I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Collector by David Luna
Genres: Sci-Fi (YA), Dystopian (YA)
Goodreads
Years ago when the dam collapsed, the city’s water supply went with it. Combined with a decades-long drought, polluted waterways, and gross overpopulation, people were encouraged to voluntarily sell their lives in exchange for water rations to those they leave behind.
Neil Vaughn, a hardened 3-stripe Collector, is part of an elite squad who has sworn an oath to the Agency to round up, transport, and deliver the volunteers to the processing facility where they are to be killed. But when he makes the mistake of falling in love, it reawakens his humanity and threatens his most important assignment yet, one which could undermine the Agency’s control over the system should he fail.
In a world where everything including life is stripped away, nothing can suppress our ability to love.
This is my review for the sci-fi dystopian The Collector. The debut novel from David Luna.
If you missed my first Authorly Love post in which I introduce Luna and his book with an author interview, you can find that here 🙂
The great thing about this book is that the story and the characters make it stand out — you can’t ask for much more from a novel.
The plot of The Collector is a story that is familiar yet unique in its own way. Luna draws from a very real concern in today’s world – a lack of water – and builds a fascinating governmental infrastructure around that threat.
But what really brought this story together and made it one I quickly favorited, was that the idea and hopefulness of love played a major role throughout the story. Again, I can’t spoil anything for you, but know that the story has a wonderful romance that is heartbreaking and uplifting.
I enjoyed the world Luna had created and the characters he put in that world were fantastic as well.
The story follows Neil Vaughn, he’s a collector and, essentially, he follows all the orders given to him by the government, or in this case, the agency. This was a unique point-of-view for a young adult novel to take being that it was not only a male point-of-view but also a character who gives us the perspective of the ‘enemies’ side. This is something very rarely seen in young adult novels.
On top of the fact that Neil Vaughn was a unique choice of perspective, he was also a very well-developed character. I don’t want to spoil the story, but I will say that he is complex and, at times, an emotionally conflicted man.
Luna’s writing is perfect for this blend of action scenes and complex characters. I enjoyed the way he described the scenes and his world. Sometimes I felt as if there was too much explanation of certain feelings — as if the reader may not grasp the intentions without those explanations. However, that didn’t take away from my overall enjoyment of his writing and the way it all came together.
This was a wonderful story filled with love, sacrifice, and action. The characters are well fleshed out and the world building was thorough. It was refreshing to read a story in which you see the full side of the “bad guys” rather than only the “resistance”, which was something that made this book stand out for me. If you’re looking for a science-fiction, dystopian novel with a unique protagonist and a perfect blend of drama, action, and romance, then I highly recommend this one.
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| Overall: | 4.5 / 5 |
2 Comments
This sounds really good! I will definitely add it to my TBR. You’re absolutely right, stand-out characters and story are the best thing you could ask for when everything seems to be so similar, or based-off-of-something-or-other these days.
Yay! I hope you like it if you read it 🙂 And yeah, everything is kind of similar. While this one does have a familiar plot, I like that it was told from an unexpected perspective.