Title: Glitterati
Author: Oliver K. Langmeade
Genre: Sci-Fi/ Dystopian
Publisher: Titan books
Pages: 288
Release Date: 17 May 2022
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Hello fellow book lovers, today I’m sharing my review for Glitterati by Oliver K. Langmeade, which is the wildest, most over the top book I think I’ve ever read. It’s a fabulously grand, sci-fi dystopian set in a world ruled by the Glitterati— the wealthy elite, whose lives are so entrenched in luxury they govern solely on aesthetic beauty and the ever-changing whims of fashion. This was definitely out of my comfort zone genre wise but I did thoroughly enjoy it.
And I’d also just like to thank Titan books for sending me a copy to review— all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Synopsis
Simone is one of the Glitterati, the elite living lives of luxury and leisure. Slave to the ever-changing tides – and brutal judgements - of fashion, he is immaculate. To be anything else is to be unfashionable, and no one wants to be unfashionable, or even worse, ugly…
When Simone accidentally starts a new fashion with a nosebleed at a party, another Glitterati takes the credit. Soon their rivalry threatens to raze their opulent utopia to the ground, as no one knows how to be vicious like the beautiful ones.
Enter a world of the most fantastic costumes, grand palaces in the sky, the grandest parties known to mankind and the unbreakable rules of how to eat ice cream. A fabulous dystopian fable about fashion, family and the feckless billionaire class.
Review
I really enjoyed this and loved the detailed, aesthetic prose, and the fashion—farfetched, overly dramatic and occasionally even deadly—was something I found really interesting. As someone who loves watching high fashion/ Haute Couture shows, the trends that Langmeade has created aren’t too different from the strange ensembles that appear at Paris Fashion Week (sans the poisonous dresses and self inflicted nosebleeds that is.) The social commentary surrounding the fashion industry and our capitalist society as a whole: the importance of designer labels, exploitation of labour and the extreme wealth gap were also quite relevant.
Simone (our blissfully ignorant protagonist) lives so far removed from “regular society” that the thought of labour intensive jobs that make his life possible such as gardeners, cooks or even cleaners is just an abstract concept to him. They make messes that (to them) seem to magically resolve themselves which lends itself to the satirical and darkly humourous tone of the entire book.
Simone’s fashion faux pas—which turns him into a trend setting genius is the beginning of Simone’s life changing journey but it’s Louise (the ‘unfashionable’ child found in his garden) that really becomes the catalyst for his transformation, leading him to reevaluate his life and society in general.
There were some rather funny scenes which revolved around just how little the Glitterati know about the real world—all traumatic memories are removed so neither Georgie (Simone’s wife) nor Simone even know what a child is. And their analogy’s to explain certain things (specifically children) was oddly funny to me.
The one downside was that the format isn’t really set up in chapters so it sometimes made if difficult to know where to stop, or had me rereading a previous page due to being halfway through a paragraph or in the middle of the action.
Overall, this was a fabulously thrilling tale of fashion, family and betrayal that’s perfect for dystopian fiction lovers or anyone looking for a quick, wildlly entertaining read that doesn’t take itself to seriously.
Also, thanks to Titan Books for the finished copy.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
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