“The Love Collective is everywhere. It sees everything. Be not afraid.
Apprentice Flick remembers everything, except the first five years of her life. And for as long as she can remember, Flick has wanted to enter the Elite Academy - home to the best, brightest, and most loyal members of the Love Collective government.
Flick's uncanny memory might get her there, too … even if it is the very thing that marks her as a freak. But frightening hallucinations start intruding into her days and threaten to bring down all she has worked so hard to accomplish. Why is she being hijacked by a stranger's nightmare over and over again?
Moving to the Elite Academy could give Flick the future she's always wanted. But her search for truth may lead to a danger she cannot escape.
Apprentice Flick remembers everything, except the first five years of her life. And for as long as she can remember, Flick has wanted to enter the Elite Academy - home to the best, brightest, and most loyal members of the Love Collective government.
Flick's uncanny memory might get her there, too … even if it is the very thing that marks her as a freak. But frightening hallucinations start intruding into her days and threaten to bring down all she has worked so hard to accomplish. Why is she being hijacked by a stranger's nightmare over and over again?
Moving to the Elite Academy could give Flick the future she's always wanted. But her search for truth may lead to a danger she cannot escape.”
Series: Book #1 in the “Collective Underground” trilogy.
Spiritual Content- A couple mentions of a hallucination/dream of “Lyric” who is “wrapped in beams of glorious light” (the author’s acknowledgements implies that this is representing Christ); A mention of being blessed;
*Note: “Love all, be all” is used as a common greeting/slogan as well as others telling the apprentices to “find themselves in the universe”; Flick bows all the way to the floor to Supreme Lover Migate; A few mentions of someone acting like an alien (in regards to their personality completely changing); A mention of being stared at like an alien; A mention of looking like you saw a ghost.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘stinkin’, a ‘weenie’, a ‘wouldn’t give two flying…’, a ‘you’re full of it’, two ‘gah’s, two ‘what the—‘s, three ‘duh’s, seven forms of ‘dumb’, seven forms of ‘shut up’, eight ‘idiot’, and eighteen forms of ‘stupid’; Made-up curses/phrases: a ‘Hater witch’, a ‘Haterman in a basket of Haters’, a ‘Hater in a pile of Haters’, a ‘how in the love’, a ‘love knows’, three ‘what the love’s, and three ‘ohmylove’s; Sarcasm & Eye rolling; Flick lies (white lies) a few times; A couple VR situations of a young child being held at knife-point and shooting at them (barely-above-not-detailed) & going against a riot and using weapons against them (up to semi-detailed); When Flick messes up protocol a call times, she thinks she should be shot or killed for it; Pain, Screaming, Hallucinations/Nightmares, & Blacking out (up to semi-detailed); Being hit & slapped (up to semi-detailed); Claustrophobia & Similar to panic attacks; Being picked-on by a group of bullies & their name-calling and taunting; Throwing up; A girl acts like she’s aiming a gun at Flick (twice); *Spoiler* It’s revealed at the end that The Love Collective (Government) abducts children (including from medical kidnapping) and Flick’s hallucinations are actually her memories resurfacing of her own abduction; Flick recalls her mother’s death on the TV show that kills Haters, but doesn’t reaction until she’s told much later that it was her mother; A few mentions of mentions of other abductions *End of Spoiler*; Many mentions of hallucinations/nightmares, screams, & pain (barely-above-not-detailed); Many mentions of Hate (which threaten their empire) & Haters (which are deemed the enemy (followers of the Haterman) to the government system that is all about love (it’s said that the Haterman was the ruler of the world and everyone hated each other, and adds that Supreme Lover Midgate sought to bring peace and ruled with love)); Mentions of VR situations of a young child being held at knife-point, both being shot, their bodies and blood, & riots (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of a show where Haters are publicly execution (including mentions of dog attacks, lasers slicing through the Haters, them being beaten, branding them, one being impaled, electrocuting them, being attacked by wild beasts, blood, pain, & screams, border-line barely-above-not-detailed to semi-detailed) & weapons; Mentions of Embracement (public executions, including a girl saying she would have someone else embraced if she could); Mentions of taunting others with stories of deaths/dying, disappearing, & being eaten by a rabid Hater; Mentions of fighting, hitting, injuries, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed): Mentions of seeing other children and teens shocked/tased & their pain (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of pain, being slapped, & someone being kicked (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of bullies, bullying, beating up others, & threats (including boys bullying girls); Mentions of prisoners & prisons; Mentions of hatred; Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; Mentions of jealousy; Mentions of tattoos; Mentions of throwing up; A few mentions of cheaters & cheating; A few mentions of rumors; A couple mentions of a war; A couple mentions of treason; A couple mentions of eavesdropping; A mention of a flock of vultures fighting over a corpse; A mention that someone’s expression could kill a small animal;
*Note: A couple mentions of a possibility of a machine that fry someone’s brains and turns them into a vegetable; A mention of zombies.
Sexual Content- A touch & warmth (and remembering it, barely-above-not-detailed); Some blushes, butterflies, & winks; A bit of noticing a guy; A misunderstanding of thinking that a guy is going to do something to Flick & he says he won’t lay a hand on her; Mentions of a guy and girl being snuggled against each other & their “canoodling”; Mentions of flirting, a girl touching a guy’s chest with an “invitation in her voice”, & her leaning all over other guys; A couple mentions of a gorgeous guy; A mention of a girl’s seductive curl to her lips; A mention of drooling over someone;
*Note: A couple mentions of the Pleasure Tribe that does entertainment for population, but also provides “personal services” for their clients (said with a smirk); A mention of flabby butts; A mention of landing on their butt.
-Kerr Flick, age 15-16
1st person P.O.V. of Flick
Fantasy/Dystopian
277 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
{Ratings are for content, but please note the lack of Christian content found in this first book.}
Dystopian books are my favorite type of story in the fantasy/sci-fi genre because rebelling against a corrupt government? I’m in.
So, I went into this book expecting that plot line. Well, it took the majority of the book to get to that element. The first half (150 pages) is really just setting the stage and giving a lot of context, therefore it felt very slow to me because of that. Also the…choices of the terms/names (like Love vs Hate, Haterman, the Supreme Lover and whatnot) pulled me out of the story in the beginning, to be honest, but I understand the concept. Once it picked up around page 200, I became much more involved in the story and last few chapters sold me on reading the next book and bumped my personal rating up from a 3 to a 3.5 star.
On Flick, we don’t really see her emotions, so I had a hard time connecting to or even caring about her. When we see glimpses of personality from Flick, they almost felt out of place to me since they were rare events. The change in her happened too suddenly, in my opinion, but I was excited to see the story picking up and hopefully see more of her character development in the second book.
While there is a parallel to Christianity (a couple mentions of someone named Lyric that implies Christ) in this story, it’s very light and I’m curious to see if there will be faith content in the next two books.
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
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