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Platform Dwellers Katarina Boudreaux 9781945654107 Books

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Platform Dwellers Katarina Boudreaux 9781945654107 Books

It is a rare and beautiful thing to be instantly hooked into a book from the very first page; Platform Dwellers is this book. It was so easy for me to lose myself in the story, and I think a major contributor to this was the characters. Boudreaux gave them all such strong, likable personalities that I developed an instant attatchment to every one of them.

Besides how amazing the characters are, Katarina Boudreaux has also created an even more incredible dystopian world, yet so believable that you think a place like this actually could exist in the future. This book is filled with twists and turns, adventure and danger. The ending will leave you wanting more (and I do hope a sequel is ensue!) It has great potential of being the start to an epic series.

This is no typical YA read. It is a world so uniquely it’s own, I don’t see how anyone couldn’t get as lost in it as I have. Seriously, I could not talk highly enough about this book. Do yourself a huge favor and pick up your copy of Platform Dwellers. Trust me, you don’t want to miss this one!
(Full review on thelittlebookbistro .com)


Tags : Platform Dwellers [Katarina Boudreaux] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Joe is a typical Platform teenager, living on the remnants of oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Though Land has been silent since technology was destroyed during the Moralist Revolution,Katarina Boudreaux,Platform Dwellers,Owl Hollow Press,1945654104,Literature & Fiction Genre Fiction,YOUNG ADULT FICTION Science & Technology,Young Adult FictionApocalyptic & Post-Apocalyptic,Young Adult FictionNature & the Natural World - Environment,dystopian; ocean oil platform; environment sustainable; apocalypse survival; genetic revolution,JUVENILE FICTION Science Fiction

Platform Dwellers Katarina Boudreaux 9781945654107 Books Reviews

Wow, I’m once again amazed by the in-depth plot design of a YA dystopian novel and that’s why Platform Dwellers has officially become another best book I’ve read this year. *hands down* The intricately crafted world, unbelievably clever characters, mind-blowing plot twists, along with the ever so subtle romance between the protagonists are all the elements that take this dystopian story up a notch and make it unputdownable.

As the title implies, Platform Dwellers is a story about the life of those who live on a Platform, which is pretty much a piece of land floating above the sea. The Platform Dwellers are under strict control of the government, called the Planning Commission (PC); thus, they have to comply with the rules and schedules on a daily basis. For example, each platform dweller can only drink a certain portion of water every day, has a curfew, and must specialize in something professional. Due to the limited access to the information from the outer world, a.k.a. the Land, it’s not hard to imagine how close these platform dwellers are.

As rebellious as our lovely female main character, Joe, is, she and her friends, Drayton, Lisette, Harriet, Flox, and Chanko embark on an adventure of exploring a brand-new yet slightly familiar territory—Land—after she accidentally gets a direct signal/message from her super genius underwater communication invention. What fascinates me most about the whole concept of living on a Platform is that there’s a much bigger, more eye-opening world outside the one the dwellers have considered to be everything in their entire lives.

However, speaking of plot twists, never did I expect that there’d be something so dreadful and disgusting on the Land. I mean, the Land is pretty much the remaining of the Moralist Revolution, which seems like an apocalypse to me, so I automatically assume the survivors will try their best to rebuild humanity and civilization. Well, apparently I’m wrong and ugh, color me shock when I learnt what those self-proclaimed scientists/doctors/leaders do to their own kind. Again, I really, really did NOT see whatever Joe and her friends discover coming.

Aside from the incredible world-building and guts-griping plot twists, I find the barely-there romance between Drayton and Joe absolutely mesmerizing. According to Joe, they have been best friends since forever and never once does either of them cross the line of the friend zone.

Their platonic relationship is perfect enough but their chemistry works EVEN BETTER!! I can easily sniff out the subtle differences in the atmosphere around them and aww, before I realize it, Drayton is actually such a sweetheart. *heart’s melting*

I absolutely adore how Drayton starts to show more concerns and become more affectionate towards Joe as their journey to the Land expands.

