Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

Rarely do I read a dystopian adult novel which entraps me with a strong sense of voice, radio life surely does this. A world in which the past is unknown, except that it existed and is told through the Trivial Pursuit, shinies (old technology) and radios. The world of the past is unknown to the new world. This story is told from many perspectives, many walks of life whom each serve to solve a problem in their new world and going about it in different ways.

In a world decimated by a 'sickness', the Commonwealth lives in a stadium, a save haven which contains electricity and food, allowing 'normal' life to continue. However, outside is a different story, many people trade in knowledge, in technology which they have no idea how it works, and in ideas. When a young runner becomes stuck in a bunker, she communicates through radio and turns out someone is listening...

I think one of the most compelling parts of this book is how Miller takes everyday phrases and asks questions about them in a remarkable, future world way. "Curiosity killed the cat," for example, "What's a cat?" is the response.

The world is only what we know, and when something ravished the world and its knowledge, we must start again, which is what this story does. Honestly a remarkable read and a journey which makes you think if what will last.

Definitely recommend, well written and interesting ideas.

by Derek B. Miller

Sometime around the end of the 21st century, an apocalypse on Earth causes universal disaster through (no surprise) the lunacy of a political power grab. Some 300 years later, we meet our own descendants. There aren’t many, and live in an amnesiac world. Divided into small factions, they live simple and separate existences. In the book, we meet the Commonwealth which values the collection and sharing of knowledge. Their pursuit of learning means they’ve accomplished a few engineering feats (human-powered electricity!) despite having to re-invent the process from mere scraps from anecdotes.


Soon, another power grab looms from a more aggressive faction, the Keepers, who wish to seize assets and knowledge for their sole use and to feed their need to dominate this damaged world. Another group of resourceful nomads, called the Roamers, have noticed the failure of crops to yield and flourish, and the Commonwealth decides the time has come to take action to ensure survival. They run reccy missions. One of the Commonwealth leaders is the plucky polymath, Lilly. When Lilly picks up a radio signal using the set she has engineered to life, she hears the message that rocks her world: the scout Elimisha has found the Internet.

There is a lot of humour and humanity in this story. Because the knowledge that the Commonwealth has collected is fragmented and out of context, jokes and malapropisms ease the heat from the usual sadness of the post-apocalyptic SFF genre. The main characters are more often than not female, which, too, is a break from the usual. That means the reader must have an open mind, and the author was able to world-build in a unique way without relying on stereotype.

In a stroke of authorial genius, The Commonwealth pieces human history together (literally) from a discarded game of Trivial Pursuit, which they use to catalogue their own archive of knowledge. They also rely on other random sources for information like texts from the Greeks and a set of Calvin and Hobbes. This creates an atmosphere of wonder in the reader. Is all information useful in some way? Later in the story, a larger debate begins, should all knowledge be preserved without prejudice?

I really enjoyed the book, especially because I am a career librarian, and I think its definitely a crossover title: of interest to both YA and adult readers. I got a pre-pub copy from NetGalley to read, but with this crazy year and extra work at school, my good intentions of waiting for a good time to immerse myself in the story came after the deadline and it disappeared from my reading deck. The copy I resorted to was from Audible where the reader did an excellent job. Knowing it was a long read, I ramped the speed to 1.25X and was able to listen while I supervise key worker children. In a way, it became more meaningful because of the hopefulness and perserverence of the main characters. There are strong nudges toward a sequel, and I will look forward to reading the real paper copy of that one.

This book is a not-to-be-missed title for 2021.

Thanks so much to Jo Fletcher Books for inviting me to be apart of the social media campaign for this book & providing me with an ARC via Netgalley

Radio Life is a compelling story about civilisation, but not as we know it. In a style reminiscent of Station Eleven, the author takes society’s vision for the future, a world of flying cars and high tech, and completely subverts it, creating a dystopian wasteland of forgotten pasts, lost languages and the fable of the internet. To me, it’s a political sci-fi meets a Wild West adventure. Miller introduces us to the Gone World and The Commonwealth, the Keepers and the Roamers; it’s so perfectly dystopian and inventive that you are glued to the pages. This book features a large cast of characters, each of them with intriguing storylines that make for an great plot.

