Am I biased because Adam is a good friend? Maybe.
Would I give him a good review just because he's my friend? Pshhhhh not in a million years, he picks on me.🥺
Is his entire premise for Below Economic Thresholds something that hits eerily close to home given the current state of politics in the world? Horrifyingly so!
Having read Adam's work for ages now, I'm 100% confident in my statement that this is his best work so far. I've always fallen in love with characters in his stories, and this one was no different in that sense. Adam's character development is phenomenal, and he's created complex, realistic characters that may sometimes make the line between good and evil seem a little blurry, yet leave you with no doubts where they sit by the end of it.
The post-apocalyptic hellscape he paints feels devastatingly real. It isn't difficult for me to imagine "political fat cats" perched in a luxurious tower, safely tucked away from everyone who is struggling to survive from sunrise to sunset (or in worse cases, those who have turned on their fellow humans). They live comfortably while hoarding resources, doling them out in less-than-meager amounts, and expecting gratitude in return for their "generosity". Adam captures what I imagine to be a very likely picture of what society would collapse into when the masses are forced to do dreadful things, and leaves you wondering how strong your own will to survive might be under those circumstances.
The creature portions of the book are a lot of fun, and he's chosen very unique designs for the things that go bump in the night. Human monsters are bad enough, but having to worry about both them AND demons from another dimension, all combined with the struggles of basic human functioning in this environment, give the book a very bleak setup.
Don't lose hope though, because anything is possible. 😉
Find Adam and his other works!
Blue Sky: adamhulse.bsky.social
Threads: ratty_writer
TikTok: @adamhulseauthor
Twitter: @HulseAdam
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