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Dhungwana is the only piece of dry land left on Earth, the population controlled by the Federal Community who also run BlueGray Corporation’s multitude of the planet’s industries. Ian Lowell and Dayla Erle are living an idyllic life where everyone is materially well off, have satisfying jobs, and enjoy the Community’s benefits. This changes when Dayla stumbles across a set of records that point to collusion between BlueGray’s various companies and the Federal Community. The next day, the person who gave her the records disappears and she is subjected to a security investigation.
Ian Lowell’s research shows deliberate insertion of genes into foodstuffs able to alter the immune defense system. His colleague suddenly dies, apparently from a brain aneurysm. Dayla’s boss dies in a mysterious accident. A disgruntled former employee kills three BlueGray executives, but this is covered up as routine transfers. People around them start behaving strangely. They don’t eat much or require a lot of sleep, and are very energetic. They also get flashed of precognition. After having themselves checked out, they are told that these symptoms and observations are due to their heightened stress at work. Dayla and Ian are given medication patches to ‘cure’ them, but are actually supposed to alter the DNA makeup of their bodies to transform them into self-repairing humanoid robots. Like Ian and Dayla, some people are immune to this change, and they organize themselves to overthrow BlueGary and the Federal Community. The climax will leave the reader gaping with incredulity.
With Dhungwana 2117, Baibin Nighthawk and Dominick Fencer present readers with a seemingly Utopian Earth, but one that is really a version of George Orwell’s ‘1984’. It is also a familiar, although improbable, theme where two individuals expose a planetary tyranny and mount a revolt. This concept has been handled well by several authors. Unfortunately, Dhungwana 2117 fails to carry the reader in what is a very simplistic work lacking in characterization and believable plotting. The authors tend to lecture, presenting a social manifesto, and the characters are added to fill in the blanks. I found the dialogue stiff and stilted, and the use of ‘em’ dashes instead of proper quotation marks off-putting. There are flashes of good writing, but the reader has to wade through a lot of bland material to uncover those gems. Thorough editing would have identified and corrected the book’s numerous flaws. Overall, a disappointing work.
Author bio:
Baibin Nighthawk (Pen Name): Baibin holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics and a Certificate in Art (teaching). She is a writer, a freelance business consultant and a member of Art of Ink in America Society. She won several Poetry and international Calligraphy Awards. Dominick Fencer (Pen Name): Dominick holds a bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences and a MBA. He is a writer, a freelance business consultant and a VFR pilot (light-sport aircraft).
See more books by Baibin Nighthawk and Dominick Fencer at Amazon.com.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
