What is your opinion?
Could use some polishing, but it kicks you right in the feels!
"This story's a wild ride, to say the least. Let's get the bad out of the way first. I dislike "Republic of New Vermont" for being too vulgar and rapey, but at the same time it's also the least important chapter and doesn't really follow the same storyline as the rest of the book (understandably since Vermont is nowhere near Lake Tahoe, L.A, or Florida). The punctuation and grammar could use some work, especially in Fallen Is New York The Great. But that's about all the bad I have to say about this story, other than the pacing, which could use some work. The story follows several protagonists from different walks of life who have different backgrounds, viewpoints, and motivations, but who all just want to live life on their own terms. And though they all turn from peaceful civilians to stone-cold libertarian warriors, they're still good people deep down, and that's why I love them. The story is a bit heavy on the political and religious theming, and I disagree with the choice to use fictionalized versions of real people as heroes and villains. That said, it's all secondary to the plot, a narrative device in support of a greater cause, which is to show that when the chips are down, people will demand their rights, whatever their definition of them might be, whether it's the right to private property and guns like the LTR represents, the right to provide for one's family (Florida), the right to defend oneself (Best Korea/SoCal), or the right of children and vulnerable people to be safe (a recurring theme). TLDR; could use some work, but by the standards of Inkitt, 5 stars overall!"
A puzzling read
"The story's premise is as unlikely as it is unenticing. A young teen in New York City just so happens to help stock a comic book store owner's nuclear bunker as an atomic bomb is denotated in downtown Manhattan, which prompts a tale of survival and revival. The writing is regrettably bland and typically child-like. There exists little in terms of prose or imaginative penmanship, and the text reads more like a high school freshman's English assignment than a thoughtful piece of fiction. Characters remain largely undeveloped and undergo little worthwhile personal progress. With no sense of irony or wit, the text expects dialogue such as "if the bombs go off, don't even wait for me because I won't be coming (because I'll be disintegrated)" to be taken seriously, while actually meaningful scenarios are simply overlooked in baffling ways, like when the young teen protagonist discovers the charred remains of their killed family and less attention is paid to their emotional reaction than to the video game they like to play (Minecraft). One sentence, the characters are panicking and trying to come to terms with nuclear war ending society as they know it and wiping out everyone they've ever known. The very next, they will plainly ask whether the TV still works. The inconsistent and sometimes surprisingly incoherent writing skips around like a broken record with no regard for its readers' whiplash. Conversations are robotic, unlikely and require significant suspension of disbelief to even consider (such as characters being solicited to help a secret and underground society expose a global conspiracy for no other reason than them "seeming like a good guy" right after meeting). Similarly, the slightly older and Gadsden flag-admiring protagonist of the second chapter quickly establishes a libertarian stronghold after a comparable apocalyptic event before having an entire tank regiment pull up and submit to his command because they like what he's doing (before joining him in storming their former home base of Area 51 shortly after to see what mysteries are truly hidden there). The story doesn't just seem to be written for children, but it seems to be written by one just the same. Which isn't a knock on younger authors in general, but does highlight the simplistic and often juvenile perspective and writing style of the author. Little attention is paid to the world building or broader implications of a nuclear detonation in NYC. The emotional implications or realities of a child-only group rising up in NYC go unaddressed, and character development is either non-existent or advancing in unwarranted and hollow leaps. Additionally, the author's conservative and conspirational views are as heavy-handed and lacking in subtlety as they are omnipresent. One cannot get through more than a few paragraphs without being reminded of their political affiliations. From fawning over Trump's legacy (the protagonist quite literally tears up at being offered the opportunity to play golf with Don Jr. at Mar-a-Lago), praising Fox News media personalities for their loyal patriotism and taking jabs at NYC's mayor for being a terrorists' sweetheart, to drawing remarkably shallow parallels between real-life COVID vaccines, Ivermectin being used as effective medicine for a viral outbreak and fictional pharmaceuticals propping up a New World Order deep state society that bombs its own people and conducts fatal experiments on the survivors (all followed by a Q-Anon style round-up and draining of the swamp by the Republican not-Trump president). Ultimately, this reads less like a full-fledged novel and more like a fantastical piece of political propaganda consisting of simplistic storylines and bland exposition that mirrors the author's personal views. However, that does leave them a lot of room for growth. The author, presumably a younger teen, is taking their first steps in novelization. Learning how to write more multifaceted characters that add color and circumstance rather than existing simply to push the narrative forward will be an important but necessary task to improve their writing, as will laying off the heavy-handed politics that seemingly shape every scenario. I wish them the best."
