Utopia PR is irreverent and absurdist. It calls out flaws and red flags in our society with humor and ridiculous scenarios. From the Wonder Pup to drugged milk deliveries, Utopia PR consistently goes beyond the mundane and yet always manages to feel eerily possible. I enjoyed the seemingly endless possibilities for how Hamner could spin any PR disaster into an opportunity to maintain dictatorial control.

For a book that was meant to be set in a dystopian world with an authoritative president, it felt suspiciously similar to life today. Obviously, this is the goal of satire, but the frightening reality of our lives cut the book’s potential for humor in some instances and left me with shivers.

My biggest complaint is that the characters were weak. This is pretty common in satire, when characters are meant to provide less of an individual perspective and more of a symbol of their class, race, lived experiences, job, gender, etc., but in this case they just fell flat. Blake Hamner is funny and relatable at times, but the rest of the characters are truly lacking.

Overall, an enjoyable experience!

This is the first time in over 30 years that I have read a Political Satire. This reminded me a little bit of Animal Farm by George Orwell but with a mix of dystopian gloom. What more can a reader ask for when trying to get away from life. I thought the plot served its purpose and I had a few good chuckles along the way.

Utopia PR is about Blake Hamner (pronounced Hammer, the N is silent) a PR Crisis Communication Manager, his reporter wife, Maria, his friend and coworker Scott, his intern Victoria, or is it Valerie (Blake never seems to remember her name) and of course and definitely not last the President or better known as "Our Leader" or "The King". Blake Hamner is a Crisis Communicator that works for "Our Leader" by wordsmithing him out of trouble. This character was probably my favorite besides his wife just because of how odd he is. Blake is an overweight man married to a beautiful woman that no one thinks should have given him the time of day. He is quick witted and has a sharp tongue when getting others out of trouble, just not quite like that around his wife. Maria my other favorite character is the polar opposite. She is smart, hardworking and knows what she wants and how to get it. Maria can handle anything and anyone. Throughout the book we see the relationship that Blake and Maria have sought to keep divided, they never bring work home and tell each other about their job. They did this to prevent each other from influencing work or asking for favors. But this is starting to wear on their marriage. They do not have kids because their careers were first. So, Blake decides he will just wordsmith one more problem for Our Leader and then he is done.

This story is packed of events that Blake and his team have to get the Leader out of. Including the mauling of two people by huge robotic dogs that guard the white house == better known as the Compound. This same dog almost kills Blake, Scott and another member of his team. But Blake knows just how to solve that problem, he tells the President to create a contest where the dog can be named. This plan works and the people soon forget about the mauling. Oh and of course they also did backstories for the people that were killed to make them seem unpatriotic, so their deaths are not as bad as they initially seem. Then Operation MIlkman pops up. And Blake has to figure out a way to explain how and why "Our Leader" thought it would be a great idea to brainwash the citizens into happier people that do not question "Our Leader" by drugging their milk.

The story reaches its apex with Jet Pack Man appears and tries to save the day. He claims that "Our Leader" is not being honest with the citizens and he will shed light to all of the President's misdoings. Blake, Maria and Scott are on the trail to uncover the truth and the identity of who this Jet Pack Man really is but most importantly to prove that the President has only done things to protect the world and would never lie. What President would lie to their constituents? The book sets out to get the readers to the truth. Is Jet Pack Man really being honest, is the President "Our Faithful Leader" really bad? Did he do all of the terrible things Jet Pack Man claims.

I enjoyed reading the book. I think it does a good job at being satirical and getting the readers to laugh at what has happened politically over the past 10 years. I would recommend this book in an English class or even a history class. I could probably even stretch and say an Engineering class since this was set in the future and had some new inventions. It was a quick fun read.

Thanks NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book and give my honest opinion.

A Hint of The Thick of It Plus Killer Hounds

🧡 This was funny in parts and overall an enjoyable story. I’d have liked it to have been more overt in its absurdity, maybe in a David Wong direction. It did remind me in parts of the BBC’s The Thick of It.
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SOUNDBITE
🎧 A fun, escapist listen well-performed by Tristan Wright.

Utopia PR - Adam Bender

*Had to skip a whole chapter as it wasn’t playing through* Still got the gist of what was going on so didn’t miss much.

As a former press agent who enjoys dystopian literature and satire, this was definitely a good choice for me. The satire is there - but after experiencing the last number of years in the US, I’m not sure political satire can even be funny anymore. Nothing can top reality at this point.

I listened to the audiobook, which I guess was a mistake. I really, really did not like the narrator. The narrator’s voice was way too monotonous, except when he wanted to sound “hip,” I guess, and then would almost announce “I’m about to say something wry, cue the sarcastic tone of voice.” To make it much, much worse, his “female” voice was patronizing and caricature - it bordered on offensive to me. It just sounded like a teenager who was grounded and was really, really bored - and angry with his mom for grounding him.

I have a feeling that if I had read the print version of the book, I would be giving a pretty strong recommendation, and certainly another star, but… Since my task is the audiobook, I have to score it accordingly and the voice narration took away a lot of the potential enjoyment.