However, it was quite complicated and took me a while to fully grasp what was happening. It also felt long because there was so much going on; it wasn’t boring, but it did drag slightly. Despite this, the writing is beautiful, & warm and good-humoured too. I loved Miller’s witty character interactions and the confusion of old idioms such as,

‘I’m not going nuts.’
Saavni frowned. ‘What are nuts?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Lilly. ‘But if you put them together, they can replace your mind and it’s apparently not good.’

⚡️I did not finish this book, but I think it is a highly intelligent, philosophical read, perfect for fans of dystopian fiction.

I found Radio Life to be fast-paced and very clever. I was drawn into the struggles facing "The Commonwealth", several centuries from now, and loved the technical details about how it had systematically studied and salvaged technological artifacts in the pursuit of knowledge. The basis for its six-fold division of knowledge was very clever. I didn't figure out where it came from before it was mentioned in the book. Besides enjoying reading it myself, I think my teenage daughter would also enjoy it. So I'm planning on getting her a copy.

I honestly don't know how I feel about this book, weighing up the pros and cons they are pretty even.

I'll start with the major plus and the thing that kept me reading to the end - the narrative voice. The prose has a rhythm to it that sweeps you up and carries you along. This is a really well written book. This for me elevated the book from a 3 to a 4 star.

Some of the characters are really well defined and I love the 70-odd year old woman right in the middle of things. Outside of the main group characters feel like sketches and caricatures. Everything the characters do is obvious, I knew who the spy was as soon as they appeared on the page. I didn't really care what happened to any of them so there was no nervous or gut punch moments.

There was some things that took too long to be explained and other things that were never explained at all. The start was too slow and the end was too rushed and for me it just didn't work happening 7 months later, 7 years would have sat better with me.

I like the world building and the overall plot works.

Actual rating: 4.5/5

I absolutely loved this book. Of all the books set in post-apocalyptic times, this is by far the most realistic. Miller created a refreshing and intriguing vision of the future where everything that we know now was wiped away. The characters were all established well and developed throughout the book, however, I would have loved to know more about the Keepers outside their conflicts with The Commonwealth. I also believe the climax of the book should have been longer and had the tensions rise a bit more. It more or less seemed to have come out of nowhere, however, I understand that The Commonwealth has been established for over 50 years and tensions would have already been rising. I think a deeper understanding of the differences between The Commonwealth and the Keepers would have added more depth to the story and given more reason for the conflict.

The plot kept me interested and eagerly reading to find out what happened next and the pacing was perfect. The ending of the book was what shocked me the most. Instead of ending quite soon after the climax of the book, it continued. I appreciated having a majority of my questions answered and seeing how they moved forward as a society. I would love to see another book focusing on the next generation and their adventures.

This is the first book I read by this author and requested it because I was fascinated by the plot.
I had no expectations and even if I had them they were surely exceeded because it’s a highly entertaining and thought provoking story that I couldn’t put down.
There’s plenty of humor but there’s also plenty of philosophical consideration about knowledge, our relationship with technology and the world we live.
It’s set in a post-apocalyptic world where knowledge can define your way of living and it defines the two opposed factions: the Commonwealth and the Keepers. They have a different way of living but both are living in the aftermath of a catastrophe that destroyed the previous civilization.
Being a knowledge worker I was fascinated by how the two factions approached technology and how they differ in the approach to the world around them.
It could seem a very serious book, speculative fiction, but there’s a lot of humor and action making it gripping and enjoyable.
The world building is excellent and I loved how the author described the environment and the way of living.
There’s a lot of great women characters: they are strong willed, fleshed out and fascinating. The character development is excellent and all the characters are vivid and well written.
Mr Miller is a talented storyteller and once you start reading you are hooked.
I read somewhere this is the first in a series and I can’t wait to read the next installment.
I loved this story and it’s strongly recommended.
Many thanks to Jo Fletcher Books and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

