Precisely Terminated by Amanda L Davis
Reviewed by Lori Twichell, Radiant Lit
Genre: Sci-Fi, Speculative Fiction
Publisher: AMG Publishers
Publication Date: Oct 1, 2011
Monica lives in a unique world where a class system dominates every part of her existence. Nobles not only have slaves, but with technology they are able to completely control every movement of the slaves. Powered by chips implanted at the base of each slave’s skull, the Nobles can control where slaves are supposed to be, when they are supposed to be there, what they eat, what they wear and nearly anything else you can consider. Electrical impulses can do everything from warn a slave that they’re in the wrong location to terminating their lives if they have broken one of the myriad rules surrounding their existence.
Monica herself is unique in this strange world. She’s the chip-less girl. Born as a Noble, she managed to escape the chipping process and be the only person who survived a mass termination. Now she’s protected, revered, despised and expected to be the salvation of the slave race. People die to give her freedom to move through tunnels and follow the wishes of the council as they concoct plans surrounding the best way to use her. Her life is very specifically ruled by other people’s deaths. When someone dies and their chip is extracted quickly enough, Monica can use their chip to shower, eat and get clothing, but she has to BE that person. No matter whether that person is male, female, young or old. Sound tough?
It gets worse – much worse – when plans are finally pulled together and the only hope for bringing them to fruition is Monica. As much as the people around her can give her support, for this, she’s totally on her own. And this is where the adventure really begins.
I’ve heard it said before that ‘all’ of the great stories have already been told and that each author’s creation is just some reimagining of a story that’s already been told. Though there are elements reminiscent of other stories in this tale, I can say that when I got to the end of this book, I was delighted to feel that Davis had written a compelling new adventure. It was, in no way, a same old same old anything. There are elements of other stories that you can find. Anywhere you read about one person saving a civilization or a reluctant hero coming forward, you’re bound to have similarities. But with Precisely Terminated, Davis has given us a very fresh, welcome and powerful story that will resonate with the reader.
The pacing runs a little slow at times. There are moments when you hear the same argument and feel the same situation repeated several times and this can slow the story down a little while reading. The sympathy for Monica overflows as you read the descriptions of what her feelings are, what her life is like and what is expected of her. However, at moments it gets so dark it might be difficult for the reader to keep going. I had trouble in places getting through the book. It became a heavy story for me and there’s so much darkness and loss that it began to drag me down with it. But pressing on, I found the beauty in the story and now I am very curious about the sequel. I look forward to seeing what Davis does with her universe and characters as the story moves into another level.
If you like speculative fiction, futuristic tales or Sci-Fi adventures, give this one a try. It’s a good multi-layered story that promises depth and richness as it moves to future levels.
RATED PG-13 : This is a HARD PG-13. Could even be borderline R. Not because there’s sex or language or anything you might imagine. It’s because this is a dark story. The subject lines are heavy and there were moments I had to put it down and get back to ‘reality’ to separate from how horrible and desperate Monica’s life was.
** Review copy provided by Glass Road PR – thank you!!! We love working with you!
