Book Review – Protectors, Beyond These Walls Book One by Michael Robertson
First published, 2018
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
“Only fools in this city fell in love with people from other districts. Protectors, politicians, and fools.”
In a future beyond the use of fossil fuels, Spike, almost eighteen, in love with Matilda who lives in the ceramics district, and both of them bound for their daunting six-month national service, dreams of becoming the protectors’ apprentice.
In the walled city of Edin, a place of predominantly single-storey dwellings, the population has swollen and the town must expand its boundaries if it is to accommodate its citizens. But the bloody-eyed diseased lurk beyond the walls. And though they look frail, they are fast, strong and have a lust for human flesh, as those who’ve been ejected from Edin could attest – had they not been ripped apart in minutes.
To become a protector, with the freedom to date outside his district and to avoid following in his farmer father’s footsteps, Spoke must lose his cockiness, get through his national service (only half of those who enter get out alive), and then go on for further training against the things outside the walls. But can Spike survive when his confidence is shaken? Will Matilda still love him in the face of his panic and the sneering superiority of protector’s son, Ranger?
Although there was some repetition of particular phrases in the narrative, the one at the beginning of this review is a good example of that, I only noticed it because I read this book so fast. So well-written, I couldn’t put it down, the characters and the terror were clearly conveyed. There’s an awful lot to like in this book.
Petrina Binney - Author 