Utopia PR

This was off-the-wall, zany but so engaging! It took me a minute to get into the mindset of the narrative but once I saw what was happening, I was all in. Equal bits bizarre, funny, and very human. Hammer's marriage vs career tension adds a nice bit of reality to the story. Definitely worth a read for a good laugh.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

Firstly, this book sounded right up my street. I'm a bit of a sucker for a good dystopian yarn and love getting lost in the worlds of speculative fiction. I also like a dash of humour with my other-worldly adventures. This book delivered.

The story centres around Blake Hamner (if you've read the synopsis, you'll know the n is silent). He's a PR guru with a mammoth task. His employer, a buffoon of gargantuan proportions, happens to be the President of the nation and presents Blake with inconceivable scenarios to navigate on a regular basis. (I'll leave you to draw the inevitable comparisons...).

Whilst I do usually tend to enjoy a heavier read, I thoroughly enjoyed this book for what is was: some much needed light relief at a time when the World seems to be going crazy. I would have like for some of the characters and their relationships to have been explored a little further. It feels like some of that development was a bit rushed but then, that may have stopped #UtopiaPR being the fast-paced romp that it was.

It feels like there would be room for another story in this world and I would definitely be up for that!

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book!

"The idea was that they'd call me in to finesse the worst PR disasters. And to be clear, that's not a part-time role in this administration."


Utopia PR is a dystopian novel that, like many classic dystopian novel, describes the rise of an authoritarian government. The only difference: this one is wholly incompetent. The novel is written in a casual style which allows the humor to be amplified to level that had me laughing out loud more than I have laughed reading a book as far as I can remember. With plenty of allegory to the current state of politics in the world (and the US), this novel is relevant while also being light hearted and enjoyable.

The Plot:
Instead of following a common citizen or Our Leader himself, we follow Blake Hamner (with a silent n), an unfortunate fellow who has to work as PR for the leader. While juggling his personal life and his marriage, he is tasked with dealing with the constant blunders of the current administration.

Since the novel is quite short, my copy being 197 pages, I never felt bored or as if something should have been left out. Every line had a purpose, every joke made me chuckle, and most importantly: every scene advanced the plot in a meaningful way. The pacing felt perfect for what it is and it always kept me flipping the pages to find out how Blake was going to deal with the garbage heaps he had been handed.

The Characters:
The characters in this novel felt fully realized and all had wonderful personalities that differentiated them well, but my personal favorite was Blake and his Wife. I will try to limit what I say to avoid missing out on all the fun of the story, but their relationship is delightful and very real as there are many who are in similar relationships in the US who find their jobs at odds with those they love. The context of their relationship makes their interactions that much more humorous and also that much more meaningful.

The Bad:
If you are looking for a serious, complex satire that heavily critiques authoritarianism and government regimes, this is not it. The satirical elements of this novel are all rather shallow and 'knee-slap' humor, but that really does not make it any less enjoyable!

My Rating:
I gave this a 5/5 for one main reason: I can't name a single thing about the book I did not like. The plot was interesting, the characters were relatable, and I found the humor to be genuinely funny. While this doesn't rank on the "best-of-all-time" shelf for me, I can't justify rating it anything less than 5 stars simply because of my enjoyment while reading it.

I highly recommend obtaining a copy of this and giving it a read, I know I will be getting one and checking out more by this author.

Utopia PR was a quirky and wonderful confluence of the reality of the last four years under a certain U.S. president and a comedic version of Orwell’s 1984. Blake Hamner (the n is silent) is a public relations wizard, “the government’s go-to guy whenever things go way south.” He’s married to the lovely Maria Worthington, a TV news personality, and the pair have recently put off expanding their family in favor of expanding their careers. Neither is particularly happy about this decision, but Maria is breaking barriers as a newscaster and Blake wants validation that he’s “good enough” to play with the big boys. Hopelessly optimistic, he finds gratification in his demanding job by trying to contain a president who’s a walking PR disaster.

When a PR intern named Victoria downplays a tragic accident involving the president’s evil robot guard dog and two innocents, “Our Leader” (the delusional narcissistic authoritarian president/singing sensation who rules the US from the “Compound”—there’s no White House in this dystopian world) fires his Press Secretary and promotes Victoria to Communications Director. As his new boss, Victoria humiliates Blake by sending him to clean up ridiculous messes while the president rails against resisters who didn’t vote for him by “calming” them with opioid-laced milk and babbling incessant nonsense on Woozle, a futuristic version of Twitter. Along the way, a mysterious, Batman-like figure called JetPack embarks on a mission to take the president down after several of Our Leader’s enemies disappear. The swirl of chaos that follows would be fun to watch if it didn’t overlap so ominously with reality.

