Plains of Ion: A Dystopian Trilogy

The Neon Sands Trilogy, Book Two

By: Adam J. Smith

Narrated by: Steven Miller

The sun-scorched tundra shimmers, and blood drips between the cracks.

Life on the plains is tough, dangerous, and just plain boring. Elissa dreams of breaking the monotony and winning the Liberty Trials: a hoverbike race around the perimeter of the plains with entry to Neon City at stake. Her town sits in the shadow of the enormous blister of Neon’s dome, within reach and yet forbidden. If she could only win…everything would change.

If only the stranger hadn’t appeared. If only she could get Quintessa, one of the three Queens, off her back. If only the murderous Rohen could get exactly what he deserved. So many questions. So many variants. When had life stopped being so boring?

A sci-fi dystopian adventure in an inhospitable landscape, Plains of Ion is the second book in an epic series that will explore man’s technological and innate potential, and the search for hope when all looks bleak.

©2018 Adam J Smith (P)2020 Adam J Smith

Dystopian Life in the Desert

This was a well written story, but I felt like it was all over the place. I am sure it is because I started with the second book in the series. I am going to read the first one and see if it makes more sense.

The story revolves around a group of clones called the “brothers” who have their blood used for experiments. The town is comprised of people living in shacks in the desert trying to earn passage to a domed city. They race hover bikes to determine the winner.

Their world is violent and bloody and the one of the brothers is a killer. Will he be brought to justice or will he get away with the murders he has committed?

Solves Book 1 Cliffhanger

This 2nd book starts with a LitRPG-style race which is long and seems unrelated until several of its characters come into play with Cal, the Book 1 protagonist. It is also much more politically themed with less action overall. Still, it is compelling with excellent character development. And, like Book 1, it ends in a cliffhanger...

Will Calix find Annora again?

This episode of the Neon Sands Trilogy introduces not only some very interesting new characters, but two new areas – Neon City and the city on its plains. Many questions from Neon Sands (book 1) are answered along with more exposing more background on life on the planet. All of these revelations provide insights to Calix as he searches for Annora. This second episode was a much more developed story than the first because of the deeper insight it provided. I received a review copy of the audiobook through Story Origin and chose to provide this review.

A well-written story from a good author

Plains of Ion: A Dystopian Trilogy The Neon Sands Trilogy, Book Two, my second read from author J.D. Allen. December seemed to be my month for new authors and January looks to continue the trend. I was given an Audible copy and I'm voluntarily reviewing it because every good books need reviews. 6-hours 11-minutes/288-pages, a bit more graphically adult in content. Steven Miller's narration adds to a good book's excellence. I look forward to more from this author and in this series, Up next is Neon Zero: A Dystopian Sci-fi: The Neon Series Prequel that I discovered I got back in May. (RIP Marley January 20, 2014 - July 24, 2018).

Plains of Ion - haunting life on the fringes

Plains of Ion. Haunting life on the fringes. I am really enjoying this noir dystopian trilogy. Plains of Ion is the second book and could stand alone but is best read in sequence, otherwise the brief appearance of Annora in the opening chapter would make no sense. Thought provoking world building. On the Plains of Ion is a fringe town: a matriarchal society ruled by three immortal Queens from which most of the populace has descended. Creepy social manipulation of the men, most of whom are clones called brothers.

There is more action in this story. I like the way the Liberty Race introduces the cast of characters. The Liberty Race is a race on hovercraft around the perimeter of the Plains of Ion. In the centre of the plains is the elitist domed city of Neon. The prize for winning the race is entry to the City of Neon, everyone's dream. An escape from the heat and tedium of the tundra. The race is lethal and so are the competitors.

In his search for Annora, Calix scaled the impossibly high sand mountain that separates his world of grey skies and endless red sand and stumbles down onto the dry tundra, hot sun and blue skies of the plains of Ion and into the path of the Liberty Race.

There is enough action, character development, secrecy, sedition and seduction to keep a reader glued to the page.
Or in my case, to the headphones. I listened to this story in one day. I do love audio and this was a terrific performance by Stephen Miller.

This story arc on the plains of Ion is complete, no cliffhanger. The next step for Calix and his new friends is the infiltration of the near impregnable Neon City and rescue of Annora.

Not for me

I requested that audiobook for free in exchange for an unbiased review. I listened to about 1/3rd of this audiobook. The narrator was good. I’m afraid I could not get the plot and gave up. In the beginning there is a race to reach a city (?) but I was confused who won. Then it apparently switched to people in a city there were quite a few characters but they were not really fleshed out. I did not enjoy the book but others may love it!