Drayton and Joe’s friendship-turns-relationship undoubtedly proves that just because they’re smart technology/science wizzes, doesn’t mean they can’t experience a normal love life. In fact, their awkwardness and inexperience in the field of Love are such a hilarious yet extremely adorable cherry on top.

Even though Drayton and Joe never say those magical three words in the story, I’m surprisingly pleased with their romantic development because both of them feel the same way about each other and that’s what matters most.

As for the end of the story, I personally think the author did a spectacular job wrapping everything up beautifully and meaningfully by letting all the beloved characters head toward somewhere full of hope.

Interestingly, if you looked up the word ”esperance” in the dictionary, you’d find the definition [obsolete] hope, expectation. Similarly, both esperanza and espérance mean hope in Spanish and French, respectively. Hence, coincidence or not, I believe hope is the only thing Joe and her friends/family will hold on to from now on since they’ve already seen the worst in humanity.

All in all, Platform Dwellers is a MUST READ and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND it to everyone. Katarina Boudreaux is such a talented author who creates an unforgettable Platform world and meticulously weaves the light romance into the delicate piece of story, all of which make Platform Dwellers irresistible. What’s more, the ending of the book is so uplifting that I think all the sacrifices and betrayals the characters encounter are totally worth it. So what are you waiting for? Go pick up the book and immerse yourself in this wonderfully written story! You can thank me later. *wink*

***Huge thanks to Owl Hollow Press and the author for generously sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.***
Joe (short for Josephine) is a strong, sassy teenage girl with one overpowering phobia—she’s deathly afraid of water and drowning. No big deal, except that she’s stuck living on the rickety remnants of an oil rig platform in the Gulf of Mexico. One wrong move could plunge her into the deep and make all her worst fears come true.

Two generations ago, Joe’s grandparents were forced to flee land after the Moralist revolution wiped out all technology, an event which was followed by the spread of the deadly Bones virus—a microscopic murderer of the human kind, not the computer variety. Platform dwellers believe every person on Land died, that the virus is still active, and the only safely inhabitable ecospheres are structures located miles out in the ocean.

Joe’s high school senior project is a communications device which, if successful, would use underwater sonar to re-create a messaging system—an internet of sorts, complete with email and all the other benefits an internet would inherently provide. She longs to remotely communicate with her best girl friend Lisette, who lives on the far side of the platform structure, as well as her even more best, handsome, and daring guy friend Drayton, who may (or may not) be firmly entrenched in the “friend zone.”

Most of all, Joe hopes her project will help locate her mother, who was temporarily moved to another platform by the Planning Committee (the PC)—a highly intrusive governing body with authority over all platforms.

Unfortunately, no one seems to know where her mother actually is—it seems she’s vanished without a trace. With months gone by and no letters (delivered by boat) from her at all, Joe is increasingly desperate to finish her project and make it work, in spite of her competition, Harriet, a cheating spy with no original ideas—a girl who has only achieved anything by stealing others’ work, especially Joe’s.

Joe’s future on the platforms will be determined by the success or failure of her project. If she succeeds, she’ll have a brilliant career working toward the welfare of all platform dwellers. If she fails, she might get stuck with a grunt job, like gutting fish at the food dispensary—a fate she deems worse than death. Joe hates fish and can’t stand the site of blood.

The stakes are high, and when Drayton spots a series of lights blinking in Morse code from Dauphin island, Joe must decide whether or not she’ll put everything on the line for the possibility of the thing she longs for most—a life with solid, firm ground underneath her feet, free from the excessively intrusive oversight of the PC police force.

Katarina Boudreaux’s writing style is delightfully entertaining, sometimes poetic, sometimes snarky, and sometimes laugh out loud funny. The world she has built merges seamlessly with the storyline and makes you feel like you’ve stepped into a wholly different place and time—one you intuitively understand without having to wade through pages of boring exposition.

One of the themes Ms. Boudreaux explores in the book is eco-responsibility and sustainable living. She contrasts the manufactured world with the natural world, and the result is satirically funny and not at all preachy.

In a comical scene that also tugs at the heartstrings, Drayton produces a package of Twinkies—a family heirloom of sorts he’s been saving for a very special occasion. They toast to “the power of preservatives” as the ocean platform they live on literally crumbles around them and falls into the sea. “We live on beams of metal and concrete and call it reality when it’s actually just a manufactured habitat,” Joe muses.

