Tasmanian Gothic by Mikhaeyla Kopievsky REVIEW

Tasmanian Gothic

by Mikhaeyla Kopievsky

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Blurb

Solari wasn’t alive when the ozone layer split like a gutted fish above Tasmania and spilled radiation over the edge of the stratosphere, but she’s living with the consequences—the mutations, the gangland war, and the border wall that divides the affluent North from the contaminated South. Orphaned and alone in the southern reaches, Solari survives the chaos the only way she knows how: cooking the wildly addictive snowrock for local crime lord, Worcsulakz, and avoiding the mutants that skulk in the lush, untamed wilderness of the Fringes.

But, when her junkie ex-boyfriend puts Solari more firmly in Worcsulakz’s debt, she runs—escaping the promise of violent retribution with a stolen van and a pair of giant wings cleaved from a mutant moth. Grafting the wings to her body disguises Solari as one of Tasmania’s most reviled and hunted, but grants her refuge in the one place Worcsulakz won’t look for her—a mutant enclave.

There, Solari will form an unlikely alliance with another mutant and commence the dangerous journey through gangland strongholds and carnival towns to get to the Border Wall in the north. Hunted by Worcsulakz, the hidden terrors of the Fringes, the secrets in her family’s past, and the deception at the core of her fragile alliance, Solari will need to confront them all or stay condemned to a life of loneliness and brutality.

Review

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

A dystopian world with mutants? What else could I possibly ask for?

Solari has a large debt with a local crime lord that she didn't accumulate. She is forced to work for this crime lord and if she doesn't the consequences are severe. In an act of desperation Solari decides to run and hide in the only place she can think of. She soon finds herself in an unlikely alliance and uncovers secrets that could change everything.

I really enjoyed the story although, I wish it would have had more mutant action. I found there wasn't really all that much happening involving the actual mutants other than what was absolutely required for story progression. For me this felt like crime fiction meets dystopia. It isn't my favorite combo but in this case I feel like it really worked.

Solari was a well done main character. She was interesting to watch as she grew as a person. Her character unfolded like new wings and she picks herself back up from even the most darkest of circumstances.

I'd recommend this to anyone who is looking for a dark dystopian with a touch of mutation.