The Girl in the City

The Girl in the City is a dystopian novella set in the world of Michael Bunker's Pennsylvania. I haven't read that book, but was intrigued by the summary of the book. Leah and her dad live in the City which is controlled by Transport. They control everything and Leah tries to her her family get enough food by scavenging the outskirts for metal, circuit boards and anything else of value. Then, on the way back one night, she is given a bag by a dying man and suddenly find herself in more danger than ever.

A wonderful novella that felt complete yet had me yearning for more. Leah is well developed as is the City. An enjoyable read.

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With the oppressive Transport Authority controlling every aspect of their existence, Leah and her father do what they can to carve a good life for themselves. Leah spends her nights scavenging in the rural zone around the City, risking capture by the Wild Ones as she hunts for salvage her father can trade for food and other essentials.

But when Leah takes a bag of salvage from a dying stranger, she and her father are drawn into the world of Transport and its war against the terrorist organization, TRACE.

A war that could cost them both their lives.

The Girl in the City is a standalone science fiction novella set in the world of Michael Bunker's Pennsylvania.

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*I RECEIVED A FREE COPY OF THIS NOVELLA FROM NETGALLEY*

So let me start off by saying that this novella is basically an official fanfiction for 'Pennsylvania' by Michael Bunker. At 62 pages this was a really quick read and as I am yet to read 'Pennsylvania' I am probably not the best person to review this novella but I found that the world was explained relatively well. I don't think that you need to read Pennsylvania first but it would probably be a good idea as the timeline of the story and how it fits into everything would actually be something you would know. Overall though, I enjoyed this novella and it has definitely spiked my interest in reading Pennsylvania.

The writing was okay, it wasn't amazing but it also didn't want to make me throw my phone across the room like some books have previously. There were some inconsistencies such as the way Isaac's eyes were originally described to be green but were later said to be blue. I didn't like the way that I felt like the author just kept repeating Leah (the protagonists name) rather than saying "she" or "her":.The book was also edited well and didn't have any problems with spelling and punctuation which was great. A lot of times I find that in smaller books the authors tend to forget about editing such things.

Leah as a character was well written and I liked her. I liked that she was proactive about trying to help out her and her father but I didn't like that she was so willing to believe what everyone had told her. I feel like someone in a world like hers should have been much more questioning of what"Transport" were telling her, she was way too trusting. It was kind of weird, atually. She spent nearly the entire novella disobeying them yet up until somebody straight up told her otherwise she believed what the brutish rulers were telling her. And then she believed what the other people told her with very little questioning. For this and a few other reasons I think that this book was too plot orientated when it could have used a few sentences of description about what was going on in Leah's head now and again other than explaining where she was going or what she was doing next.

There were a lot of good things about this novella as well though. It didn't drag on and it had a lot of action. For such a short story it explained things quite well and didn't skip over too much. I feel like I will feel better about this when I read "Pennsylvania". I kind of wish that this novella was longer, perhaps even becoming the length of a full novel. That way the characters could have been developed better and their would have been more room for description and a reason for the Transports control of their world. In conclusion, I enjoyed this novella but wish that I had read "Pennsylvania" first.

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I would like to thank Michael Bunker, NetGalley, Amazon Kindle, Michael Bunker and most of all Phillip Harris for giving me the opportunity to read this novella.

I gave the novella a 3.5/5 stars.

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Stars (Out of 10): 8/10 Stars

Overall Thoughts: Since this was a fairly short novella, I didn’t necessarily expect the author to be able to craft too fantastical of a story, but what this author was able to create in 80 pages ended up really surprising me! It was a quick but great read, and exceeded my expectations in every way! While the end wasn’t a twist, it definitely wasn’t expected, and that was one of my favorite parts! Overall an enjoyable read that I would definitely recommend! (Also love the new cover!)

SPOILERS BEGIN HERE

The Good: The ending really surprised me, and the society they were in seemed really interesting! I was super intrigued from the start, and the novella continued to keep me hooked the whole time!

The Bad: There was very little closure at the ending, even for the short story it was. We saw the city explode, and then Leah leave, but with absolutely no hint as to “what’s next?” I wish there was a bit more, but I understand the lack of it, since it was a short story. I also felt a bit more personality could’ve been added to Leah.

The Characters: We didn’t really have enough places to explore both this and the plot, but I still enjoyed the characters we were given for the short time we read about them.

The Plot: It was simple and short, but actually did not happen according to my expectations. I assumed all would be fine and everyone would be saved, including Isaac and her father, but the ending definitely did not have that mind! Instead everything went completely wrong except for the fact that Leah survived, now lost in the wilderness, as well as lost in what to do. Definitely the complete opposite direction most stories like this end up taking.

The World Building: This novella actually did a pretty good job of explaining the basics in the very few pages it had. We didn’t necessarily learn the “whys” of everything, but more about the present and the facts of the now.

Buy it, Borrow it, or Bin it: Buy it!

A while ago I read a book from Netgalley called The White City by Karolina Ramqvist. It's about a young mother who has been abandoned by her high rolling boyfriend, and is about to lose everything when the courts repossess her house. The girl, Karin, pulls some strings and risks everything to get what she feels she deserves (a fat wad of cash). And then the story just ends. Like it just stops. It gets you really invested (I hated the first few pages, by page 25 I was HOOKED) and then it just ends on page 176. I was so fucking mad - she took the beginning of a really, REALLY good story, beautifully written and dark and energetic and dramatic and emotional, and she just cut it into a fucking novella.

You'd think after that experience, I'd check how long books are before reading them. It's the problem with digital readers (I'm on an old Acer Iconia while my Microsoft Pro is getting fixed) - you can't tell how hefty a book is. I downloaded The Girl ITC and got started and it was great. Fantastic hook, non-intrusive world building, believable actions by characters, high stakes, a bomb and then..........................fucking NOTHING. That's the end. She's not even the girl in the city anymore because there is no city.

Urgh.

I get that this was written as a short spin off from another book (Pennsylvania by Michael Bunker, which I'll now have to read), and it's my fault for picking it up when I was tired and not noticing it had "novella" written on the front, but god damn! Leah is an awesome character, and the world is gorgeous, and 'the Girl in the Wilderness' best come soon or I'll die.

This is so not even a review. Both books (the White City and the Girl in the City) were excellent, read them if you want something quick and beautiful, don't read them if you're the type to get drawn in and fall in love with characters, because then you will feel ripped off at the sudden, devastating endings.