City of Simplicity by Rae Lori

BW/WM

Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

Published 6/2015

Click to purchase from my Amazon Store

City of Simplicity is about a city where people live a life of manufactured simplicity. They are required to take a drug called Emotin, which so happens to suppress their emotions and clear the mind of memories about their past. The "media" keeps a watchful eye on the citizen of Simplicity and even tells them what the daily fashion or style is. The story follows Citizen 52701, a law enforcement officer whose real name is Lyn. Lyn is having dreams about a man. Dreams that feel like memories that she shouldn't be having. By day, her job is to terminate people who try to rebel or escape from Simplicity. Unfortunately, the man of her dreams is also a man her profession requires to kill. The question is, can Lyn recall enough of her past and save him from termination?

The Good

I found the cover visually interesting. It definitely caught my attention and made me want to read the book.

The Bad

Unfortunately, the potential of the cover never made it to the actual telling of the story. In fact, other than the city in the background, the cover really didn't represent anything about the book. No cyborg-type hero to be found. Disappointing. 

This book weighs in at around roughly 40 pages. Not enough to tell a good, meaty story. In fact, I read it in less time than it takes to eat a cheeseburger from McDonalds! (Okay so maybe I exaggerate a bit, but really this is extremely short.) In addition to the cover, I felt like I was left hanging in some places. For example, the reader is given some critical information about Lyn's past but we're never told what actually happened. We're just left with questions. Why was it mentioned if it wasn't important enough for a follow through? Left. Hanging. 

I would have loved more detail about the city and about the characters themselves. Honestly, if it weren't for a brief mention of contrasting skin color I wouldn't have guessed that Lyn was a WOC. Last, but not least, the climax of the story was over so quickly that it failed to satisfy. 

My Final Thoughts

City of Simplicity was just a little too simple for my tastes. Too short and much too cookie cutter. Honestly, it felt like a mashup of the Matrix, Logan's Run, and Equilibrium. The writing wasn't overly terrible, it just failed to deliver and honestly left me wishing I had read something else. 

I'm rating City of Simplicity 1 out of 5 stars.