From the first chapter, Miller establishes a world hundreds of years in our future, building an environment full of growth and new life among uncertainty, exploration and a thirst for knowledge. Readers are aware that there has been an apocalyptic event at some point in the world’s history, but Miller doesn’t spoon-feed the information – you’re definitely made to work for it. Mystery upon mystery is built upon and expanded, and just as you think you’ve cracked one, another one develops and changes everything you’ve thought before.
Initially, world-building occurs at the sacrifice of deep characterisation. It takes a good while to really get under the skin of the characters, and it is hard to connect but as the plot begins to pick up the pace, characters evolve and emerge from under the gritty landscape of The Commonwealth and its surroundings.
Miller states in the acknowledgements that Radio Life is the beginning of a saga, and there’s certainly the scope for this without characters feeling dry or the premise worn. And I for one will be first in the queue.

What do we expect of the future? I consider myself a half glass full type of person, but even my positivity has taken a battering in the past few years. A world buried under a sea of sand sounds like it may be better in some circumstances. If we do find ourselves roaming a desolate future what will our relationship be to the past? Do we ignore it in fear of making the same mistakes that led to this apocalypse or do we embrace it in the hopes of doing better? This is the question that runs through Radio Life by Derek B. Miller. Who is right, The Keepers or The Commonwealth?

300 hundred years into the future, life is hard for the few of our descendants who survived. They live in a world where knowledge is lost and the Earth itself is poisoned. The Commonwealth live better than most within the walls of an abandoned Stadium. Unbeknownst to the outside world they have some electricity and are gathering knowledge from the past. This puts them at odds with The Keepers, an increasingly large group of people who fear the past. The two opposing sides look set for war, but is there any way to stop it?

I enjoy a Near Future science fiction novel as they are an excellent way of exploring our present. It is up to the author to determine how linked the future is to the past and in Radio Life Miller weaves a wonderful web. Rather than just hinting that this is a future Earth, the book embraces it. The fundamental elements of the book rely on how people treat Earth’s past treasures – with reverence or fear.

The members of The Commonwealth believe that knowledge is power and are building up an archive of information. Their cataloguing system is based on one of the few educational tools they have found – a copy of Trivial Pursuit. This may sound amusing, but their society works as different people explore the different subject matters. Miller has created a group of people who don’t quite grasp what they have, or what they are doing. They use phrases that make little sense to them e.g., cat got your tongue, but they don’t know what a cat is. As a reader it is fun trying to pick up the thread of what the characters are trying to say and how they are misinterpreting the past.

The Keepers are a more mysterious and less developed clan. They believe that knowledge of the past should remain hidden to avoid another disaster. One of the main thrusts of the book is the rising tensions between the two groups. This alone makes for an interesting story. Too opposing viewpoints, both right in some areas, but neither willing to give into the other.

What makes Radio Life stand out further still is that Miller is not willing to just write a book about a post-apocalypse war, instead he also develops the relationship the characters have with the past. The main protagonists include a family of skilled roamers and an intelligent engineer. Events develop so that a new trove of information is tantalisingly close. There are brilliant moments in the book when the post-industrial characters of the book can interact with technology that even we, as citizens of 2021, would marvel at. By doing this Miller can tell a story set 300 years in the future, but also the story of how that world came to be.

For a book that has characters roaming a sickening world there is a sense of hope. Readers need not fear that the subject matter is too dark. There are certainly poignant moments and tension, but you will leave the book feeling lighter. Radio Life poses questions about what humanity should be and will prompt some of you to do the same. As a glass half full person, I would like to think that even in a world of darkness, there are some people looking to bring the light. A highly engaging Near Future novel that is very enjoyable to read but will also have you thinking.

