It’s been awhile since I’ve read an apocalyptic/dystopian story. This one sounded interesting. But there were a few reasons I just couldn’t enjoy it. First of all, the yuck factor is pretty high. Normally doesn’t bother me but in this case it really doesn’t add anything to the story. I didn’t find the characters especially intriguing, and there were so many unanswered questions that kept me from fully engaging with the story.

I received a copy of this in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley.


Ration is a very unique dystopian style read. The women in this story have to weigh their own "hunger' against the others in the home. When one character is accused of ordering an "A" ration for herself, she's targeted by the other girls and forced to leave.

I'lld efinitely be reading more books by this author.

4.5 stars

Ration features a world where food is hard to come by and reveals what happens when society is starving and will do anything in a never-ending search for sustenance.

The story centres around a place called the "Apartments". Cynthia and Imeld are two of the "Girls" living there and it is run by "Women" called Ms Glennoc and Ms Tuttle.

I really enjoyed this book. Once I became familiar with the terminology, it was easy to become absorbed by the story and I yearned to find out what exactly the world had come to and what would become of the characters. Cody T Luff is a master at revealing just enough detail as the story progresses, yet still left me desperately wanting to know more with each turn of the page.

One thing I would have liked more of was character development (and this is me being nit-picky), particularly as the story is character driven. Nevertheless, I would highly recommend this book, especially to those who love a good post apocalyptic story.

Thanks to NetGalley for an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

I just didn't get this...... I didn't like the writing style and I couldn't connect with any of the characters.
An interesting premise but it felt like poor execution. That being said I've seen mostly positive reviews for this so I think I'm in the minority here.

1 Star as it felt like a real chore to get through.

DNF @ 28%

Interesting idea for sure but the execution is severely lacking for me. As a reader you're just dropped into the most bizarre and cruel world imaginable with no explanation as to what's going on. I can't even make sense of what the characters are talking about. I'm completely baffled. Maybe I'm too dense for this one.

If raising girls on a farm only to eat them later is your thing then this may be one for you! 😉😨🤮

Thank you to NetGalley and Apex Book Company for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is probably not a great book to read while eating. It took me a little while to understand the rules of this world, but once I did it was easy to get pulled in to the story. Parts of the book get pretty rough. For the most part everything made sense, though the method of reproduction was a little vague to me. Also, where were the babies at the Farm? Then again, those were minor matters. The world of the book definitely feels like it's nearing its end. If there is such a thing as grimdark dystopian, this is it.

The story follows two characters, both of which were interesting, though neither one seemed all that likeable. Cynthia, a girl at one of the facilities (or Farms) seemed to run more on impulse than thought as she tried to figure out life outside of the place she came from. Ms. Tuttle was more complex. Not a nice person by any means but never boring. My favorite character was Imeld. For awhile I hoped the story was going to explore Imeld's adaptation to changing circumstances.

The ending was fair, but not entirely satisfying. I think that might have been because it didn't really feel like the story was complete. I have a strong feeling there is some idea of making this the start of a series. If that happens, it would be great to see how everything came about in some sort of prequel.

Set in a dystopic future, calories have become currency. In the farms, girls are raised to be meat, and manipulated by fear mongering women. In the farms, ordering an A ration, means that a fellow girl is killed and processed. Cynthia, accused of ordering an A ration is beaten by the other girls in the farm. In revenge, she orders A ration after A ration, forcing the deaths of a whole floor of girls. In punishment, she is force fed A ration after A ration by Ms. Glennoc. When the farm owner finds out, she turns out Ms. Glennoc and Cynthia to the streets.

This was a very odd world. I wish much more had been explained about the system. I spent most of the book cringing, yet I kept reading because I needed to know what happened next. I'm not sure I would re-read this book, but I would pick up another book by this author. Overall, 3 out of 5 stars.

