Steal Tomorrow
A serialized novel, updating thrice weekly.
When her parents died in a global pandemic, seventeen-year-old Cassie Thompson thought her biggest problem was finding her next meal. But “Telo” is a virally-transmitted genetic disease that targets adults, and no one is immune. Surviving to adulthood isn’t looking very good as her city succumbs to food shortages, sanitation problems, and gang violence. When Cassie accepts an invitation to join a group of young people living in a luxury hotel, she thinks her most immediate troubles are over. Her new tribe appears committed to alliance-building, order, and civility. She soon finds, however, that her new friends have very dark secrets and the boy she is falling in love with might be the most dangerous of them all.
Steal Tomorrow
— contains some harsh language —
Tags: first love mystery online novels pandemic post-apocalyptic science fiction young adult
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Editorial Reviews
Post-apocalyptic, but far from disastrous.
(Review written after reading chapters 1-2.1)
At this stage, there isn’t much to judge on - the story really is just beginning - there’s obviously a huge backstory (some of which is explained in bonus material).
The style and voice are solid, and there are no pacing problems as yet - the author seems eager to get the plot going as quickly as possible.
Characterisation is done economically - though will hopefully be expounded on in the future.
The novel is complete (and available from Lulu) so this will hopefully work to its advantage. The chapters are nice and short - easily read in a couple of minutes each.
It’s definitely going on my "to keep reading" list.
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A modernized Lord of the Flies.
At least that’s what it kept reminding me of: kids without parents trying to survive on their own, managing "tribes" and themselves, trying to fight a feral instinct that is constantly creeping up and threatening their survival.
This is definitely a very interesting story. I would have liked to know more about this disease in the context of the story itself instead of it being alluded to but my understanding is it’s all in the extra material on the site. I like to read the story first to see if I would want to read anything extra. I definitely do. I actually had to keep myself from reading more than my usual five chapters (or in this case posted parts) so I could do the review.
The surroundings of this quasi-post-apocalyptic world are probably better portrayed than the characters we’re following. I get a great sense of disparity, urgency and fear cycling all around them. Even in the facade of the more brash gangs around them, there’s fear of whether even they’ll survive to see the next day. It also makes me realize that, really, only a certain age rage of children survived. Those too young would probably die of neglect, leaving tweens (maybe) and teens and young adults. It just adds to the bleakness of the world.
I would like to get deeper into the head of one of the characters, preferably Cassie. The story seems to be told from a more omniscient viewpoint than anything else which leaves room, and me yearning, for as much character growth as the world around them has shown.
The Excerpt from Cassie’s Journal I felt was a bit contrived, mainly because it stands alone. It seemed really out of place in terms of viewpoint and felt it wanted to get a bit more information across than what the story itself was giving. I think a more limited POV would solve that pretty simply. On top of that it was just a shallow excerpt, griping on looks and how one girl looks better than the other. It just seemed out of place for the context they were in. I understood the grasp for normalcy but it just didn’t sit right with me.
I also felt Cassie’s certified survivalist skills were a little too convenient and at the same time proving useless. Could have fooled me she could survive in the wilderness until she claimed to have that title. I would have liked to have seen more of these skills instead her seeming to be no more skillful than her friend.
Despite all that, though, this story had me wanting to read more; not just the chapters but all of the information that’s on the site. It had just enough insanity in this world to bait the reader into wanting to follow through with the story. It’s a tease and I wanted to keep reading to see if I’d get greater satisfaction from it or if it would continue to taunt me, mocking me that it knew more than I did and I would just have to dig to find it all. I also really liked the site itself. It’s simple yet gives a good vibe for the story. I’m definitely going to keep reading this one and I would recommend others start as well.
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Most Helpful Member Reviews
A epidemic kills all adults…
The story starts in the aftermath of epidemic that somehow targets the adults, leaving children to fend for themselves.
There isn’t a lot of chapters posted, but there are a lot of interesting backstories, character guides, and several other unique bits of information that are interesting to read.
The story definitely has potential. It could either be one of the better stories around, the one that people talk about, or it can be a complete dud. So far it seems like it’s going to be great, but there isn’t enough chapters posted to base give a final judgment. I just wanted to review the story before I forgot and to let people know that it’s definitely worth checking out. I’ll be popping in when there’s updates to see what happens next.
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Worth Following
Let me start by saying that I’m a sucker for post-apocalyptic fiction.
Unfortunately, so are a lot of other folks; the majority of post-ac fiction is pretty trashy, cliched by nature, and boring. Steal Tomorrow is a pleasant exception - mostly.
It’s definitely engaging, and avoids many of the pitfalls of post-ac web fiction. It’s not too prone to purple prose, and the (17 year old?) protagonist is not portrayed as much younger than her speech would indicate. Nobody is too old, since the premise is a disease that targets adults, leaving only children and teens.
Though the protagonist may not have seemed older than intended, other children definitely did. At one point in the story we encounter a group of teens who have taken over the library, and stand as guardians of knowledge. Here’s an excerpt:
"After being informed that they weren’t to speak above a whisper, they were led to the stacks where other people were browsing, each led by a girl in stern librarian garb carrying a flashlight aloft through the dark rooms."
Really? Really? Donna Sirianni calls it "A modernized Lord of the Flies," but I beg to differ. I’m not sure how many children on Golding’s little island were concerned with books, but even those concerned with civilization were a disorganized minority, easily overrun.
In fact, I’m a book lover, a voracious reader, and library enthusiast, and I’m pretty sure that keeping the library running as usual wouldn’t top my TO DO list. At best, folks might attempt to preserve knowledge, but I suspect that most would be too busy trying to survive, and few would trade anything of worth for books, much less to rent books.
The crew our protagonist joins up with, the Regents, are less idealistic. There are internal conflicts, gross chores to be done, and envy of those with special privileges. We observe their attempts to build a sustainable infrastructure in the face of a broken society full of violence and death. The adolescent characters dance nervously around relationships and turn bitter over small slights - in other words, people being people.
The blook uses a common blog format, but does it with class, and very appropriate illustrative photos.
Overall, a good read. It has its flaws, but worth following to see where it goes.
-S
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