The Regional Office Is Under Attack!: A Novel by Manuel Gonzales (Epub)

Description

At its helm, the mysterious Oyemi and her oracles seek out new recruits and root out evil plots. Then a prophecy suggests that someone from inside might bring about its downfall. And now, the Regional Office is under attack.

Recruited by a defector from within, Rose is a young assassin leading the attack, eager to stretch into her powers and prove herself on her first mission. Defending the Regional Office is Sarah—who may or may not have a mechanical arm—fiercely devoted to the organization that took her in as a young woman in the wake of her mother’s sudden disappearance. On the day that the Regional Office is attacked, Rose’s and Sarah’s stories will overlap, their lives will collide, and the world as they know it just might end.

Weaving in a brilliantly conceived mythology, fantastical magical powers, teenage crushes, and kinetic fight scenes, The Regional Office Is Under Attack! is a seismically entertaining debut novel about revenge and allegiance and love.

User’s Reviews

Review “The Regional Office is Under Attack! is an entertaining and satisfying novel. Like the best of the stories it satirizes so gently, it’s rollicking good fun on the surface, action-packed and shiny in all the right places; underneath that surface, though, it’s thoughtful and well considered. Gonzales has created a superheroic fighting force of the kind we’ve grown so used to through constant exposure to the Avengers and various iterations of the X-Men, and then he has turned out their pockets and flipped open their diaries.” —New York Times Book Review”[H]ighly entertaining… Wonderfully strange and fun, Gonzales’ novel follows both the women attacking and defending the Regional Office and how their lives intersect.” —Buzzfeed“A tour-de-force… [R]epurposes the devices of a genre specializing in fantasies of mastery into a portrait of chastened adults moving through a world where mastery eludes us all… [W]hat binds the whole thing together is a persistent, self-contradictory human desire to both be extraordinary and to fit in, finally, somewhere. The Regional Office Is Under Attack! sneaks up on you. It starts out looking like a heist yarn intertwined with a couple of origin stories, but it keeps coming back to the stuff people devour superhero comics and spy thrillers to escape: isolation, confusion, triviality, moral doubt.” —Laura Miller, Slate”A hugely entertaining read.” —Chicago Tribune “Like the writers he is compared to, Gonzales’s stories’ fantastic premises are always anchored in real-world conflicts that hold universal familiarity. The Regional Office is Under Attack!, …carries some of his stories’ thematic arsenal into a book length narrative… The story nods to tons of tropes—from Kill Bill and Charlie’s Angels to Blade Runner and The Karate Kid—but it frequently subverts those tropes and uses them to flesh out characters that dazzle.” —The Rumpus“The Regional Office really IS under attack! This is not metaphor! It is a wry and propulsive work of inventive fiction by a terrific young writer! Read it!” —Jess Walter, New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Ruins“Delightfully weird, weirdly delightful! Manuel Gonzales clearly has a labyrinth of a brain–all stuffed with monsters, trapdoors, and complicated heroes. Sign me up as a member of the fan club, please.” —Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble and Magic for Beginners“This book is a winged creation, and absolutely marvelous. Gonzales keeps turning the kaleidoscope to reveal the strangest, darkest, and most beautiful dimensions of human love, and the conversion of mechanical fury into living strength.” —Karen Russell, author of Swamplandia!“The Regional Office, a shadowy organization of spooky oracles and superpowered middle management misfits, isn’t the only thing under attack in this tremendous debut novel. With exuberant prose and a corkscrew plot, Manuel Gonzales vanquishes artistic orthodoxies, tiresome genre boundaries and every humdrum narrative convention in sight, leaving in his wake a riveting story of secrets, betrayals, and vengeance!” —Claire Vaye Watkins, author of Battleborn and Gold Fame Citrus “Wild, visionary, ablaze with heart and riot, The Regional Office Is Under Attack! is unforgettable—an epic love story that confronts our future with a howl and fireworks.” —Paul Yoon, author of Snow Hunters “The Regional Office is Under Attack! is wickedly subversive, suspenseful, and thoughtful, all at once—but most of all, it’s just fun to read, from the first sentence to the last. Put down your expectations and pick up this book. It’ll hit you like a lightning bolt.” —Jess Row, author of Your Face in Mine“A ridiculously fun story about love, as well as time and timing, both good and bad. And because of that, it’s also timely. The ending—with its deft glimpse at a hypothetical future—is alone worth the wild ride.” —Hannah Pittard, author of The Fates Will Find Their Way“[W]hen it comes to fiction it usually doesn’t bring out the LOLs so much as me laughing on the inside. Which is why I was pleasantly surprised to find myself cracking up during some of the fight scenes and especially a bunch of the lines with curses while listening to the audiobook of The Regional Office is Under Attack!” —BookRiot “Gonzales’s book engages with the clichés laid down by the 70s political