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jenpaul13 's review for:
Golden State
by Ben H. Winters
A truth should be a fact, but it's often subjective to the various points of view surrounding it, making a gray area out of lies and causing tell-tale discomfort for Speculators in Golden State by Ben H. Winters.
To read this, and other book reviews, visit my website: http://makinggoodstories.wordpress.com/.
Laszlo Ratesic has been using his skills of detecting lies by serving in the Golden State's Speculative Service for nineteen years, following in the footsteps of his father and older brother Charlie. Within the Golden State, lies, or simply contradicting an element of the Objectively So, are punishable by law, often leading to that individual being exiled, and daily life is recorded in order to create the Record. When saddled with a young, ambitious partner, an oddity within the realm of Speculators, Laszlo's life is thrown into disarray with questioning what is as he and his partner dig deeper into a death that had a mere whiff of anomaly, leading them into a far larger web of omissions and lies. As new truths of reality are uncovered, Laszlo's choices have immense consequences for himself, as well as those living within the Golden State.
The world portrayed in this novel explores the complexities behind and the tenuous nature of truth, which is an immense and thought-provoking endeavor that is cultivated rather well to demonstrate how lives can be helped and hurt by particular variations of the truth. One big issue or question that I didn't feel was well addressed or answered was how the world got to the point of the Golden State's creation in the first place - though that uncertainty and the loss of that knowledge fits with the story, inquiring minds are eager to know. Though the concept explored isn't overly novel, as there were echoes of 1984 throughout, particularly with the ever-present surveillance, the execution of the quickly-paced story was, as a whole, well done and kept my eagerly reading. The middle portion of the narrative moved a bit slowly as smaller details were explored, making the more rapidly unfolded ending section that much more explosive and powerful.
To read this, and other book reviews, visit my website: http://makinggoodstories.wordpress.com/.
Laszlo Ratesic has been using his skills of detecting lies by serving in the Golden State's Speculative Service for nineteen years, following in the footsteps of his father and older brother Charlie. Within the Golden State, lies, or simply contradicting an element of the Objectively So, are punishable by law, often leading to that individual being exiled, and daily life is recorded in order to create the Record. When saddled with a young, ambitious partner, an oddity within the realm of Speculators, Laszlo's life is thrown into disarray with questioning what is as he and his partner dig deeper into a death that had a mere whiff of anomaly, leading them into a far larger web of omissions and lies. As new truths of reality are uncovered, Laszlo's choices have immense consequences for himself, as well as those living within the Golden State.
The world portrayed in this novel explores the complexities behind and the tenuous nature of truth, which is an immense and thought-provoking endeavor that is cultivated rather well to demonstrate how lives can be helped and hurt by particular variations of the truth. One big issue or question that I didn't feel was well addressed or answered was how the world got to the point of the Golden State's creation in the first place - though that uncertainty and the loss of that knowledge fits with the story, inquiring minds are eager to know. Though the concept explored isn't overly novel, as there were echoes of 1984 throughout, particularly with the ever-present surveillance, the execution of the quickly-paced story was, as a whole, well done and kept my eagerly reading. The middle portion of the narrative moved a bit slowly as smaller details were explored, making the more rapidly unfolded ending section that much more explosive and powerful.