Shannon's Cheap Book Picks-The Institution by Dylan Steel

  We're all looking for our money's worth these days.  After all, if statistics are to be believed, our salaries have not significantly increased since the seventies, and yet inflation has risen over a 100%.  It costs thirty dollars to buy two cheeseburgers from your neighborhood greasy spoon.  We're all looking for ways to save money, and when times are tight, entertainment is the first category to take a hit.  In that spirit, and also in an effort to help my fellow authors (writing a book is hard work-marketing it, ten times harder), I'm going to share the best Indie books I'd read occasionally on my blog in a new installment, Shannon's Cheap Book Picks.

       I discovered Dylan Steel's Sacrasvita series purely by accident.  I stumbled across the first book in one of the daily emails I receive for cheap books and downloaded it, since it sounded interested and was free.
   
         The day my mother died, I found myself unable to sleep, eat, or do anything really; so I browsed my library and decided to start giving The Institution a read.  That this book was able to distract me during a painful, traumatic event is a testament to how good it was.  It was a quick read; I finished it in a few hours and downloaded the next in the series.  Soon I'd read through all twelve existing books and was anticipating the thirteenth, and final, which has since been published.

       More good news:  the series is complete.  So no, you won't read ten books then be left hanging for a year or so while the author writes the next one.  There are thirteen books total, and you could probably have the entire series for the price of a Cheeseburger Deluxe at your local diner.  No kidding.

       The series is Dystopian in nature.  Sage is only seven years old when her parents, known as "lawless," people who fight against the government, are killed while undertaking a dangerous mission.  She is placed in The Institution, a school where its pupils are indoctrinated into the ways of this authoritarian government.  As we read on, we discover that once graduating, most of the former students do not live very long.  This is because they were fitted with a bracelet that gives them a series of chances, and once they have used up all their chances, the government executes them.  There are ways to get more chances, such as winning sports tournaments, getting good grades, and scoring a good job once leaving The Institute.  But all this work can be for naught if you run afoul of a powerful person in government, who are given the power to "strip" your chances, leaving you with only one.

    These books are quick, interesting, cheap, and relatively brief, so they can be read during a plane ride, or on a beach.  And if you have a Kindle, you can download the next one with a swipe of your finger.  And not only is it priced cheaply to start with, but if you have a Kindle Unlimited subscription or are an Amazon prime member, you can read all thirteen for free.

    Happy reading!