Saturday, April 7, 2012

Review: Generation by William Knight

by William Knight
Release Date: March 18th, 2012
2012 The Standard Hard
Ebook Edition; 288 Pages
ISBN: 978-1468148589
ASIN: B005YHZ9ZU
Genre: Fiction / Horror
Source: Novel Publicity Tours

4 / 5 Stars

Summary
In this novel, you may want to ask a simple question: could there be a situation in which you would want to die but were unable to do so?

Journalist Hendrix 'Aitch' Harrison links bodies stolen from a renowned forensic-research lab to an influential drug company.

Aided by Sarah Wallace, a determined and beguiling entomologist, he delves into a grisly world of clinical trials and a viral treatment beyond imagining.

My Thoughts

Generation was a fascinating look inside the world of genetics and forensic-research and it really asks the question: If you had the opportunity to live a little longer using medication, would you use it, knowing there could be serious side effects, such as cells regenerating and your body never dying when you wish it would?  


The protagonists in this novel, Hendrix Harrison and Sarah Wallace, find themselves in the midst of an investigation as their own research, Sarah as an entomologist, and Hendrix as a researcher studying the paranormal, discover some shady dealings by a top-notch genetic research company.  As they delve deeper into its mystery, they find themselves running for their lives as those around them are killed or seriously injured and everything they have worked for for the past five year is destroyed by those who are more powerful than they are.  And while I could see things as they came, it was still disturbing to see these characters have their life's work destroyed in a matter of days and to see them pursued to relentlessly by those they thought they trusted.  The plotline was somewhat predictable in that sense, but I enjoyed Mr. Knight's writing so much that I was able to overlook the predictability in the storyline to a certain extent.  


What I really liked in this story is how it made you think.  While the author didn't go out of his way to make the story full of horror and ghastly, the simplicity of his writing and his bluntless made it that more horrific.  You didn't need gore and guts in order to make this story horrifying; the dialogue and the descriptions as to what was happening to the people was enough.  It certainly made me absolutely certain that I would never, and I mean NEVER, participate in any clinical trial for any genetic drug in the future, especially those that have to do with living a longer life.  This kind of had the same effect on me as Day of the Triffids where I don't to this day ever watch a meteor shower and I read that book when I was fourteen.  


Verdict
Generation is one of those novels that blends the scientific technology with horror in such a way that the reader understands what is going on without ever having to have studied biology and I really liked that.  It's great when you don't have to look up every other concept online in order to understand what is going on.  I enjoyed the characters and thought there was a nice blend between the antagonists and protagonists without the antagonists going overboard; they were just trying to protect a product they had been working on for a decade, and that made the horror all that much more real.  While I can't say that I have developed a new sympathy for zombies, I know I have developed a healthy respect for any clinical trials, which is perhaps unfair.  






Novel Publicity Blog Tour Notes:

Get Generation on Amazon or Barnes & Noble – you know you want to!

And please vote for my blog in the traffic-breaker poll for this tour. The blogger with the most votes wins a $50 Amazon gift card. I want that to be me! You can vote in the poll by visiting the official Generation blog tour page and scrolling all the way to the bottom.

Be sure to enter for your chance to win an autographed copy of Generation : ENTER HERE.

William Knight is a British born journalist and technologist currently living and working in Wellington, New Zealand. He's chased a varying career starting in acting, progressing to music, enjoyed a brief flirtation with handbag manufacturing and was eventually wired into technology where he's been since 1989. In 2003 he published his first feature in Computing magazine and has since written about the many successes and failings of high-tech for the Guardian, Financial Times and the BBC among many others publications. He continues to maintain a lively IT consultancy. Connect with William on his website, blog, Facebook, Twitter or GoodReads.

4 comments:

  1. Great review, Stephanie. I love that Generation has scared you away from clinical trials. You never know, maybe it's saved your life! Thank you for being a part of this tour. When you have a moment would you kindly cross-post this review to Amazon and GoodReads? Thank you very much!

    Emlyn :-D

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  2. Thanks Stephanie for taking part in the blog tour and your excellent review. Really enjoyed your comparison with Day of the Triffids -- that's one of my all-time favourites.

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    1. John Wyndham remains to this day one of my favourite sci-fi writers. They Chrysalids and Day of the Triffids had a huge impact on me and I credit them with the start of a life-long love of science fiction and dystopian lit.

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