and consequence.
Fast-paced, quick read.
What I disliked
The writing is racy, full of F-bombs (way too many for me) and references like erect dicks, those appear early and the descriptions relating to sex, while not the worst I’ve seen, are still pretty annoying to me. This took my interest away because I just don’t like such things. For me, it’s not intimacy that’s described, it’s more like gratification. It’s the kind of book that has characters visit shady bars, have rowdy fun.. Such references appear a lot, too early and are pretty offputting. I like to think it was meant to highlight the pulpiness, grunginess, hopelessness and the dirt of this microworld, but well...this sort of style just isn’t me. I wished the story would have placed its focus somewhere else instead, there were more interesting aspects to develop a little more. I’m also pretty mad at the book for referencing Anne Frank’s Diary in a crude way.. One of the characters refers to “The Diarrhoea of Anne Frank”. That upset me a great deal.
Neutral:
None of the characters is strongly interesting to me. They are simple and the plot moves fast. The Man who controls the city, the main villain in the story, as expected, is over the top; he’s a Russian-born agent of evil with a peculiar defect. There are three more characters I thought more interesting because they appeared at the right time in the plot to add a little twist, and what they have to say is the climax of the story for Graham, but they were too schematic and forgettable in the end.
The story touches on unsettling aspects of today’s reality - corporate America, controlling what people do, even to the point of inserting memory chips, modifying people’s memories, and an attempt to refer to Stalinism, albeit I found it all a little too cursory for my tastes.
In short, lore, concept and world-building are interesting, if stil perfunctory, but downplayed by cursory plotting, crudeness, and pretty schematic characterisation. I think I got my hopes too high due to comparisons with 1984. It’s not really quite there at all for me.
The book ends on a cliffhanger which shows this is something bigger, and Orange City might just be one of many enclaves, worlds within the world - and it might be exciting to visit some of those other worlds.
The world-building and concepts touch on relevant issues. I feel like it would work very well as a game or a comic.
For me, the concept is entertaining, but the vulgarity diminished its overall reception. I wish the execution was more on the literary side for this one. But it is a quick read oozing luridness in its dystopian intent. But you must come in expecting a pretty pulp fiction style. This wasn’t for me, all in all.
What will you do to fight for yourself, if at all? Is it better to say shackled as a mindless, comfortable cypher, afraid to act, or take matters into your own hand? The protagonists of Orange City tackle this problem in different ways.
The shortest way I'd describe this book is lurid dystopian pulp fiction.
When the main protagonist, Graham, gets a chance to leave his life behind, little does he know what forces stand behind his fate. Without realising that he is the chosen one, he becomes one of many faces living in the City controlled by a mysterious creature, its dictator who decides everyone’s fate.
Graham’s closest surrounding consists of E - his boss, Gayle with her own, underdeveloped, problems, a rowdy buddy Mick, and a beautiful intern Marlena - Graham has developments with her that didn’t feel very authentic or organic to me. Like there just had to be something between them and I rolled my eyes. The players are set up, Graham is given a special task - test new soda flavours. This opens up a whole new set of experiences, including vivid dreams and pretty wild behaviour that leads him to suspect something is afoul. The plot takes Graham from a poor pawn to a rebel, fighting forces he had little idea about.
What I liked
The city is grungy and lurid, but world building too, while organic, still feels like it could be something more. Influences from classic dystopias are felt, I even thought back to the Sturgatsky brothers’ ”The Roadside Picnic” when the story mentioned the Zones, which, in this case, are areas where certain humans are discarded. The lore and worldbuilding, the concept, were on the interesting side.
There is one scene I liked and that was how the hospital scene with Graham was foreshadowed; for all the negatives I’ve found, the world and plot have logic and consequence.
Fast-paced, quick read.
What I disliked
The writing is racy, full of F-bombs (way too many for me) and references like erect dicks, those appear early and the descriptions relating to sex, while not the worst I’ve seen, are still pretty annoying to me. This took my interest away because I just don’t like such things. For me, it’s not intimacy that’s described, it’s more like gratification. It’s the kind of book that has characters visit shady bars, have rowdy fun.. Such references appear a lot, too early and are pretty offputting. I like to think it was meant to highlight the pulpiness, grunginess, hopelessness and the dirt of this microworld, but well...this sort of style just isn’t me. I wished the story would have placed its focus somewhere else instead, there were more interesting aspects to develop a little more. I’m also pretty mad at the book for referencing Anne Frank’s Diary in a crude way.. One of the characters refers to “The Diarrhoea of Anne Frank”. That upset me a great deal.
Neutral:
None of the characters is strongly interesting to me. They are simple and the plot moves fast. The Man who controls the city, the main villain in the story, as expected, is over the top; he’s a Russian-born agent of evil with a peculiar defect. There are three more characters I thought more interesting because they appeared at the right time in the plot to add a little twist, and what they have to say is the climax of the story for Graham, but they were too schematic and forgettable in the end.
The story touches on unsettling aspects of today’s reality - corporate America, controlling what people do, even to the point of inserting memory chips, modifying people’s memories, and an attempt to refer to Stalinism, albeit I found it all a little too cursory for my tastes.
In short, lore, concept and world-building are interesting, if stil perfunctory, but downplayed by cursory plotting, crudeness, and pretty schematic characterisation. I think I got my hopes too high due to comparisons with 1984. It’s not really quite there at all for me.
The book ends on a cliffhanger which shows this is something bigger, and Orange City might just be one of many enclaves, worlds within the world - and it might be exciting to visit some of those other worlds.
The world-building and concepts touch on relevant issues. I feel like it would work very well as a game or a comic.
For me, the concept is entertaining, but the vulgarity diminished its overall reception. I wish the execution was more on the literary side for this one. But it is a quick read oozing luridness in its dystopian intent. But you must come in expecting a pretty pulp fiction style. This wasn’t for me, all in all.