Set in a murky dystopian world, where only women remain, we follow a group of characters living in a place known as The Apartments.
As the story unfolds, you learn more and more about this stark environment, where every calorie is counted and what one chooses to eat may cost another their life.
Following multiple perspectives, this twisted tale is bleak. She dark, y'all.
If you're looking for light and fluffy, you need to turn tail and run, baby, cause this ain't it.
It's unclear to me how to even begin to describe this plot. It's like Little Orphan Annie stumbled into the landscape of 1984. Bizarre enough for you?
What I can say is that this story is all kinds of dark, dirty and cringe-worthy. Almost every scene left me shaking my head and slightly nauseated.
The writing is so good, it truly sucks you in. Horror lovers will enjoy this. I can't imagine them not. I was truly impressed with the creativity and how the story never let up. Luff is taking his readers on a ride and once you are in, you're in.
While not scary in a ghostie, other-worldly way, there is a definite ominous atmosphere. It seems that information you want to know always lies just beyond your grasp.
The characters are not likable.
The world is not likable.
There are no saving graces here.
There is a lot of great, graphic, bloody and toe-curling content however, so if that is your jam, you definitely need to be tracking down a copy.
Initially, I was thinking I would give this a 3.5-star rating but ultimately, I was just so impressed with Luff's outstanding creativity and writing style that I bumped it to a 4. For the type of story this was, I really enjoyed it.
My one minor issue was that I personally would have enjoyed more world-building. He did a great job with his setting. The setting was incredibly detailed. You could feel the dark, the dank, the dirt, the dried blood, but I wanted to know more about where this place sat in position with the rest of the world. Why were the characters at this point? More context would have been helpful to me. However, I completely understand that this is a personal taste issue and I know a lot of readers will love this just the way it is!
Thank you so much to the publisher, Apex Book Company, for sending me a copy of this to read and review. I appreciate the opportunity and would definitely pick up more books from this author!!!

Read this book with an empty stomach.

Atwood meets Orwell in this ruthless dystopian treasure. The year is unknown but humanity has reached a point where men have become extinct, advanced technology has ceased to exist, starvation reigns and the current currency is calories. Cynthia grows up in a Farm, a place where young girls are categorized according to their intelligence and nutritious value. A place where one can feed on rations A, B, and the forbidden C...

But the Farms are not the worst place a girl can be, as Cynthia is soon to find out...

Raw, fast, graphic and unbelievably original, ''Ration'' is everything I seek in a good post-apocalyptic thriller. One of the best books I read this year, without a doubt.

Woah. I have read a LOT of post-apocalyptic fantasy books and while most give a unique perspective this one goes to the extreme. What do women do when all the men have been wiped out along with all plant and animal life...
The information is given out in bits and pieces so without spoiling anything I can't say much, you just need to read it and learn for yourself. Some of the "science" and explanations are left a little too vague for me (how exactly are they able to reproduce...) but the overall feeling (DOOM) of the book is great and the main characters are interesting. The narrative jumps around between characters but it is not hard to follow.
I do feel that the build up was a bit slow and the pay off too short. The first 3/4 moves along but the last 1/4 speeds up and is over without much satisfaction. I am ok with an ambiguous ending I just wish the final chapters had more meat to them.

This is a crazy story that was as interesting as the summary makes it sound. Its almost scary how real it seems

Ration is a book I found on Netgalley from one of those Read It Now Emails. The premise of the story jumped out at me straight away and I knew it was something I just had to get my hands on.

Now this story isn't exactly unique. My first thought upon starting it was wow this reminds me a bit of Snow Piercer. If you haven't seen it I highly check out the film AFTER reading this story. It's good. In fact I could not stop imagining Ms. Tuttle as Minister Mason. Tilda Swinton's character just fit the image of Ms. Tuttle being portrayed in my head and I couldn't shake it once it was set. Now does this detract from the story? No. I was still able to enjoy Ration as its own entity. I just borrowed the visuals from something else to help me set the scenes.

One thing I really enjoyed about this story were the Ration packs. On the farm it seems girls are either fed A,B or C rations. Choose a B or C and you're good to live another day but choose an A and well, let's just say unpleasant things happen. After being mistakenly accused of taking an A ration the main character Cynthia sets in motion the chain of events that happen throughout the rest of the story.

As for the story. In the beginning it was pretty clear cut. Live on the farm, die on the farm. How quickly that happens is entirely your choice because chances of you living long enough to see the outside is very, very, slim. However, that would make for a pretty short story so off farm we must go. I was excited to see life "outside" but quickly became confused as it seemed there was more to the world but we were only being shown the poorest part of it. It would of been so cool if Cynthia was able to see that the farm was just a dog and pony show for a much brighter, glitzier, world outside but it still seemed pretty miserable and thus I felt it wasn't enough to make Cynthia do what she does in the rest of the story. Maybe I just expected more and maybe that was my problem. I'm so used to the smoke and mirrors dystopian setting that one just being built upon a world that was just actually that of a true Dystopian well, it took me by surprise.

Now I will say that I did enjoy the slight twist at the end when Cynthia learns the "truth" about the farms. Obviously these places have been problematic for a few years now but of course the girls at the farm aren't told that. I did expected the conclusion to be a bit more explosive than it was. If I was one of those girls I'd have banded together and force fed Ms. Tuttle and Ms. Glennoc parts of each other so they could truly witness the horrors they had inflicted on them through the years before dying inevitably of blood loss and or shock. That may seem gruesome but it would of been a fitting ending for those characters and I could rest my head knowing they weren't around to do that to others in the future.

