Review – The Tube Riders

Title:  The Tube Riders

Author:  Chris Ward

Genre: Sci-Fi

Publisher: Chris Ward

Publish Date: March 19th, 2012

Available at: Amazon 

Beneath the dark streets of London they played a dangerous game with trains. Now it is their only chance for survival…

Mega Britain in 2075 is a dangerous place. A man known only as the Governor rules the country with an iron hand, but within the towering perimeter walls of London Greater Urban Area anarchy spreads unchecked through the streets.

In the abandoned London Underground station of St. Cannerwells, a group of misfits calling themselves the Tube Riders seek to forget the chaos by playing a dangerous game with trains. Marta is their leader, a girl haunted by her brother’s disappearance. Of the others, Paul lives only to protect his little brother Owen, while Simon is trying to hold on to his relationship with Jess, daughter of a government official. Guarding them all is Switch, a man with a flickering eye and a faster knife, who cares only about preserving the legacy of the Tube Riders. Together, they are family.

Everything changes the day they are attacked by a rival gang. While escaping, they witness an event that could bring war down on Mega Britain. Suddenly they are fleeing for their lives, pursued not only by their rivals, but by the brutal Department of Civil Affairs, government killing machines known as Huntsmen, and finally by the inhuman Governor himself.

I received a free copy of this book for an honest review.

This book reads more like a YA novel as the Tube Riders are most like a gang of skateboarders. That doesn’t make this story any less fun or unique. It’s got a lot of action and the violence in the story seems to contradict my snapshot judgment of it being a YA novel.

Nonetheless, the characters in the book are all very young and their problems are very young. I don’t want that to steer you away from reading this book though. I really did enjoy it.

Marta is the nominal leader of the group of Tube Riders and she’s very well fleshed out. I was able to identify with her the most. She reacts in very human and believable ways to each situation. With each step of the way I was cheering her on.

Another of the Tube Riders I really liked was Switch. He had street smarts and cunning that made me admire him. He was loyal to his friends and deadly to his enemies. Switch was a true survivor in every sense of the word.

All of the Tube Riders were heroes in their own ways but those two were my favorites for those reasons. The villains were equally fleshed out which made the story all the more enjoyable.

Their harrowing escape from the powers that be takes them all over Mega Britain and they meet a myriad assortment of characters. From the sleepy countryside to the busy underground of Bristol, they keep on running from the strong-arm of the law and the inhuman strength of the Hunstmen.

The Huntsmen are scary cyborg creations that have inhuman strength and are unstoppable when they’re on the path of their prey. The Tube Riders will eventually learn how they come to be during the course of their adventures. The answer will hit closer to home then they’d ever dream of.

It had heart-stopping action and heart-wrenching moments. A very entertaining ride!

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