Just City has a great idea and great writing. I just wanted a little more from Nathan to make me love him. I felt a little indifferent and I think I would have enjoyed it more if the pacing was consistent. I hope to read more from this author in the future. I just a want more feeling.

An original and fresh story emerges in Just City, by Olga Tymofiyeva, an amazing work of art that, no matter the age of the reader, all will be led to questions by the story, questions about their own life, after reading. Just City is told through Nathan, a college student, when he begins to question all that he believes, things that he thinks to be true and rational, everything that has been hidden under his veil of ignorance, when he is presented with a different life, one very unlike his own. His eyes opened, Nathan sees the world as it really is, warts and all. Tymofiyeva is able to deliver a cognizant story that does this so well, is so enjoyable, that you are going to want to read this book again and again, look deep into yourself and share it with others, whomever they may be, whatever you may find.

Nathan is the typical white, middle class teen. Coming from an intelligent and successful family, the only way he has ever seen trouble in his life, is as a passer by. When his grandmother develops a VR (virtual reality) game and asks him to participate in the beta testing, everything is soon to change. And, though I’m sure Nathan would have done it for free, the compensation that could be awarded for testing the game, by being one of the first players, up to $10,000, could help him out, be the very money to fund his start up company, with his very good friend, Jack; whom, since meeting, Nathan likes to emulate. With Jack’s start up idea being a tracker that keeps shopping carts from being stolen by the homeless, who the boys think wouldn’t be in their position if they were only motivated enough to work, readers can get the type of ideas rolling around in Nathan’s head, and things he believes, so ignorant of life and others, at this time, before the game is played.

Nathan and all his friends become part of the Beta testing. And, when the veil of ignorance is lifted and the random dice are rolled, Nathan and his friends are consigned to lives very much like their own. So, of course, on this first round, Nathan does well, succeeds and hopes to make as much money as he can, for his and Jack’s start-up idea. However fate is not so kind the second time around and, as the dice are rolled the next few times Nathan begins to experience life from different perspectives, the stories he and his friends are placed in, ones that are actual life experiences of others. And, for the first time in Nathan’s young life, the veil of ignorance lifts from the boy and he sees that life is not as easy, not so cut and dry, as those who work hard get all the best rewards for it.

From a reader’s perspective, delving into a story in which they begin to see life without a veil of ignorance, was very personal for me. I don’t believe many people really ever have this veil lifted, know what it is like to be at the bottom, even care what it’s like to be at the bottom, even when that person is not at the very top., reigning over all. It seems like, no matter wherever one is, that, throughout life, there are blinders on us, especially when life, for the most part, contains no hardships.

While I can't say I started out with the best of the best of everything, nothing terribly bad happened until my twenties, when I lost my first child. The first loss of life I ever experienced, not even a grandparent had passed, all four still in my life and, when others had died in my childhood, I had been sheltered from these sad facts (Which is never a good idea as a parent and creates future problems). So, when I was going to be a mother, had my son at five and a half months, when he lived for three days and passed; losing him, I realized that yes, bad things do happen and there is simply nothing we can do about it. My veil was lifted, if only, partially.

After that, life took a different turn for me. There were places I went, things I did, people I met and interacted with that showed me a whole different world than the one I thought I lived in. And I learned many things over the years. Things that Nathan deals with, in Just City, that I dealt with for long periods of time. Because, when you see the world as it is, when you take away all the blinders you put on to rationalize why the world and the despair in it is there, when you don’t see the despair, then you can begin to build up true beliefs, a system for yourself that makes you a better person. And, in this book, Just City, that is what Nathan begins to do, after he has the veil lifted in the game he plays, trying to figure out the man he wants to be, in the future.

Tymofiyeva presents many ideas in Just City, a few being, ‘synchronistic’ coincidences, Occam’s Razor, critical thinking, things that are present in biology, psychology, philosophy, philosophy of science, and of course, among many others, her area of expertise, neurology (She is a Professor of Neuroimaging). One of my favorite parts of the book is when Nathan, unable to be the voice of his character at certain points of the game, turns to his grandmother, upset. When she had to explain that certain things wouldn’t or couldn’t be said by the character he was playing in the VR game, for many reasons, one big one being, the brain, the story began to unfold, for me, at this point.

Nathan’s grandmother talks of a pedophile who, after having a tumor removed from his brain, had all those thoughts and feelings stop until the tumor grew back. And, while I have a hard time sympathizing with a man who has thoughts of little children or does things to little children, if there is a true medical reason for these thoughts happening, as hard it is for me to say, to admit, there is reason to pity the man. Especially if he fights these thoughts from the deepest part of his soul. And, only this thing that grows on his brain, that will not go away, keeps coming back, gives him this hellish existence he has to continue to live in. Because, if those were not feelings you ever wanted to have, if you were disgusted by your very thoughts, how could a person not sympathize? It is only one of the first lessons Nathan learns about judging others without knowing the whole story.

Of course, after the game is played, when Nathan’s friends turn their back on him, unwilling to lose their own points to help him out of “cruel fate” the dice consigned him to, Nathan turns away from them and meets a new group of friends, at his new work. And, while we would consider Jack and Nathan’s former friends on one end of the spectrum, when it comes to what kind of compassion they have for people and their belief system, the new friends Nathan meets, his boss Alex, his sister, Maria and her friend Lora, are at the complete opposite end.

At one point in the story, when Nathan questions something Maria says about chakras, when she seems to search and cannot find an answer she says, “Look, the need for your mind to question everything is what stands between you and peace.” And, while it is an answer, it really is no answer to a question at all and one Nathan had once heard said by their medication teacher. And when Maria’s daughter, Nathan’s god daughter gets sick, Maria does not blame it on the fact she does not believe in vaccinating her child, but, on the fact that the healer Maria had him visit said he was the cause of the girl’s illness, making the comment that “One should live cleanly.” As Nathan obsesses on how he could be the cause of the girl’s illness, what the healer meant by her remark, the absurd fact that Maria told him this, believes this herself and, so does the rest of the group, it seems, he realizes what it means to have blind-faith, question nothing and accept all as truth. The exact opposite of where he once stood, before the VR game his grandmother developed and Nathan played.

Just City, Nathan, the main character, makes this book the great read that it is. In the end, despite the plans he had with Jack, the newfound knowledge of the world, and his recent experiences, leads Nathan to come up with a winning idea for a startup company much different from what Jack had initially proposed, and he wanted to partner on. Overall, the best thing, however, is that it leads Nathan to begin to develop a belief system far beyond his years, one in which he feels comfortable with himself and those in the world around him; where he is working toward a greater good for all and developing a sense of purpose in the world in conjunction with this outside world.

I have heard it said that, to an author, a book can be like a child. Olga Tymofiyeva can be proud of hers, Just City, and Nathan, and the world she creates for readers to help them find a way to a better understanding of all, which will only lead to a better understanding of self.

It’s crazy how things work out like that? An understanding of the outer, of the broad, leads to an understanding of the inner, of the narrow, of self. And, we all need to read books like this, at times in our life, when they appear to us, as if for a reason. I am so glad that this book appeared in my life, when it did. I needed to see Nathan and what a person can be capable of being, being a good person, doing good things, wanting to be a good person. Because I thought that was lost. In Just City you just don't only find Nathan and the questions he has for his own life, but questions and experiences that provide reflection for your own life and who you want to be in it.

Happy reading!

********Above is review on Goodreads, below is copy of print column, Tea Time With A Good Book, for the month of February, in which the book was reviewed by me, for the public who reads the free newspaper

One of the best books released last month, Mr. Breakfast, by Jonathan Carroll, drew me into the world of Graham Patterson, a failing comedian who finds himself in a tattoo parlor, the one he picks, giving him the ability to switch between two other versions of his life. In the end, Patterson must make the choice of the life he wants, of the three. But, with the success he finally sees achieved in his own life, the life of love he could have had with the woman that got away and, well, one as a tiny brained lizard (read the book to answer that), things are harder than it may seem, when it comes to picking Patterson’s forever after. And, when it comes to the choice, things happen so fast as to never really have one at all.

Alan Hlad, master of World War II, releases The Book Spy this month. Keeping with past form, using historical record to develop characters, situations, and experiences, keeps this book as close to what might have happened, presenting readers with a story that is vividly mastered. In the book Maria, a member of the U.S. 's newly formed microfilm preservation unit, travels to Portugal, a neutral country, to preserve war literature. There she meets Tiago, one of the booksellers and a man who, like her, is fighting Nazism. After the two fall in love they realize that the war must first be resolved before they can be together as they both have their own individual part to play. But, will they both survive, so dangerous the fire they play with?

Out of this fire comes Olga Tymofiyeva with Just City. In this enlightened first book from the writer, Nathan, when asked to be a tester of the VR game designed by his grandmother, Just City, finds himself questioning almost everything about his life when his “veil of ignorance” is lifted. As Nathan journeys on, to his future, he finds himself searching for answers to things that we all should question at some point, beginning to build a belief structure he can be proud of. Truly a story for young and old alike, Just City will help all become a better person themselves, when they ask the same questions about their own life, lift their own “veil of ignorance”. If even, just by reading it.

