The Park Service: Book One of The Park Service Trilogy Paperback – October 11, 2012

I have become a huge fan of Ryan Winfield’s work after reading Jane’s Melody and South Of Bixby Bridge. I knew The Park Service trilogy fell into a completely different category though, and I was a bit nervous. I have only read a couple of dystopian novels and though I really liked them, it’s not the first genre I reach for. I do like to read some YA books, especially when I am looking for stuff for my 15 year old son to read. I had to give this a try.I loved The Park Service. I sat down and finished the entire book in one afternoon. In fact, I finished the entire series in 2.5 days. It was that good. Every chance I got I was picking up my iPad to read.The Park Service starts out some 900 years in the future. Humans had destroyed the entire world in the past and now most live underground safely. We meet Aubrey right at the start, he is getting ready to turn 15, then he will test to find out what level of Holoscene II he will live and work at for the rest of his life until he retires to Eden, the paradise everyone goes to at the end of their time in Holoscene II.I want to tread carefully here as to not give away anything that isn’t in the blurb, I will say that Aubrey discovers the outside world and then is on the run for his life. He meets Jimmy and some other humans that still live on the surface, then the book takes off even faster. It was an amazing journey. Absolutely amazing. Seeing Aubrey experience things for the first time, things that we take for granted. Ryan Winfield nailed it.I have to say, it kind of freaked me out. If you follow my reviews, you know I compare almost everything I read to real life, and this series was no exception. I tend to be an environmentalist. I don’t like to look around and see the destruction we have caused. I do a lot of fighting for animals, especially those in our oceans because I think if we destroy our oceans, we destroy ourselves, the circle of life and all. (BTW Ryan, the scene in the cove just about killed the activist in me and the part of me with a huge heart for humanity on different levels that totally conflicted.) The thing that scared me is along my own journey, studying what we are doing to animals and our planet, I have come across people who believe the world would be better off without humans here, they want complete human extinction, whether it be voluntary or involuntary. To me, if those people were put in charge, some of the things that happened in this book, could be things humanity had to deal with in a non-fiction way. In The Park Service, the humans on top are on the run from drones that want to destroy them, completely remove them from the face of the earth. Just thinking about those people that I have seen give lectures and write papers on why we shouldn’t be here, it makes my heart race a little faster.I haven’t been this fascinated by a book in awhile. I loved our main characters Aubrey and Jimmy, and after The Park Service I was looking forward to getting to know Hannah.I highly recommend this book and the entire series. This is definitely something I would let my teenage son read. I think I said it early but I am saying it again, absolutely amazing book.

Would you want to live forever? Especially if that forever meant that your body was going to possibly be recycled, and only your brain lived on? Even if that brain went to "Eden"???In "The Park Service" (book 1 of a 3 part series) we are introduced to a 15 year old named Aubrey. This boy has lived in Holocene II all his life with his father, and harbored secret feelings that he killed his mother just by being born. In Holocene, an underground world, live the survivors and children of the end of human civilization as we knew. At least that's what the learning pad teaches. When a child reaches 15 they test to see what they will be for the rest of their lives. Each child hopes to do at least as well as the level on which they live, or else they move down in the hive-like structure they live in. Aubrey's father is sure his son will do well enough to live on level 3, which is the highest level that anyone from Holocene II has ever achieved. It's rumored that somewhere above them is level 1, but no one in current history has ever gone there by testing. Until Aubrey does his test, finishes early, and scores a perfect grade. On the way to the surface the train carrying Aubrey and the 35 year olds whose time has come to be taken to "Eden" are the only passengers. But they don't make it. Suddenly Aubrey finds himself on the surface, alone, and is he ever surprised. He was taught in school that "Earth" as we know it is gone; that the only thing on the surface is a poisonous gas. So when he can breathe, and finds trees, bears, and even people living on the surface, he's angry. On the surface Aubrey is told that there are drones that fly over, drones that he knows were assembled on his level (supposedly for scientific purposes), that notify "The Park Service" when a human-like object is noted, and "The Park Service" comes and kills whatever the drone finds. The question is: Was Aubrey killed on the train, and is this "Eden" for him?, Or was he headed to become a member of this "Park Service" and going to be trained to kill whatever is on the surface? Does he want that position now? Ryan Winfield has given us a Sci-Fi tale for all ages. His writing is superb, his characters are both engaging and fully developed, and he leaves you guessing during the entire book. For a young writer (37) he explores some universal, age old themes, that we all have thought about (what would be left of the world if we had WW3, do you want to live forever, if you were lied to your entire life what would be your reaction to being faced with the sudden truth of the lie, who's to blame for the lie, etc), and he's not afraid to deeply explore them all. Life in his Holocene II isn't all that people are told it is, and Winfield holds the key to the doors. 2 more books follow. So, Should we live forever? It's tempting!

I've just finished The Park Service, having been introduced to Ryan Winfield's writing by South of Bixby Bridge.This is a totally different book and concept, set 1000 years in the future. The main protagonist is a fifteen year old boy who lives in an underground Utopian society who believe that the surface of the Earth is uninhabitable. He escapes and finds that his whole existance has been a lie. He hooks up with another boy who lives on the surface and what follows is a real boy's own adventure.It's fast paced, descriptive, exciting and fueled by moral dilema.An excellent futuristic fantasy. I'm looking forward to book two and I'm sure Ryan Winfield won't disappoint.

Really enjoyed this book. It did, for me, start off slowly, but once it got into the swing of things couldn't put it down. The beginning seemed to be from a different book, I thought it was going to be set at that time, not so far in the future! The morals raised were certainly thought provoking. Great descriptions and a brilliant idea for a book, something certainly a bit different to the usual apocalyptic stories. Once again, looking forward to the next in the series.

This book had a really interesting start. I loved learning about Holocene II and the hierarchy there. Unfortunately, I spent most of the middle of the book in disbelief at what was happening. Several scenes and plot twists just felt disjointed and unbelievable. The ending and some of the explanations for what was happening did return some of my interest so I think I will seek out the sequel if I can find it in my local library!

The Park Service started really well for me, it was interesting learning about Holocene II and how it worked and I thought the concept of Eden was original and also interesting. I liked the character of Aubrey too. However, I did feel a bit annoyed when he ditched Jimmy and we didn't get to see that relationship for a while. When the pacing in this book was good, it was good, however there were times when I felt that it was a bit slow, but that may just be me as a reader. I kind of felt that Aubrey and Hannah's relationship was rushed a bit too, as they seem very serious in a matter of days and they sometimes don't seem like 15 year olds. Again, this may just be me?The ideas in The Park Service were thought provoking, as it seems that other dystopian books use the idea that humanity will survive at any cost, rather than tapping into the idea that this author uses.Overall, I did like this book and I would probably recommend it to fans of dytopian books if they are looking for something a bit different. I would maybe continue to read this series in the future as I would like to know what the consequences of the events in the last few chapters will be :)

I'm not a huge fan of romance novels although I did enjoy Ryan's "Jane's" books but the "Park Service" books were more to my taste. I really enjoyed all three books and am saving them for my grandchildren to read.Thanks for the reading pleasure :o)