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Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Book Review: 200 by Jennifer Brody

This interesting graphic novel ends with fitting sci fi irony.
200
by Jennifer Brody, Jules Rivera (Illustrator)

55759000

• Publisher : Keylight Books (February 16, 2021)
• Language : English
• ISBN-10 : 1684424224
• Print page Numbers : 128
Genre: Dystopian Graphic Novels, Sci Fi
My Rating: 4.0 of 5.0.


It’s Eva Thorne’s 200th birthday.
But it’s not a celebration, more like a funeral. Eva lives in a world where the Cure for aging and illness has been discovered and administered to every person on Earth, only there’s one big hitch. It turns out that very few people can handle immortality, so they have to take a test on their two hundredth birthday. If they pass, then they get to live forever. But if they fail, they must be euthanized.
Eva’s not an optimist. In fact, she’s pretty sure that she’s going to fail her Centurial Assessment Test. For starters, almost nobody passes anymore. She’s seen the news stories. But than more than that, Eva can tell that she’s already starting to slip mentally. Ever since the Escorts took her husband Owen away for his test a little over six months ago and he never came back, she’s been chain smoking cigarettes (they can’t kill her after all), binge drinking, and waiting for the Escorts to get it over with already.
Who wants to live forever if you have to do it alone?
Here’s the truth—Owen was her husband for over 170 years. He was her soulmate. Her lover. Her goofball best friend. Her partner in crime. Her everything. But on the way to her testing room, Eva glimpses a staffer who resembles her husband. Suddenly, she has to find out the truth about what really happened to him. Suddenly, she has a reason to live. Did he pass his test? Does he get to live forever? Can Eva join him for this next part of their lives? Or is she destined to fail her test and be euthanized?
Now Eva must escape from the testing facility and find out if her husband passed his test—and what he’s been doing for the past six months. With the Escorts hunting her down, she kidnaps the staffer and drags him to the roof, discovering that it’s Owen—only he can’t remember her because they wiped his memory. When you pass your CAT test, you must leave your old life behind. Eva must now find a way to him remember their life together, or lose him forever to his new immortal existence.


Review:
Eva and her husband and best friend, Owen, have been together for nearly 170 years. But as their 200th birthdays loom, they are distressed. In Eva’s world, when people turn 200, they are required to take a Centurial Assessment Test (CAT). If the person passes the test they get to live forever. But as far as the public knows, most people fail.

Eva convinces Owen to make bucket lists so they can do special things their last year. Owen takes his test and Eva believes he is dead. She struggles waiting for her CAT test date, wondering if she has a reason to live. As she enters the facility for her testing, she sees a staffer whom she is sure is Owen. He has no memory of Eva as his mind has been wiped. Eva is desperate to find out what truly happened to Owen, but to do that she has to escape the enforcers and force ‘Owen’ to escape with her. Will Eva be able to uncover the truth? Will she be able to pass the CAT test and gain the right to live forever?

This story has humor, excitement, a bit of sex, and the irony that is so often an element of sci fi. I enjoyed the twists which are anticipated but still a good surprise. The graphic images are engaging, sometimes bold and sometimes with starkness. There are sexual images that I could have done without, but they are quick and only a small part of the overall story. I recommend this as an entertaining, quick read for sci fi and graphic novel fans.

Source: 1/11/2021 Received from Turner Publishing Marketing. This qualifies for 2021Author ebook goal.

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