I don't read a lot of post-apocalyptic fiction, but when I do, it's never also described as a "riveting political thriller" the way "Radio Life" is - but it's actually true and it works very, very well. This book surprised me in the way it kept me feeling uncomfortable. It's written very well, with solid characters, a plot that kept me on edge, and a setting that felt all too possible. Definitely one to keep and have a second read of later.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

Crime and thriller author Derek B Miller took A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter J Miller (no relation apparently), one of the classic post-apocalyptic books of the 20th Century as his inspiration for his new book Radio Life. What he may not have counted on when he began working on this book though would be the proliferation of post-apocalyptic tales, particularly by more mainstream authors, over the last few years. Leaving Radio Life little room to find itself in an increasingly crowded market.
Radio Life is set around four hundred years after an unspecified cataclysmic event called The Rise. It is set somewhere in the former north-eastern United States. The main civilisation is shepherded by “The Commonwealth” which has set itself up in a former Olympic Stadium near a collapsing ancient city called the Gone World. The goal of the Commonwealth is to gather knowledge and old technology and to try and rebuild that world. But the Commonwealth is under threat from a rising force called The Keepers, a growing group who believe that any acquisition of old knowledge will eventually lead to another apocalyptic event. The Keepers are gathering their forces to destroy the Commonwealth.
The events of Radio Life play out against this philosophical backdrop, made more urgent by the rediscovery of technology that gives access to the internet. Elimisha, the woman who discovers this trove, is trapped underground in the Gone World and the race is on between the two factions to either rescue her or kill her.
For readers of any recent post-apocalyptic fiction the set up will be very familiar. New societies springing up around ancient ruins who finding and repair old technologies which they barely understand. There are plenty of American western tropes with trading posts and raiders on horseback, using rifles that have been passed down through the generations. And of course, amusing reinterpretations of old texts – in this case the Commonwealth’s biggest haul has included Gibbons Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire and the complete Calvin and Hobbes.
Miller is a political scientist so is interested in exploring not only the warring philosophies between the main antagonists but what informs those philosophies. He is particularly interested in the idea of knowledge and progress, culminating in a lengthy discussion on the matter between a member of the Commonwealth and the leader of the Keepers. But he also explores the power of ideas, at one point having characters who have to download parts of the internet onto an external drive debate whether the darker moments of humanity’s past should be preserved or deleted.
And underneath it all, questions as to what we should be striving for to create a viable civilisation and what could cause it to fail. In doing so, as all good post-apocalyptic fiction does, Miller takes a swipe at the current state of the world:
“…global collapse was coming because the institutions which gave peace its structure were being eroded by neglect and malevolence. He predicted that as the institutions were dismantled, civilisation’s resilience would be too, until we finally became fragile enough that even tiny events could cascade into Armageddon.”
By taking a post-apocalyptic classic from the 1960s as a starting point, Miller has produced a modern tale that from its outset feels dated. The post-apocalyptic tropes that he employs, while given a slightly new spin, all feel like they have been done before, down to a spectacularly optimistic ending. And while there are some surprises (it’s unlikely that readers will ever look at Trivial Pursuit in quite the same way again) and plenty of interesting ideas, there is not enough to set this book apart from the pack.

Derek Miller's new book has headed away from his previous quirky and often humorous crime novels into a post apocalyptic world. It's a world where two groups of philosophically opposed human factions are at odds over whether previous technology and knowledge should be reclaimed or destroyed. The Commonwealth is a well organised group that live within the walls of a giant stadium. From there they send searchers out into the world to bring back useful items found amongst the destroyed buildings of the old world or in scavengers markets. The Keepers are those who are opposed to the reclamation of knowledge and technology that resulted to the poisoning and destruction of the old world and their numbers have been growing to the point where they feel ready to take on the Commonwealth.

Miller has built a fascinating imagined world out of the remnants of Earth, with buried towers under a great sandy desert and remnants of planes and ships. Along with presenting opposing and thoughtful philosophical and political ideologies, he has created a host of interesting characters and his signature wit is evident as he has fun with old sayings that no one understands anymore and the discovery of old recordings of rock and disco music.

I’d previously read the crime novel Norwegian By Night by Derek B Miller; however, Radio Life is a completely different genre as we head off into a post apocalyptic world where only small pockets of people survive. A war has destroyed most of humanity and poisoned much of the land. The novel concentrates on a group of survivors known as the Commonwealth who are based in, what was once, a sports stadium; and a group known as the Keepers who are gathering nearby. The groups have very different ideologies with The Commonwealth believing their success and advancement lies in finding information and technology from the past. However; the Keepers believe that gathering information from the past will lead to humanity making the same mistakes again; i.e. building weapons of mass destruction which will inevitable be used at some time to destroy life on the planet. By chance Elimisha, from the Commonwealth, stumbles across a shelter from the past which appears to be an archive holding information in something called the ‘internet’.
A fascinating political sci-fi thriller that is packed with ideas.

Derek B Miller moves into a rather different direction with his latest offering, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi set in a future where the world has been destroyed and now populated by disparate groups of survivors, such as The Commonwealth based at the Stadium, intent on recovering ancient past knowledge, amassed in the Central Archive, the largest repository, and the Keepers, a paranoid group certain that it is that knowledge that led to the destruction of the world previously and are stubbornly determined that this should not happen again and are willing to fight for their beliefs. This is compulsive philosophical and political storytelling, with great world building, entertaining, humorous and thought provoking, with a wide cast of characters, some more fleshed out than others. However, while this is a intrinsically fascinating political thriller that concludes with a sense of hope, it is an uneven read, but so worthwhile in the ideas it explores when it comes to humanity and how it handles knowledge and technology. Many thanks to Quercus for an ARC.

Locked down below

Derek B Miller’s Radio Life is almost brilliant. It is quite unlike his two droll crime novels, Norwegian by Night, American by Day, but it was the quality of these two books which inspired me to try this one. It’s a post-apocalyptic tale, where a small number of disparate societies have survived a series of catastrophes and one group in particular, the Commonwealth, established in an ancient 21st Century sports stadium, are especially keen to rediscover the lost knowledge of the past, while a second group, the Keepers, are keen to stop them, as they see past knowledge as the cause of the world catastrophe. In the meantime, deep beneath the ruined towers of the past, may survive an ancient grail of all knowledge, known as the Internet.
The real focus here is on a number of characters belonging to the Commonwealth, but the Keepers are not stage villains. They have a strong belief and philosophy, excellent organisational abilities, and present a real and sustained threat to the people of the Stadium, despite their superiority in technology and weaponry. (One aspect of the Commonwealth I personally found most fascinating was their education system, the Agoge, with its references to ancient Greek, specifically Spartan, military practices.)
There is a huge amount of inventive writing here. There are sympathetic characters. There is war, conflict and death. There is much good humour and witty writing, as well as serious and thought-provoking problems and ideas. I felt that the novel was strongly influenced by the current pandemic – I could be wrong in this – with the cause of the world catastrophe, the ‘lockdown’ terminology used by the Commonwealth, one sympathetic character literally locked down below ground in a room boasting a most peculiar technology, involving all the knowledge in the world. One of the best things about the novel is not knowing how it will all turn out, but left with an ending which possesses seeds of hope.
So, why is it almost brilliant and not simply brilliant? I did feel that some parts were rather rushed, especially in the second half, and that the author cut a number of scenes in a rather clumsy way. Perhaps, this was done for editorial reasons; perhaps a longer novel would have been better, or perhaps two volumes. However, I did enjoy Radio Life very much and would recommend it as it stands as a very worthwhile read.

Absolutely loved this fantastic piece of post-apocalyptic hopepunk. Nicely balances exciting, heartfelt and thought-provoking. I will definitely be checking out more of this author's work.

This was OK for yet another post apocalyptic book. Wool with a twist and then some. Not sure it grabbed me as much as i would like - didn't really bond with any of the characters and no great surprises in the story.

Radio Life is the fourth novel by award- winning American author, Derek B. Miller. On her all-important tenth outing as an Archive Runner for the Commonwealth, sixteen-year-old Elimisha is pursued by tribesmen of the Keepers, forced into the reputedly-Sickness-laden depths of the Aladdin tower as it is destroyed. By chance, she finds a Hard Room, the key to her survival: water, food and first aid. And, unexpectedly, more than this, a device that holds a trove of information, of Knowledge: the internet.

