Tuesday 5 April 2011

Review: The UnTied Kingdom - Kate Johnson

When Eve Carpenter lands with a splash in the Thames, it's not the London or England she's used to. No one has a telephone or knows what a computer is. England's a third world country and Princess Di is still alive. But worst of all, everyone thinks Eve's a spy. Including Major Harker who has his own problems. His sworn enemy is looking for a promotion. The general wants him to undertake some ridiculous mission to capture a computer, which Harker vaguely envisions running wild somewhere in Yorkshire. Turns out the best person to help him is Eve. She claims to be a popstar. Harker doesn't know what a popstar is, although he suspects it's a fancy foreign word for 'spy'. Eve knows all about computers, and electricity. Eve is dangerous. There's every possibility she's mad. And Harker is falling in love with her.

My Thoughts:
I do enjoy a good alternative world kind of book. It's so fun to see what change if that or this happened or didn't happen. And it this book is was downhill all the way for England.

England was still a Catholic country, and had never built a large empire. Instead this glory had gone to France. There had been no WWI but there had been a "WWII" and sadly England had chosen the wrong side there. But there are more changes, no one discovered America, and poor old England is a third world country where only the army or the very rich own a phone and no one has a computer. Civil War is also tearing it apart.

Now doesn't that sound fun, it sure does. The country is bleak and in ruins. People are soldiering on, and the author has certainly created an interesting alternative world. One I really enjoyed reading about. Into all this Eve suddenly appears, she is sure something else and I liked her. If I had to say anything negative it was that she sure knew her computers, ok that is not negative, I just mean was she actually that good? Cos I could certainly not open one and see that a screw is loose. Anyway, perhaps she was, good for her cos the plot does need to go on ;) Moving along...The lead male character is Major Harker, kind of a brooding soldier type and even when he is all commands and all that  I still fell for him. Then we also have some minor characters that help to bring life to this book.

What do we have so far.. awesome world! Good characters, a thrilling plot about hunting down a computer and moving through a dangerous warzone (people will get shot), and a budding romance between a couple that keep arguing.

Conclusion:
I did not want to put it down because I needed to know what would happen. I would recommend this one too, oh this is hard, romance fans, suspense fans, steampunk fans (not the same but it works in a way), and all the rest of you too because it was a great book. And I sure hope the author writes something more like this book.

Rating:
Hard to put down!

Cover:
I like it

Genre: Alternative History/ Parallel World/ Contemporary suspense romance Fiction
Pages:
Publisher: Choc-Lit
Published: April 1st 2011
Source: Copy from the publisher


39 comments:

  1. Sounds like an intriguing premise!

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  2. This sounds very interesting - an intriguing AU world.

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  3. This sounds awesome! Thanks for sharing your thoughts--I hadn't heard of this before. And thanks for stopping by yesterday :)

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  4. I can't say that I've read an alternative book before, but this sounds really interesting~great review.

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  5. Great review, very interesting!

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  6. Sounds good. I'm always looking for books you can't put down.

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  7. Sounds interesting, but how does Eve end up there?

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  8. A parallel world sounds very cool..glad you loved this one so much!

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  9. Never heard of this before but it sure sounds interesting!

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  10. This sounds good. Something different anyway. I may have to check this one out.

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  11. Nice review but I am not sure about the book. It does sound interesting but that romance ...and a real computer geek would check every screw for sure!

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  12. Sounds great - will have to keep an eye out for that one.

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  13. Hard to put down? Oh you have me interested. I hadn't heard about this one before. Hm...

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  14. Oh an alternative world and a budding romance between a slightly antagonistic couple? Love the sound of that:) This one is new to me and is definitely going on the list now!

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  15. Chris
    It certainly was :D

    Irena
    I like other worlds, what could have happened, so cool.

    LadyQ
    I first heard about it on twitter and right there I knew I wanted to read it

    Bucky
    I once read this that span over 1500 years, where the Roman empire never fall, and the world was so different

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  16. FV
    It really is!

    Linda
    The world was just so fun, and you know me, I love cool worlds

    Carol
    Some sort of portal to this other dimension, she falls through it.

    Staci
    It was perfect for me

    Elysium
    It was so much fun! :D

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  17. Darlene
    It sure is different, and I had a hard time pinning down a genre ;)

    Ana
    She was no geek..or was she? Anyway, they brought a computer to her, she tried to fix it, then she opened it and saw that screw or whatever. I could certainly not do it, that is what I meant, but I guess she was nerdy enough. And the romance was actually not that central, it came later on at the end

    DU
    I hope you do :)

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  18. Jenny
    Lol, yes I do like where the couple are at each others throats at first :D

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  19. I love the idea that in an alternate reality, the other me is making way better choices than I am and probably living like a rock star. LOL

    This certainly is a very interesting concept. And the characters seem very involved and engaging.

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  20. Wow this book sounds crazy! I am intrigued!

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  21. I love alternate worlds - the possibilities of something so familiar being so different is such a great premise. This is already on my wishlist but now I can't wait to get my hands on a copy! :)

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  22. Ooh yep, I like the sound of this one, I'll keep an eye out for it. Great review B :)

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  23. England sounds so different, its grim but awesome as I want to read more about it.

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  24. This sounds fantastic. I agree, alternate worlds are so much fun. In YA Westerfeld's Leviathan is one of my favorites. Thanks for letting me know about this one!

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  25. Sounds awesome! I love a good alternate world thing too =0)

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  26. I'm dying to read this book. I preordered it, and I'm waiting on delivery. Wish it would hurry up!

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  27. Sounds like a lot of thought went into this book. Interesting idea.
    Ann

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  28. I've never read an alternate world book before. The premise seems awesome! I love books set in England, even though the England in the book is completely different from what we know.

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  29. I haven't heard of this book before but it sounds like a book I might enjoy. The cover is really cool too.

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  30. Missie
    A rockstar, wow ;) I think other me got her act together and has published some awesome books, moved to Ireland and has a Castle

    Amused
    Lol, there is nothing like a bit of crazy

    Mel
    I hope you get a hold of it and read it. it was so fun, cos yes parallel worlds and such, amazing

    Thanks Teddyree :D
    It was a delight to read

    Jenny
    So very grim, those poor English, but hey that is what made it fun

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  31. Alyssa
    I really wanna read that one but I am waiting for the library to get it, it has been on this "waiting to be bought" list really long

    Larissa
    It's the bet :D

    RF
    I sure hope you will enjoy it as much as I did :D

    Cozy
    It was very well planned out

    Misha
    Still England though, tea and all, lol. But you really must read a book with an alternative history and such

    Simcha
    It's all bleak and I like the torn flag

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  32. I like Urban Fantasy, hate Steampunk. This sounds too much different for my taste. Nice review though.

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  33. This sounds interesting. The whole alternative world aspect sounds good.

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  34. Wow...sounds highly intriguing for an alternate world. Just might have to add it to the maybe list and investigate more! *grins*

    You always do this to me. =)

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  35. Aurian
    Well it wasn't truly steampunk, I just mean that if you like that you might like this. As for Uf, yeah, nope

    Naida
    That is always a fun angle to explore

    Redd
    I know, guilty as charged ;) But peeps are loving it :D

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  36. You are killing me with your great reviews lady! I have placed this on my TBR List, sounds really good...

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  37. This sounds excellent. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

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  38. Anna
    It was so different and fun :D

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