Find more books @: http://www.goodreads.com/jeneanevanderhoof

Let me start off by saying I think the overall concept behind the book was great: a VR video game (called Just City) that helps you see what it’s like to walk in someone else’s shoes. In the video game, you’re given a character (of any class, gender, race, etc.) by random draw and have to see what it’s like to live life as if you were that character. I think that’s very interesting and relevant to the world we live in today! However, I don’t think it was fully executed well. Overall, the book just didn’t flow very well. Transitions felt rushed and didn’t easily flow from one scene to another, and at times felt forced. I also wish that we would’ve seen more of the game, which to me was the best part. Our main character was done playing the game, Just City, so early in the book and I kind of lost interest in the plot after that. With that being said, I was still curious about how the book would end. Again, great concept overall. It just didn’t quite do it for me.

As a story: 3 stars. Writing: 2.75. (/5)
The message of this book and what it portrays in simple and accessible ways is really important. It tackles big topics, in laymen’s terms without too much oversimplification.

Despite my love for young adult, I am not the audience for this writing style however - I would say this is very young adult (12-17). I did find how it was written to be quite clunky and unappealing. I understand that English is not the author’s first language and so commend them for writing this. That is not something I could do and I will always be impressed by those who write in languages that aren’t their own. I also understand that perhaps the inner voice of this young man is very factual and short. It does fit the character.

But, this would be a great read for preteens-17 year olds.
It covers a lot of ground on ethics and values, and I can see teenagers taking a lot away from this. There’s value there.

Outside of the writing, I enjoyed the particular role of each character and what they represented. I found each important character to have adequate growth and backstory. I also loved the use of VR for this story, working in the gaming world myself, I found it an interesting topic and concept. VR can do a lot of good. Although the multiplayer aspect had me raising a brow, but I’m just a nit picky gamer, not a big deal.

I am very appreciative of the authors story and their work and fundraising for their home country, Ukraine.
Creating a story based around these themes feels so relevant, it’s a great way to raise awareness.

Read this quickly, albeit skimming a lot (it is easy to do so which is nice) in a few days. I thank the author for emailing me, I’m not one to pay attention to emails, but it did indeed push me to take a look at the book and your story - otherwise I wouldn’t have. I wish you the best with your fundraising!

Just City is a virtual reality game. The player chooses the social concepts then unveils their character. The character lives by those social concepts. This idea is brilliant and I would play that game if it existed. The book’s main character goes through much self reflection after playing the game. There is a lot of educational “-ology’s” (sociology, psychology, even biology) that make you think. Absolutely loved reading. Highly recommend.

Just City plays with ideas as science fiction allows - which is to say, quite well. I appreciated the active, first person narrator, the author’s very dialogic and engaging style, and the creative approach to exploring society through the motifs of the book. Enjoyable science fiction for (young) adults.

Wow! This was such a different take on a virtual reality book. I will say up front that this book does not stay in the virtual reality world for too long so if that is what you are looking for this may not be for you. Our main character needs money in order to enter his startup into the competition to be picked up by a company so he agrees to help his grandma out by being a participant in her study testing out her virtual reality game. There’s for rounds total and at the beginning of each round you get the opportunity to shift they ways the rules are which will affect you character. Our main character believes the rules of society are pretty great so for the first round he doesn’t touch them and he fairs pretty well. But after that things get drastically worse for his character finding out the system doesn’t play in his favor when he’s a teen boy who’s been arrested and a homeless man. And asking his friends who are also players in the game for help didn’t go to well and have some real life consequences. When the game has finished Nathan has a different outlook on a lot of topics in society starting with revamping his startup as a way to help people who have fallen into homelessness.

I both liked and disliked this novella. I thought the concept was interesting, however it needed more emphasis on the game itself.
Additionally, I felt the characters were supposed to be grown up (which I discovered the chapter afterwards he is 21) however, this narrative shows an inner child that confuses me to understand his (and his friends) ages.
I also felt as though I was reading an academic paper but, truth be told, this was very interesting and made me want to learn more about the subject at hand!
This should either be a bull length novel or a better developed novella. Things were going too fast, the moral of the story was coming too quickly and the main character was learning from his mistakes in a blink of an eye. There’s no chance here for the reader to go along with the character and that just makes us want more and feel as though we read something too fast to fully enjoy it.
However, by the end, it drags out too much. We expect the novella to end but there’s still something more, and something more, etc.
(Review will be published on my bookstagram on the 29th November)

I really enjoyed reading Just City. This was a quick and enjoyable read that you’ll be thinking about long after. I wish more of the book had been about the game itself and the situations the main character encounters in it but I liked the story overall and how the game ties into the events occurring in his life. The overall message is deep and important for people of all ages. This is an important book to read and I really liked it. Engaging, interesting and not boring in any parts which is good because I get bored with books really easily and lose interest. Not the case here! Great plot and take away message! Highly recommend. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy.