Reviewing The Erik Blair Diaries by John W. Whitehead

Every year, a rare body of work crosses our paths. And it’s those works that we’ll end up reading every few years or so. The Erik Blair Diaries is that book.

John W. Whitehead is a big name in the libertarian movement, and my eyes are glued to every article he writes alongside Nisha Whitehead at the Ron Paul Institute. But he’s also experimented with writing fiction, something I’ve discussed when I crafted an open plea for him to write up a sequel to The Erik Blair Diaries.

I also praised his creativity, especially noting his ability to fuse several genres. It’s made the work stand out, and no, it doesn’t follow a strategic formula or anything like that. Both wins in my book, even if those stickler readers would disagree.

But hey, sooner rather than later, something more original needs to creep past the so-called “gatekeepers,” right? Of course! So, thank goodness for Whitehead, and once again, let’s hope The Erik Blair Diaries isn’t the last piece of fiction he writes.

What stood out in The Erik Blair Diaries?

This one was easy: Whitehead wasted no time getting to the inciting incident and setting the story in motion. Some readers who crave more details might not like this since he likes to sprinkle them in. But for me, it was just enough to concoct a vivid picture.

It’s also a work that kind of reads like a video game, if that makes any sense. Erik and a rather kickass heroine named Eileen go on a more than a few death-defying missions throughout, something that was refreshing since you see a strong contingent of authors raise the stakes to that level only when the climax rolls around.

The pacing travels faster than a speeding bullet, and it seemed like it picked up throughout. So, if you’re not a fan of slow beginnings or even drawn-out scenes, you’ll like The Erik Blair Diaries even more.

What could have been better?

Honestly, the cliffhanger ending needs a sequel. There’s no way this book can’t contain at least two sequels, and it would be an outright travesty if Whitehead didn’t turn this into a series.

With sci-fi and fantasy elements that can use more depth, plus loose ends involving character arcs, the work is screaming for a sequel and there’s not a word or phrase in the English language that I can use to make that point clearer.

How is this book libertarian?

Other than the fact John W. Whitehead wrote it? Well, it talks about totalitarianism, but one in which the masses don’t mind being subjected to so much government overreach to the point that they have a chip implanted into their brains.

Yeah, no, I think I’ll pass. Heck, you’re reading a guy’s blog who goes out of his way to have location settings turned off on all his devices, uses internet browsers like Brave, and has half the mind to turn his phone off because he’s convinced it’s listening to him.

It also hits home on the ultimate decision of fighting to actually live life free from all the binds governments like to impose on us, both here in the present day and in this 2084 dystopia. It’s easy for the masses to just fall in line and obey orders, something that ran rampant during COVID even if Yours Truly turned his nose up at all of them and let the world see his whole face regardless of the situation or who told him off.

One of the more frightening themes, though, is how it hits hard on what the government is hiding from us. In this book, and yeah, this might just be a thing in real life, it talks about how some of the content on that big, moving screen we all like to watch might not be anywhere near as legitimate as we’d like to think.

I don’t give star ratings, but…

If I could give this book 10 stars, I would, but, unfortunately, I could only give it five. I also don’t often recommend books to my regular mailing list from this blog, instead opting to talk about books involved in newsletter swaps from authors in the same genre as my own.

But, since The Erik Blair Diaries is fused with dystopian, science fiction, and some fantasy, oh, the Spartans Codex (my Beyond the Lost mailing list) will hear about this one with the full review attached. Check out the book right here.

A version of this article appeared on The Rogue Scribe.