*Review* Please Return to the Lands of Luxury by Jon Tilton

 

Genre: Middle Grade Dystopian

Published: March 21, 2023

Pages: 178

An unexpected treasure. A treacherous journey. A thrilling adventure that will shape her future.

Jane lives on an island of trash. And even though she has to scavenge garbage and deal with sinister robots, she still loves her home. It’s all she’s ever experienced, from her most cherished memories to her foggy past that she can’t quite remember.

But when a doll shows up in the latest batch of garbage, everything changes. Unlike the rest of the junk, the doll is in excellent condition, including its tag which reads, “Please return to Gloria Thatcher.”

Convinced it arrived by accident, Jane vows to return the doll to its rightful owner. There’s just one problem—nobody has left the island before, thanks to the tyrannical robots guarding the Docks, a dangerous place with a mysterious history.

Will Jane find safe passage to the Lands of Luxury? Will she uncover the secrets of her past?

Embark on this thrilling adventure where Jane and her friends discover the importance of hardship and the beauty in sharing stories with life’s greatest treasure—our friends and family.

Please Return to the Lands of Luxury is the first book in this exciting series. Join Jane, Rodney, and Timothy as they explore a distant world, much unlike their own. These riveting tales are packed with an abundance of action, plenty of heart, and timeless themes.

I received a copy of this audiobook through Netgalley. This is my honest review. 

This is a story about an island of garbage that is inhabited largely by children, and there's a horrible reason for that. The story is told largely from the perspective of Jane, but it does shift perspectives to a few other major characters at times so we get a broader view of the story. What we don't get, is an explanation of how this island used for dumping garbage became inhabited in the first place, or why the fact that it was inhabited was ignored by the wealthy. Not that I have a hard time imagining a corporation disregarding human life because they found an otherwise convenient location for dumping waste. 

This book is geared to an audience significantly younger than myself, but I think it'd be about perfect for my daughter who is 12 now. In spite of that, I felt completely engrossed in the story, and found it rather easy to slip into Jane's shoes as she went on her adventure to the lands of luxury (the mainland) in order to return a doll that had ended up on garbage island. 

Overall I give Please Return to the Lands of Luxury 4.63 out of 5 stars. - Katie 

Amazon

Jon Tilton writes stories filled with adventure, timeless themes, and plenty of heart. He lives in sunny Florida with his wife and their dog, Blueberry. When he’s not writing, you can find him hiking through nature, listening to classical music, playing Nintendo games, and cooking an endless supply of tacos.

Visit his website at www.jontilton.com