Dark Age

by Felix O. Hartmann

In 2154 the world as we know it has fallen into oblivion. Mankind lives decimated and scattered in the remnants of the old world. But only few know what really happened. Growing up in a secluded city ruled by a dogmatic tyrant, Adam watches hunger starve the poor, sickness claim the young, and war kill his three older brothers. Turning seventeen, he has one year left before being forced to join the Grey Guard and follow his brothers into the unknown. Wanting to put an end to the broken system and mindless war, to seek a life of harmony with the one he loves, he decides to do whatever it takes to bring the tyrant to his knees.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction

272 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2016

About the author

Felix Oliver Hartmann was born in Germany in the mid-nineties and immigrated to the United States in 2008. At just 21, he is a student of political science, full time startup entrepreneur, experienced financial trader, and now published author. Since early years, Hartmann has had an affinity for writing, which came to fruition when completing his first novel, Dark Age.

Dark Age brings together many of Hartmann's influences, from his interests in Artificial Intelligence and tech, over his love for political theory and philosophy, to his childhood hometown that is reminiscent of the dark ages. Hartmann continues to pursue a vast variety of genre-crossing writing projects that are set to be released throughout 2017 and 2018.

Reviews

[Kenchiin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was amazing. I wish it was actually longer! An engaging story that mixes some old a new concepts in a very refreshing setting.
Kudos to Felix for his amazing debut!

[Shaun · Rating 5 out of 5]

A solid debut from a new author.

"Dark Age" is a novel set in the future, but the environment in which the novel takes place in is very much like medieval times. It's a refreshing change in the dystopian genre and Hartmann does it well. Swords, bow and arrows, and a large walled in community (think castle and surrounding land) are all present and the world building is small, but done well.

If a reader is looking for a different type of dystopian story or is a fan of medieval action novels, this would be a good choice. My only critique is the character building is a tad shallow. But there is a lot of room for more of that in a follow up novel and would be welcomed.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

The things I liked about this book:
The world building was excellent and the vision of the future was new, to me, and very interesting. I quite enjoyed this story and would like to see it maybe lengthened into a trilogy, to expand some of the idea's expressed. Wouldn't it have been interesting to see Adam spend some more time with the savages so we could grow more attached to them?? Or even as a movie/ TV show as I think this would be a wonderfully visual story.

Things I didn't like:
I found the language to be a bit clunky or cumbersome, not so much that I stopped reading but I often found myself thinking "would I say it like that??". Now maybe this was a particular style that the author was going for and maybe it wasn't but it doesn't detract sufficiently from the story to prevent you from enjoying it overall. I think it lost, like, a half a star from me because of this.
The other half star was lost because the book could be better edited. Which is a shame as there is a strong story being told here.
The last star went for a personal reason, I didn't like the ending. The optimist in me really wanted Adam to up and leave and change things and was saddened that he instead became the thing he had hated for so much of the book. Now don't get me wrong, it wasn't a bad ending. I mean I didn't see it coming, it's just that the author went in a very different direction than I was hoping for.

So, in summary, a very well thought out and different sci-fi/fantasy with an entertaining story that I will be recommending to anyone who might like to read something from a, hopefully, up and coming new author. I'll be keeping an eye on him!

[Niyati Em · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG!! This was an amazing book to read. At one point, I sat so absorbed in the book, I forgot it was dinnertime! Excellent read.

As humans, we have an uncanny ability to predict our future. And yet, collectively, as a civilization, we fail to take any action on it. It is very possible that our younger generation will not see a future because of how destructively we live these days. And yet, we do not do any thing about it.

The point of this is, imagining a dystopian world where things go wrong is not that hard. The Dark Age begins with a world as such. A world where things have gone wrong. And where there is a rudimentary system in place, with one person looking to take steps to change the system.

Adam Blacksmith lives his life as a part of his world. Until the time when he has to go and join the Grey Guard and leave his life for 10 years. And thus follow his adventures.

This book caught on to my attention so rapidly. I just wanted to find out what happened next. The things that Adam experienced drew parallels to today's life as we know it and yet I sat completely mesmerized, reading page after page. To see if Adam finished his tenure alive. To see if he overthrew everything.

Wow, what can I say, the only thing I kept saying after the book was Woah, what an ending. I certainly did not expect that.

This was a wonderful read. I will definitely be reading more from the author.

[Q · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was ultimately a waste of my time. The premise was great and the world somewhat interesting. However, events seemed forced, decisions made no sense, and plot points went unexplained.

To top it all off. A single moment of foreshadowing near the beginning ruined the entire book. The only reason I kept reading was to wonder if it truly was going to end like that.

The author had some good ideas but ultimately abandoned them for other worse ideas instead of letting the story flow.

Then there is the ending which waves a hand of ultimate power in your face asking you to believe events are possible just because the author says so.

[Peggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wanted to read something out of my "normal" reading and came across this one. Really impressed with the plot of the story and how it all turned out. I was intrigued throughout the whole time reading so that's a huge plus when stepping out of my comfort for reading!

[Kimberly Womeldorff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read

A good read, though some parts tend to ramble this book is well written and enjoyably. Some miss spelling does occurs though

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is outstanding and hard to believe this is the author's first novel. Can't wait for more from him.

[Marsha Libla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ready for part two!

Enjoyed this book..ready for part two. Even though the main character was initially a teenager it didn't read as a ya normally does.

[Neill Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the day of the full moon during the month a boy turned seventeen he was inducted into adulthood with all the religious and political implications that entailed. Adam was the only inductee this time - all the rest of the boys born seventeen years before had died in a plague. He was the son of a blacksmith - one of the Craftsmen class, lower in status than the Merchants who had their own District and the religious groups who lived in the Temple District, but higher than the Industrials who lived further back in the District called the Works. He worked for a carpenter, building furniture and on some nights stole items to sell to raise money to feed the poor. At seventeen he was going to be sent to train and fight in the Grey Guard - for ten years if he survived. Most didn’t. In the Grey Guard he learned the truth of his society and the eventual role he must play. This would be a much better book had it been edited and spellchecked. It is a compelling story but the misused words and tenses are at times somewhat jarring.

[Booklover1951 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly realized language and structure

While this story has an entertaining premise, the execution is simply too sloppy to be enjoyable. Chronic oddities of wording throughout could have been smoothed out with strict editing, and that would have helped this amateurish attempt. No surprise that the author is young and ambitious, with English perhaps not his first language. Further reflection invites a comparison with A Canticle for Leibowitz, a far more sophisticated rendering of this kind of future.

[Chelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would’ve been a solid 4 stars if it wasn’t for the ending. Still an enjoyable read but left me feeling very disappointed.

[Gabriella · Rating 1 out of 5]

I won this book through the Goodreads giveaway program. This does not in any way affect my review.

Okay. I really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't. The characters were really shallow and often had me rolling my eyes in annoyance or disbelief. The writing style was a little clunky and jarring for me and it really took me out of the story as well.

The plot itself was alright, but I feel like it would have benefited a lot if Hartmann had taken the time to truly build up and develop his small world and his conflicts more rather than info-dumping. There were also a number of cliches that detracted from the plot.

I did manage to finish the book, but it involved quite a lot of skimming. The ending does give a logical explanation for some of the stylistic problems I had in the book, but that doesn't detract from the fact that I did not enjoy this novel.

[BookzBookzBookz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dark Age is well,... dark. It's rough on the protagonist, and all he holds dear. He can't seem to get a leg up and all that he loves is eventually lost. No body likes to see a hero continuously fall, but it is all for a purpose. The problem is, it's hard to hang on and find out when there are so many errors going on. The story is good and had promise, but you just get lost in the lag and structure.

I really wanted to like this book. It's not bad, but it's just not one of those you'll go bragging about. I think it needs a revision and update. That's all. I think it could be amazing though. If you'd like to see what all the hub-but is about, check out Dark Age, on Amazon. #DarkAge by #felixhartmann. Check it out while I move on to the next read. Cheers!
bit.ly/DarkAgeReview
#bookreview #adventure #magic #revenge #conscription #dystopian

[Lourdes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so good! I really enjoyed it! It had placed that could use improvement but again overall I had a good time reading it. The setting was different from normal dystopian books, which drew me to it. It was a futuristic world that takes place in a sort of medieval society. It has a cool main character who is just morally good, and has a corrupt ruler with many secrets. Loved the journey this took me on and I can't wait to see what the author does in his future books.

[Eleanor · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.8 stars - I wrote a full review on Bookstacked here: http://bookstacked.com/reviews/book-r...

I enjoyed the premise, but I didn't think the writing had been developed enough to make it as good as it has the potential to be. I found it a little basic at times and needed a little more connection to the characters. It definitely has a good set up and I thought the idea was great!

[billy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The story was a picture of what our future could look like with all of the uncertainty in our present day. Brave men will always be about I pray.

[Jack Landfather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome read

Fantastic story. Couldn't put it down. You must read this book. I have to keep up with this story. Awesome.

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

GoodReads win, thank you. I did like this one.