- Sara Jane Jacobs
Veiled Sun by Brett Armstrong
About the Book
Book: Veiled Sun
Author: Brett Armstrong
Genre: Christian Dystopian, Sci-Fi
AD 2040: Every day the world slips further into lies. Seventeen-year-old Elliott knows that better than most. Project Alexandria is rewriting history, shaping the world according to sinister goals. To stop it, Elliott must assemble the “Veiled Sun”, a secret program written by his grandfather. The only people he can count on are siegers—outlaws who use their coding skills for purposes almost as nefarious as Project Alexandria. Overcoming the schemes and betrayals all around him, he’s the world’s best hope to save reality, if he doesn’t lose hold of it himself. Click here to get your copy!
My Thoughts . . .
I'm struggling with how to start this review. How about . . . Wow. I don't normally gravitate toward dystopian, sci-fi books (or movies) but I'm really glad this book landed on a Celebrate Lit Tour. It is excellent. This is a great story and so well-written. I can't say that I've become a fan of this genre, but I've definitely become a fan of Brett Armstrong's writing. This was a five-star read for me and I highly recommend it!
I was given a copy of this book for free. I was not required to give a favorable review nor was any money received for this review. All comments and opinions are my own.
About the Author
Brett Armstrong has been exploring other worlds as a writer since age nine. Years later, he still writes, but now invites others along on his excursions. He’s shown readers hauntingly sorrowful historical fiction (Destitutio Quod Remissio), scary-real dystopian sci-fi (Day Moon and Veiled Sun), and dark, sweeping epic fantasy (Quest of Fire). Where he heads next is as much a discovery for him as readers. Through dark, despair, light, joy, and everything in between, the end is always meant to leave his fellow literary explorers with wonder and hope.
More from Brett
In the near-future world of Veiled Sun, reality is an endangered species. The erosion of confidence in traditional sources of undisputed truth–media, government, academia and science, religion, family, and friends—forces continual skepticism and self-reliance. At the same time, technology is making it more and more possible to “escape” reality. Virtual reality allows us to trick our minds into thinking we’ve literally stepped into another world and augmented reality brings elements of other worlds into our own. Deep Fake is even offering the ability to change past realities by manipulating audio and video recordings in ways our minds can’t distinguish from the real thing.
1 Corinthians 13 is one of my favorite passages of Scripture and verse twelve is probably one of the clearest places to see a sentiment key to the series:
“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, as I am fully known.”
Veiled Sun follows a teen who knows that reality is being tampered with for nefarious purposes. More important he also sees beyond the physical reality to the spiritual while handling an attack on both. Believers need to be firmly grounded in their faith in a world that increasingly muddles the lines between real and not real, truth and falsehood. There’s research that suggests our brains interpret what we read in the same way as lived experiences. So, in a sense GK Chesterton and others were right when they told us long ago that what we read becomes a part of us. My hope is readers will be better prepared to weather the storms that will come against their faith and hold onto the Truth even as truth is increasingly difficult to discern from fiction.