Book Review
Title: The Loop (The Loop Trilogy Book 1) by Ben Oliver
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Rating: 5 Stars
I didn’t really know anything about this series before getting into it other than it features a futuristic death row where inmates can take part in “delays” which are experiments in order to delay their execution date and alone was enough to get me hooked. We are introduced to Luka Kane, an inmate of the Loop who has been there for nearly two years since he was convicted of his crimes. We soon learn that this futuristic world is made up of Alts and Regulars, Alts are genetic enhanced cyborgs and the Regulars are just regular humans. Luka is a Regular and was friends with another inmate Maddox who was coming up to his time to be transferred to the Block, the prison every inmate goes to at 18 if they haven’t already died. Luka briefly runs us through what life is like in the Loop and it seems a very boring existence apart from two things, the energy harvest that happens every night where nanobots harvest energy from the minds of the inmates in order to power the Loop which Luka avoids by exercising an insane amount during the day so he has no energy left and the Delays. Maddox was taking Delays the same as Luka now is but the severity of them increases over time, Maddox’s latest one replaced his eyes with technological implants but they didn’t take, Maddox was taken away and never returned. Despite this Luka doesn’t hate his time in the Loop because he has heard that the Block is worse and while the inmates are isolated from the outside world he does overhear two discussing the fact that there might be a uprising and eventually war between the Alts and the Regulars, who are all controlled by the AI, Happy but he dismisses it as no one truly knows what is happening outside of the Loop.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, we see the Warden, Wren makes concessions for the inmates even letting the sane ones out of their cells for a few hours every Wednesday where they can actually physically interact with each other and be human. However, the constant on people not returning is keenly felt especially when one inmate’s boyfriend doesn’t come back from his Delay. Luka asks Wren if there are any rumours of a war brewing outside and she immediately dismisses them but I have a feeling there might be some truth in there. We continue following Luka in his daily routine as he gets a new neighbour in the form of Kina who he begins building a friendship with the same way Maddox did with him. However, he does begin noticing small changes into the routine like the nightly rain being late which is something that has never happened before but ignore it because it is only a few seconds. The next morning it gets worse as he received a Delay contract three months early and it turns out he isn’t the only one as everyone has got one, being sorted into either group A or B. Luka is lucky in a way as he has had three months since his last Delay but some inmates have had as little as a week. Wren is also late for her daily rounds which makes Luka panic even more and she tells him about a file she received although it was only briefly before it was deleted that doesn’t sit right with her and it seems like all the inmates are being used for a new clinical trial but even this one doesn’t sit right with the people in charge as 15 government officials have disappeared overnight. Luka knows he has no choice but to accept or his death sentence will be carried out but he does get an additional three months before his next Delay as this one came early. Luka accepts and the group has their weekly time together where they see that only 3 of them are in group A, the rest including Luka are in group B but they have no idea what it means yet. He learns that group A will be leaving the following morning and his group will leave two days later but none of them have any idea what is in store for them but he takes some comfort he will be with familiar faces as even Kina is in group B.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, Wren gets a message to Luka through a book letting him know that this new Delay is suicide. Everyone has seen or heard a little of what became of group A and they all watched as their bodies were taken away. Wren tells Luka to look for an opening and take it if he can, Luka tries to do just this when they get to the facility take a guard’s gun and uniform before fleeing but he doesn’t even make it out of the building before he is caught. However, while he is disguised as the guard he learns about something called Tier 3 and the Arc and a comment about him making an excellent battery are all we have to go on. Despite being armed the guards don’t kill Luka instead they drag him back to the testing room despite the fact he has reneged on the contract which they apparently aren’t allowing this time around. He is injected three times and begins the long wait for whatever happened to group A to start happening to him but it doesn’t even hours after the injections Luka still feels perfectly fine but he is desperately trying to figure out what everything means. From the context clue we already have I am going to guess that the nuclear bombs that were dropped during WWIII creating the Red Zones have been expanding or it is becoming more difficult to maintain the Alt lifestyle so special Regulars like Luka are being tested for who would make good batteries to power the Arc, but I honestly have no idea what is going to happen but if Luka is truly going to escape or even attempt it he has to deal with Happy first.