Today it's my turn on the BlogTour Battle Ground by Rachel Churcher. It's an innovative YA read based on ongoing modern political changes.
Rachel Churcher was born between the last manned moon landing, and the first orbital Space Shuttle mission. She remembers watching the launch of STS-1, and falling in love with space flight, at the age of five. She fell in love with science fiction shortly after that, and in her teens she discovered dystopian fiction. In an effort to find out what she wanted to do with her life, she collected degrees and other qualifications in Geography, Science Fiction Studies, Architectural Technology, Childminding, and Writing for Radio.
She has worked as an editor on national and in-house magazines; as an IT trainer; and as a freelance writer and artist. She has renovated several properties, and has plenty of horror stories to tell about dangerous electrics and nightmare plumbers. She enjoys reading, travelling, stargazing, and eating good food with good friends – but nothing makes her as happy as writing fiction.
Her first published short story appeared in an anthology in 2014, and the Battle Ground series is her first long-form work. Rachel lives in East Anglia, in a house with a large library and a conservatory full of house plants. She would love to live on Mars, but only if she’s allowed to bring her books.
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About the book
Sixteen-year-old Bex Ellman has been drafted into an army she doesn't support and a cause she doesn't believe in. Her plan is to keep her head down, and keep herself and her friends safe – until she witnesses an atrocity she can't ignore, and a government conspiracy that threatens lives all over the UK. With her loyalties challenged, Bex must decide who to fight for – and who to leave behind.
The Battle Ground series is set in a dystopian near-future UK, after Brexit and Scottish independence.
'The Battle Ground series is set in a dystopian near-future UK, after Brexit and Scottish independence'
After reading the book this has got to be the most disturbing sentence I have read in relation to Brexit and Scottish independence. As if the outlook and situation weren't bleak enough already now I have to worry about the world after Brexit.
This really is worst case scenario, especially for the younger generations. It's the first book in this dystopian series and is suitable for YA and older readers.
I think the most interesting aspect of this book is how Churcher has taken the basis of a real viable fear and turned it into an entire storyline. What could be more frightening than the concept of our children being dragged into a vicious conflict. Being forced to choose between what is right for themselves and what is right for their country.
It feeds into this obsessive patriotic feeling that has often brought the masses together, but is now driving a wedge between everyone. The author plays into the whole idea of being manipulated by fake news, propaganda and a heavily influenced and edited information flow. Oh wait, that's the world we more or less already live in.
It's an innovative YA read based on ongoing modern political changes. It feeds the fear and apprehension, whilst showing us the determination of youth. The fight that swells within the young, who have to make a choice. Choose survival, choose themselves or choose what the upper echelon want you to choose. Not exactly an easy feat.
Buy Battle Ground (Battle Ground #1) at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Taller Books; 18 July 2019. Buy at Amazon com. Buy at Taller Books.
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