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Jon Wallace
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Barricade Paperback – 19 Jun. 2014

by Jon Wallace (Author)
3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 136 ratings
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Kenstibec was genetically engineered to build a new world, but the apocalypse forced a career change. These days he drives a taxi instead.

A fast-paced, droll and disturbing novel, BARRICADE is a savage road trip across the dystopian landscape of post-apocalypse Britain; narrated by the cold-blooded yet magnetic antihero, Kenstibec.

Kenstibec is a member of the 'Ficial' race, a breed of merciless super-humans. Their war on humanity has left Britain a wasteland, where Ficials hide in barricaded cities, besieged by tribes of human survivors. Originally optimised for construction, Kenstibec earns his keep as a taxi driver, running any Ficial who will pay from one surrounded city to another.

The trips are always eventful, but this will be his toughest yet. His fare is a narcissistic journalist who's touchy about her luggage. His human guide is constantly plotting to kill him. And that's just the start of his troubles.

On his journey he encounters ten-foot killer rats, a mutant king with a TV fixation, a drug-crazed army, and even the creator of the Ficial race. He also finds time to uncover a terrible plot to destroy his species for good - and humanity too.

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  1. Book 1 of 3
    Kenstibec
  2. Print length
    256 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Gollancz
  5. Publication date
    19 Jun. 2014
  6. Dimensions
    15.24 x 1.91 x 22.86 cm
  7. ISBN-10
    057511794X
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0575117945
  9. See all details
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Product description

Review

I found Barricade to be a fast-paced action adventure, full of dilemmas that need to be overcome. The book left me with many questions, two of which were: Why is there always fear of the unknown? Does being logical mean you always know best? (Fantasy Book Review)

Jon Wallace keeps the pace up, delivering inense setpieces alongside plenty of twisted humour and bone-crunching violence (SFX)

A superb, powerful, perfectly-paced debut that I found myself galloping through - clearly a writer we should be keeping an eye on. Hugely recommended (Forbidden Planet International)

Barricade is like one of those clever teachers that manages to educate through fun and amusement. More than that though its a book that can be enjoyed on many levels. You can just enjoy the ride; the crazily constructed story and crafty characters or you can enjoy the messages it subtly imparts (SF Book)

Compelling, fast paced and full of action, some very violent, the story moves through a series of set pieces told in the first person, cleverly from a Ficial's perspective. What makes this book a little different is the dual narrative strands: before and after the journey; a dislocation of time (We Love This Book)

BARRICADE is a refreshingly short and sweet addition to the genre (Reader Dad)

Jon Wallace presents a powerful portrait of a destroyed Britain, full of intriguing landscapes and settlements, as well as glimpses into the world and society that preceded it (Forwintersnights)

Jon Wallace, I warrant, is one to watch (Tor.com)

I'm not looking for a sanitised, clinical apocalypse. I want a writer to bring the world to an end with a BANG, not a whimper. The writing needs to revel in the anarchy and chaos, unleash a bit of mayhem. I'm glad to say BARRICADE manages to do exactly that (The Eloquent Page)

even a machine would find it tough not to enjoy the glee with which Jon Wallace breaks the world apart (Sci-Fi Now)

The fact paced narrative is a big draw...a promising dbut (The Big Issue)

A taxi ride, in Jon Wallace's scintillating debut novel, becomes an epic trek through a near-future Britain ravaged by conflict and nuclear war...the end of civilization has seldom been such gruesome fun (The Financial Times)

Book Description

A kinetic, violent and hugely intelligent SF road thriller - a desperate journey through a ruined future world.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Gollancz (19 Jun. 2014)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 057511794X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0575117945
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.24 x 1.91 x 22.86 cm
  • Customer reviews:
    3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 136 ratings

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Jon Wallace

Jon Wallace

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Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars
136 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the pacing fast, exciting, and even gory. They also praise the writing style as well-written and the reading experience as great.

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PacingWriting styleReading experience
4 customers mention ‘Pacing’4 positive0 negative

Customers find the pacing of the book fast, exciting, and even gory.

"...This is a great, fast-paced read." Read more

"Fast; original; very good." Read more

"...make for difficult reading at times, but the pacing the prose is difficult to fault. Highly recommended!" Read more

"I'm a fan of sci-fi television and really enjoyed Barricade. It's fast paced, exciting and even gory!..." Read more

4 customers mention ‘Writing style’4 positive0 negative

Customers find the writing style well written and enjoyable. They also describe the book as a real page turner.

