In The Great City of Progress, miracle-drug Sendrax has nearly eradicated the need for sleep.
The future is bright, and productivity has never been more highly valued…
So why is it that all 16-year-old Daria Grayson feels like doing is taking a nap?
She wasn’t always this way. She used to be an overachiever. Perfect grades, star of the track team. Now, she’s the school’s running joke … Perfect grades, star of the track team. Now, she’s the school’s running joke – figuratively and literally.
Of course, more than anything, Daria just wants to be normal. So when her parents have her hauled off to the Caxton-Meyers Institute for rehabilitation, she gets over her outrage pretty quickly. If they can ‘fix’ her, why not go along with it?
That is, until she discovers that things at the CMI aren’t exactly as they seem.
A darkness is rising behind the shining lights of Progress.
And the last thing it wants… is for Daria to fall asleep.
“I love a good dystopian read, and this one really hit the sweet spot… The last sentence of the book (without spoiling it) is so beautiful and gripping – that I can definitely say that I am eager for more.” ~Nathalie, Goodreads reviewer & bookstagrammer.
”…an original new take to the genre.” ~5-star Goodreads review.
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I’ve received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
The Year of 2037, when the new calendar has been reset and Sendrax has been invented. Thus, January 1, 2037 is known as Month 1, Day 1, Year 1. The year when everything has changed!
For the multitude of people Sendrax is the magic pill that eliminates sleep almost entirely, they only need 45 minutes of sleep per night and they’re good to go to work, learn and do other activities. No one is losing time anymore, everyone is fully productive. However, Sendrax is not working for everyone, and those people are considered broken, pariah and they need to die.
2 years ago everything was in order with Daria, when out of sudden Sendrax stopped working, she gets more and more tired, she even falls asleep at school for a couple of minutes, looses focus on school and that’s when things go on a slippery slope. All she wanted was to be normal and make her parents proud, but what she doesn’t know is, that she will never be normal because she was born to be extraordinary.
The book takes you to the future, where things have been enhanced, from the food to clothing to the sleep of people, everything has been done so they cut down the costs and increase the productivity.
This book has really given me the creeps, but the good kind of creeps. It made me think of how would I imagine the year 2,037 and for sure I wouldn’t want it to be like this. In this book, the people are not sleeping anymore, they’re wearing grey clothes, they work and learn and do other activities for more than 15 hours per day. Their entire life is being organized into minutes so there’s no waste of time, from breakfast to family time, to work to school – they do not have free time to do anything other than what the Progress has told them to. They need to follow the Progress Guidelines otherwise there are repercussions.
The book is very interesting and very mind-blowing and it teaches you that sometimes, rules can be broken and you shouldn’t ever follow someone blindly without questioning yourself if that’s the real truth, or their truth. Because, each person, might have a different truth. I loved the fact that Daria was so young but yet so strong and so determined to try her best and find the truth, even tho she felt that like her whole world is crumbling because what she thought it’s not normal, is actually very normal and she is very unique – something she never wanted to be. All she wanted was to be normal.
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Exciting & Unusual New Magic Series!
Can you imagine a society where one needs only 45 minutes of sleep per day? Citizens of futuristic city of Progress, formerly Casper Wyoming, have been programmed to require just that and anyone requiring more are called ‘sleepers’. Daria Grayson, our heroine, is sent to the Caxton-Meyers Institute to be ‘fixed’ because she requires more than 45 minutes sleep. She’s rescued and learns that with more sleep she gains some unique powers. A great combination of intriguing characters, drama, suspense, magical abilities, teenage angst and twists with a cliffhanger ending. I can’t wait to read the next book. I received an arc copy and am happy to leave my honest review. Enjoy!
Sleeper: A Dystopian Novel (The Waking Sleep Book 1) by Lucy Adler is a wonderful story that I have loved reading. This is book number one in this wonderful start to a brand new series written by a brand new author for me to read. I am so hooked on this series I can not wait to read the rest of this wonderful series. I highly recommend this story to everyone who loves reading about dystopian in their stories.
I received a free copy of this book via Story Origin and am voluntarily leaving a review
Engaging thriller, a la hunger games
Sleeper was a great read. I’m not a huge fan of YA dystopian lit generally, but I quite enjoyed this one. It reminds me of hunger games a bit; a world I don’t recognize (and hope I never do) organized by the powerful, and driven towards “progress” by forces both moral and practical. Daria longs to succeed and make her parents proud, but she seems to be losing ground instead. Can she be fixed for good, or does her “problem” have a higher purpose?
At first glance „Sleeper“ (Book 1 in “The Waking Sleep” Series) is a just a new addition to the dystopian YA meet academy shelf but, as the old adagio goes, not every first impression is true, and “Sleeper” quickly turns out to be an original new take to the genre.
Sixteen-year old Daria Grayson also known as Dashy is in a lot trouble, and no… the nickname is just the smallest of her problems. In Daria’s lifetime, over sixty-five years into the future, humanity has resolved the crucial problem holding progress back, the need for sleep. The invention of Sendrax allows everyone to be productive practically 24/7 with just 45 minutes sleep time. Humans are able to focus into tasks and be productive at a level never seen before. Works to perfection…. except for Dashy, who can barely keep awake even when she manages to get sixty minutes at night. No matter how much she takes, double, even triple doses of Sentrax have not effect whatsoever. Oversleeping the day away surely does not do in such a society, thus her parents sent her away to the Caxton-Meyers Institute who specializes in treating persons suffering of “sleep disorders”. Frankly it couldn’t have happened at a worse time, Jake her best friend (an serious crush for two years) just broke up with his girlfriend, and a girl can dream….
Even if Dashy obviously doesn’t want to be committed, the first impression on the Institute are pleasantly surprising…hey! they even have chocolate…. Remember what I just said about first appearances
The plot develops, with unexpected plots and twist, into a story that goes beyond the normal YA dystopian scope, revealing some of our modern behaviour and the need to always be productive, present, “on flick”, and questioning the real value of seemingly perfect societies and what really makes us human.
It is a well written book, fast-paced without feeling rushed, first and foremost an entertaining tale with a very likeable main character, a very interesting start to a new dystopian YA series.
It was addictive!! There were all kinds of things I should have been doing all day, but I couldn’t stop reading this book! The main character is really relatable, but what she does is new to me. It’s the best of what I like about urban fantasy, but with a different twist that I loved! I just didn’t want the world to end!! I can’t wait until the next book is released!