On another thematic note, we also have the PC. Even though “PC” in this book isn’t an acronym for “Politically Correct,” the PC is such an intrusive and overbearing force that I couldn’t read this story without drawing parallels between our reality’s PC (political correctness) and the fictional PC, an actual physical police force which governs things like curfews, access to (very scarce) textiles, and the quantity of water people may drink each day. The fictional PC also dictates the type and quantity of food items (seaweed, fish, sponges, octopi, etc.) you may harvest from your own home’s underwater cage farm. It also forces you to scan a wrist-implanted chip to gain access to any place you enter or exit, including your own home.

The PC know where you are and what you're doing at all times. It's impossible to read this book without pondering what our society would look like if we allowed political correctness to become the governing body of a potential utopia. At what point would we stop? Where should we draw the line between freedom of speech/behavior and enforced tolerance laws? It’s a timely topic, and Ms. Boudreaux incorporates this theme into the storyline with great flair.

Even though the fictional PC is so intrusive, there are still a few people who manage to live somewhat “off the grid,” such as Flox, a hilariously quirky person who serves as a valuable resource to Joe and Drayton and also provides a great deal of comic relief overall.

Flox is a memorable character—as are all of Ms. Boudreaux’s characters. Even though this book has a very large cast, I was never confused about who was who. Each person is a well-defined, truly unique individual, memorable in action and speech in their own rights. There are no flat or cardboard characters in this book—Ms. Boudreaux’s characterization skills are top notch.

The thing I loved most about this book was re-discovering everyday things we take for granted through Joe’s fresh eyes. Joe often describes places and objects that are commonplace to us but new and fascinating to Joe.

I loved reading Joe’s descriptions of such things and arriving at a point in her narrative where I’d go, “Ah ha! She’s talking about (fill in the blank).”

Even little things like lettuce and doorknobs become suddenly very interesting, and everything Joe sees and describes on Land is skillfully compared to what she has experienced living on the water. For example, when Joe examines a tree, it’s not just a tree. No. It’s amazing! The bark “is coarse like dead coral,” but it smells alive. The ants don’t just crawl in the cracks—they make tiny “rivulets” as they climb up and down this magnificent living, non-metal, non-plastic thing.

A writer who can fascinate you with a description of a tree or a doorknob is highly skilled—and Ms. Boudreaux is just that.

Platform Dwellers is a high-concept story that definitely delivers. In the book’s terms, it’s “epically tidal.”

Joe’s story is a must-read worthwhile addition to your home library. I look forward to the next book in the series with great anticipation.

Well done—Platform Dwellers earned every one of the five stars in this review, and I’m pleased to give it my highest recommendation.
Fabulous read! Kept us engaged until the very end!
This book started slow but once the characters started to develop it really took off. Turned into a great read!
Just when I thought I had read every twist in dystopian YA novels, along come PLATFORM DWELLERS and proves me wrong. What a great story!
Did not care for the world. Just did not work for me. But give it a try, lots of people may like. Happy Reading.
Tim
I love dystopian ya and this one holds up well. Twisted, just how I like them. The only downside for me is that it needs a sequel, which does not seem to exist yet.
It is a rare and beautiful thing to be instantly hooked into a book from the very first page; Platform Dwellers is this book. It was so easy for me to lose myself in the story, and I think a major contributor to this was the characters. Boudreaux gave them all such strong, likable personalities that I developed an instant attatchment to every one of them.

Besides how amazing the characters are, Katarina Boudreaux has also created an even more incredible dystopian world, yet so believable that you think a place like this actually could exist in the future. This book is filled with twists and turns, adventure and danger. The ending will leave you wanting more (and I do hope a sequel is ensue!) It has great potential of being the start to an epic series.

This is no typical YA read. It is a world so uniquely it’s own, I don’t see how anyone couldn’t get as lost in it as I have. Seriously, I could not talk highly enough about this book. Do yourself a huge favor and pick up your copy of Platform Dwellers. Trust me, you don’t want to miss this one!
(Full review on thelittlebookbistro .com)