A Future Dystopia about Romance, Resistance, and the Fight for Truth (The New Worlds Trilogy Book 1)
by
Pages: 366
Size: 5.00 x 8.00 in
Pages: 362
When torn between love and duty, even broken shards can kill.
The year is 2293, and the Truth no longer exists. In this future, there are many truths, giving rise to many worlds—but each must be kept separate.
Born to protect these truths, Axton Bryce patrols the New Worlds Star System—to observe, participate, and report. But as she learns the rules of each world, she must also hunt those who defy them: the Outliers.
While stationed on a nearby planet, Axton meets the charming Ambassador Bray Wilde, sparking memories of a love she thought lost forever.
When the ambassador proposes a daring rescue mission, Axton faces a second shot at first love—and an impossible choice between lifelong allegiance . . . and the chance to claim a truth of her own.
A blend of Black Mirror and 1984—but with hope—this gripping, heartfelt dystopia will captivate fans of Ancillary Justice and Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers series.
Editors:
Cover Artists:
Genres:
Tropes: Band of Misfits, Chosen One, Dying World, Dystopian Governments, Found Family, Immortality, Interstellar Travel, Past People/Future Tech, Post-Apocalyptic, Powerful Artifact, Reluctant Hero, Sentient AI, Time Loop, Time Travel, Wise Mentor
Word Count: 82,658
Setting: Distant star system, New York City
Languages Available: English
Series Type: Continuous / Same Characters
Tropes: Band of Misfits, Chosen One, Dying World, Dystopian Governments, Found Family, Immortality, Interstellar Travel, Past People/Future Tech, Post-Apocalyptic, Powerful Artifact, Reluctant Hero, Sentient AI, Time Loop, Time Travel, Wise Mentor
Word Count: 82,658
Setting: Distant star system, New York City
Languages Available: English
Series Type: Continuous / Same Characters
At first, Axton performs like any other average protagonist in a dystopian novel, working hard, not questioning her society or its rules. Time and again, she performs her duty efficiently and without question, even handing over her first lover to be arrested for being an Outlier. But a chance encounter with an intriguing soul, full of light and love, while on duty on a pleasure planet leads Axton to question her life, and shreds her belief system and the cocoon of normalcy she’s spent a lifetime perfecting around her.
Suddenly, Axton is casting off her assumptions about the dystopian society she works for, and the bulk of the novel is spent on a time-travel mission, as Axton is single-mindedly bent on spending every second of her mission trying to stop the birth of the New Worlds Star System. She curses as the found family she’s built around her on the mission slowly “loses focus” on the task, as they build new meaningful connections to the world of the past and grow apart from her.
Her frustration with those around her is echoed by the reader’s frustration for her stubborn single-mindedness. Finally, she realizes that a time machine can’t fix her own problems, and belonging to a dystopian society doesn’t absolve her of her own actions on behalf of the oppressive system she’d spent a lifetime serving. It is at this moment that Axton begins to deconstruct from the trauma of her oppressive upbringing, and just at the moment when you, the reader, are shouting at her for her stubbornness, Axton is reborn with new insight into her actions and a change of heart.
I don’t usually enjoy dystopian fiction, but holy mackerel, this book was intense! The author did a superb job at exploring how difficult and arduous a process it is for a member of a dystopian society to deprogram themselves from their toxic upbringing and begin to heal. I greatly enjoyed reading it, and can’t wait to see how Axton grows in the next book.
5 stars.
The Reviewer
KA Masters [she/her] is an ace author who writes queer fairy tales and historical fantasy. Although she believes that every good story needs elves and / or explosions in them, her most recent publication, “Sappho in Violet and Gray,” sadly does not include either. You can read more about her on her Goodreads Author Profile K_A_Masters.