thriller, but it does so creatively. It gathers up conventions of all genres – hot killer assassin teens, hostage-scenario nailbiter, supernatural mystery – without sinking into any of them, or letting them get stale… The emotional currents flowing beneath and through Gonzales’s blockbuster action scenes are remarkably well rendered. I inhaled this book so quickly that I missed plot points on first read: best to let it wash over you and then marvel in retrospect at the clues you flew past.” —The Guardian “Firmly establishes Gonzales as a practitioner of literary sci-fi… it’s just so much fun to read. Gonzales, a former Austinite now living in Kentucky, is a gifted writer who effortlessly pushes and pulls the reader through shifting timelines, and his smooth writing style sparkles with wit. . . . a superb piece of high-tension storytelling.” —Dallas Morning News “Cinematic, like a well-done graphic novel set in a tornado of timeframes — an inventive labyrinth with oracles, superpowered female assassins and mythology. . . . ‘The Regional Office Is Under Attack!’ pushes beyond the average reading experience and requires a different type of attention — not more or less attention, just different, as Gonzales’ story furiously bursts among the past, present and future. . . a surrealist Tarantino-esque adventure, more readily compared to ‘Pulp Fiction’ in its plot and a Yves Tanguy painting in its mood, atmosphere and style. The novel deals in science fiction, mythology, hyper-action, love and mystery. It’s a smorgasbord, but Gonzales weaves all the pieces together artfully. At no time does he take himself too seriously, but there is more than a tinge of philosophical surrealism and existentialism.” —Austin American Statesman “In a novel that is simultaneously irreverent, gut-wrenching, satirical and sorrowful, Gonzales demonstrates a fresh and varied voice, along with perfect comedic timing.” —Kansas City Star “So fresh and so funny, the pacing is so fast and crackling, you won’t be able to stop reading.” —Tor“Sci-fi freaks and magical-realist devotees will flock to this debut novel by Gonzales…Part Kill Bill, part The Departed, this tale centers around the Regional Office, an underground entity filled with female assassins (who better?) trained to keep the world safe from evil forces.” —Refinery29″[A] wholly invented world rife with satire, absurdity, and somehow love and even warmth. With this debut novel, Gonzales… proves himself to be both a wonderful addition to a proud literary tradition (that of Vonnegut, Borges, Saunders, Bender, and Barthelme, et al) and a true original.” —Lit Hub“I wanted to go for a ride and The Regional Office is Under Attack! took me on one… I was rewarded with pure satisfaction.” —BookRiot, The Best Books of 2016 So Far“This book is a romp if ever there was one. . . This book is just as exciting as the explanation point in its title makes it sound. It’s the kind of read every reader hungers for.” —Bustle“You may not be familiar with the name Manuel Gonzales, but once you’ve had the pleasure of delving into one of his out-of-the-ordinary literary creations, you won’t forget it… In his debut novel, The Regional Office Is Under Attack!, Gonzales conjures a futuristic world of super-powered female assassins… Backstory on each character and the Regional Office itself is delicately spliced between action-packed scenes, making this a wonderfully choreographed narrative. The moment you think you have a grasp on the truth about the Regional Office, Gonzales tosses in a twist that will have you questioning your understanding all over again… The amount of detail Gonzales infuses into this world makes it come alive in an engaging, quirky and delightful way, creating a perfect backdrop to a page-turning plot. Gonzales’ tale has something for every reader: Double agents! Secret romantic trysts! Conspiracy! Fight scenes! Friendships gone awry! At its core, however, The Regional Office Is Under Attack! is ultimately a tale of vengeance—one during which you’ll find yourself struggling to choose a side.” —Bookpage“[I]f you want a thoroughly fun read that’s also incredibly well-written and smart, then I highly advise picking this one up.” —Nerds of a Feather“[B]ewitching, infectious, and high-flying book…This novel is a ball of energy.” —Everyday eBook “You might want to get a firm grip on your socks before cracking open this one; otherwise, Gonzales is likely to knock them off. It’s very difficult to categorize this mind-bending novel… it’s pure excitement…. A brilliant genre-blender.” —Booklist (STARRED review)“The narrative not only bounces between perspectives in short, propelling chapters, but also pinballs in time . . . Gonzales writes with an abundance of imagination, riffing on comic book and pop culture plot lines and characters while adding his own unique perspective…there are moments of brilliance.” — Publishers Weekly “A hyperkinetic sci-fi set piece along the lines of Die Hard seeded with paranormal elements cribbed from half a dozen other franchises and the absent-parent grudges that fuel any number of teen novels. … Genre enthusiasts will love the spooky cyberpunk spirit at play here, and resolute readers will be rewarded with an unexpected ending that ratchets up the action long after the Regional Office has been abandoned. A surprisingly erudite bit of sci-fi that throws in everything but the kitchen sink.” — Kirkus

