Wayline

by Matt Shuck

After the war that disseminated humanity, Hope is trying to rebuild her world in the shadows of the Wayline Empire. Her task is clear; she must bring a valuable package across the countryside for a mysterious collector. But when she finally arrives, she finds the Wayline are there already, scouring every inch of the small desolated town.

Who tipped them off that there was a collector in town? And why are they suddenly so interested in the day-to-day activities of the resistance? Hope knows there’s more to this mystery than meets the eye.

She volunteers to embark on a dangerous mission to try and disrupt the Wayline communications systems, hoping to find out more about what the Wayline are planning. But just when she finds out their terrible secret, she’s captured.

Will she have what it takes to make it out of there safe? Will she rejoin the resistance? Or will she go to work for the very thing that destroyed her family to try to bring peace to the world?

The Wayline have a legend about the great Sabella, the light bringer who defeated the dark. Might Hope be the mysterious Sabella? The one destined to fight back against the darkness and bring light to the world?

Genres: Science Fiction

405 pages, Paperback

Published December 14, 2018

About the author

Matthew Shuck is a compulsive storyteller from Salem (specifically Keizer but no one knows where Salem is, much less Keizer) Oregon. He writes stories in an ill-fated attempt to get them out of his head, always assuming that at the end of each he will find a peace which never comes. Often, instead, he finishes one with three more working their way into his psyche, begging to be poured onto the next blank page.

From horror to children's stories to satirical comedies to dystopian sci-fi, Matthew Shuck explores every facet of what it means to be human in as interesting a way as he knows how. Matthew works a full time job with side work on his weekends to help support his beautiful family. This means the bulk of his writing happens at 5am before the rest of the family begins stirring and his fatherly duties take priority. On those rare days when Matthew isn't behind a computer either at work or at home, he can be found taking his family on hikes and day trips throughout the Mid-Willamette Valley, Oregon's beautiful coastline, or the high desert east of the Cascades.

Reviews

[The Babbling Book Lover · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received Wayline: A Science Fiction Novel by Matt Shuck through a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review.

I will be honest, this is the first science fiction novel that I have read. I think. Probably. It is not generally a genre I gravitate to as well anything with aliens tends to terrify me. I watched The Fourth Kind and was petrified of the sound of owls for months. So reading anything regarding an alien race is not exactly something I gravitate to. However, in an attempt to expand my reading base, I signed up for Wayline and was one of the several readers chosen to give this book the once over and I sat down to the challenge.
The cover art selected reflects almost a horrific destruction of the planet earth, which is actually contradictory to the nature of the story. As the reader you are placed into a dystopian Earth where the Wayline, an advanced alien race have come to inhabit after the desolation and destruction of their own planet. Human civilization has divided into the Confederacy and the Resistance, those who sympathize with the Wayline and those who fight against the society has has developed from the integration of the two species.
The main heroine of the story, Hope, was raised by a leader of the resistance. In an attempt to take down the communications of Confederates, Hope is captured and the image of the world and people she knew and love is blurred and changed. She is tumbled through internal turmoil as she struggles to become who she was born to be while still holding the beliefs and truths as she was raised.
Ultimately she is left to shoulder the fate of human existence, but all in a day's work right? The story was difficult for me to initially get involved in, as the reader is thrown into a fractured planet with little background, but I am pleased that I stuck with it as the real meat of the story comes later in the book. There are character twists that are interesting, and a pretty cool plot twist that makes the book likable.
This would fair best in the young adult genre as the protagonist is more relateable to a younger audience and in all honesty the 13-year-old me might have loved this book. It was an enjoyable read and with some very interesting concept and descriptors. It started slow, picked up nicely and finished quite unexpectedly and strong.
Happy reading!

[Hillary · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you can get through the first 2/3 of this book, the last third is great! It took me six weeks to read it and I considered abandoning it several times. I'm glad that I didn't, but I didn't care about any of the characters or much of what was happening for the first 250-300 pages

I found the beginning to be boring with too many story lines and a ton of characters to worry about.

[Eliot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gets an extra star just for the resolution of the story.
Strong plot and concept, but dialogue and characterization is fairly woeful. A little editing would go a long way, I think the author could easily become great.

[Sam (Sassyowlreads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won the kindle edition of this book in a Goodreads giveaway and cannot wait to read it!