Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. Tried twice to get into this story but just could not. Normally, a story of a dystopian speculative future can be very interesting. Here the story was long winded and was not exciting. The characters were very shallow. Some may find this a great read but I did not.

A dystopia taking place the Fens and in London, I was very excited by the book's premise. Following an economic collapse and the drastically deepening gap in wealth equality, a lot of <i>A New Dark Age</i> feels very timely, though -- as the way of living in the Fens in 2061 when the novel takes place, seems very medieval/early modern, but politically, very present-day. Technology has, for the most part, failed. Currency has little to no value, and people are ill due to lack of proper medial care. Esme, through whose eyes we experience the story, is engaged to be married, but wishes instead to leave the fens--to adventure, and to be part of tangible change.
I know a great deal about British medieval history, and could absolutely appreciate the parallels to real-life conditions that presaged the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, and the character of "Joan Ball" while not subtle, gives me an impression of where the story with go in future books, which I will most definitely read.
The only complaint I have, if you can even call it that, is a lack of sufficient world background and history; explanation of economic collapse and the breakdown of society seemed, in my opinion, to be inserted solely for expositional reasons only when necessary, and the scope of the action is relatively narrow, so I didn't get a greater impression of the world. I do hope there will be more of this information in future novels.

A dystopian novel set in the Fens and London just forty years in the future. A world none of us would recognize. A world already forced to the very edge of apocalypse: the collapse of the financial world, devastating climate change, and the onset of anarchy. A disturbing vision: fantasy that could so easily become fact. Speculative fiction at its very best.

A remarkably lyrical and literate exposition of the Dystopia subsequent to economic collapse. Set in rural England (in the Fens), the settings and the processes of Society (or lack of same) vividly reminisces the first "Dark Ages," the Medieval period following the collapse of the Roman Empire until the Renaissance. The novel also clarifies clearly how human nature likely doesn't change in the face of Dystopia or Apocalypse, and it certainly doesn't improve.

So at the start I thought what I have I started reading I was getting very confused it had medieval plus internet but I went with the flow and got involved. I went with the journey and as Esme developed so did my understanding of the book and where the author was going. The blurb is right it is very handmaids tale and I think that is what appealed to me.

I was given an advance copy by the publishers and netgalley but the review is entirely my own.

This book will definitely appeal to some readers! The setting has many elements found in nature and feels set in the dark ages. But there are things like phones and cars and Facebook and Google. I didn’t feel engaged in story at all as it just seemed to amble along. Information arrives in info dumps and the tone is passive rather than active. The dialogue seems Cockney English—pedestrian in form and content. The writing style isn’t a type that I like to read, with many sentences artfully jumbling up that just seemed awkward to me because I had to go back and reread.

Thank you NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for my feedback.

Note: this book isn’t on goodreads yet.