Intriguing and entertaining. We have taking goats, androids, zombie-esque beings, and action happening in this wild imagining of the U.S. years after a catastrophic environmental disaster struck. It’s very important to have an open mind as Truckee, the main character, is quite selfish (and his development doesn’t occur until the latter half of the book). I enjoyed the exploration of this world and just wondering where this story was going. I do have to say that I got a rather grungy vibe while reading this book despite all the technological improvements, but perhaps that’s just me. Pick up this book if you’re looking for world building that is not overly complicated and a journey that is bizarre but fast-paced.

A really terribly written book with a loathsome MC. The MC read like a really immature teen boy who grated on my nerves with anything from the way he spoke to his casual and not-so-casual sexism. Overall, definitely do not recommend.

I love a good futuristic apocalyptic, dystopian story, especially one that creatively draws on desires, fears and the unknown. The footnotes, maps and appendices add to the interesting narrative.

I thought this premise was absolutely incredible, but the execution left much to be desired, and tone-wise, this was too crass for my own taste, and for much of my blog audience at Modern Mrs Darcy.

This book should have been totally up my alley. I really enjoy alternative histories and dystopian futures but this book got bogged down with all of its footnotes, side-trails, and just became a jumble for me. Such a shame!

In the future, when we all work for junk food companies. Imaginative and frightening. I thought it was a good book, but I didn't really connect with it for whatever reason.

This was imaginative, but I couldn’t stand the writing style. I was not in tune with its language and rhythm and I couldn’t get into the whole “talking goat” thing. Most of the time I was just confused by its meandering. I made it to the 27% point and conceded defeat. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

I read some weird books in June, but none are quite as weird as FKA USA. Weird doesn't mean bad though, and in this case, I really liked the weird. The story imagines that the United States splintered into different sections, and corporations run these sections as a pseudo-government. That isn't even the strangest part. You have androids fighting for political rights and recognition as human, a religion that worships Elvis Presley, a world where there is no such thing as fresh food, virtual reality addicts, and, to top it off, a talking goat.

FKA USA is probably one of the more brilliant envisionings of the future I have ever read. Meant as satire, it takes no stretch of the imagination to believe such a future is possible. None of the crazy stuff Truckee and his little posse encounters as he attempts to make his way across the formerly united country is all that insane when you consider what is happening in our own country with naming rights, big corporations and government in bed together, and so forth. Even VR addiction doesn't seem far-fetched if you have a child and have seen the way she or he will zone out to online gaming or YouTube videos. FKA USA is like your wacky uncle visiting; all you can do is observe what he does and says and learn from his mistakes so that you don't end up like him. If your uncle visited with a talking goat.

The concept of this book quite intrigued me--post apocalyptic America, compared to other books I quite enjoyed, and also being written by a big novelist under a pseudonym? Yes Please! I love a good dystopian novel, and the pseudonym part intrigued me. Sadly... this is a big NO from me.

This book was honestly so poorly written I couldn't even get through the whole thing. The usage of foot notes and appendices on every single page is horribly annoying and made the reading choppy at best. The narrative style is 1st person, and the MC Truckee is horrifyingly stupid. He is almost a homage to Forrest Gump, but poorly done. The author "Reed King" also used a terribly excessive amount of "could of" instead of "could have". Plus this book was filled FULL (what I managed to read anyways) with disgusting and objectifying sexual comments that were unnecessary and made me truly dislike the author and MC. Especially the comments about consent being "bothersome for his poor young sexuality" and also the frequent arousal of our MC which we had to see through his perspective and I could not stand.

Whoever "Reed King" actually is made a major misstep here. It was dull, and truly unreadable.

This was a HARD pass from me.

I received an eARC from NetGalley and Flatiron Books in exchange for my honest review.

It's very obvious this book has a target audience and I'm not it. My 23 yr old grandson would most likely love this book. So while it might not be for everyone, it was definitely a different kind of book.

oh man, this book is bonkers and I will be the first to admit that I was a little bit confused by portions of it (so many characters and places!). However! Don’t let that dissuade you, as this book is a fully-immersive, fucking blast, and the critics calling it “The Wizard of Oz meets Ready Player One” are spot on. Written as a historical artifact (with maps and footnotes to boot!), you can’t help but be impressed by the amount of work and creativity the author (and supposed famous tv writer using a pen name) put into the world-building and history of FKA USA. It’s for sure one of those books I could see myself rereading at some point down the line and I’m sure there are easter eggs and little things I missed upon my first reading. But be warned: this is not one of those books you can set down for a week and pick back up expecting to remember where you left off; it’s for sure time-consuming and takes some work, but it’s worth it! Full of action and humor and great plot twists, FKA USA is one of my favorite June reads and a definite recommendation!

