Dominion

by J.L. Bryan

In the year 2036, the United States of America is ruled by a totalitarian regime controlling all education, religion, the mass media, and the internet.Daniel Ruppert is a talking head for the most popular nightly news program in southern California. Restless and weary of reporting propaganda, Ruppert begins digging for the truth. His urge to know puts his career, life, and family at risk as he discovers the clandestine North Atlantic Psychological Command--PSYCOM--and how it manipulates the minds of the Western world.He's following the trail of PSYCOM's darkest secret--and he'll find it, if he can survive.

Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult, Fiction, Dystopia

214 pages, Paperback

First published April 16, 2009

About the author

J.L. Bryan studied English literature at the University of Georgia and at Oxford, with a focus on English Renaissance and Romantic literature. He also studied screenwriting at UCLA. He lives in the metro Atlanta sprawl with his wife and son. He is the author of the Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper books and some other assorted novels like Inferno Park, The Unseen, Jenny Pox, and basically a lot of supernatural stories, some of it dark, some of it very dark, some of it less dark than that.

Reviews

[Ajeje Brazov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Siamo nel prossimo futuro, non molto in là con gli anni, all'incirca nel 2035. California, il nostro protagonista, Daniel Ruppert, un banale presentatore televisivo giornalistico, passa la sua vita nella totale apatia, però gli frullano per la mente alcuni pensieri e dubbi che lo attanagliano da un po' tempo. Poi un bel giorno...

Romanzo di impronta fantascientifico-distopica, dove un potere sconosciuto totalitario, opprime il popolo e dove le libertà sono precluse, dove la propaganda è la linfa vitale che tale regime inietta nella popolazione. L'autore strizza l'occhio ai capisaldi del genere, principalmente a 1984 di Orwell.
Il romanzo è scritto come un thriller, infatti dalle prime pagine sono stato risucchiato e senza accorgermene sono arrivato a metà. La prima metà è formidabile, proprio ciò che mi piace leggere e cioè coinvolgimento totale e totalizzante della storia e ottimi spunti di riflessione sulla società odierna in decadimento di valori fondanti della vita, intossicata da discriminazioni, da nuovi nazionalismi, paure verso nuovi e nocivi regimi dittatoriali ecc...
La seconda metà meno della prima, ma sempre interessante comunque e...
Potrebbe anche avere ragione. La storia le dà ragione.
Ma deve esistere un altro modo di vivere.
E non è forse nostro compito capire qual è?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUmBC...

[Antonio Vena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quasi un (buon) remake di 1984.
Svolgimento classico, quasi standard ma il romanzo fila, i colpi di scena sono prevedibili ma funzionali, ha alcuni buoni dialoghi e il finale è di buon livello quindi una stella in più.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this one and I almost quit after the first couple of chapters, but the story was entertaining enough to hold my interest and keep me reading till the very end. There are some likeable characters and the plot does get more intriguing as it plays out. So if you're into the 1984ish type of dystopia (this one set in 2036 America) regardless of your political views, I think you'll find Dominion a very thought-provoking and worthwhile read.

[Tara Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you imagine 1984 written in response to the Bush administration instead of in response to communism, you'll have a pretty good idea of this novel. It's heavily influenced by 1984 – from the manipulation of the news, to the screens that constantly spy on citizens, to the complete deletion of people made to disappear. But instead of Ingsoc, this country has a fascist government spawned by a nuclear attack on America. Instead of endlessly shifting wars with Eurasia and Eastasia, there are infinite interchangeable wars with Latino terrorists and Middle Eastern terrorists and Chinese terrorists. In this version of America, all good citizens attend the Dominionist Church, and if you question the regime the Department of Terror will come for you.

I was put off at first by the unrealistic and exaggerated feel of the world in this book... but I remember 1984 as being the same way. And the more I read, the more I got absorbed in the story. It was engaging and I cared about what happened to the characters. While the author's politics do come through in the book, the author didn't sacrifice the story for the sake of making political points, the way so many authors of dystopian fiction do.

The ending, though... it seemed to come out of left field, and I can't say I liked it. But it wasn't the type of thing that ruins the book; I still enjoyed the rest of the book quite a bit, and would recommend it.

[Charles Sheehan-Miles · Rating 5 out of 5]

About a year ago Amazon’s “people who also bought this book” recommended Dominion by J.L. Bryan to me as a book commonly bought by people who also bought Republic.

I finally picked up the Kindle edition of Dominion this week, and I was blown away.

The premise of the book is simple: it’s 2036, and the United States is ruled by a totalitarian regime that came to power following a nuclear explosion in Columbus, Ohio. Daniel Ruppert, the main character, is a newscaster for a popular nightly news program, where he recites manufactured news before his audience every night. But we learn that Daniel longs for the days of journalism he was originally trained to do, and he has been secretly logging on to non-monitored networks to pick up information that hasn’t been pre-processed by the federal government. As the story progresses, he stumbles onto more and more dangerous information that brings him very unfortunate attention from the Department of Terror, the Dominionist Church, and others.

The first third of the novel, which sets the stage for what will come, is very reminiscent of George Orwell’s 1984, but about a third of the way through takes off in a different direction.

The book was well written, with believable and likeable characters and suspense that kept me stuck to the page when I should have been asleep or writing something of my own. If you liked Republic, you’ll almost certainly enjoy Dominion.

[Missy Kirtley]

I wasn't sure about how this one was going to end. I really wanted the protagonist to 'get away,' to 'live happily ever after,' but after reading the end, well... I'll just let you figure it out when you read it yourself! I liked what Bryan did with the ending a whole lot more than the cheesy stuff I would have done. ;)

I found myself more and more interested with every turn of the page.

[Antonio Vena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Letto per la seconda volta, la prima in italiano, aumento di una stella il giudizio.
Il romanzo marca la ridotta distanza d'immagini e tempi del genere distopico dalla cronaca contemporanea, ha parti ottimamente scritte, l'azione giusta, le parole chiave significanti.
Una stella in più per l'esordio dell'autore.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in the not too distant future, a world where America dominates the globe and uses the fight against Terror to justify acts of war in other countries. Obviously this wouldn't happen in real life. Would it? Excellent narrative and the plot keeps the story moving on right to the end.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

If security and faith are more important than liberty and reason, then this is how America might end up.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one. If you enjoyed 1984 and want a look at a modern interepretation of the same theme (with a better ending), check this one out.

[Salome Ndoro · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the story but I felt I was left hanging somehow.

[pete · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, too real sometimes