i enjoyed getting to know Ellie and Thom, this was a interesting concept on scifi and worked really well. I look forward to reading a sequel or more in this world.

Okay, there is a LOT going on here.

This is a "girl meets boy, finally realizes she's living in a dystopia, escapes" story. We've all read that story a million times, right? WRONG.

If you, like me, look at the cover art on this book and come away with no earthly idea what it involves, let me help. I would describe the plot of this book as "innocent debutante Ellie gets introduced to the horrors of zombie slavery."

The worldbuilding here just really jumps out from page one. The mixture of 1) old-timey dresses, balls, upper-class Southern-style snobbery and social rules with 2) the fact that everyone lives in dome cities tightly controlled by megacorporations whose economy runs off the labor of hordes of the domesticated undead has an exquisitely creepy, jarring effect.

Ellie's wide-eyed, soft-hearted character also presents an interesting contrast with the extent to which traffic in dead people permeates her life. The book starts off a little slow, but the "WHAT IS GOING ON" emotions provoked by experiencing the world itself held me over until the Zombie Rights Movement eventually kicked off the action.

The story is creepy and disturbing. It's very original. I essentially knew what was going to happen the whole time because, like I said, it's a well-trodden plot, but I didn't care. I was interested in peeling back each layer of Ellie's buried family secrets and the truth about her family's zombie-making empire.

The underground railroad allusions and themes are inescapable, twisting several different types of well-known stories into a shape I've never seen before. There were a lot of intriguing characters as well, with Ellie herself possibly near the bottom of the list. (Her ex-boyfriend is the least intriguing.) What an absolutely unhinged ride.

Overall, I was 100% blindsided by this book. It's better than its blurb and SO much better than its cover art. There is still so much here to explore, and I am absolutely going to read the next one in the series.

Revelation is the first book in the new Poppet Cycle series by Donna J.W. Munro. The story follows Ellie DesLoge, the young heir to DesLoge Com, maker of poppets. What are poppets you may ask? Poppets are made by reanimating and programing corpses so that they can do all of those pesky tasks that high society can't be bothered with, such as cooking, cleaning, etc. They are considered property, fed poppet chow, and are generally believed not to have a soul or be capable of any independent thought. Sound familiar?

Ellie has grown up in a domed city, perfectly safe and protected, believing everything that society has told her about poppets. Until Moze, a boy from the wilds, transfers to her school and completely changes her way of thinking.

The book takes heavy influence from the antebellum South and Munro does such a wonderful job making the parallels between the poppets and enslaved peoples from American history. It was such an enjoyable journey watching Ellie's thoughts and opinions change over the course of the novel, even if I found myself frustrated with her at times. I highly recommend picking this one up and I'm excited to see where the rest of the series goes.

Its interesting futuristic adventure book. The main protagonists are Ellie and Thom. About Deslodge company, the poppets and zombies and human trafficking cases hidden under company's image. Ellie lived with Aunty Cordellia in the fancy life and always get in touch with the poppets the undead zombies. First the story seemed interesting but later its a little bit more boring way. May be I didn't like science fiction or imaginary future with some kind of zombies and luxury life of people like this. Thanks for giving me reading this book. I loved the cover but it didn't match with what character meant inside the story.