#NewReleaseTuesday
pages 215 (ebook)
Wildchild Publishing April 2011
rating: 5stars
Synopsis:
The U.S. is ground-zero for a mysterious global pandemic. The disease is highly infectious and kills its victims within two weeks of exposure. It’s neither bacteria nor a virus and all traditional treatment regimens have failed.
Serena Salus, a radical scientist, discovers the organism is an extraterrestrial dust mite brought to earth by a shuttle astronaut. The government contends it’s a genetically-engineered organism created on earth by enemies of freedom.
Dr. Salus uncovers a vile plan for distributing her experimental vaccine and finds herself in a deadly confrontation with powerful forces that’ll stop at nothing to control the distribution of her vaccine.
Review:
Okay let me tell you this right of the bat. I was contacted by the author and asked if I would like to read Against Nature as part of the Dystopian Reading Challenge. Why am I giving you this disclaimer? Because I loved this book and I want you all to know that it's because I like the story and not because I was given this book. So on the the review.
The action gets going right from the beginning. While trying to return a satellite back to its orbit, a astronaut gets cut. Thinking the cut is minor everyone deboard the shuttle and head their separate ways. Soon they are turning up dead all over the planet. Turns out the astronaut picked up extraterrestrial dust mite in that cut. These mites are high contagious and deadly. Everyone who becomes infected dies.
The mites are really the background story. The real story is how the government handle this crisis. Many people may find this story to fantastical. Government would act that way. Or government could make this decisions in such a rash way. I am not one of those people. The world that Nelson lays out is completely plausible. Look at any election and you will see hints of what goes full blown in Against Nature.
So here's the jest of things. This country is full on contradictions. We are a nation of Christians (our money states "In God We Trust") but we have business open on the Sabbath. We claim to be peaceful but we have been in one war or another since Vietnam. We say "every man is created equal" yet we are still having the first black this, the first Latino that. The list of contradictions could go on.
When it is all said and done though, this country is about money. Period. Those who have it and those who want it. One of the quote from the book stands out I'm paraphrasing "the middle class is an illusion. There are only two classes. The leisure and the working." You know what, that is the most true statement about society. Because no matter how many figures you are making at upper middle class, you still have to work in order to maintain that lifestyle. So though you may get paid more that Burger King worker you consider yourself better than just like him/her you are in the same boat. You NEED a job.
Lastly another highlight for me was how the book pointed out that people who don't outright say God is great and this country is perfect are looked at as socialist, anti-christian, and/or anarchist. There are those who may read this and think those things of me. Here's a news flash. Waving a flag doesn't make you a patriot and quoting scripture doesn't make you a believer. If we all thought the same way this country would be completely different than it is today.
Against Nature makes you think. Whether you think a post pandemic world like the one depicted in Nelson pages can happen or not, it will at least get you to thinking about what you value, who you are, and where you stand.
*source: given by author for an honest review
Challenges:
Let Me Count The Way
2013 Ebook Reading Challenge
Dystopian Reading Challenge