Hilarious -

and a little bit scary if you think about it.

I listened to the audiobook and I had a great time! The story is so simple and ridiculous that it almost could be true. I was aware that governments most of the time are trying to switch our attention to different problem in order to deflect it from actual problem, this book just showed me how easy it could/can be done. I am not saying that this book is based on a true story but hey, it makes you think, and it does it in a wonderful way - through the laugh. Half jokingly, half seriously the author created a very entertaining picture of near future.

I think that everyone can enjoy this book, there is a lot in there - humor, work life balance, work ethics, relationship - everyone will be able to empathise on some level. It was so good that I can't wait to jump into other stories written by the author. Just give it a try, if you dont like it you can complain about it in a comment section.

Utopia pr by Adam bender release July 2022. This is a future look at the world. We have a president who was a winner of a singing competition. Bungling members of the communications department. A milk makes you high and addicted scandal A flying man who thinks he is a superhero. Vampires in the basement. This was an audiobook that was perfect for the long car ride.

Relevant, crazy and so easy to believe is based on truth...

A power-mad President (famous for being a reality TV star). Regular insane statements and crises that require spin doctors and distraction. No, this isn't the international news. This is fiction. Supposedly.

Very funny near-dystopic fiction. With the PR guy as its empathetic star. But he's a 'Crisis Communications Manager', a full-time job under this President, affectionately (or chillingly) termed 'Our Leader' by the American populace. And Blake Hamner (with a silent 'n') has neglected his honeymoon for three years to concentrate on his career and his daily struggles to keep the Administration out of political trouble.

Which isn't easy with Our Leader asking for drugged-up milk to be given to the entire country. Or the fact that Blake's wife is a news anchor on national television.

With both hilarious and horrifying constant crises to manage, Blake gives away the tips of his trade to the reader (faking a nuclear strike, announcing a marriage) while juggling the relationship he's desperate to keep. He and Maria make a witty and loveable couple, I adored their spin games and way of speaking to each other, Maria herself would make for a great narrator and protagonist.

Blake's rise to the top makes him an Everyman to us, he's skilled and worked hard, and his morals working for Our Leader may be 'grey area' but his heart is in the right place, and he's 'just doing his job' of course...

This is madcap, satirical quirkiness at its best. It's scary 'cos it could actually be based on fact. It's funny 'cos it isn't. I think.

Loved the audio version, it's short and I wished it was much longer, though it ended neatly and I would heartily recommend it.

With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample audio copy.

Thank you NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
This was a fun, dystopian novel, set in the not so distant future. This was fun.

Blake Hamner is great at what he does. But his job isn’t great for his life outside of work. As the Crisis Communications Manager for the president, his job is to spin stories that keep Our Leader looking great and his opposition looking like fools. This is easier said than done. Blake’s wife is a news anchor, so they have a rule that they don’t talk about work. But this means that they don’t have much to talk about, and they find themselves drifting further apart. Can Blake keep up the demands of his work and still have a happy, fulfilling marriage? Or will the steel hound get him first?

I don’t normally read works like this, but I found myself enjoying it immensely. The author has a way with words that is extremely entertaining. It was perfect for this light science fiction and dystopian setting. I was expecting the work to be a bit more science fiction heavy, but the focus was on the political aspect of the setting and a related social commentary.

While I didn’t find myself becoming drawn into the characters, they were well written overall. They had unique personalities and voices with relatable and varying motivations. The career versus marriage aspect of the story added some believable tension to the work as well.

I listened to the audiobook version of this book. The narrator was an excellent choice. His voice was perfect for relaying Hamner’s point of view, and while the voices weren’t extremely varied, there was enough difference to tell characters apart.

This was an enjoyable work of satire. The situations were often quite humorous, but sometimes I found myself thinking they were a little closer to truth than I wanted them to be. If you enjoy satire, social commentary, humorous dystopia, or light science fiction, this book is for you.

I received a complimentary copy of this work through NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

First of all I want to thank NetGalley for allowing me to listen to this audiobook in advance in exchange for a honest review.

Quite a few years ago I was on a trip to Florida with my family and we picked up Little Green Men by Christopher Buckley, it was a hilarious political satire book and until I listened to Utopia PR by Adam Bender I had not seen or maybe I should say heard its equal. Utopia PR is hilarious and fascinating, it does a good job of both satirizing and skewering politics and PR men and women. If you enjoy political satire at all you should grab this book, its really entertaining. Even if you have not read any political satire and just enjoy a good story and maybe a little dark humor then this book will tickle your fancy as it did mine. It reminded me a lot of Christopher Moore's books as well in just how well written it was.

I am definitely going to be looking into Adam Bender and the other books he has written after reading this. I never do spoilers in any reviews I do so what I am about to say about it is pretty much right at the start of the book. The main character is a PR guy working for a over the top crazy president of the United States who walks himself into quite a few PR problems. The solutions he and his team come up with are both a cynical look at public relations strategies and a great over the top satire of them.

#netgalley #satire #humor