Great book. Characters were very relatable. A glimpse of what could happen in the future. Would highly recommend for fans of Ready Player One.

I had some download issues and didn't get this to work before it archived. Sorry about that situation.

Thank you Flatiron Books and NetGalley for the ARC of FKA USA.

This is a very fun and well written story of a future fractured United States. We've seen stories like this before like in Atwood's Maddaddam series, but this book is just different. Rather than allowing the reader to pull out subtle hints of how the future world depiction is reflects back on today's society and politics, Reed King makes it really noticeable. Like, "Hey! this is the crummy path we are going down!" I enjoyed the book, it was funny, sad, well-paced with action and worldbuilding while not relying heavily on info dumps. It will also make you feel gross, queasy, uneasy and frustrated. My one complaint is that the book is told by Truckee Wallace, and at times he seems to lose track of his traveling companions

Sadly, over the years there are few books which I haven't been able to work my way through. I feel that I owe the publisher my time since they were nice enough to send me the book for free.

But, having worked by way to page 88, I just couldn't see myself reading another 400 pages. So I will say this, there is not enough narrative by this point to give you an overall picture of what caused the dystopia nor what the outcome is, nor how it affects the characters. Just my opinion.

I found the writing style and the premise of a corporate-driven world to be very interesting, but just couldn’t fully get into the overall work. I had trouble sticking with the story as it felt like I was in the middle of something and was missing key details. There’s a lot of interesting stuff here but I just couldn’t connect.

I've always maintained that when the apocalypse happens, I want to die in the first wave. Fast, relatively painlessly, clean. No drawn-out suffering. No huge moral dilemmas. No crazy Mad Max scenarios. Just, poof - gone. Game over.

FKA USA totally and completely reinforces that desire. If this is the future that's coming, thanks, but no thanks, I'm good. Just let me go quickly in one of the several nasty ways it Reed King kills off my fellow Oklahoma citizens - sinkhole, tornado, whatever. Just let it be quick and early please. I just don't want to suffer. Or have to turn into the kind of person who is okay with killing other people to survive.

Look, this is a good book. But it's scary as hell. Seriously, it's terrifying in the same way that Idiocracy has become something of a horror movie in the last few years. Because it just seems so damned plausible. Well, parts of it, anyway.

FKA USA is the start of an epic dystopian journey. I'm guessing from the abrupt, cliff-hanger ending that this is going to be part of a series of books and I can't wait for the next installment, if that's true. Look, it might have been the scariest book I've read so far this year, but it's also one of the best and most memorable.

Truckee Wallace, the hero of the story, isn't always smart or likeable, but you just can't help but root for him on his impossible journey across the territories formerly known as (FKA) the United States with his talking goat sidekick, Barnaby.

Reed King has created a meticulously plotted out universe for this story, complete with explanatory footnotes and appendices that add so much to the whole reading experience. If you've read Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel, you'll understand what I mean.

FKA USA will be released on June 18. I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. My honest assessment of this book is that it is a must-read!

Interesting concept, average execution. I had high expectations for this novel, especially given the current political climate in the US, but it was all I could do to finish it.

***Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for a honest review***

There was a time that I was really into Dystopian Novels. They presented a “world after” that could be either horrifying, struggling, or uplifting in the face of change. (Most were horrifying). I can understand that and find the entertainment/learning value in novels that represent all that is bad about our world eventually destroying it. What makes F/K/A USA by Reed King different from these is that it adds a touch of humor and, for lack of a better way to describe it, a sense of the humanity the characters are striving to save.

The first thing we realize is that the United States is no more (obviously) F/K/A stands for Formerly Known As. The states have all seceded leaving the land ridden with war torn territories instead. In the midst of this a nobody teen named Truckee, from Crunchtown 407 (formerly Little Rock, Arkansas), is entrusted with a political mission after a mishap happens within his own territory. He is to get the talking goat Barnaby across the borders of all the other territories and deliver him to a military base in San Francisco.

