Series Review: Americosis by Haydn Wilks

Series Review: Is this series worth your time? Does it get better as the novels progress? Or does it get worse? Find out below:

Americosis

booksynopsis

Synopsis for Americosis (from Goodreads):
A naked man arrives in New Mexico claiming to have traveled through time.
He says that he’s America’s savior.

A bizarre sexually-transmitted infection in New York takes control of people’s bodies and burns them out in an incessant drive to infect others.

And a Presidential candidate is conversing with angels.
His aides think he’s crazy.
The electorate might not agree with them.

It could all be madness. It might be the apocalypse.

Americosis.

An epic genre-bending mash-up of sci-fi, horror, thriller & dark comedy.

breakdown

Series: Americosis
Author: Haydn Wilks
# of Books: 4 (Americosis VOL 1, TBD)
Book Order: Chronological
Complete?: Yes
Genre: Adult, Science Fiction, Apocalypse
Heat Rating: Had sexual content
Point of View: Third Person, Multiple
Publication Date: July 9, 2015
Source & Format: Provided by Publisher–eBook  Thank you Dead Bird Press!

disclaimer

thoughts

Disclaimer: I stopped reading this series after Americosis. Find out why below…

Why I Picked it Up / My Expectations:

I was contacted by the publisher to see if I was interested in reading this short novella that serves as an introduction to Haydn Wilks new “darkly comic sci-fi series”. While I don’t normally read science-fiction focused work, especially in the Adult category of reading, the cover and synopsis intrigued me. I also like the idea that it was a dark comedy…I enjoy cynical humour and it isn’t something that is really prevalent in literature–or at least in the genres I normally read.

What I Liked:

–The Satire–

I had to double check the difference between a satire and a parody to make sure I was labelling this book correctly. It’s hard to say since it is just a novella but I would lean more towards the satire side of things.

I could definitely see the connections between our world and the fictional world in the novella. The attitudes of society and the characters, although cynical, are just expansions upon what is happening right now with popular culture. I liked that bite of realism and it did make me chuckle at times.

–The Length–

I thought this book was the right amount of length for what it is trying to do, which is setting up for the rest of the series. It gives you enough detail without being overwhelming and leaves enough unresolved that your interest is peaked for the next instalment.

What I Didn’t Like:

–The Flow–

I had a hard time keeping things straight as I was reading this. Like a review on Goodreads suggested,  read this in a single shot to make sure you don’t get lost. I read this in two sittings, only a couple of hours apart and I had to go back a few pages to make sure I was on the right track during that second session.

This story jumps around a lot between characters and places; and at one point so did the narration POV. It could have just been the format I was reading it in (sometimes page breaks etc are lost in eBook formatting) but that really confused me. I did some backtracking when that happened but that didn’t always work for me.

Will I Continue with this series?:

Unfortunately, this book just wasn’t for me. It left me more confused than anything. Even though I do appreciate the concept and enjoyed the cynical view of society, the story just didn’t keep my attention.

My Rating: 2/5

overall

Definitely not my cup of tea. But I do think science fiction fans who enjoy satires will eat this book right up! It’s a cool premise (really cool cover), it just fails to capture my attention in a way that makes me want to continue reading personally.

Read if You Like: Adult science fiction, satires, sci-fi horror
Avoid if You: don’t like Adult science fiction, abstract books

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