I also really enjoyed the character Imeld. In the beginning you expect her to just be a one off character to get the ball rolling but she actually plays a pretty important role. Without her I don't think Cynthia would of taken the actions she did. Imeld was her hope and knowing she was alive and stuck under the tutelage of Ms. Tuttle spurred her to act in ways she probably wouldn't have based on her very sheltered upbringing at the farm.

Overall, Ration was a book I enjoyed and sped through really quickly. Therefore I feel my rating is justified despite the problems I experienced with the pacing and narrative in the back half.

With that being said, I'll be rating Ration by Cody T. Luff ★★★★.

Ration is a good dark disturbing horror book. The book is graphic, descriptive, and violent. Well written and disturbing.

**Thank you to the publishers for sending me an e-arc**

Big TW for violence towards women,graphic talk of starvation,mental illnesses,suicide/suicidal ideation, and talk of sexual assault

This book is about a girl named Cynthia. When she is wrongly accused of eating an A Ration another girl is killed for her actions. Now she much move out of the apartments and move in with a woman who has tormented her for years. But she must learn how to survive to save her friend, Imeld back at the apartments

This book is so weird,good but weird. I really liked Cynthia and her friend Imeld and how they approached the things that was going on in the word of Ration.
Once I got past the first few chapters it was so easy to get pulled into this word and I just wanted know what happend next.

This book was a little to gory for me but if you are into gory and all those types of things, this would be perfect for you.

*I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All subsequent opinions are my own.

Ration by by Cody T. Luff is dark dystopian tale and biting (pun intended) social commentary on our society's consumption of food and the role women play in a food obsessed world.

In a distant future, all men have died and a select few have established a world that runs on calories. Imeld and Cynthia are two sixteen year old girls that live in a building called "The Apartments". It is a place where food is rationed and consequence come quick, both from The Women who run the instituition and the cohorts of girls who dwell in the rooms.

Then one night, Cynthia is accused of eating an "A ration" which ultimately leaves to the death of another girl. Her actions land her in the street along with one of The Women: Ms. Glennoc. In the meantime, Imeld is forced to fill Ms. Glennoc's shoes, the punished now becoming the punisher.

What follows is a character driven story full of hunger, revenge, politics, and the harsh reality of what it means to be human while doing whatever it takes to survive.

Over all I would The Ration: 5/5 stars!

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys body horror with a dystopian twist or social commentaries.

Similar to: The Troop by Nick Cutter (body horror, never ending hunger), Inspection by Josh Malerman (chileren in a sort of school that is more than it appears), and Not Even Bones by Rebecca Schaeffer (body horror, morally gray protagonist, social commentary)

TW: violence towards women and young girls, talk of sexual assault, body horror, graphic depictions of starvation and references to eating disorders, mental health issues, drug addiction, suicide and suicidal ideation

Ration is a very strange book. Good, but strange. The dystopia angle was the initial attraction for me, having never heard of the author. And this one draws you in, too, right from the start. Unknown or not, this guy can write. And he also knows a thing or two about pacing. The creepiness of this story is measured and delivered in small batches, just the right amounts to maintain the intrigue and terror of the story. So how does Ration stand out in the busy busy sea of modern female driven dystopia? Well, it does so by taking the feminist aspect of it in new and terrifying directions. The world has been remade, male free, but also dramatically low on essential resources. So much so that drastic measures have been institutionalized. There’s also been some dabbling in genetic engineering. The side effects of which are…well, I don’t want to give away too much, but it’s crucial plot developer. So the story stats off by taking the readers into Apartments, a nightmarish housing of young girls, who are barely subsisting on rations, some of which have a higher cost than others. We are then introduced to two of the tenants, Cynthia and Imeld. These two become are guides to the hungry new world of the author’s imagination. A place of singular ugliness and privation. There are other characters of varied echelons of power and powerlessness, but the main picture is bleak. Starving world where all things are measured in calories. So not a happy read, but certainly an original and interesting one. The main theme seems to be choices, difficult to impossible choices predetermined by difficult to impossible circumstances. But then again, it’s difficult to be moral and ethical or even just good when you’re famished. So yeah, that’s the book, a very dark and disturbing read, good thing it goes by quickly, because it isn’t really a world you’d want to linger in. If I were to describe this one using other more well known works as seems to be the trend with publishers…I’d say it’s Atwood by the way of Soylent Green. Very promising debut and an absolutely professional edition cover to context. In fact the official plot summary doesn’t do it justice. It’s so much more than that, really. Recommended for dystopia fans. Thanks Netgalley.