{"id":6304,"date":"2025-07-31T07:25:48","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T11:25:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/?p=6304"},"modified":"2025-07-31T07:25:06","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T11:25:06","slug":"deficiency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/31\/deficiency\/","title":{"rendered":"Deficiency"},"content":{"rendered":"<body><p><\/p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"6305\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/31\/deficiency\/version-1-0-0-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Deficiency.jpg?fit=1000%2C1500&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1000,1500\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Version 1.0.0&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Version 1.0.0&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Version 1.0.0\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Version 1.0.0&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Deficiency.jpg?fit=640%2C960&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-6305 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Deficiency.jpg?resize=200%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Tall buildings form a shadowy city above the clouds against a dim green sky. Over all, a lens, as if from a cybernetic eye, lends a slight distortion to the image and the wording. Four award metals line the left side. The title, \u201cDeficiency,\u201d appears vertically, down the center in white, and the author\u2019s name, S.C. Eston, appears to the right in black.\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Deficiency.jpg?resize=200%2C300&amp;ssl=1 200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Deficiency.jpg?resize=683%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 683w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Deficiency.jpg?resize=768%2C1152&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Deficiency.jpg?resize=300%2C450&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Deficiency.jpg?resize=850%2C1275&amp;ssl=1 850w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Deficiency.jpg?w=1000&amp;ssl=1 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/>\n<p>By S.C. Eston<br>\n\u00a9 2020<br>\n446 Pages<br>\nASIN: B08LYHVFNK<\/p>\n<p>Citizens in Prominence City have everything they could possibly want. Plenty of food and entertainment, comfortable living spaces, health care (as if they need it, since they are almost self-healing), and lots of access to virtual reality through marvelous devices implanted at birth. But when Artenz\u2019s sister goes missing, then drops out of the Sphere (the virtual space) entirely, he and Keidi, his wife, know something is very wrong. Their questions stir the corporations, who do not like anyone rocking the boat.<\/p>\n<p>I didn\u2019t know what to expect when I picked up this book, which was recommended by a friend quite some time ago. What I found in the pages caught me off-guard. It might have been written about today. About our contemporary world, especially in the U.S. I\u2019m not talking about the tech; I\u2019m referring to the politics, the corporate power over so much of our lives, and the \u201call is well\u201d illusion that seems so prevalent among far too many people. But I am not going to turn this review into a political rant. Read it yourself. See what I mean.<\/p>\n<p>The characters are well-crafted, and there is plenty of drama and tension almost to the very last page. The Big Secret behind the whole plot is believable, horrifying, and totally plausible, which makes the storyline hit even closer. Deficiency paints the costs of privilege with a vivid brush and shines a spotlight on the disconnect between corporate rulers and the \u201clittle people\u201d who exist outside their notice or care. It\u2019s dark, but there is a mote of hope near the end.<\/p>\n<p>As a side note, I didn\u2019t care for this author\u2019s writing style overall. But that is a personal preference. Your mileage may vary. Regardless, it did not stop me from reading the story. Nor does it detract from the relevance of the tale and its stark, important message. If you like books that make a political statement, you\u2019ll enjoy this one. Recommended.<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By S.C. Eston \u00a9 2020 446 Pages ASIN: B08LYHVFNK Citizens in Prominence City have everything they could possibly want. Plenty of food and entertainment, comfortable living spaces, health care (as if they need it, since they are almost self-healing), and lots of access to virtual reality through marvelous devices implanted at birth. But when Artenz\u2019s&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8n0kX-1DG","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2387,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2021\/09\/28\/beans-vs-soup\/","url_meta":{"origin":6304,"position":0},"title":"Beans vs. Soup","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"September 28, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been almost a year since I last blogged. This may come as no surprise to many writers who've said they, too, felt as though their muse has been hiding under a blanket. In the closet. In that back corner that the light never seems to reach. Behind the boxes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blog Posts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Spices.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Spices.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Spices.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Spices.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Spices.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Spices.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5342,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/19\/lock-in\/","url_meta":{"origin":6304,"position":1},"title":"Lock In","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"March 19, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"By John Scalzi \u00a9 8\/26\/2014, Tor Books 337 pages ASIN: B00IHCBE1C My last Scalzi read, Starter Villain, was light, snarky, and filled with feel-good stuff, even though it had some dark overtones. This one, Lock In, was the opposite. Based in a world where a new, highly contagious virus has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"An assortment of white toy human figures scatter in random patterns, with a few red toy human figures among them. All against a grey\/white background. Text reads, \"New York Times Bestselling and Hugo-Award Winning Author. John Scalzi. Lock In. A Novel.\"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Lock-In-199x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6304"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6306,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6304\/revisions\/6306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}