GOOD POINT: Barnaby. If there was one thing I could point to as the beacon of light in this story, that didn’t always hold up for me, it would be the wise cracking talking goat himself. There wasn’t a scene that he was a part of that I didn’t enjoy. I really loved his banter and just the character overall.

Along the way the two are joined by Sammi, an android and good friend of Truckee’s on her own journey to be human and a lobotomized criminal who says he is a Grifter (a kind of traveling homeless person that specializes in trade) and claims he has been all across the territories.

This story is not smooth. What I mean is there were moments that felt like they were added to reveal something about the world building only to have it interrupted by the main story line with no real flow. It caused some serious whiplash that I didn’t appreciate. While I was able to keep up and understand the gist of what was going on I do feel that I missed quite a bit of what the Author may have wanted me to get. Unfortunately, I just don’t think I can read it all over again to try and find what it was I may have missed.

Another possibility is everything I think I missed is hidden within the multitude of footnotes that were included at the end of almost every chapter. I hate footnotes and I especially hate them when they really serve no purpose. I started reading them in the beginning only to be gifted definitions of the slang terms being used by the characters. Listen, a swear is a swear no matter the word you use and we as readers can figure it out based on the context of the moment. The footnotes were unnecessary in my opinion and did nothing but bog down the story. I got the gist of what was happening and if understanding fully took a few more paragraphs each chapter with some back story, so be it. I would have read that, but I’m not going to read little bitty footnotes.

I can see why it gets the comparison of a mix of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The Wizard of Oz, and Ready Player One. I can address each of these because the similarities are not very subtle, which in my opinion, makes it not very original.

In this story we have the Grifter’s Guide to the Territories. While it doesn’t play as big of a role as the Hitchhiker’s Guide did it’s in there to spout quotes at the beginning of each chapter and then finally as a physical object that Truckee carries around and glances at occasionally. There is a rag tag group each in need of something to make them whole. For Truckee it’s finding his place, for Barnaby it’s courage, for Sammi it’s heart, and for Tiny Tim it’s a brain (lobotomies will do that to ya) a la The Wizard of Oz. As for the Ready Player One comparison it’s evident that they live in a future in which tech is a major part of their lives. The big similarity is the visor that Truckee uses to cruse the internet or the “back net” called the Yellow Brick Road (Head meet brick).

I wasn’t bothered by the fact that this is literally what the book is compared to in it’s synopsis and then to have it presented this way, but I did give a major eye roll as each thing was mentioned in the book. I got over it quickly though, because sometimes there just aren’t fresh ideas, but the other parts of the book were their own and it helped me look beyond these comparisons.

I wasn’t a big fan of the MC. Truckee was a lack luster “chosen one” and I get that may have been the point as the story progresses, but it still wasn’t enough for me to root for him. He was basically a hormonal teen that wanted to bang anything just for the chance to loose his virginity and then when it happens it is just dropped on the floor like an egg, which begs the question what was the point of his character then?

GOOD POINT: There were a lot of visuals that I enjoyed. While it didn’t feel like the world building was completely complete, what was done left me with a great sensory awareness. Few Dystopian stories focus so heavily on the world itself, instead focusing on the characters. It was nice getting some good visuals of the world the characters were living in. From the weird cults, to the androids living with the humans. Each territory seemed to have it’s own thing and it’s impressive that King managed that.

This book was descent and I hear that Warner Bros. has purchased the rights. I can only hope that with the level of detail that King undertook that they go the route of television series versus feature film.

BAD POINT: Appendix A through F (These are worse to have than footnotes and also did not read).

Anticipated Publication date: June 18th 2019

3.5 Out Of 5 Stars

I wanted to like this book. It seemed quirky and progressive. It was compared to so many other books that I like (Hitchhiker's Guide, Pynchon, etc.). Well, comparisons are flattering. What I found difficult while reading was making these comparisons throughout the story. This style reminds me of.... Add to this, that I found the storyline a bit confusing to follow, it was not a grabber for me.

Comparisons to another book or author also reminds me of comparisons of one music group to another. Let's take the Talking Heads for example - I love the Talking Heads. When I hear that a new group reminds someone of the Talking Heads, I want to hear the music. If it sounds too much like the T-Heads, or some of the riffs are very similar, than the voice is being emulated and the material seems to be borrowed. With all of this, I have to admit that I did not finish the book.