My third story in the Shattered Worlds Box set!
Richard is a normal high school senior, and he looks forward to being able to go to college on a soccer scholarship in order to play for England one day. For now, he is living in LA, and he just wants his coach to stop doubting his skills as he comes to terms with only being a defender on the soccer team. On top of this, his parents won’t stop arguing about his sister who is constantly sneaking off with her boyfriend and has dropped out of college, and his older brother who is working in the military. Then the president is assassinated, the Vice President is assassinated, and the House Speaker is assassinated after being inaugurated. Richard’s parents decide to move inland to Hawthorne to avoid the terrorists, and Richard’s life is turned upside down.
I enjoyed this short story. It had romance, but it wasn’t the stupid kind of romance where “Oh yeah the world is about to end but lets make out in the middle of the wasteland”. It is a prequel to the Numbers series, so it does not have an ending but instead continues to where the series will pick up. But the semi-ending that it does have is not a happy ending. Which also satisfied me, because I dislike it when the world is ending and yet the main character is perfect in every way. Richard makes mistakes, and those mistakes may hurt people, but it seemed like a more realistic dystopian tale.
This story is short, which means I cannot tell that many details without spoiling the story, but I would recommend this story/box set to anyone looking for a realistic dystopian tale.
Overall Rating: 4.5/5
Sounds like a great read. Lol yeah, I’ve learned that about short stories. Harder to review them without going into spoilers.