Reviews from Amazon users, collected at the time the book is getting published on UniedVRG. It can be related to shiping or paper quality instead of the book content:

⭐ I thought I would like this book more. The writing is good. I started listening to the audiobook and liked it a lot. Started readingthe kindle version in sync. I own both. But I soon became infuriated with the crazy juxtapositions, cuts which seem randomand disconnected to the action. I like pieces of it immensely, but I am finding that I am getting lost and distractedgoing through it. It is like seeing a great novel torn up and finding fragments in the scraps. I am sad and irritated.this novel should not have been a Burroughs cut-up experiment. It disturbs the flow and action. I am irritated and disappointedWhat was the author thinking? It started with a character named Rose, a teenager, that I found fresh and interesting, then devolvedinto these fragments

⭐ It’s rare when someone says what’s the book about and you have to answer I have no idea. Is it science fiction? Is it action adventure? It is commentary on life? Whatever the hell this is it is highly entertaining and well written. If you like a book with a tidy plot with a happy ending this is not that book. I still have no idea what I read but I enjoyed it. It’s cinematic and beautifully languaged and designed.I imagine the author ordered a jalapeño pizza and a bottle of Chianti and fell asleep on the sofa. The movie Minorty Report was playing on the tv and between the indigestion and subliminal movie plot he created Sarah and Nell, Rose and Emma. He woke up, belched and jotted down some plot ideas before falling into a light sleep where he dreamt of oracles and magic and indigestion and loyalty. Or he didn’t. But when he woke up, ill from the pizza and hungover from the Chianti he created a dyspeptic world with action and wit and a little spice. But his wry command of the English language and his jalapeño and Chianti fueled sense of humor made this an entertaining if not confusing read. I still give it five stars for style.

⭐ Written in a very unusual style with perspective shifting through both voices and time so that sometimes its difficult keeping up, but basically, this is a story about two people who set up an office and recruits Oracles or psychics who, in turn, help them recruit people with superhuman powers to do good in this world. Eventually, this office gets attacked by both outsiders and moles. It’s a good read, although confusing at parts.

⭐ It’s worth 3 1/2 stars, more like. It’s fun and active, though shallow. What I didn’t like most was all through the middle the author would use ingrown compound self-correcting sentences. Made up example: “He wrote a sentence. Not a sentence really, but a string of words. Or rather, a cluster of word-like structures attempting to impart meaning, then changing course, winding up wasting my time with what might better have been a simple, straightforward clause.” It’s like he needs a Creative Writing teacher to nudge him away from this conceit. Oh wait, the author IS a Creative Writing teacher? Never mind.And the plot is as plausible, and the characters as developed, as I’d expect from a comic book, i.e., not very.But it’s gangbusters action full of competing groups of post-adolescent Supergirls, and that, for me, was enough. The colorful fireworks-like visuals of the cover do a good job conveying the feeling of the read. It could be a fun movie, esp. if (my opinion) they go in a Power Puff Girls direction with it, rather than playing it heavy.Buy this if you want fun and fantasy. Pass on this if you want something ponderous, or if you need depth.

