This was a really interesting read! I was really interested with the premise and the cover and description immediately drew me in, i wasn't disapointed it was great!

First of all, this book is huge at over 600 pages, but time just whizzed by once I began reading. The story is set less than a lifetime away in 2078, but life is vastly different from how it is now. Covid of today was just the start of many more pandemics to come, as the world seems to learn nothing, leading us from one disaster to another. Yep, we screw up.

The kid is Josh Jones, who had been orphaned at eight and lives in the tube station under Piccadilly Circus. The air outside is a killer unless you have the right drugs to combat it. Josh is one of a 500 strong group of “Offliners” a rebel group that refuse to live a virtual online life, who hardly ever venture out into the real world. Of course, it is all at a price. The life expectancy of the “Offliners” isn’t great. Money has no value, but trading old CD’s, depending on rarity and condition, just tickled me.

Oh wow, what an amazing story this is. I was like, What just happened? No way! I don’t want to give anything away, as the story pulls and pushes Kid, with other people thinking they know best. The kid crosses paths with two young women that can change the world that he is living in by the choices they make.

The players in the story don’t choose their rolls it is circumstance that picks them. There is plenty of action in the story, with the Offliners having a bit of a wildness about them that makes them take chances. One of my favourite characters is not even a person, but he made such an impression. Denis is in fact a hologram that steps beyond the normal, he is brilliant.

Different fractions have evolved over the years, so there is always new dangers around every corner. If there is a shelter there will be someone living there. Each is fascinating in their own right. For most childhood is something that passed them by. The story increases with intensity until something has to give. What a fabulous build-up to a mind-blowing ending.

When I finished the book I went back to the beginning and read the prologue again and then the epilogue. The first and final pieces of this puzzle. It was reading perfection!

I wish to thank Ashley Baugh of Midas pr, Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly.