It's a fun and fast-paced story that seems not too far from our current reality.

I'll admit, it took me a few chapters...and tries...to get into the book, but once I did, I couldn't put it down. The ending also seemed a bit clunky, and left me with quite a few unanswered questions.

But overall, it's a good book, and turns out, one of those "read it before it becomes a movie," since director Ron Howard has reportedly optioned the rights. I can definitely recommend The Warehouse.

Full review at Zengrrl.com soon.

Disclaimer: I received an advance copy of this book via NetGalley.

When I opted to read this book, I skimmed over the description, and it sounded interesting. I looked at the cover art, and I thought, "meh"...maybe the story will be better.

The story did not disappoint! It had a good pace and the characters were very relatable. The story itself was very dystopian/realistic. It hits close to home...Amazon or Walmart could easily be the equivalent of a MotherCloud one day. Who is to say we don't revert to the commercial equivalent of a factory town, driven by metrics that are impossible to maintain?

I gave this book three stars because, although I enjoyed it, I felt like the characters could have had a little extra...something. I felt like the connection between the main characters in the story was a bit of a stretch towards the end, and kind of conveniently fell into place. It took a little away from the story (for me). Other than that, I thought this was a good story, and would read another book from this author.

I received a copy of this story from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

My first thought was "DON'T read this while practicing social distancing during a pandemic!"

Okay, for real. This book was okay. I actually probably would have given it 4 stars if it hadn't wrapped up the way it did. I felt like it was building and building to all these things and then they either didn't pan out or were forgotten or resolved in a crappy way. I finished it feeling cheated.

The corporate espionage angle that was probably meant to be exciting lacked momentum for me. Zinnia is a great character (easily my favorite) but there wasn't enough surprising action for me. Every new challenge or bit of info she got to further her assignment seemed too perfect. I would be like "ah yes, that makes sense" and I wanted it to be unexpected.

While I think the plot is a little weak, the world-building is fantastic! This absolutely seemed like a direction America could go in in the near future. It was TERRIFYING to think about and for that, I'm glad I've read this. Humans could easily mess up Earth so badly that something like this happens. The plausibility here is off the charts.

I don't know that I'd recommend this book, but I also don't know that I'd talk someone out of reading it.

A fast and engaging read that fell just a bit short with its ending.

A dystopian that is just a little too real to the life we're living now. This hits the mark because it computes - because I could see this happening in the next couple of years. Whose side would I be on? Would there even be a side to choose?

The concept was there, the writing was there, and I loved the messages it was portraying. Having three perspectives brought a lot of dimension to the story - especially because they were all so different in their views and goals.
I could not put this down for majority of time, but somewhere in the last 10 percent of the book things fizzled out. Slowly, slowly and when I noticed that nothing really paid off it was too late - the book was over.

Overall I am still very happy that I read it, it was a great diversion and a time well spent. Big thanks to Crown Publishing and Netgalley for a digital arc of this.

I received an advanced digital copy of this book from the author, publisher and Netgalley.com. Thanks to all for the opportunity to read and review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Blatantly anti big corporation, this book was a bore to read. It might as well been named, "I don't like Amazon", it's so transparent in it's politics.

1 out of 5 stars. Do not recommend.

Welcome to the Cloud—where you now work. Where all your needs will be met—entertainment, medical care, housing, food..., You are assigned a job at the Cloud, a color of shirt to wear, a Cloud band to wear at all times outside of your “apartment.” Your Cloud band will tell you how well you are performing your job—your rating, your quota, where you need to be and when you need to be there, monitoring your every move. Most are grateful to be working at the Cloud, protected from the wasteland of the outside, but for others, the Cloud is an insidious means to an end. The Warehouse by Rob Hart is a bit of amazon.com meets Soylent Green meets global warming—with a disillusioned inventor who wants restitution, a corporate spy who has a soft spot for the inventor, and the musings of the head of Cloud who is in his final days...

