Book Review: Ametsapolis Rising By Shaun Myandee

Print Length: 409 pages
Self Published

Rarely, I would guess, does a 24 year old, who is London-born, write such a good novel. Ametsapolis is a sprawling city of 300 million, built in layers that tower miles into the sky. Inside the walls is all that’s left of world civilization that has been devastated and polluted by nuclear wars. There is a government that rules with the help of extra-normal humans and the government has substituted safety for control. There is poverty and there is an elite wealthy class. In many ways Ametsapolis mirrors ours the financial situation of the industrial world today.

The book opens with this sentence: “A soft grey haze lay over the village square, equal parts mist and gently fragrant wood smoke.” I could see that village and smell the air and was instantly ready for a good story.

How does a 24-year old know so much when he writes? “Young men have the inclination to change the world, because they are not invested in the world’s broken system; but I’m afraid it is the old men who know how…and by the time we get old, we have lost the inclination because we have so much to lose.” Maybe that’s why revolutions happen so infrequently.

Does this sound like what’s happening in the U.S.? “We have lost so much that we are grateful for security and comfort. So grateful, in fact, that we cheerfully surrender everything that should be moist precious to us. Our futures, our freedoms.”

Speaking of comfort, Myandee quotes Daniel Bunelli,” Our comfort is our weakness. When we are vulnerable, we are strong. We have nothing to lose and everything to fight for.”

The book is the story of three people and is a warning to the comfortable.