The Change: London Orbital

When Howard wakes up alongside the highway with no recollection of who he is or where he is from he finds it most unsettling. Then to add insult to injury he quickly realizes things don't look like they should. There are abandoned cars all up and down the road, yet there are no people walking around. Howard has no idea what's going on, though he can sense it's not good. There are noises he can't explain, carnivorous pigeons that stalk him, and he knows there's more that his mind simply can not fathom.

The Change: London- Orbital is the first in a three book series that tackles the subject of a most bizarre and otherworldly change that takes over the planet. Think Armageddon-like occurrence that leaves unexplainable creatures ravaging the earth and more than half the population instantaneously dead. It's a unique and inventive concept written with a flair for horror. This first one was a fun, fast paced story. It was mildly gory at times, but that goes hand in hand with the terror the characters were experiencing.

Looking forward to cracking open books two and three next. Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this sneak peak opportunity.

What would you do if you woke up in the middle of the street with amnesia in a world where even pigeons are deadly?  This is a quick read, that takes place in a near dystopian future.  It's full of quirky characters that survive in a world turned on its head.  While the plot is simply survive, this book will keep you invested as some of the most creative nightmarish creatures attack our heroes.  The only downside to this story is how short it is and leaves the reader with no explanation for the events that occur.  Hopefully with the rest of the series more explanation is given to The Change.

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun fast paced read.  I look forward to reading the rest of the rest of the series.

This book was completely ridiculous!  Outrageous, unreal, crazy, bonkers, whacked out and a complete laugh a minute, cringe constantly, what the hell just happened thrill ride!  It flew by so fast, mostly just leaving me shaking my head and trying to wrap my mind around what the f I just read!  

Of course, me being me, I absolutely adored it!  It was, for starters, oh so clever.  I've never seen the apocalypse handled in quite that fashion before, and it suited my fancy very well.  The characters were all unique, and well represented as the crazies they had to be to have survived that long.  

I found it almost impossible to put down, and once it ended I had no choice but to jump straight into book two.  So what if I don't know how it would be possibly to accurately classify this.  Just read it!  
~ George, 4 Stars

Neverwhere makes a baby with Rick and Morty, what is born is the wholly original series 'The Change', written by Guy Adams.

The Change impacted the London suburbs as bizarrely as it did the rest of the planet, with close to any imaginable horrors coming to life. It more than just London, the entire world is in a state of 'screwed beyond comprehension'. Anyone who witnessed it, staring into the sky while the fabric of our world shredded, died on the spot. They dropped to the ground like their strings were cut and existence was over. Those who witnessed it second hand via recording or playback, they went crazy; It just broke them and they fell apart in whatever manner their minds required in order to remain 'living'.

Everyone else just plugs along. The blind, the sleeping, the hermits and Luddite technophobes. If they failed to witness the end, they live through the aftermath until something else tries to kill them.

Howard lived and to the best of his knowledge was not crazy. Hard to tell since he had no memory of any personal history.. Full amnesia. Even his name is a guess, based on a journal in his pocket. He just woke up blank and started walking down the crowded freeway filled with cars, corpses, and periodic unexplained bloodstains.

Howard is rescued, after being maimed by locust style swarms of pigeons with teeth, a taste for meat, and flock coordination. His savior is a boy named 'Hubcap' who brings him to relative safety in a group of survivors. Relative is key terminology as they are being hunted by something hungrier and crazier than any mutant pigeons could be.

The world of The Change is a teen fiction export from the UK. It is short, clocking in around 160 pages and probably falls more to the vein of Novella, but is solid from cover to cover. London Orbital is the first in a series, currently three novella, but seems ripe for easy expansion due to the way it was crafted. It relies heavily on world building, but delivers the world quickly and easily, spacing out key data into punchy conversation and short journal snippets.

Unfortunately for me, while the target audience (teens) might take The Change at face value and survive, I would not be so lucky. As an adult, I cannot resist obsessively speculating what was in the sky that murdered the planet, or ways in which you could filter video or perspective to see via tape. I would be dead or crazy as a look in the world of The Change after day one.

While this Novella is not 'graphic', it absolutely does not hold punches when it comes to accurate and potentially queasy descriptions. It May not be appropriate for 0-8 year old age ranges but who really knows these days, my five year old loves Jurassic World after all. He cheers for the Dinosaurs..

This should not be confused with another series from the UK in the 1960's called The Changes which was equally enjoyable for different reasons. Nor the books of the Change by SM Stirling which I personally have mixed feelings on.

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Disclosure: This book was provided to me by the publisher for review purposes. Had I said no, there is minimal risk they would have left me to die on an ant hill covered in honey. Lucky for me, I like ants and honey, so I do not know how that would have changed my perception. I would advised if this book sucks and then eaten protein laden honey on toast.

This Steampunk dystopian hybrid novel focuses on strength, friendships and being brave enough to trust in yourself and others. Refreshingly original  - it captured and held, my hard - to - please 14 year old son's attention from the first paragraph.

I enjoyed this wee book. 
I liked that a lot of what happened to change the world is left to your imagination, which then draws on your own fears and experiences. The plot is very fast paced, it is simply written, the language is accessible for the not so fluent readers and there is plenty of blood and guts. What more could you ask for?
A great book to maybe get the reluctant reader hooked and into reading, yet remain appealing to YA regular readers.

This looks like an exciting series for teenagers who might not feel that reading is so cool. It's certainly an alternative view of the M25 which will entertain and perhaps amuse those familiar with the struggles of getting stuck on motorways (they could even visit the Kingdom of Welcome Break). I know young readers who do struggle to engage with books and reading and I think these books might help unlock their appetite for books.

Loved this book. YA at its best. I love that its not similar to any other book in the genre. I find others I have read in this genre like The Hunger Games Series, Divergent Series and The Testing Series can be similar from book to book. This definitely had no similarity.

The book was short but it threw you straight in without to much world building, so you could get into it faster. The only thing I would of liked is more. I was left with questions like what happens to the main characters after the end of the book but loved it still.

Would recommend this book and the rest of them in the series as they were that good.

I received a copy from netgalley for review