The Regional Office Is Under Attack!- A Novel (2016)

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Read it!” — Jess Walter , New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Ruins "[R]eminded me that reading can be FUN.” * — B *uzzfeed In a world beset by amassing forces of darkness, one organization—the Regional Office—and its coterie of super-powered female assassins protects the globe from annihilation. At its helm, the mysterious Oyemi and her oracles seek out new recruits and root out evil plots. Then a prophecy suggests that someone from inside might bring about its downfall. And now, the Regional Office is under attack. Recruited by a defector from within, Rose is a young assassin leading the attack, eager to stretch into her powers and prove herself on her first mission. Defending the Regional Office is Sarah—who may or may not have a mechanical arm—fiercely devoted to the organization that took her in as a young woman in the wake of her mother’s sudden disappearance. On the day that the Regional Office is attacked, Rose’s and Sarah’s stories will overlap, their lives will collide, and the world as they know it just might end. Weaving in a brilliantly conceived mythology, fantastical magical powers, teenage crushes, and kinetic fight scenes, The Regional Office Is Under Attack! is a seismically entertaining debut novel about revenge and allegiance and love. From the Hardcover edition. ** Review Praise for *The Regional Office Is Under Attack! * “The Regional Office really IS under attack! This is not metaphor! It is a wry and propulsive work of inventive fiction by a terrific young writer! Read it!” — Jess Walter , New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Ruins “Delightfully weird, weirdly delightful! Manuel Gonzales clearly has a labyrinth of a brain--all stuffed with monsters, trapdoors, and complicated heroes. Sign me up as a member of the fan club, please.” — Kelly Link , author of Get in Trouble and Magic for Beginners “This book is a winged creation, and absolutely marvelous. Gonzales keeps turning the kaleidoscope to reveal the strangest, darkest, and most beautiful dimensions of human love, and the conversion of mechanical fury into living strength.” — Karen Russell , author of Swamplandia! “The Regional Office, a shadowy organization of spooky oracles and superpowered middle management misfits, isn’t the only thing under attack in this tremendous debut novel. With exuberant prose and a corkscrew plot, Manuel Gonzales vanquishes artistic orthodoxies, tiresome genre boundaries and every humdrum narrative convention in sight, leaving in his wake a riveting story of secrets, betrayals, and vengeance!” —Claire Vaye Watkins , author of Battleborn and Gold Fame Citrus “Wild, visionary, ablaze with heart and riot, The Regional Office Is Under Attack! is unforgettable—an epic love story that confronts our future with a howl and fireworks.” — Paul Yoon , author of Snow Hunters “ The Regional Office is Under Attack! is wickedly subversive, suspenseful, and thoughtful, all at once—but most of all, it's just fun to read, from the first sentence to the last. Put down your expectations and pick up this book. It'll hit you like a lightning bolt.” — Jess Row , author of Your Face in Mine “A ridiculously fun story about love, as well as time and timing, both good and bad. And because of that, it’s also timely. The ending—with its deft glimpse at a hypothetical future—is alone worth the wild ride.” — Hannah Pittard , author of The Fates Will Find Their Way "[H]ighly entertaining… Wonderfully strange and fun, Gonzales’ novel follows both the women attacking and defending the Regional Office and how their lives intersect.” — Buzzfeed "[A] wholly invented world rife with satire, absurdity, and somehow love and even warmth. With this debut novel, Gonzales... proves himself to be both a wonderful addition to a proud literary tradition (that of Vonnegut, Borges, Saunders, Bender, and Barthelme, et al) and a true original." — Lit Hub “You may not be familiar with the name Manuel Gonzales, but once you’ve had the pleasure of delv