Rob Hart has written a far to real look into the near future. This is the story of the Cloud A poorly disguised Amazon. A company that has its hands in every aspect of Americans lives. The story is told from three different perspectives, Gibson who is the owner of the company, Paxton who works for the company, and zinnia who is infiltrating the company. I thought this gave you a fair and Broader look at this new world. As someone who frequently uses Amazon I felt a little guilty, but I am always hopeful. An interesting story that gave me a lot of food for thought.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This review is a bit overdue. My initial thoughts on this are that it felt real. A world in which “Amazon” dominates everything does not seem that far-fetched. In many ways, we’re already living it. I actually applied as a bookstore associate at Amazon after reading this for seasonal work and had to fill out a survey similar to the one described in the first chapters. I felt like I was being monitored based on more than just my answers. (Which they clearly didn’t care for since I didn’t hear from them! ha)

To the meat of the book, I was really frustrated. Zinnia only had her one objective and Paxton was kind of a wet blanket when he was with her. Their relationship could have led them to work together to help each other out, but really they just went the opposite direction at the end. I feel like they had similar objectives! I was waiting for them to work together!! Why didn’t they do this!

I’m going to post spoilers at the end of this review so I’ll sum it up here and you can leave the page if you don’t want to see them. The book was interesting, the city-like compounds of the Cloud warehouses (and their secrets) are what made me keep reading. And the fact that many of the scenarios Zinnia was encountering in the warehouse were based on real headlines (i.e. people dying on the floor, but you can’t stop to help because you’ll fall behind on your quota and get fired). I really struggled with liking Paxton and Zinnia both separately and together. I wanted more out of them. They seemed one-dimensional to me. Read this if you like dystopian sci-fi set in a not so distant future!

SPOILERS!!!!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

So at the end we realize that all the meat being served at the Cloud restaurants comes from human waste. Totally gross! And something I didn’t see coming, though I should have based on all the times the characters go to these restaurants and comment on how good the food is! So Zinnia has this information, but she is killed before she’s able to get it out! And Paxton doesn’t even know that she dies? What kind of justice is this! The information should have leaked and we would have had the satisfaction that she didn’t die for nothing! (She was a corporate spy hired–by the VP it turns out– to find holes in their system and any secret info.) And Paxton didn’t even get his revenge on the owner/CEO for ruining his business. When I finished reading, I felt very unfulfilled.

The Warehouse by Rob Hart is a thrilling futuristic science fiction fantasy. The story takes place in the near future when a retail giant known as the “Cloud” has expanded and taken over much of the business market. You can’t help but compare the store in the story to Amazon and how it has steadily grown and expanded in our world.

Paxton had once been a prison guard but he gave up that job to start his own business but after a couple of years Cloud has run Paxton out of business cutting his prices. Now Paxton is doing the only thing left for him and applying at Cloud for one of the only jobs left in the world.

Zinnia has also joined Paxton’s group of Cloud applicants taking the test under her fake identity. She has been hired by an outsider to get inside of one of Cloud’s factories and expose them. Passing the employment test Paxton and Zinnia are loaded onto a bus and taken to the nearest Cloud warehouse.

The Warehouse had such great world building with the Cloud taking over everything and housing their own “cities” while outside of that is a more dystopian world. One can just picture this being a realistic future while reading this when you can’t help but think of Amazon while reading. The only downside I had with this one was occasionally it would get a little too telling and not showing speeding the story along but otherwise it was a super engaging read.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

This is a pretty good book, a cautionary tale about the road we seem to be heading down.

The Cloud is obviously a next step in the evolution of what Amazon has become – a one-stop shop of ever-lower prices and ever-quicker delivery, here done by drones. But Mr. Hart also shows us the cost of this convenience – desolated, abandoned small towns, an inventor who’s crushed by the Cloud’s demands for ever-lower prices, workers who suffer through injury and deplorable conditions as they lose any semblance of freedom and choice, all in the name of providing more and more for less and less.

From the very start, we see how being selected to work at the Cloud can be a matter of survival. Those that are chosen are taken away to a self-contained bubble of a world, where every need is taken care of by the Cloud, provide you don’t mind the monitoring of every step you take outside of your assigned dorm room. Our two main characters, Paxton and Zinnia, are there for two very different reasons – one to confront the company that crushed him, one as an act of corporate espionage. Where they start and where they end up forms the backbone of the book, as the Cloud affects their lives (and desires) in different ways.

Interspersed with this story are anecdotes and stories from the founder of the Cloud, trying to justify everything he’s done and what the Cloud has become as he slowly dies, taking a “farewell tour” that brings him face-to-face with our two protagonists.

Mr. Hart weaves a fabulous fable for our generation, a warning that nothing comes without cost. Yes, there are some questions that aren’t completely addressed (what exactly happened at the Black Friday massacre? If the economy is collapsed who is buying all of this stuff? And more), and the ending is rather abrupt, but overall a very enjoyable read.

