ENTERTAINMENT REALM

Title: Veracity
Author: Laura Bynum
ISBN: 978-1439123348
Pages: 384
Publisher: Pocket (January 5, 2010)
Category: Science Fiction/Fantasy
Review source: Simon and Schuster/ Pocket Books
Rating: 2/5

Every few years, it’s another go. Another test to see if we’re ready. If we’ve been able to put aside our emotions, like computers, and read a scene properly, without the filter of compassion. With our eyes as well as our ears, in real time, and without the crutch of playback.

When I first read Veracity‘s description, I thought it would be a creepy, fascinating imagination of 2045. The concept of this government with ludicrous rules on language and decorum starts out strong in the first 100 or so pages and then it grows tiresome. I really enjoyed learning about the new government and its rules and control but Veracity needed editing. In 2012, a pandemic spread throughout the world and eliminated most of its inhabitants—basically ridding the world of the weak. Now in 2045, there are banned words, no books, little education, no emotions and Big Brother is literally in the head of each inhabitant. Everyone is implanted with a chip that keeps track of things they say and do [there are Red-Lists of illegal words] and if something is done that the government dislikes, those people are swiftly erased. Sex and drugs [doled out and controlled by the government]placate the people. It’s a miserable existence but no one has a choice or knows any different. Harper Adams, whose daughter Veracity was taken from her early on by the government, and she was chosen to be a Monitor for the government. She has control over deciding whether someone is guilty or innocent and she deals out punishment. Harper also has special powers: she can read people’s thoughts and feelings through an aura of color that surrounds them. She’s integral to the government. One day the government Red-Lists the name of Harper’s daughter Veracity and she soon turns to an underground resistance group where the people who run it have names like Lazarus, Ezra and Noah and follow a banned book called The Book of Noah. This part just drew on too much religious philosophy for me. They had books and dictionaries but I couldn’t get behind the choices of names as the leaders for this resistance movement as if 2012 is the end of the world and this is a new beginning to some degree. I quickly lost interest. Some blurbs compared it to 1984 and The Handmaid’s Tale. I’m not sure what book these reviewers read but I ended up being disappointed by Veracity. The promising premise behind Veracity quickly became too drawn out and slow. I didn’t care if the resistance regained control over the government or whether Harper reunited with her daughter or not.