This is one that we felt compelled to revisit because Erin Carrougher is about to release the second book in the series.
Augland
Located in the post-apocalyptic metro of what was once Seattle, the young and rebel-hearted Ashton unearths unforeseen truths about her own society and the ruined landscape beyond it in Augland by Erin Carrougher [Morgan James Fiction].
Ashton lives in the Pacific Northwest’s most extravagant Augland theme park, within a rigid caste system. There are those with the Suits, a futuristic technology that allows the wearer to don the body of his or her choice, and those without. Those who own Suits enjoy lives of excess and freedom, while the populous lower class is left to work doggedly for the totalitarian organization Artificial Existence Center (AEC) – or else brave the post-war landscape beyond Augland’s domed walls.
Ashton is one of many suit-less workers whose survival depends on her obedience to the dictatorial corporation that uses her to further their duplicitous aims. But, no matter how hard she tries, Ashton cannot keep her head down – not after someone she loves is dragged off of a train by AEC personnel. Ashton can’t help but challenge this corrupt corporate apparatus, and the secrets that she discovers are more horrifying, and sinister, than she could have ever imagined. Ashton must decide if she can return to the life of security she led as an obedient and law-abiding worker, or if, as she’s beginning to wonder, Augland may be more dangerous than anyone has even begun to realize.
Author Erin Carrougher’s novel is an action-driven story about the injustices perpetrated by powerful geopolitical actors, and the way one girl’s bravery can unravel the corrupt underpinnings of an entire society. Carrougher’s world building is at once visionary and shrewdly referential, as the post-apocalyptic landscape she describes in the novel will remind readers very much of the world they live in today.
Fans of Suzanne Collins and Marie Lu will devour Augland.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Erin Carrougher lives in the Seattle area and was more than suited to write about the region as the location of her dystopian novel. She has a passion for storytelling and loves to envision worlds other than our own. Carrougher minored in Creative Writing and currently works as a Sales Manager, and enjoys cooking and the outdoors. Augland is Carrougher’s first novel.
Connect with Carrougher at erincarrougher.com, and on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
Augland is available for order from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
The 2nd Book
Also out now the second book in the Augland series:
'Unsuited'
Ashton is finally free, living under the cloudy sky of the Hood Canal-without Wolfe, who is still in Augland carrying on the rebellion from the inside. At least that's what Ashton thinks until Wolfe leads an attack at the Colony and kidnaps Jagatha.
Heartbroken and once again defeated by Augland, Ashton is forced to decide whether to accept the loss and keep her freedom, or fight against the tyranny of the Suits, even if it means going back into the dome of the Augland park she fought so hard to escape.
Ashton soon discovers that the levels of Augland 54’s treachery go far deeper than she ever imagined and the only way to fight it is to become another version of herself. But even with the façade, Ashton is afraid she is unsuitable to lead the rebellion. Can the workers, exhausted and unprotected, rise up against the augmented and idealized world of the Suits? All Ashton knows is that she refuses to lose anyone else. It’s time for the rise of the UnSuited.
Out Now