The Forever Contract by Avery Sawyer

In the very near future, the country is plunged into drought and unrest. Scarce resources and constant heat are making life completely miserable. Casey doesn't think she can stand slugging back another gel pack or working one more shift at the wells. Fortunately, there's a solution: anyone over the age of seventeen can sign the Forever Contract and enter a utopian paradise. While people's minds take a permanent vacation, their bodies get warehoused and hooked up to a complex array of sensors and feeding tubes. As Casey's brother says, "You upload your consciousness to the system and you're free to live as long as you want, however you want. No more pain, no more heat, no more awful dust, no more work. Just pure thought. It's what our species has always been meant for. Suffering is for philosophers. Not for me."

Casey's ready to sign--a permanent vacation is just what she needs. There's only one problem: her boyfriend James doesn't trust it.

Told from his and her perspectives, The Forever Contract is a 17,000 word (60 page) novella suitable for readers in grade 8 and above.

Would you sign the contract?

This was a short novella. So now I have to say give me MORE!! The story line was great. The whole thing takes place in the future when natural resources are all but non-existent. There is no water and even less food so everyone survives on jell packs. In order to make the world better "the programmer" has created a virtual world. At the age of seventeen you are allowed to sign a forever contract and go into the system. What this means is that your body is hooked up to life support and you mind is hooked up to a computer, putting your subconscious into a computer system where anything is possible. If you want to eat or change where you live, even your body type (i.e. mermaid or wings) all you have to do is think about it and it changes. Who wouldn't want to get out of hell in order to live in a heaven of your own mind. You can still talk to all of your family and friends on the outside through a computer screen. 
  James is a boy on a mission. To stop his girlfriend Casey from signing the contract. This novella is the story about telling about their journey as James shows her the truth about the system. He shows her the small print in each contract saying that while you are in the system the owners of it can take your body parts whenever needed. After finding her brother missing some essential body parts, Casey finally believes him. It was a great story with a really great ending. 
   Now for my issue. I needed there to be more between the beginning and the end. They were both great it just seemed like the ending was rushed. I would really like to see another story with this plot. Not a novella but a full story. Don't get me wrong it was a great story. It just made me want more. I give this story 3.5 stars. No flames are needed.

reviewed by Stacy
3.5 stars
0 flames
novella supplied by author for honest review