"...didn't get fair representation 😀 very enjoyable read, a real page turner, (or swiper!)..." Read more

"Great series! Beautifully written and hard to put down. Great first book!" Read more

"Not a lot to say about this, it is well written but the characters have no personality and the plot has no originality, a dull ride through a dull..." Read more

"Fun, and grimly funny read. And far better written than most new sci-fi. Hope to see more from this author soon." Read more

3 customers mention ‘Reading experience’3 positive0 negative

Customers find the book a great read and a hard to put down series.

"...Philip K Dick's replicants didn't get fair representation 😀 very enjoyable read, a real page turner, (or swiper!)..." Read more

"Fast; original; very good." Read more

"Great series! Beautifully written and hard to put down. Great first book!" Read more

Top reviews from United Kingdom

Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Refreshing!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 May 2017
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It's refreshing how the reader is thrown straight into the action. Rather than the long, self-loving exposition sci-fi and fantasy writers often begin with, Wallace has you on the edge of your seat and chomping at the bit to find out how this post-apocalyptic world came to be. The characters are intriguing and the plot unfolds with some gritty, slaps in the face that you won't see coming. This is a great, fast-paced read.
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Nik Williams
5.0 out of 5 stars Great read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 April 2016
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I feel the author thought Philip K Dick's replicants didn't get fair representation 😀 very enjoyable read, a real page turner, (or swiper!)
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Jeff N.B
3.0 out of 5 stars So near yet so far
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 April 2014
Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )
Barricade by Jon Wallace claims to be that little bit different from your run of the mill post apocalypse thriller and that it is but I’m still not sure if I enjoyed it.

Set just a few years in the future in a world of the enslaved Ficial (artificial) and Real (ruling) humans the book tells of how the two life forms drift towards war then close to nuclear Armageddon. Finally life turns into a tribal conflict that sees the Ficials barricaded in the cities and the Reals outside trying to slaughter them.

The first half of the book deals with a group of Ficials trying to get from Edinburgh to London without being killed or worse. It is a lively, exciting and at times amusing part of the book and had it continued in that way then I would have rated the book much more than I do.

Alas by the time our little group get near York the story turns into Mad Max meets Arnie Schwarzenagger. I seriously lost the plot here and even rereading quite large sections I never really got it back.

The book is for the most part well written although there are a few typos and a couple of instances of the wrong word being used (span for spun and that sort of thing) but I was reading an uncorrected proof so hopefully they will be sorted. I enjoyed a lot but I was lost by the end so all I can say is not a bad book for a wet afternoon.
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MR I J D HARDINGHAM
4.0 out of 5 stars very good.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 July 2015
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Fast; original; very good.
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Chris O'Regan
5.0 out of 5 stars More of a road trip through hell rather than to it! Highly recommended.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 February 2017
Verified Purchase
The main protagonist that is Kentisbec comes across as a bridge between the 'Reals' and the 'Ficials' in this terribly dark post apocalyptic road trip tale of retribution. I was very drawn to Kentisbec as he tried to understand humanity's apparent drive to decimate itself and the planet they live on while at the same time creating some of the most amazing objects, which includes himself.

Barricade is not at all for the feint of heart and in these times of uncertainty make for difficult reading at times, but the pacing the prose is difficult to fault. Highly recommended!
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Rowena Hoseason
3.0 out of 5 stars A drab end to the world as we know it
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 April 2014
Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )
Barricade is an unremarkable post-apocalyptic road movie, heading south from Scotland in an armour-plated Land Rover. The protagonist is a Ficial, Kenstibec, a biological conscious and thinking entity – more like a Replicant from Blade Runner than a C3PO android – who has been optimised for working in construction under human masters in the pre-collapse civilisation. Like all Ficials, he’s not burdened by feelings or irrational desires, and his nanos rapidly repair any damage to his physical structure.

