My original New Reality 2 audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

Warning: There is some offensive language and degradation of humans, especially women.

To live in Nirvana, a state of perfect happiness where everyone’s wants and desires are protected fiercely by the government is an idyllic place. Well, unless you happen to live on the wrong side of Nirvana or rather on The Estate. Then one’s life is a purgatory of wretchedness and suffering.

As an estate rat, one cannot speak to members of Nirvana, they may not accept tips nor are they allowed to believe they even matter. Escape from The Estate is nearly impossible as well – it’s in the water!

Marie works at New Reality – a prison for those undesirables; a unique approach for managing the interment of criminals. Marie has to discover what’s amiss at the prison so she can save herself, Frankie and their unborn child. Frankie was once an estate rat and fights daily to gather the credits to wed Marie and keep themselves out of The Estate – if you have a child out of wedlock or intimately cohabitate there are prices to pay.

Marie, a once weak woman surprises all by being much stronger and more aware than one first believes. Single handed she begins to question and undermine the structure of Nirvana’s society by taking up for the less fortunate, but when she finds herself a “less fortunate” she is alone.

Marie has some revenge to extract, will she be successful? Can she save the day? Only time will tell and time is running out!

Michael Robertson does an excellent job of presenting a utopia versus dystopia life, powerful and revealing told from a woman’s point of view. Excellent book, I hope there is a part three – there were somethings I would like to see closure on. I enjoyed the story, it was interesting and action packed. It moved slowly at first but gained momentum. In a sci-fi community of gadgets that talk (Jeeves the coffee maker was a joy with his sassy comments), cameras everywhere and an annoying newsman whom the government dictate that when he speaks you drop everything and listen/watch. There is no room for disobedience or individual thought.

Well-written Robertson is detailed in his plot and develops the character in a thorough fashion - I could almost feel the slime of Dougie! Ugh!

The narrator, Christine Padovan did a good job narrating and made distinct voices and tones. The only drawback I had with her was the consistent dragging out of the last word of each sentence. At first it was distracting but then I became so caught up in the story that I quit noticing it. Given the content, the narrator needed to speak slowly and clearly. I know I personally have issues with people drawing out words to make them last longer – so I am sure it is me; I prefer crisp narration. However, it was not so bothersome that I would not listen to her again.

There were no issues with production. The sound quality was good.

Audiobook was provided for review by the narrator. ( )

This is book 2 in the New Reality series. You do not need to read New Reality: Truth first but I suggest that you do. This book provides a great re-focus on the ending of Truth that you would never get otherwise. If you choose to start with this book, you will not lose anything in terms of continuity.

Like Truth, this book takes place in a post apocalyptic world. There are two distinct classes of people with vastly different life experiences and lifestyle. This installment is different from the first in that there are many more characters to enjoy. The author does a good job of crafting the characters and their inter relationships. He then takes them and inserts them in an intriguing story line.

To say much more may take away from the experience. I really enjoyed this book as well as the first in the series. The author has an innate ability tow write books set in the dismal future that are highly enjoyable but possess a bit of social commentary. I highly recommend this series as well as the Crash series. ( )