I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Ration by Cody T. Luff Published by Apex Book Company on August 13 2019
Genres: Adult, Horror
Pages: 232
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: A harsh, dystopian future where a girl’s life is measured in calories, Ration is not for the faint of heart, but don’t let that stop you from reading this book.
“You’ll find that the world is just a machine. And you are fuel.”
Ration is Cody T. Luff’s first novel, and frankly I’m surprised. I can’t remember the last time I read such a beautifully written debut novel, although I have to warn you that this is also a bleak and extremely brutal dystopian, so that is probably the last time I will use the word “beautiful” in this review. Still, despite the depressing subject matter (which I’ll get to, don’t worry!), I loved Luff’s writing and the way it contrasts with the horrors in this world. Ration is a tough read and won’t be for everyone, but horror aficionados will love it.
The story is set in the future after an event called the Clear, where every male has died, along with all the plants and animals. Now only girls and women are alive, trying to survive in a world with very little food and barely any hope. Young girls are relegated to “Farms” where they live in dormitory-like housing, ruled over by the Women of the Farm, who assign daily tasks and keep a close watch on the Rations, the only available food, packets of the paste-like substance that everyone in this future must eat to survive. Rations come in A, B or C types, C being the worst and having the least calories, and A being the most sought after, but ultimately the forbidden one. Girls request rations through a machine on each floor, but every time someone requests an A Ration, a bell sounds and an unlucky girl is taken to a place called the Wet Room to be “processed,” never to be seen again.
Cynthia is a young girl in one such Farm, just trying to survive from one Ration to the next. When she’s framed for taking an unauthorized A Ration one day, one of the Women, a nasty girl named Glennoc, takes her to the Wet Room, where Cynthia knows she will die. But when Glennoc does the unexpected, both she and Cynthia are forced to leave. Now they must navigate a world even more savage than the Farm, where every calorie means the difference between life and death.
If you haven’t already figured it out, there is a correlation between the Rations and the processing of the girls, a horrible thought that honestly made me sick to my stomach. This novel is dark with a capital D, and Luff’s future is one I hope we never see. Bottom line, everyone is starving in this story, even those who are fortunate enough to have gained status. There’s simply no food left. The economy of this future, such that it is, is based on calories. Everything is measured in calories, debts are paid with them, and every part of a girl’s body has a caloric value attached to it. When Glennoc is kicked out of the Apartment, she’s told that she is now in debt for Cynthia’s worth, which is 100,000 calories. She must figure out ways to “pay back” that debt by not eating or selling her skin to the Skin Brokers. Likewise, Glennoc uses Cynthia to recap some of that debt by selling her to various unsavory characters.
There is also a great deal of heartbreak in this story. Aside from the obvious, that these girls have almost nothing to eat, it’s Luff’s small details that make the story even sadder. For example, only Women wear shoes. Cynthia has never worn shoes in her life, until she goes out into the world. She’s also never seen a plant or an animal, and when she sees the ocean for the first time, I nearly cried, because the ocean in this future is not our ocean at all (but I suppose it could be someday).
As for the characters, it’s hard to like any of them, except for Cynthia. This may be a world without men, but these women are just as hard and cruel as many of the male characters I’ve run across in other dystopians. Glennoc does unspeakable things to the girls, drunk on the idea that she’s better than them. We find out that once you have been promoted to a Woman, you suddenly have rights, but rights are only given to a handful of lucky people. Then there is Miss Tuttle, the Woman in charge of the Apartment where Cynthia lives. She’s also a horrible person, but she’s weaker than Glennoc in many ways. I loved the way her story line ends, and I thought her final scene was beautifully written. (Shoot, there I go using that word again!) But Cynthia was everything this story needed. In a world full of despair and hopelessness, Cynthia was a beam of light. Tortured, abused and starved, she still finds a way out of her situation, even if it’s not the way you expect.
If you’re one of those readers who need concise answers, then you might have trouble with Ration. Luff does a great job of painting a picture of this bleak world, but he doesn’t spell everything out for the reader. You’ll have to connect some of the dots yourself, and I was OK not knowing everything by the end of the book. For example, we don’t get any details at all about the Clear and why all the men have died off. There’s a brief paragraph about it near the end of the story, but it didn’t exactly satisfy my curiosity. Still, part of the storytelling experience is applying your own emotions and expectations to the story, and sometimes not knowing everything and being able to draw your own conclusions is even better than having all the facts shoved down your throat.
Readers may be reminded of other dystopian stories, like The Handmaid’s Tale. I personally felt some Waterworld and Mad Max vibes in some parts of the book. And strangely enough, Ration sort of reminded me of a weird, twisted version of Annie. It takes place in an orphanage of sorts, Cynthia is the abused Annie and Glennoc is the horrific Miss Hannigan! Ultimately, though, Ration is its own unique story. Unpleasant at times, bitterly sad, but with small pockets of joy and hope scattered here and there, I’m grateful to have experienced it and thrilled to have found a new writer to follow. Cody T. Luff is the real deal, and I can’t wait to see what he does next.
Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.
“If you’re one of those readers who need concise answers, then you might have trouble with Ration.” – thanks for the heads up. This is 100% me. Lol. Great review though! Glad you enjoyed it.
Ha ha, yep you would be totally frustrated! I honestly don’t mind ambiguity if it’s done well, and I thought it was very well done this time.
I think most of the ones I’ve seen the ambiguity was as well done as it could be… but I’m just someone who doesn’t think it’s okay no matter how well done. I feel like I invested all that time I should get to know the ending. Undoubtedly the worst offender I’ve seen in the past year was Future Home of the Living God… oh man I was angry about that.
I’m thrilled you enjoyed this one and I am curious. However, I smell cannibalism here 🙂 Great review and I am still considering it. There are just too many other books I need to get to as well!
Your smell is correct, lol. There’s never enough time to read everything, so sad!!
Very happy to read your thoughts. It is quite a world that Luff has created. Scary!
It is quite a world! Terrifying because it’s certainly possible.
Oh, this definitely sounds enticing, Tammy. Annie and Waterworld with plenty of depth? I am adding this one. I love a powerful dystopian. Wonderful review!
Well, I might be stretching it with the Annie reference, but for some reason that’s what came to my mind:-)
Your hint at what happens to the girls who disappear made me think about an old dystopian movie, Soylent Green (1973), which has remained one of the scariest post-apocalyptic movies I remember seeing – and something tells me the situation here might be very similar… (((shudder)))
Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Maddalena@spaceandsorcery recently posted…Review: THE RAGE OF DRAGONS (The Burning #1), by Evan Winter
Yes indeed, shades of Soylent Green. His approach is different though!
I love when there’s a lack of concise answers sometimes, so that makes me even more interested in this one. Really intrigued by your review, it definitely sounds intense!
It was really intense, and hard to read at times! But very well written:-)
It’s always a joy finding a new author whose writing really works for you. This sounds like the sort of book I might thoroughly enjoy reading once, but never have a desire to reread.
I hope he writes another book soon:-)
This sounds like such a powerful read, although I have a feeling that ambiguity might frustrate me, especially when it comes to the ending. I’m still very tempted though. Fantastic review!
Suzanne @ The Bookish Libra recently posted…Review: THINGS YOU SAVE IN A FIRE by Katherine Center
Thanks Suzanne, I don’t usually like ambiguity either, but in this case it worked for me:-)
What a terrifying premise! 😮 How anyone could think of such things is amazing and I love the sound of it nonetheless. Fantastic review as always, Tammy! 😀
Lashaan Balasingam recently posted…Batman: Detective Comics: Fall of the Batmen by James Tynion IV
Thanks Lashaan! It’s truly terrifying but beautiful at the same time. I have no idea how he did it:-)
I wasn’t familiar with this one, sounds interesting! I like the dark and disturbing vibes – just the way I like my horror…typically, I like answers in my stories, but I’m willing to make an exception for this genre 😀
Super disturbing! And depressing. Not sure how that combination worked so well for me, but it did.
I love your review, it makes me even more keen to start this one.
Lynn 😀
I’m so curious to read some more reviews, hope you get the chance to read it:-)
I’ve been on the fence about this one but I now think it’s a go for me!
Laura Thomas recently posted…Excerpt and Giveaway ~ The Time For Murder Is Meow by T.C. LoTempio
It’s a tough read but worth it!
I honestly don’t know how you got through this read, Tammy. Just reading this review was hard.
Oh my. I don’t know if this one is for me, especially as I’m currently dieting and calorie counting!
Great review! I just started this one last night, and I usually don’t read reviews for anything I’m currently reading because I worry that it’ll sway my feelings, but I saw enough to see you gave it a high star rating and that made me curious. I’m enjoying it so far but definitely having to suspend my questions a little bit haha. These women are so awful though and I’m very intrigued to see for myself what happens next.
Destiny @ Howling Libraries recently posted…Saturday Smalls — August 24th, 2019
This sounds wonderful. I think I’d like this one, though the ambiguity might bother me…sometimes I like to form my own answers, sometimes I want to know more. I might be disturbed that I don’t know more about the big event that removed all the men from the picture, but since that’s not ultimately what drives the story, I believe the writing and its clarity would sustain me.
I’ve seen this book on Instagram and I wanted to read a review about it and this didn’t disappoint, I certainly have a better idea of what it’s about. What a disturbing future, wow.
Wow, what a fantastic review! I really want to read this now.
This sounds absolutely appalling–and really good! Of course, the actual future will involve climate change having created storm systems that cover the entire globe, and mankind’s descendants developing scales and retreateing to the oceans, where they will try to survive on krill.
The dystopian society in this book sounds, in many ways, worse than the Handmaid’s Tale. What an interesting concept.
Took me a while, but I finally got to this book!
and I freakin’ loved it. yes, you are right, dark with a capital D, but i couldn’t put it down!
Glad you loved it too!