The humans, however, are falling apart at the seams; beset by famine, malnutrition, radiation sickness and interesting new infections. Even so, they’re still resisting the Ficials’ instruction to ‘report for culling.’ A ferocious form of trench warfare between the two sides has developed, with the Ficials maintaining semi-civilisation behind their barricades while the humans revert to savagery in the wilderness. Both sides still watch trashy TV, apparently. There’s a lot here which doesn’t quite add up and stays unresolved throughout.
But Barricade is written in an easily-accessible style and the opening chapters scramble along from one violent encounter to the next, swapping between here-and-now action and flashback sequences which explain how society collapsed. We meet a female pleasure model who instantly converts any human male into a dribbling sex-crazed loon (just a tiny bit unlikely in the circumstance) and a no-hoper human who acts as a guide through the badlands. The unlikely trio travel deep into trouble and – at roughly the halfway point – the purpose of their journey starts to reveal itself.
The result is a reasonably enjoyable romp. There’s heaps of action, plenty of gunplay and physical violence. In fact, it seems absurd how much punishment the humans seems to be able to take and how they kinda line up to be gunned down by the efficient Ficials. But the extended fight sequences become much like the rest of the novel; a dreary trudge through a muddy wasteland. They can’t match the razor-edge tension or black humour of Richard Morgan’s ruthless futuristic killer, Takeshi Kovaks in the Altered Carbon series.
Similarly, I struggled to really engage with Kenstibec, and actively disliked the irritating female Ficial – Paolo Bacigalupi created an infinitely more interesting bio-engineered sex slave in The Windup Girl. Compared to the subtlety and sophistication of the bio-punk dystopias of Bacigalupi, or Ian McDonald’s River of Gods, then Barricade is a blunt instrument indeed. Its social and moral commentary is pretty one-dimensional, so don’t expect the dazzling complexity of character or situation you might find in McDonald’s future India.

Barricade draws to a close with a finale that suggests a follow-up might be possible. Although this was an entertaining read, it neither grabbed me with eye-popping action nor inspired me with its creativity, so I’d give any sequel a miss.
7/10
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Edward Cox
4.0 out of 5 stars A road trip through the hell we made...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 July 2014
Wonderfully bleak, hugely entertaining, this is a grisly look at the future, with a great cast of characters and some solid storytelling.
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b kenward
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 March 2018
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Great series! Beautifully written and hard to put down. Great first book!
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Top reviews from other countries

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CS
3.0 out of 5 stars Mad Max - sang et violence
Reviewed in France on 6 May 2017
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Entre Mad Max et le Running Man, ce livre est de l'entertainment, comme un film d'action à la télé. C'est tout.
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Eric Foster
5.0 out of 5 stars But I was so happy that I decided to give this one a try
Reviewed in the United States on 1 March 2016
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I'm always looking for a decent read and this one fit the bill. I was not familiar with the works of Jon Wallace prior to discovering this title and I've been a bit reluctant to try different authors as of late because of a string of huge letdowns. But I was so happy that I decided to give this one a try. I had been searching for a sci-f story that was a bit different but at the same time did not just decide to throw massive scientific words at you that 95% of the planet have no idea what they mean. This story is smart, evenly paced and you'll have a hard time putting the book down. The characters were very well drawn out and you genuinely become engrossed with them. I only have a small handful of authors on my "go-to" list, but I'm very happy to say that Mr. Jon Wallace has now joined that list. Looking forward to what he'll bring us next!
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JenMo
5.0 out of 5 stars Familiar story. New storyteller.
Reviewed in the United States on 8 June 2017
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The classic tale of man creates artificial life to fix man's mistakes, and AI decides the only thing to do is get rid of humanity and start over. This isn't about the lead up to judgment day, it's about the aftermath. And it isn't people trying to scrape by while fighting their creations, it's different and that difference is what makes this book work reading.

Told from the perspective of artificial engineer model 9, Kenstibec, as he and his fellow "ficials" go about trying to cull what's left of humanity. The lack of passion combined with total commitment to purpose creates an interesting dynamic. K doesn't particularly want to kill people, but he's not bothered by the directive to do so.

It's an interesting read and I'll be checking out the next book in the series.
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CT
5.0 out of 5 stars Report for culling . . .
Reviewed in the United States on 8 January 2016
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Wow! A wonderful noirish post-human apocalyptic adventure! First ehm person thriller with a dry wry narrator who made me chuckle throughout.

If you like the Road Warrior and After Dark, My Sweet and Ancillary Justice and Altered Carbon and The Petrovich Trilogy, this will be right up your alley.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Great read
Reviewed in the United States on 11 June 2019
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Love this book and highly recommend it to anyone who likes science fiction, and or post apocalyptic stuff
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