Free Chocolate

This review is based on an ARC given to me for free by the publisher, Angry Robot Books. This does not in any way affect my review. This book is slated for release on June 5, 2018.

... As human populations grow and climate change alters entire ecologies, the demand on various natural resources ??? chocolate among them ??? will steadily climb and reach breaking point. The most frequently mentioned are the impending water wars, but even in the context of chocolate these dangerous changes are already happening; as I have mentioned earlier, the plantations in Ghana and the Ivory Coast are already being investigated for using child labour. Is it coincidence that these same plantations are the ones that supply the biggest candy companies in the West? Perhaps: after all, giant corporations like Hershey???s either do not see ??? or do not care to see ??? the kind of oppression and hardship they create in their wake, the lives that are lost, so long as they profit.

This is why it???s mildly disappointing that this novel doesn???t really go as in-depth into the issues created by HGB. Again, I understand that there will be more in the coming novels, but truth be told, I???d be happy to sacrifice some of the romantic interludes in this novel if it meant that there???d be more focus on those darker threads.