First Rule Publicity Blog Tour Stop: Kingdom by Anderson O'Donnell

Synopsis:

In a secret laboratory hidden under the desert, a covert bioengineering project--codename "Exodus"--has discovered the gene responsible for the human soul.

Somewhere in the neon sprawl outside the nation's collapsing economic core, a group of renegade monks are on the verge of uncovering a secret that has eluded mankind for centuries.

In a glittering tower high above the urban decay, an ascendant U.S. Senator is found dead--an apparent, yet inexplicable, suicide.

And in the streets below, a young man races through an ultra modern metropolis on the verge of a violent revolution....closing in on the terrible truth behind Exodus--and one man's dark vision for the future of mankind.

Welcome to Tiber City.

Paperback link - http://bit.ly/AmazonLinkPB
Kindle link - http://bit.ly/KingdomEB

My Review:

This was an interesting read for me. The plot was thought-provoking and the sad thing was I could easily imagine the future painted in Kingdom’s dystopian setting. Kingdom is a hard book to categorize, but I would recommend the novel to fans of thrillers and science fiction.

 What I liked the most about the book was the writing style. The author’s descriptions were dark and gritty. I actually felt myself inwardly cringing at some of the visuals painted over the course of the story. Sometimes I felt the story got bogged down with the amount of descriptions. It had the effect of slowing down the plot and the book could’ve benefit from some selective trimming at parts.

The alternating points of view made it hard to connect with the characters at first. However, by mid-point I felt myself get invested in the story. I was impressed with how each character had a distinct voice, something authors can find it difficult to do successfully.

The concepts explored in the novel were unique and something I’ve never read about before. The idea of discovering the origin of a person’s soul was of particular interest to me and I was more pulled into fallen geneticist Campbell’s plotline than the story of troubled heir Dylan’s.

Thanks to First Rule Publicity for providing me with a copy of this novel for review!

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book for review from First Rule Publicity from the author as part of a virtual book tour. I was not compensated nor was I required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

About the Author
Anderson O’Donnell presents a biopunk, dystopian noir-esque thriller in this amazing read, KINGDOM. Most people are familiar with the term “cyberpunk,” but “biopunk” is harder to nail down. In many ways, biopunk is similar to the cyberpunk genre, and shares many of the same themes and archetypes: the dystopian future; the overreliance on technology; mega-corporations; a constant and overwhelming flow of data; the anti-hero—these elements are integral parts of both genres.

Both genres are fueled, to some extent, by the sense of rebellion and desire for individual freedom expressed by the original punk rock revolution. But the main difference—the most important difference—is that while cyberpunk focuses on invasive technological modification of the human body, biopunk explores the dehumanizing consequences of biological modification, of re-arranging our DNA in the pursuit of perfection.

Anderson lives in Connecticut with his wife and 2 sons. Anderson himself deems Kingdom as “a thrill-a-minute, bio-punk myth that manages to wrestle with the most pressing issues of the new millennium. O’Donnell has crafted a kickass novel of tomorrow night, when the big party gets raided by the monsters we’ve been building for the last half-century.”

His debut novel, Kingdom, a dystopian, biopunk thriller, is now available in paperback and ebook format. Kingdom is the first part of the Tiber City Trilogy. Look for part two, Exile, in the summer of 2013.