LitPick Review
Republic Under Siege: Threat from Within (#2 Wars of New Humanity series) is written by Michael J. Brooks and is a science fiction/futuristic novel. This is the story of Akane and her journey into a new way of life. She meets people, some she likes and some she hates. Akane, an immigrant, hails from a satellite planet in an area known as NeoJapan, and through a lottery of sorts, she is allowed to go to Eden and is offered a new way of living. Eden is the motherland and is the Utopia of the future. It is almost like the Garden of Eden. Akane needs to find a way to fit in with her new surroundings and ends up enlisting in the military of these times. Akane and her friends Jacobi, Simone, Skylar, and Randy will show the ups and downs of a new era of living and the choices that they have to make.
Opinion:
Michael J. Brooks is a show and tell writer which I could see right from the beginning of the story as the scenes were so vivid. To develop this story, Mr. Brooks uses themes related to diverse populations, war, and the economic and political issues of today's society to then fit in with future living. In a lot of the story, the author writes about some weapons of today and retools them for the future, as in some of the guns. Even the uniforms ("shells") that the military wears in the story seem like regular combat uniforms but use technology to help soldiers. Through this story, Michael J. Brooks reminds us that there are consequences to the choices we make and that we can fit in somewhere no matter who we are or where we come from. There are pictures of Akane at the beginning and the end of the book depicting what Akane looks like. The author said that the pictures of Akane that the artist drew were a perfect way to see her. At the beginning of the book, the author also offered a glossary of terms to give meaning to some of the abbreviations of military terms that were used. I also liked that he gave a recap of Book One of the series.
