Switching Tracks

I love a good dystopian and this kept me awake all night. I actually read it in one sitting I just couldn’t put it down.

So it’s 2195 and GreenCorps control everything in SoCal. Even the amount of water available and therefore the cost as well. They keep the population weak and down so they have no will to fight back.
Today’s trash is their treasure and Elsa scavenges to survive.

Life is unbelievably bleak with no trace of hope. Until Elsa finds a metal tube. She knows it’s important and despite being desperate she resists the urge to sell it.

I found myself totally swept up in this. The world, characters and story. It’s an absolutely fabulous book and gets a very rare 5* from me.

I voluntarily read a review copy kindly provided by the publisher and NetGalley.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me an ARC copy of the book.

Switching tracks is a good start of a series in a dystopian world where all seems hopeless for those who aren't involved with the one major corporation. The world building is done well and can easily lend itself to multiple books.

The one thing that held back a 5 star rating for me was the evolution of the main character. Her growth felt like it was almost too fast considering her life before that silver canister entered her life.

I'm looking forward to reading book 2 and seeing how the characters introduced will work together

Southern California—or I guess I should say SoCal—has become a barely livable prison camp for political prisoners in 2195. Everything is run by Green Corps, who maintains their power by keeping everyone who isn’t a part of that organization struggling and half-starving. Elsa scavenges for items to exchange for plastic tokens to buy food and water for herself and her grandmother. One day, she finds a mysterious metal cylinder that looks like it could bring in good money. But there is something about that cylinder that makes her reluctant to part with it, even though it could be even more dangerous to hang onto it.

“Switching Tracks: Out of the Trash” by Lena Gibson is the first in a series, and I will be counting the days until the next one is released. I was immediately hooked into the story. The dialog was sharp and the descriptive narrative was so realistic, it almost had me send warning messages to friends living in Los Angeles suggesting that they might want to consider selling their houses and moving away while they still had time. A strong five stars and a huge thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. My opinions are my own.

Switch Tracks breaks the mold of dystopian fiction by catering to a more mature audience, and it's a refreshing departure from the usual young adult focus. Finally, a dystopian story for those of us who've graduated from the young adult scene.

This book dives deep into familiar dystopian themes—environmental chaos, corporate power plays, societal divides— It hits close to home, making the story feel like an amplified reflection of today's struggles. The characters aren't just plot devices; they're relatable individuals grappling with challenges that mirror our own.

What struck me most is how the author brings the struggles down to earth. It's not about flashy gadgets or a distant future; it's about survival, connections, and messy, real-life journeys. The frozen-in-2024 technology backdrop makes it all eerily plausible, like a 'what if' scenario grounded in our present.

"Switching Tracks" isn't aiming for a distant, unreachable future. It's a mirror reflecting today's struggles, wrapped in a dystopian package.

This was a great start to the Train Hoppers series, it had a great overall story to it and I was invested in what was going on. The characters worked well in this universe and worked in a dystopian setting. I loved the use of SoCal and thought it worked with the dystopian setting. The characters were what I was hoping for and it left me wanting to read more in this series.

I absolutely loved this book and couldn't put it down. It's well paced and the character development was well thought out. I'm not a big romance fan but even the romance was engaging. Will definitely be reading the sequel when it comes out in June.