I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from Crown Publishing via NetGalley. Thank you!

The Warehouse by Rob Hart was really good. Story told in the near future. Sounds like something from the movies. I loved the story and the characters. You get to love them

The Warehouse was an interesting mix of what is possible to happen in the near future and what is a near worst case scenario. What could happen if Amazon keeps growing to be a fixture not only in people's purchases but also as a central way of people having a living? What could happen if there is a major consolidation of people that are spread out among small towns and rural areas into centers that both employ and house them.

This story is a combination of our current reality with a dystopia like Soylent Green.

I found it to be a pretty biting dystopic look at Amazon - a big game of "what if?" played through the point of view of Gibson Wells, the founder and CEO of Cloud, meditating on his past and the philosophy that has driven Cloud's domination.

The other two points of view come from Paxton and Zinnia, who both find themselves working (and living) at a Cloud warehouse for two very different reasons.

At times cutting far too close to home and tapping into all-too-familiar rhetoric, The Warehouse is full of action, espionage, and scathing commentary on the possibilities when power, wealth, and monopolies go unchecked.

Didn't catch my interest despite the interesting plot line. There are better books to read about the same subject.

This was a very thought provoking novel about a futuristic world with big box companies taking over. I was riveted til the last page.
Many thanks to Crown Publishing and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I ended up liking this book more than I initially thought I would. The plot was interesting and had twists that I didn’t figure out. I love when that happens! Well, I love when it happens and the twists are somewhat believable…

The best kinds of fiction – particularly dystopian or horror – are those books that are plausible. I think this one fits into that category. The Cloud certainly could be an Amazon/Apple/Google mashup and we’re already a gullible society when it comes to believing bullshit put out by corporations. There were plenty of points while reading when I nodded and thought that I know people who would fit well in this universe.

I initially got the ebook ARC from NetGalley but, as usually happens with me, I waited so long that I ended up listening to the audio book version. This is one of those books that I’d recommend reading it with your eyeballs instead of listening. It’s not that the narrator did a bad job, but I had a tough time with her tone while narrating Zenia’s POV. I think I would have enjoyed it more had I used my imagination.

I would absolutely recommend this one!

I put together the newspaper's Books section annual gift guide again this season and was delighted to include this book as a selection in The Globe and Mail's massive Best Holiday Gift Books package (in print December 7, 2019). It was also one of my personal reading highlights of this year!

It is the end of the world as we know it.
We have no one to thank but ourselves. We let this happen.

This is another 'Black Mirror' esque story.
An over the top analogy of what is actually happening right now.


*spoiler* I had to stop watching that show because it was seriously depressing me.

I waffled between 3 and 4 stars. While I did 'enjoy' this book I felt like it came a bit short in the end. It just felt like it was all building up to something more grandiose than what was delivered.
I listened to the audio version of the book. I liked the narrator, there were a couple throughout the book for a few of the different characters.
The world building was a little hazy, I am guessing that was the author's plan. You really don't know what is going on outside The Cloud. It has everything anyone would 'need'. You are told when to go to work, where to live and.....what to eat *shudder*.
There were a few 'surprise' elements, I don't want to make it sound like this was a boring read.
The reader will enjoy espionage, redirection, fights, love/lust, desperation and a bit of nausea (but just at one part....and a few parts after. That is all I am going to say).

If you like a dark read about what will happen when Amazon takes over the world, this one is for you....as I am writing this on an Amazon web site....don't fire me.....

ARC was provided to me through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
See my full review on GoodReads
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3058336620

Someone is not a fan of Amazon. There are a lot of interesting concepts in this dystopian book, but the characters were flat and the action didn't always make sense.

The Circle meets Amazon. This was over the top dystopian future where a company is run, well, like Amazon is now exception live there and the outside is a dead wasteland. Global warming and energy shortages along with the destruction of small businesses have turned Cloud into the leading employer in the country.

You have to take this one with an open mind. If you do, it's fun and entertaining. If you take it too seriously you may not enjoy it so much.

Zinnia, not her real name, is hired to get Cloud's secrets. Paxton is unemployed after Cloud put him out of business and so he takes a job with the enemy. The two start working together and spending time together. Zinnia has to decide if she is using him or something more. Paxton has to decide his own priorities, too. Along the way there are some surprises.

Thanks to Netgalley, Rob Hart, and the publisher.