Book Review: Eyes on the Blue Star by Dewi Hargreaves
Eyes on the Blue Star is one of the best dystopian novels I've read. Blue Stars are people living in a dystopian American future who still kindle a hope for lives of peace and security in a time of division and war in the homeland. It features complex characters marking a journey across dangerous lands, wary of untrustworthy opponents, never sure who is ally or foe. Danger lurks everywhere and refuge doesn't last long. Authoritarian powers control the population centers and the outlands are ghosted by gangs and beasts. Our heroes just want to escape the worst of them and reach the imagined tranquil life, as they travel their eyes always on the Blue Star.
Dewi Hargreaves is the author and an illustrator, a graphics artist who draws maps for works of the imagination like Eyes on the Blue Star. He is gifted as a cartographer and an illustrator, and he has included a map of his envisioned dystopic America at the front of Eyes on the Blue Star, giving you a graphic overview of the world his mind's eye sees. From there, he lets his words do his magical world building. His writing is as gifted as are his artist's pen and brush.
I found myself becoming engrossed not just in the story, but also in the storytelling—the agile descriptions of characters and their emotions and driving forces, as well as the telling details on the settings and actions. Yet Hargreaves is a sparse writer, telling you what you need to know without volumes more, and that's great writing. His prose wraps you in the scene around the personalities and their surroundings to help you understand their cares and their predicaments, then lets you wander with them as they wind their way through the story. There are many elegantly written chapters that are a pure pleasure to read.
So I recommend Eyes on the Blue Star for your consideration, rating it A++ (a 5 on the Amazon scale) for A Great Read—one of the best in the dystopian genre.
