Set in a world where the very mention of government oppression could land you in a rehabilitation center, Willis Thompson is growing up as the fabled winner for the annual Chase. A failure means a recoding, and a hundred recordings means death. And players will do anything to win the Chase… even kill.
Bradley Caffee was an author recently introduced to me. But within just a few pages of his first novel, The Chase, I was completely captivated. His characters, plot, and intense world-building created a riveting adventure where the stakes are high, the enemies are unknown, and the value of life has become undermined by the need for scientific advancements.
The dystopian genre is generally classified as depressing, dark, and cautionary towards societal advancement. It’s difficult to find a dystopian story that ends with themes of strength, courage, and victory. But Bradley Caffee, the author of The Chase Runner Series, has masterfully woven the theme of hope throughout his epic dystopian saga. And older teen readers will love these books!
Caffee’s first book, The Chase, chronicles the story of Willis Thompson, an eighteen-year-old Chase runner, hailed as the child of two former Chase winners before him. The Chase is the single annual event where runners can compete to change one rule of the Law. For by the Law, the people of the entire earth exist. They owe their gratitude, their allegiance, and their entire beings to the Law. The Law delivered the world from the disastrous clutches of anarchy, democracy, and social divide. The Law is good.
Or so that’s what Willis Thompson has always been taught to believe.
Caffee’s world is frighteningly familiar, yet comfortingly futuristic enough to blend science and modernity in a tale of epic proportions. His writing style is clear, engaging, and powerful. Caffee’s second and third books, The Choice and The Change, finish the series in a riveting conclusion. His prequel novelette, Kane: A Chase Runner Story, is best read after the series is finished as it provides spoilers for the series at large. Caffee has also written two other dystopian novels, Sides and Captive, and reviews of both are planned to follow.
Though not the overall theme of the story, I found myself constantly encouraged by the way the author presented the value of life. The main character, Willis, views death in a scientific way. It’s simply a failed recoding or a mistake during testing. But as the series progresses, we see him begin to rightly view the government’s atrocities as what they actually are: murder, and the stealing of a human’s life. The way Caffee presents Willis’s viewpoint is not grotesque or graphic, but is violent enough that it may frighten younger readers.
Caffee’s heroes and heroines also tend to steer away from weapons that will purposely kill. They choose human life over control, showing a stark contrast to what the Chairman and his minions will do. There are fights, there are failures, there is fear… but the light of hope and of freedom is always shining in the distance.
I would recommend this book to any reader over the age of fifteen. The story has no explicit sexual scenes, no profanity, and violence that is dramatic but not gory. But the themes explored do contain the value of a human’s life, the control of government oppression, and slavery in a futuristic setting, making it appropriate for older readers but likely frightening for younger children.
Overall, The Chase Runner Series will shock and delight readers with its betrayals, mysteries, and threats. It has given us a powerful example of a story that can be exhilarating and riveting, but without explicit portrayals of sin and darkness. It has taken a world tainted by government oppression and given it noble heroes and heroines. It has taken darkness and shown the reader light.
Hope-filled dystopian. That’s what author Bradley Caffee has given today’s teenagers. It’s radical fiction and you won’t be disappointed when you read it.
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