Something, somewhere went wrong. In Otpor we’ve got a police state where the capital crime is wrong thought. And people are divided into classes and aligned from childhood with the function they are supposed to perform. It sounds to me like just another socialist dystopia in the likeness of 1984. It’s interesting how in such visions the capital crime is ideological instead of material. It is also telling of the effort needed to keep such societies functional, like any socialist ideas. They are fragile, they break easily, for the pettiest of reasons.

Compare that to the utopia/dystopia of A Brave New World. There, you’re allowed to do pretty much what you want, as long as you’re doing the same things as your peer group. You can think of breaking away, but you’re pretty much powerless, the oppression is indirect. There’s a drug that people take voluntarily and they have selective breeding and other practices to select for competence, but no horizontal division. Just a clear hierarchy, natural laws everywhere.

So the more you try to equalise – society, income, chances, rights, the more people try to break out. Some succeed within the existing order and try to reinforce it, others feel the oppression and resist being pigeonholed. Socialism that works is one where people accept their status among equals. Of course this is easier to accept by someone who already feels innately superior because of the gene-lottery: physical or intellectual superiority, perceived or agreed upon.

That was just my two cents about socialist utopias in general. The text itself is a pleasure to read. The pacing is great, the words flow smoothly and the range of emotions experienced by the main character as she transitions between alignments really makes the whole world feel alive.

There was a moment when I thought it would turn into a fantasy-romance thing (I was wrong, thankfully) where every guy the main character meets is a tall, broad shouldered confident type that she starts flirting with almost from the first line. And it can be argued that everybody looks fit and healthy because of the psychological conditioning they undergo as children, which makes them all very conscious of their body and gives them a desire to be healthy. So no more obese or psychologically unstable individuals which is a good thing for the city since it cuts back on health costs.

There is one more thing which I enjoyed reading about here, but first a small introduction. The girls and guys in this city have something called a lifeline which they use to interface with various devices around the world and a wrist plate which acts like a personal tablet computer which also monitors their bodily functions, checks the hormonal balance in their brains and bloodstream and other such things. This information can be used by them or by other people who are authorised to see it to determine the status of their body and brain before performing an action and decide on the best course.

The main character makes a lot of references to her internal stats in relation to different external events, but most interestingly when she ingests specific types of alcoholic drinks. So apparently pills are not allowed in the city (fantasy rules or publisher rules – no references to drugs, so good thing that alcohol is a cultural good) but synthetic alcoholic drinks can be spiked with different types of enhancers to achieve different effects on the hosts. What I really enjoyed here were her descriptions, at the same time scientific and calculated, quantitative, but also referring directly to subjective experience of the people and places around her.

The book definitely surpassed what I could have expected from an indie publisher in terms of quality, and for what it’s worth, this is a definite recommendation in the dystopian fiction genre.

Thanks to #Netgalley, #Kyrija and to the author for giving me a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I found Resistance a hard book to get in to. Most of this book is build up to the ending and building tension as the world around Anaiya 234 falls further and further apart. The description of Anaiya's realignment and how that causes her confusion and pain were really well done. However, that confusion is also passed on to the reader so this book is a bit hard to decipher for large portions. The beginning is slow paced as Kopievsky sets up the stakes, but I could have used a bit more world building at the beginning and less getting bogged down in the set up of the ending clash. That said I enjoyed the ending of this book. I thought it did a good job of having real tension where things end in an aright place but there are still major stakes.

Resistance presents the reader with the world of Otpor (probably a wordplay on the Russian synonym of resistance), - a world as stale as the title of the book.

The plot centers around Anayia - fire elemental turned into air elemental (Aang fans should not get excited) for some conspicuous reasons sanctioned by her government. Overall it seems like someone copied someone's essay with a comparative analysis of Zamyatin's "We" and Huxley's "Brand New World".

The story and the character are developed just enough to make it bearable to read it the book, yet never go beyond that. Anaiya is a compilation of all the dystopian heroine cliches combined with the passivity that even Harry Potter would laugh at.

The world building is done through cumbersome exposition, with chunks of the world described during freerunning (what's with all the running, by the way?), which were unnecessary and unnatural. Also, not sure if I as a reader and the Author are on the same page on the meaning of words Orthodoxy and Unorthodoxy.

There are basically no supporting cast, sub-plots, love interests, or basically anything else whatsoever. Purpleness of the prose and simultaneously lack of any dramatic backbone in the story forces you to skim through most of the book (I'm a slow reader and almost 350 pages in a day is a lot) looking for something to happen at last. And it ultimately doesn't - nothing promised in throughout the book pays off and in the end - leaves you absolutely dissatisfied.

The best thing about this book was the design of the cover out, so shout out to the artist.
Not sure I'll ever pick up the next book in the series.

It might've worked as a basis for an adventure video game, but as a novel - it doesn't.

Absolutely loved it!

Anaiya is such a compelling lead, and her inner struggles between her old and new identities are beautifully and often painfully explored.

The world building was astounding. The order and simplicity of the Fire and Water Elementals were perfectly cut with the rough edges and wonderful complexity of Air and Earth, adding an element of unease to every page.