Trapped underground, she may be, but she can communicate her find to Lilly, the Chief of Weapons and Communications, via the partially-dysfunctional radio that Lilly found fifty-four years earlier, in a similar situation. Elimisha immediately understands that she must protect this significant find, for not all share the Commonwealth’s belief in, and thirst for, the Knowledge.

The Keepers are hostile to the Knowledge: “… my people look around at the world and know two things: the Ancients knew more than us. And that knowledge led to this… Whatever they knew – whatever is under the sand – is what destroyed the world. If you continue to learn, there is every reason to believe that you will do the same.”

And now, amassed nearby, is an army of those who follow, with almost religious fervour, the Keepers’ thinking, ready to fight against what they believe will once again bring destruction to the land. And not everyone in the Stadium, the Commonwealth’s fortress, agrees on what to do about it.

For his fourth novel, Miller departs from his usual genre to give the reader a post-apocalyptic tale set somewhere in America in the early 25th Century. The obligatory world-building is fairly seamlessly achieved; the sizeable cast of players requires that many merit only vignettes, somewhat precluding character depth, though the main protagonists are not one-dimensional. Lilly, in particular, is a feisty seventy-one-year-old: “I was talking to myself and I won’t apologise for it. I’m interesting.”

The story gives Miller the chance to explore many provocative issues and dilemmas. The Keepers’ flawed logic leads to the question of if and how technology should be regulated. Young Alessandra’s decisions about what to save, as well as entertaining us with her first priority (disco music), raise the question of censorship and reminds us that “those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it".

The “Shinies” collected by those who “Spade, Raid or Trade”, often thought to do nothing, are, Lilly concludes, dependent on the non-functioning internet, illustrating what we already see today: too heavy a reliance on technology stifles certain crafts, skills and innovative thinking.

Remnants of things lost in the series of apocalyptic events remain in the language, making for amusing dialogue:
‘I’m curious, that’s all.’
‘Curiosity killed the cat,’ the woman said.
‘What’s a cat?’
‘Something dead because it tried to learn too much.’
‘The cat probably asked the wrong questions,’ Lilly said.

Miller creates a fascinating yet credible setting, fills it with realistic characters and sets them on an unpredictable path. There’s action and excitement, politics, philosophy and wisdom, a bit of nostalgia and ample laugh-out-loud moments to occasionally relieve the tension. Interesting, thought-provoking and often funny, this one is likely to appeal to fans of the genre.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Jo Fletcher Books

"They'll be pulling finds from the Troves, Graham. The last time there was a Tracollo, Lilly came back with the Harrington Box and changed everything. We need to know what's coming out of the depths."
"We're carrying Full Flags, Henrietta - precisely because of the Harrington Box. We have no idea what value this already has. We can't risk what we have for the unknown."

Um... I should say that I *love* Derek B. Miller whose 'The Girl in Green' is one of my all-time favourite books, alongside his 'Norwegian By Night' - in fact, it was his name on the cover which drew me to this book which, otherwise, would not be an obvious choice for me. And my gut feel was right: this may work far better for mainstream fans of dystopia and/or broken world sci-fi.

All the usual elements are here: our world has been destroyed, small groups of survivors congregate under descriptive names (the Keepers, the Roamers), artefacts are discovered and given Capitalised Names, and while war hovers on the margins, an intrepid cadre work to rebuild the world but this time get it right... Because this is Miller, there's an underlying issue of knowledge, intelligence and education, and a kind of almost humorous acknowledgement of the tropes that are being put to use here.

I think what I missed, though, is the humanity of the earlier books - there's no Hobbes (The Girl in Green) or curmudgeonly Sheldon Horowitz (Norwegian by Night) to centre the story and give it real weight and emotion. So this wasn't for me but I'm glad I tried it as Miller is such a blazing talent.