In many respects, Oscar Wilde’s quote—“Life imitates art far more than art imitates life”—rings true for this book. After the real-life events of January 6, 2021, it was particularly chilling to read parts where Our Leader tries to manipulate the masses to do his bidding through coercion and oftentimes flat-out threats. Though the story is meant to reveal a caricature of an inept and deeply flawed “leader” elevated to the highest office by a vacuous society consumed by its Romanesque, never-ending thirst for entertainment, it hits closer to home than it should.

I enjoyed Utopia PR and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys satire dressed up in a designer suit cut from the cheap polyester-blend fabric of modern reality.

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

🏍 Utopia PR by Adam Bender 🏍
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Wow wow wow!!!

This story was so fascinating and unique. I’m so excited I read this one because normally I wouldn’t go for dystopia. I saw this one was available on NetGalley and I’m so glad I got to read it. It was definitely something I never read about and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Blake Hamner was honestly such a great and intriguing character. I really appreciated following him in this book. I think Adam Bender did such an amazing job writing this. This story seriously has it all: romance, humor, science fiction, action packed, and dystopia. It was such an amusing one.

I would highly recommend this if you’re into dystopian novels. This one was fantastic!! Also, the writing style was so beautifully done. I flew through this because of the way it was structured. If you’re wanting to find your purpose, then give this book a try. You won’t be dissatisfied or disappointed. I absolutely adored the comedy in this and every moment of diversity. I definitely had a good laugh with this one!!

**Huge thank you to NetGalley and Adam Bender for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.**

Blake Hamner (silent 'n') is a PR genius. If there is a PR disaster, he's the man to turn it all around and restore the faith of the public. He works for 'Our Leader' who is the President of the United States. Our Leader was discovered after winning a television singing talent show. After huge success and an off the cuff remark from a showbiz reporter, he decides to run for office. With a lot of help from his PR team he was elected, even though he has no idea how to do his job.

This is an absolutely bonkers satire. It's really great fun to read. Such a mix of personalities from the super professional to the out of their depth, to the fake it till you make it. Throw in a social media mogul and it makes a wonderful story. It really shows there is no such thing as bad press, especially with such an inventive team behind you.
Behind the scenes ego battles, Jet Pack Man the real life superhero and a figure head who has an out of control thirst for power and the attitude of a spolit child.

My favourite character would have to be Maria, Blake's news reporter wife. Although I love the whacky people around her, she is the normality that's needed. She's ambitious, successful, driven, honest and kind hearted.

This was a thoroughly entertaining book, lots of laughs and utter disbelief. The perfect light relief during these hard lockdown days.

Woukd definitely recommend to anyone looking for a quick pick-me-up or someone looking to escape into something a bit silly. Maybe this could become our potential reality? Who knows what the future may hold. Hopefully not robotic guard dogs. They sound utterly terrifying!

I absolutely loved it. A great mix of utopia/dystopia science fiction and day-to-day life of a busy PR person. Very unique and reminded me of many sci-fi classics.

With thanks to NetGalley & the publisher for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

Spoiler free review.

Blake Hamner (silent ‘N’) is a PR genius for the current president, commonly referred to as ‘our leader’ (who happens to be a little power mad). After many brilliant moves to cover for the slightly unhinged leader by manipulating the media with his fellow PR members, Blake finally starts to crack after one of the presidents cyber dogs almost rips him limb from limb which sets off a chain of events in Blakes life, from marriage woes to the new intern trying to get him fired.

Slightly bonkers, this dystopian and very satirical novel is full of both comedy and touching looks at relationships, especially how work can take over our lives. The moment Blake is made to choose between work or going to a funeral especially hit home as my old workplace actually did that to me!

The book is a very quick read, well written so that it has a very good flow without any filler moments. Things are set up early in the book to great pay offs later. The characters are all good fun (Mel and Scott especially) and the use of diverse characters is not cynically used for brownie points. The plot and the world is bonkers on paper but scary in how close it feels to being real. However overall the book is great fun, I am certainly interested to read more by the author and would recommend to pretty much anyone no matter their genre preferences due to it being short and good enough I think anyone can enjoy or be a good starting point in the dystopian genre as it doesn’t take itself seriously like many do.