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The Dreams of the Eternal City
by
Living in 2040 in an age of harsh austerity, Ethan Thomas works for a sinister organisation that enforces the ‘Sleep Code’ – laws which regulate sleep in order to fulfil the United Kingdom’s need for economic growth. A strong belief in the justice of his work drives Ethan to fanatically pursue sleep criminals and his own lazy colleagues to the detriment of his personal rel
...more
Paperback
Published
November 28th 2018
by Troubador Publishing
(first published November 7th 2018)
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‘The Dreams of the Eternal City’ by Mark Reece was like seeing food coming in a restaurant and it’s not yours - that initial excitement only to be left feeling disappointed.
Ethan works for the Sleep and Dreams Monitoring Agency (SDMA) where he is on the front line of protecting society. It’s 2040 and new laws have been introduced to regulate sleep to ensure the United Kingdom’s economic growth. This means it is against the law to sleep out-with the hours 11pm-7am, the aim is to achieve more pro ...more
Ethan works for the Sleep and Dreams Monitoring Agency (SDMA) where he is on the front line of protecting society. It’s 2040 and new laws have been introduced to regulate sleep to ensure the United Kingdom’s economic growth. This means it is against the law to sleep out-with the hours 11pm-7am, the aim is to achieve more pro ...more
*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free book!*
Not sure what to think about this one: The year is 2040 and sleep is regulated by the UK's government to enhance the productivity of the country. Ethan wholeheartedly enforces these laws. After receiving a new, big project dealing with subversives, Ethan must choose between work, his girlfriend and the 'Sleep Code'.
I waited and waited for things to actually happen, for Ethan to doubt the system...
So man ...more
Not sure what to think about this one: The year is 2040 and sleep is regulated by the UK's government to enhance the productivity of the country. Ethan wholeheartedly enforces these laws. After receiving a new, big project dealing with subversives, Ethan must choose between work, his girlfriend and the 'Sleep Code'.
I waited and waited for things to actually happen, for Ethan to doubt the system...
So man ...more
If The Dreams of The Eternal City had been a bit snappier and sassy, it would have been so much better. As it is, I found it too slow and stagnant. I wanted this or that to happen, but nothing serious actually happened. The characters were not fleshed out because they had no opportunity to grow and show who they are. I was disappointed with this story. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Whatever this tried to be, it failed. For a romance I couldn't care less about the couple, flat as their interactions were. For a dystopian it's not enough of an impact on the people. For scifi it provided to little of facts on sleep. For action not enough happens. For self-discovering journey it lacks deeper thoughts.
I can't even say this is a call to think about the current lifestyle of people or the pressure of economy, since there is no "Ah!" moment, the hinted at rebellion simply gets cut ...more
I can't even say this is a call to think about the current lifestyle of people or the pressure of economy, since there is no "Ah!" moment, the hinted at rebellion simply gets cut ...more
In 2040 the ‘Sleep Code’ must be obeyed.
During a time of harsh austerity, sleep is regulated in order to keep the United Kingdom growing. Ethan Thomas works for the sinister department, he believes in his job and pursues the sleep criminals.
That is until he is assigned a new project to identify a group of subversives, he works night and day until he develops a problematic sleep himself and must rethink his loyalties and fight for his integrity.
I thought this book sounded good until I started to ...more
During a time of harsh austerity, sleep is regulated in order to keep the United Kingdom growing. Ethan Thomas works for the sinister department, he believes in his job and pursues the sleep criminals.
That is until he is assigned a new project to identify a group of subversives, he works night and day until he develops a problematic sleep himself and must rethink his loyalties and fight for his integrity.
I thought this book sounded good until I started to ...more
I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The premise of this book was intriguing, but the execution was lacking. In this dystopian vision of a near future in which the government has mandated that all people may only sleep between certain authorized hours, Reece strikes an Orwellian tone but fails to create a convincing world. The best science fiction starts from a "what if?" question and builds from there. This book does so, but I found myself so frequently jerked ...more
The premise of this book was intriguing, but the execution was lacking. In this dystopian vision of a near future in which the government has mandated that all people may only sleep between certain authorized hours, Reece strikes an Orwellian tone but fails to create a convincing world. The best science fiction starts from a "what if?" question and builds from there. This book does so, but I found myself so frequently jerked ...more
I received this book through NetGalley, in exchange for a n unbiased, honest review.
I found this to be a very interesting read. Although, quite a bit of it seemed like minutiae that wasn't really relevant to the story.
Ethan Thomas lives in a dystopia-sorta England and he works for a government agency that controls and regulates the sleep of citizens. Every citizen has a sleep schedule and a work schedule that they're expected to comply with. You cannot fall asleep before your sleep shift., nor c ...more
I found this to be a very interesting read. Although, quite a bit of it seemed like minutiae that wasn't really relevant to the story.
