The Annihilation of Foreverland by Tony Bertauski

This review does contain **SPOILERS** so if you're only looking for description of the book take a look at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13368166-the-annihilation-of-foreverland :) Thanks!

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***Rating: 5/5 Stars***


This book was absolutely amazing! What I really loved about it was the concepts that were being explored (at least they were from my POV – which is quite possibly completely wrong haha). I was hooked from the first page and literally could not put it down till I’d finished the book. The story is set in what is essentially an island prison for lost boys. Each boy has an elderly Investor who is supposed to be some kind of caretaker – but with an extra side of creepy. When the kids wake up on the island they’ve been robbed of their memories and told that they’re there to have their minds healed and every single last one of them has a hole in the middle of their foreheads. And somehow – they’re all ok with it.

They spend the majority of their time mucking about, going to their version of school (without the pressure), working out and generally just being kids. Except that unlike pretty much any kid I’ve ever met – they’re all obedient to their Investors (who have the ability to electrocute at will – so I guess their obedience is understandable!), who ritualistically force them to participate in the ‘Haystack’.

Inside the Haystack the boys are humiliated and basically made to be as uncomfortable as possible without doing anything that would cause them permanent injury – all in an effort to make it so that the kids will do anything to escape the pain they’re in, and accept the needle that’ll take them to the virtual world they’ve dubbed Foreverland.

And it’s this virtual reality that makes the book so compelling to me. Most people at some point in their lives will wish for a way out of whatever rut they’re in, just an escape from the day to day muck of life. And that is exactly what is being achieved through Foreverland.The boys go there and the world and its reality (if you can call it that) is almost a polar opposite of their lives on the island. They have complete control over themselves, their bodies and the world around them. They control what they feel – don’t want to feel the bully attempting to completely bash your head in? don’t have to! Feel like flipping that car? Go for it. On the island they have no control at all – this knowledge is cemented by their experiences in the haystack just minutes earlier. This all sounds pretty great doesn’t it? I mean aside from the fact that they’ve all had to be tortured and impale their foreheads with a needle to get there. But the side effect of going to a place like that is that your true reality becomes less and less appealing. They lose themselves to the illusion. Their bodies are still fully functioning, but the person is gone. – I really don’t wanna give too much away so suffice to say that by creating this virtual reality Tony is able to explore ideas like the fear of death, people’s need to escape, the idea of the ‘soul’ or (or at the very least the essence of a person that makes up their consciousness) and the corruption and greed that is present in society that makes a place like the island an all too real possibility.

The Annihilation of Foreverland is a fantastic book, something that can easily be read by adults and teens alike. It explores some pretty awesome concepts and keeps up the suspense so that even up until the final pages you’re not quite sure how things are going to play out. Read up and enjoy!!