⭐ This action-packed novel is sure to please every sci-fi lover who looks for oracles, superpowers, and robotic arms in a novel. Manuel Gonzales writes an exciting and complicated novel that has readers wondering what will happen next at every turn…even at the turn of the last page! While the lack of closure is frustrating, Gonzales seems to remind us that in the end, life goes on–sometimes without nicely tied bows and logical conclusions. Sometimes, all we can do is speculate and wonder what could have been while we hope for what can be. Surprising, entertaining, and intelligently written, The Regional Office is Under Attack is definitely a novel that is fun to read!

⭐ Manuel Gonzales’ The Regional Office is Under Attack! tells a captivating, yet simultaneously empowering tale of heroes. But what makes it unique is that women, known as Oracles are at the forefront, empowering female gender roles, which made for an incredibly unique touch. I also thoroughly enjoyed the way Gonzales shifted from one chapter to the next from backstory to inner consciousness, to actions at hand left me wanting more. If you’re looking for a book that’s highly action-packed with some elaborately placed plot twists, then this is the book for you!

⭐ I wanted so badly to love this novel because it is funny and quirky with strong female characters to boot but its lack of clarity and ambiguity causes me to take a step back and question if I believe in the novel. Its plot is chaotic, and ending is ambiguous, and while there is a place for novels with loose ends, I’d prefer a little more from the book. It has spies and oracles and mystic and robot women, and I wish there were a little more explanation. It is unique and fun, but lacks clarity.

⭐ Characters that often name three or four feelings before settling – well, not always – on one. Descriptions of actions that may or may not have happened. Vague references to never detailed inter dimensional and magical battles, while the characters spend most of their time in New York City, small town Texas, or unknown earthly locations. Well written enjoyable read about (mostly female) guardians of the earth that leaves one wanting more.

⭐ What in the name of Strunk & White is going on with Manuel Gonzales?!? His free-form, no ending, no period style of musing takes a good hallucinogen to truly embrace. Thankfully…. I had some help. Having survived his writing style, I found myself captivated with a rich and fun journey through the collapse of a slightly novel super hero universe, but not entirely, because he can’t ever finish a sentence…or makeup his mind.Opening to random page (I genuinely didn’t go hunting), a herculean sentence to feast upon:> We didn’t talk about our families, nor did we talk about the fact that we might not have had families yet, that we were still young enough to not have families on the radar yet, but that there had been a girl we’d seen walking by us the other day, a girl with shoulder-length brown hair, deep-brown, chestnut-brown hair, and how she’d been wearing a light blue blouse and a dark blue skirt, and how she’d smiled at us, how she seemed to have been smiling at everyone, but she had smiled at us, which was a thing that had never happened to us, had never happened to us in this city, in any case, and so we turned, couldn’t help but turn around, or how we’d watched the movement of her hips and a*s underneath the skirt fabric and that we’d also watched the way her arms swung as she walked, and had noticed the way she smiled at people and that they smiled back at her, and they did, they all smiled back at her, and we couldn’t stop thinking about her smile, about her face when she smiled, that we’d watched her until she’d been lost in the crowd, and how we’d stopped and looked around and for the first time, maybe, we saw the city, we actually saw the city we were living in and working in and for the first time saw ourselves making a real life here, saw ourselves one day building a family here.

⭐ This strange novel can be entertaining at times, but it’s ultimately frustrating and pointless.

Keywords

Free Download The Regional Office Is Under Attack!: A Novel in Epub format
The Regional Office Is Under Attack!: A Novel Epub Free Download
Download The Regional Office Is Under Attack!: A Novel 2017 Epub Free
The Regional Office Is Under Attack!: A Novel 2017 Epub Free Download
Download The Regional Office Is Under Attack!: A Novel Epub
Free Download Ebook The Regional Office Is Under Attack!: A Novel