Ethan Thomas lives in a dystopia-sorta England and he works for a government agency that controls and regulates the sleep of citizens. Every citizen has a sleep schedule and a work schedule that they're expected to comply with. You cannot fall asleep before your sleep shift., nor c ...more
The Dreams of the Eternal City is a sci fi novel set in the UK where sleeping hours are rigidly enforced by the Government. Unfortunately, I found majority of the book repetitious where the main protagonist, Ethan Thomas travels to work, jokes with his work colleague Mohammed, travels home, converses with his girlfriend and tries to sleep. It is only during the final third where things get interesting but even then, nothing worth reading the previous two thirds to get to. And then it ends.
On fac ...more
On fac ...more
I received a free copy of this from NetGalley in return for an honest review and for the first time in my short NetGalley history, I am obliged to give a truly negative review. This long, turgid tome is quite simply awful. The premise is interesting enough, a near future with a big brother style "sleep code", but there is a desperate lack of exposition on how the situation arose. The pace is constantly plodding, characters are one dimensional and the ending ridiculously abrupt. The only way this
...more
Thank you Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This is an interesting futuristic novel. Ethan is tasks with investigation people who break the sleep code. In this time period people are required to only sleep a number of hours a day and work longer hours. The author, through Ethan's point of view, shows us what a sleep deprived world looks like. The world building is good but the pace is slow. I had to read through about 50%of the book to get into the action. Other t ...more
This is an interesting futuristic novel. Ethan is tasks with investigation people who break the sleep code. In this time period people are required to only sleep a number of hours a day and work longer hours. The author, through Ethan's point of view, shows us what a sleep deprived world looks like. The world building is good but the pace is slow. I had to read through about 50%of the book to get into the action. Other t ...more
I really liked the premise of this book. I could tell the author wrote short stories because this was an imaginative idea that often is not found in longer pieces. Elements of 1984, Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451 all were present here. The chief concerns I had with the text is that, in making this a full-length piece, I felt the dialogue was a bit too pedestrian. It felt like the author recorded too many casual conversations in full rather than in brief. Also the ending was too abrupt for me
...more
Promising debut with a fascinating premise. The story itself does get off to a roaring start, and while I admittedly, found some parts of the book plodding in places, there was more than enough going on to keep my attention throughout. Definitely an author to keep an eye on.
With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Interesting that a book about sleep put me to sleep so quickly.
J'ai lu 193 pages sur l'expérience de la privation de sommeil et de la paranoïa. Ça ressemblait plus à un exercice de style qu'un roman...
...more
I was excited about this title from NetGalley. It had an interesting dystopian premise, offered a debut novel from a new author, and intrigued me immensely. Unfortunately, the execution of this novel was not fantastic.
The story of a society in which sleep is regulated should be full of information about sleep and why it's important. Or maybe about how an over-reaching government can end up harming its citizens in unexpected ways. Or about an uprising of the people to shut down such an institutio ...more
The story of a society in which sleep is regulated should be full of information about sleep and why it's important. Or maybe about how an over-reaching government can end up harming its citizens in unexpected ways. Or about an uprising of the people to shut down such an institutio ...more
Thank you Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I liked this book, I really did. But at some points I really wish it had that extra oomf that would leave me thinking about it more after I finished. I felt like I was just waiting and waiting, for Ethan to do something. The book was interesting and I really liked the idea. The mystery and paranoia was good but I wish it had extra oomf.
The ending of the book wasn't what I really expected. It kinda, just sort of ended. I ...more
I liked this book, I really did. But at some points I really wish it had that extra oomf that would leave me thinking about it more after I finished. I felt like I was just waiting and waiting, for Ethan to do something. The book was interesting and I really liked the idea. The mystery and paranoia was good but I wish it had extra oomf.
The ending of the book wasn't what I really expected. It kinda, just sort of ended. I ...more
Thankyou to NetGalley, Troubadour Publishing Limited, Matador and the author, Mark Reece, for the opportunity to read a digital copy of The Dreams Of The Eternal City in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.
I was initially intrigued by the premise of the storyline. I have to say, on the whole, the author delivered a fascinating book. It did drag in places whereby the plot seemed to really slow down, but I ended up with a good read.
I was initially intrigued by the premise of the storyline. I have to say, on the whole, the author delivered a fascinating book. It did drag in places whereby the plot seemed to really slow down, but I ended up with a good read.
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Mark Reece is a widely published short story writer, whose work has been published in Orbis, Structo, Here Comes Everyone, Fire, The Delinquent, and Postscripts (PS Publishing), amongst other places. The Dreams of the Eternal City is his first novel. He currently lives in Staffordshire, in a flat filled with fine paintings (all copies).
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