Tesla Synopsis: Cyberpunk vs Steampunk: a dystopian post-apocalyptic adventure for teens.
Book 1 in the award-winning Tesla Evolution series.
One thousand years in the future, nuclear war has wiped out much of civilization in the northern hemisphere. The planet has slowly been getting hotter and water is becoming a rare resource. Out of the ruins of a civilization that has collapsed in on itself, have arisen a new breed of people – those with the power to control magnetism.
Seb, a young orphan boy from a quiet rural town, is being hunted by strange part-machine, part-human people. His only hope is Melanie, an angry, dying teenage girl who is dragged into the adventure and sets out to deliver him to the Steam Academy, even if it’s just to stop him talking. Seb must confront an unknown past and fight against everything he believed in. And occasionally wash his hair.
–S&S–
Tesla Review
This took me AGES to read. Within a few pages of it, I would suddenly find a desire to read something else. ANYTHING else. Tesla is a book that I was eager to read, thinking the premise looked very interesting. Unfortunately, for me, it almost immediately fell flat. The way the book is written did not lend itself to an immediate hook. I found that I just couldn’t dredge up the interest to care about the main character, Sebastian, or the trials he was going through. The interjections of humor seemed too forcibly interjected, having no true charm to them, We’re thousands of years into the future, and yet recognizable abbreviations from today are still used? (SUV, TLC,etc)
The writing, in general, struck me as a bit amateurish or perhaps it is just overly simple. I know this is considered a young adult novel, but there have been several others I have read where this was not a problem. Where the story and the writing both were strong enough that you forgot you were reading a YA novel. That is definitely not the case here.
The homages to various points of pop culture and classic literature are not well done. The Oliver Twist one, in fact, came across just as another annoying case of introduction of non-exemplary attempts at unnecessary humor.
I wanted to like this novel. I wanted to sink into what I’d heard was a refreshing blend of steampunk/scifi/dystopian future. Instead I found myself quickly presented by an obvious Chosen One trope that is… Well, its a trope for a reason.
I could not in good conscience recommend this book to others, and I am not interested in reading any more from this author in the future.
Click here to find Tesla: A Teen Steampunk/Cyberpunk Adventure on Amazon.com
Title: Tesla | Author: Mark Lingane (site) | Publisher: Insync Holdings (site) | Publication Date: 2013-12-31 | Pages: 237 | ISBN: 9780992377946 | Genre: Science Fiction & Dystopian | Language: English | Rating: 2 out of 5 | Triggers: None | Date Read: 2015-9-5 | Source: Received a copy of this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I was really excited about this book, but started it and just didn’t get into it so never finished… the premise was so promising though!! Also I agree, the Cthulhu rating style is epic!
Glad to see someone else beside me had same experience.
I like how your ratings are hip Cthulhu. Also, this book sounds…ehhhh. This is why I avoid dystopia more often then not. I find its hard to do.
It was just so… 8th grade level writing. I was so disappointed.
Yeoch. That is rough 0_o