A Nothing Named Silas by Steve Westover-Blog Tour Review

Product Description:
Title: NOTHING NAMED SILAS
Author:STEVE WESTOVER
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Series: Fantasy series
Source: Received a review Kindle copy in exchange for an honest review.

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Cedar Fort, Inc. (September 10, 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1462111653
• ISBN-13: 978-1462111657

Book Description:

"You are here because the Citizens put you here to serve them and because the Regents choose to control your lives."

In the not-so-distant future, workers are forcibly drafted into their fields. With all their choices made for them, the workers must do what they’re told or face severe consequences. When Labor chooses Silas, the tyrannical Labor Regent is determined to make him a public example of her complete control. He is humiliated, manipulated, and isolated during his first week under the Shield, and the people who show him kindness only help him because they have ulterior motives.

But the Regent is not the only one pulling Silas’s strings. The mysterious Gideon wants to mold him into a hero, a champion of the oppressed people. And a strange girl seems to be guiding him to find out more about the Citizens they serve. Through it all, no one bothers to ask Silas what he wants to do. Because, after all, he doesn’t have any rights. He doesn’t really exist.

Wade through twisted government conspiracies and deeply buried secrets alongside Silas as he learns to choose for himself—and discovers the cost of freedom.

My Review:  

This Dystopian novel is one that really shook me up. There is a lot of deep thinking going on for the reader. We first meet 16 year old Silas who is running the race of a lifetime-literally. The outcome of this race will determine "who" he becomes and what society he will live in. He was trained to be part of the "Command" society and be a leader. The race ends badly for him and he ends up in the lowest society possible, "Labor". Once there, he is in for a world of degradation and humiliation. He is constantly tested physically, mentally, and emotionally. Silas is always wondering who he should trust, and for good reasons. Two different "groups" of people want him to work for them and both have their own motives at play. There is definitely a political undertone found in this novel. There is a slight love interest here, but it has more action and suspense than some of the other dystopian novels out there today.

Though this book is listed as a YA (young adult) book, I highly recommend that only teens over the age of 16+ read this novel, along with adults.  Some of the scenes may be too harsh for anyone younger, due to some violence and methods of degradation. This book is very well written and will bring out many emotions in the reader. I know it did exactly that for me. Some of the things that happened stunned me, but also made me look at life differently. If you are looking for an action packed and thought provoking book, A Nothing Named Silas will fully satisfy you.

Purchase this book HERE.

Meet the Author:

Steve Westover lives in a small Midwestern town with his wife and four kids. He graduated from Brigham Young University with a BA in Political Science and currently works in banking.

Steve also has a middle-grade fantasy series with two books released to date: Crater Lake: Battle for Wizard Island (March 2012) and Crater Lake: Return of the Mystic Gray (Apr. 2013). Steve has also published two FBI thrillers: Defensive Tactics (Aug. 2010) and the sequel, Gold Clash (Dec. 2012). To learn more about Steve, visit his website, www.stevewestover.com.