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Reviewed by Francine Zane for Readers' Favorite
In Autonomy by Jude Houghton, Balmoral Murraine is born property of the Battery, an assembly line conglomerate that specializes in profiting from the misery of the underclass by literally working them to deformity or death. No one every dreamed she had the capacity to do much more than survive, never mind influence her world. Tristram and Pasco Eborgersen are twins born to an Elite family. When their paths cross with that of Balmoral, nothing will ever be the same again.
Jude Houghton's Autonomy is designed to make the reader question the big picture of how economics, politics, and religion interact to influence the actions of the general public. These three components help the privileged remained pampered while sentencing the poor to voluntary slavery, and the use of virtual realities and promises of a rich afterlife keep them complacent in the face of horrendous crimes against humanity.
I was hooked on Autonomy from page one, and every time I second guessed where the plot was going, Houghton tossed in a plot twist that made the story just that much more interesting. While the book is technically science fiction, the story itself is an intense horror story depicting what could happen to mankind if we allow money and power to take precedence over humanitarian causes. Beyond the big picture, Autonomy is also very much about the personal stories of Balmoral, Tristram and Pasco. Survival and happiness are rare treats in this gritty tale of world domination by money hungry elitists.
