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There are two types of dystopian futures, the far fetched where people compete against each other in hungry games and then there are those where the present has been slightly tweaked and it is this second future that is far scarier because you are constantly wondering if you will have to experience it. In Stannard’s vision the management of a university is out of control, the teachers have been made less than human, if you don’t conform to an image or if a member of senior management wants a new butt plug or parrot you’ll find yourself relegated to stocking shelves in the post Brexit supermarkets. Bizarre aubergine religions are taking over and lanyards seem to be one of the most important items in society. It is an utterly bleak vision of what’s to come.

This book is classed as satire and it is very funny but not once did I laugh, any smile quickly turned into a worried grimace…might be because I work in a school haha. The writing is fantastic, not a dull moment and the cast of characters is immense, it took me a while to get my head around who was who but I think I mastered them in the end and some of the ideas that Stannard produces are very clever. The villains of the piece were the best part, their machinations on gaining bigger pay and more power were full of plot twists, sexual acts and murder…it almost felt Dickensian at times. This book takes all the bad parts of society somehow makes them a whole lot worse.

This was a good read, plenty of fun, lots to worry about (unless you are a Trump fanatic then you’ll probably love this prediction) and for the dog lovers out there it has a dog with luminous poop, what more could a reader ask for?

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