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, very shortly after returning to the Loop, Luka is aware that something isn’t right but he doesn’t fully realise it until the following morning when the Loop doesn’t have any power. Wren turns up at his cell with others and explains that the power is out not just in the Loop but in the city as well before releasing them from their cells. However, something isn’t right with Wren and Luka notices this but too late as Wren seems to change before them and kills two of the people they had come to call friends making every dive for their cells before she turns on them too. Luka ends up getting Wren to come to his cell again but Happy activates this time and severs her arm which doesn’t seem the faze her at all. Luka manages to lock her in the cell and retrieve the device which can detonate the explosive implanted in his heart before locking her in but he realises he can’t leave. He returns to the cell and gets Wren’s severed arm in order to deactivate the implant before looking for a first aid kit for her but he knows she won’t survive the day without proper medical attention which leaves Luka in a dilemma now as he could leave the Loop and leaves the others to their fates but Luka isn’t like that. Luka ends up freeing Kina so he can leave the Loop in order to find help but he immediately encounters mutated rats in the train tunnel and things don’t get any better when he reaches the closest Alt village. There he finds that many people have gone crazy the same way group A did and they are all killing each other. He manages to make it back to the Loop but he is injured along the way, he and Kina free the rest of the 2 a.m. club who want to leave but Kina doesn’t want to leave everyone trapped in their cells. They realises the right thing to do is to free them and begin setting about this huge task but things aren’t going to go well as certain members of the group like Pander have enemies on the inside.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, they begin setting prisoners free keeping one small boy with them, however, most including Woods decide to set off on their own. They learn that several inmates are going to look for the missing as they believe they are behind the attack on the city and some inmates even knew that this was going to happen. However, when they release some Ebb dealers who immediately begin murdering rival dealers also locked up, they realise it might not have been a good idea especially since they believe that one of their group is responsible for the death of their friends. They manage once again with some struggling to get away from the Ebb dealers but they now have Tyco to deal with. From day one Tyco has sworn to kill Luka and he didn’t know why until he saw the boy for the first time and he realises it is to do with the reason he is in the Loop to begin with. While most of them are in there for more minor crimes like car theft and drug dealing, Luka is in there for murder. However, we learn that it was Tyco’s brother that was murdered and Luka took the blame for his sister, Molly and despite repeatedly trying to explain this to Tyco, the older boy doesn’t want to listen. Once all of them are free of the Loop they notice soldiers moving in and get to the platform near the village where Tyco disregard their deal to give them 24 hours head start and pulls a gun before aiming and firing at Luka.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, the story was really getting excited especially with all the theories of biochemical warfare taking place as well as trying to figure out who everyone really is. As they escape from the Loop, Akina breaks her ankle falling from the wall and they know they can’t carry her all the way. The decide that the best course of action is to find somewhere for Akina and a few of the others that aren’t as athletic to hide while the rest go off in search of family and painkillers before returning. Pander is the only one to head off on her own and most believe that she won’t return especially when the Smilers begin hunting them down. Together Kina, Luka, Tyco and Malachai begin heading into the city towards the hospital for painkillers for Akina before heading to look for their respective families but more than once the Smilers are upon them. The first time Malachai is almost caught but Kina and Luka help him out, the next time it is Luka who is caught but he falls into the river which seems to kill the Smilers before Tyco helps him out. During this chase the group was split with Tyco and Luka ending up at Tyco house while Luka recovers from the freezing river but they have been separated from Kina and Malachai. Despite his actions up until now, Tyco turns on Luka putting an Ebb patch on him before trying to kill him but two women come to his rescue seemingly killing Tyco and waiting for the drug to wear off before telling him what has been happening in the outside world. Luka shares his theory on the cure being at the facility and the women agree that it is a good theory but they can’t understand why this has been done but they do know that this is only the beginning and the real war will start after the Smilers have been dealt with and Luka has seen this in the soldiers moving around the city.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, I had no idea how The Loop was going to end but I was excited for it, nonetheless. We get to see everything come together in a way, we see the showdown between these modified Alts and the Missing including the characters we have come to know and love. However, during the final battle, Luka begins to notice it is like groundhog day and it seems to be repeating itself and he eventually figures out he is in a simulation as something is trying to get information out of him on where his friends are. When they bring him around he realises he is in the Block and knows he won’t be getting out of here unless someone else frees him. During this time, he learns that the AI became sentient and viewed humanity as a disease which is why it is wiping them out however, they can’t directly hurt them which accounts for the Smilers and these strange Alts are people who have been taken over by the AI, Happy. Luka and the others are referred to as batteries for their healing abilities which makes them the perfect literal batteries to power whatever the AI wants to power and Luka somehow knows that Kina and Malachai are in the Block too but the others are safe and he waits for them to rescue him. After three weeks there is no sign of rescue when it suddenly arrives but a rogue sentence makes Luka suddenly realises he is in another simulation and he seemingly figures out exactly what to do in order to stop the AI. Overall, The Loop was an excellent introduction to fast paced, thrilling sci-fi novel and I can’t wait to jump into the Block as soon as I can.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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