Preset

Preset grabs you by the heart and doesn't let go until it's wrung every emotion dry. Sarina Dahlan has a gift for weaving fresh post-apocalyptic worlds that capture the imagination in the most beautiful and tragic of ways. As a prequel to Reset, Preset is a startling exploration into what it means to live, love, and lose. I won't soon be able to forget Eleanor and Eli, and I don't want to.

I absolutely loved Reset, which Preset is the prequel to, so I was excited to get my hands on this ARC. It did not disappoint!

Dahlan once again works magic with her prose. It has such a dreamy quality. You can fall into the words and almost forget the apocalyptic world where these characters are fighting to forge their new lives. Preset is deeply emotional and deeply thoughtful. Heartwarming and heartbreaking. The characters, Eleanor and Eli and so many of the smaller side characters, will live with you long after you have finished their story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for this arc.

I absolutely loved Reset, so I was thrilled to be able to read its prequel, Preset. Finding out how the world of Reset began, plus the personal history of its creators, was very satisfying. There was mystery, danger, love and a huge twist in this story! Excellent Sci Fi page turner!

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for access to this arc.

"Preset" is the prequel to "Reset". It builds the world that "Reset" lives in. But it's not just building a world for stories to exist in; it's building a reality that you will simultaneously occupy and suspect.

I've said it before and it remains truer now than ever: Sarina Dahlan is an author that defies definition. To call her Sci-Fi is an insult to the truth she speaks about the human condition. To call her Fantasy is an insult to the reality that she can absolutely rip your heart out of your chest and the tears from your eyes. To call her Fiction is to ignore the fact that every one of her characters exists within every one of us.

The Four Cities post war identity unfolds page after page as we learn the story of the doomed lovers that created it. From idealistic young newly-weds to adversaries on humanity's preservation. Dahlan's characters teach us deep truths about what people will do to survive and thrive through the harshest of circumstances, even going so far as to wage asymmetric warfare in a battleground that is not as it seems.

"Preset" is a masterclass in misdirection as an intricate web unravels revealing the devastating truth
Dahlan points out: We are more likely to question the laws of physics than our own perceptions of reality.

What a delightful mindfuck of a book.

Thank you to the publishers at Blackstone publishing for a chance to read the ARC in exchange for a review!

Honestly, I’m still recovering from some of the revelations of this book. I can’t wait to get my hands on Reset to understand the world of the four cities more in depth.

This book hurt so good. Please go read it; if you have no idea what’s happening for a bit of the book, that’s fine. The story didn’t click for me until 80% through the book but once it did, it destroyed me.

Finally, even though there’s a lot of play with memory and perceptions of reality, I’d actually say that the story feels more like Children of Men meets Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, set in a post apocalyptic world.