How horrible it is that tyranny can lurk under mundane surfaces until it has the social graces to rear its ugly head.
When the dust of war settles, Kristina Simmons wakes to a world she barely recognizes. The Mathesius Family has risen to power, entwining itself with the tattered remnants of Tarm Industries to forge a chilling future fueled by a genetically engineered workforce.
Kristina is determined to fight back, but that's easier said than done. Her closest ally and forbidden love interest has fallen under Family control, her reputation is in shambles after a scandalous relationship with her former partner in crime makes headlines, and the people of Tesland are suspiciously susceptible to extreme new ideologies.
With no clear path forward and no sign of the genius who once helped her wage war, Kristina must navigate a nation teetering on the brink of becoming one massive experiment. Survival isn't just about disavowing and defeating the Mathesius Family — it's about finding strength in a world that's led her and countless others to forget what integrity means.
PART TWO: EXECUTION is the second dystopian novel in the Industrialized series, exploring resilience, redemption, and revolution in a world teetering on self-destruction.
In 2007, Nikki Elizabeth began her professional writing journey with the publication of her first article in a regional newspaper. She honed her skills as a journalist until 2016, when her storytelling expanded beyond journalism to encompass contributions to magazines, travel publications, and leading corporations' communications and content marketing teams. From lifestyle articles to advertising copy and commercial scripting and storyboarding, Elizabeth has navigated diverse writing roles, all while maintaining a deep passion for fiction writing. She returned to her creative roots with the release of her debut novel in April 2024.
I finished this and just immediately had to sit with it. No notes, just vibes... and also like, three hours of spiraling through everything that just happened. This book wrecked me in the best and worst ways. I don’t even know where to start except to say: if Industrialized Part One shook the snow globe, Part Two smashed it and made you pick up the glass with your bare hands. And I mean that in the most complimentary way possible.
In postwar Tesland, the Mathesius Family has wriggled its way into power, and I’m still haunted by how casually evil they are: eugenics, propaganda, incentivized births, surveillance capitalism. The Family doesn’t feel like villains at first, and that’s what makes them so terrifying. It’s tyranny in a business-casual dress code. And Kristina’s arc here is something else entirely. She’s not the scrappy rebel from Part One anymore. She’s bruised, infamous, and absolutely not okay, but she’s also so much more aware. Of herself, of the systems she’s been part of, of the damage she’s both endured and caused. We see just how clouded she was, how manipulated she’s been (Titus, whew), and how tangled her trauma has become with her sense of identity. This isn’t a redemption arc. It’s a reckoning.
Let’s talk Titus. Or better yet, let’s scream into a pillow about Titus. I hated him. I pitied him. I mourned him. And I still don’t know how to feel. He comes back into the story about halfway through the book, severely burned, in a wheelchair, and angry as hell... but for once, you see past the control and cruelty to the root: a boy who never got to grow up before the world taught him how to weaponize his own pain. The moment Kristina finally chooses to leave, not because she doesn’t love him, but because she finally realizes love isn’t enough? Absolutely devastating. Absolutely necessary.
I just have so much to unpack, I feel like I'm rambling, but I want to touch on Ralph, too. His return was the twist I didn’t know I needed. Watching him go from confused outsider to emotionally grounded voice of reason was oddly healing. And finding out he’s Kristina’s biological uncle?? The family dynamics in this book are WILD. Messy, complicated, but ultimately healing in that “we choose each other anyway” kind of way.
Also, can we appreciate that this story doesn’t pull punches on healing either? The way Frazer and Jacob both call out the abuse, the trauma loops, this story just refuses to let the darkness slide under the radar. And watching Kristina finally process it, actually sit in her pain and start to rebuild on her own terms... that was maybe the most radical part of the entire book. She changes. She chooses herself. And that’s something not a lot of dystopias have the guts to explore.
Final thoughts? If you’re looking for a dystopian series that’s witty, politically sharp, and deeply, uncomfortably relevant, you need to read Industrialized. It’s like if 1984, The Handmaid’s Tale, and V for Vendetta had a weird, brilliant baby raised by a trauma therapist and a political science major. Part Two is heavier, slower in some spots, but it's surgical in its emotional execution (pun FULLY intended). Highly, highly recommend, especially if you want to feel something and then question everything. I don’t know if Nikki Elizabeth plans to write a third book, but if she does? I’ll be first in line. This series does not miss.
This time around, Kristina is the industrialist. Frazer, now king, rescues her from where Titus left her imprisoned at the end of the war, and he and Jacob bring Kris up to speed on everything she missed in Part One. Lavinia's family has been intertwined with the Mathesius Family for ages, they realize, and Titus has been plotting for this very moment for more than a decade. Now that the Family is in power, Kris finds herself alone in her fight against technocracy... Until she suddenly isn't. As with Part One, this story is twisty, disturbing, and humanizing in so many ways, but it does move a bit slower without the immediate presence of Titus Tarm. I HATED him in Part One (but lowkey loved the dark romance elements he brought in), but his absence was immediately felt. And watching Kris realize that he was also a victim, just like her, but that he chose to perpetuate the cycle of abuse? SO heavy.
As with the first book in the Industrialized series, love/consequence and mystery/horror remain huge themes in an otherwise sci-fi/biopunk story, but we now get a view of governmental commentary at a higher degree. The Family members in office make terrifying new changes, from legalizing psychadelics to banning abortion and introducing population growth plays. Guess who steps up to fight them? Saida Merymut and Ralph Simmons. Ralph re-entering the story as a major player was a twist I did not see coming, and him finding out the full story about Kristina's adoption and meeting Lavinia really floored me. If I wasn't already crying in the end, his final moments with Kris where they both say "I love you" would have done me in. Overall, I think the series is a reminder that even in war and politics, it's all about human connection. The worldbuilding and dialogue continue to shine, but this world feels so much uncomfortably closer to where we are now than the first one did. I don't say this often, but I think this book stands up alongside greats like 1984 as a very sound warning of what could come. The major theme of seeing the government run like a business is far too close to home for American readers, but like Kris says in the end... We can all use our voice to fight for a better tomorrow. Really, really highly recommend this series.
Industrialized Part Two: Execution by Nikki Elizabeth added so much to a beautifully written world. Once again, it follows Kristina, but we get more insight into her backstory... Namely, that her granfather, Rick Bellamy, was a Mathesius Family recruit ages ago, so she was very intentionally brought into the plot in the hopes that she had the same prodigious skills with circuitry. This book brings her closer with Lavinia, her birth mother, and forces her to confront how out of her element she is without Titus Tarm, her partner in crime and former romantic partner, calling all the shots.
I loved how this story held the characters accountable for their actions in the first book, and some twists (like Lavinia and Celeste finding love) were as unexpected and surprising as the first book's constant twisting and twirling, so the tone was incredibly consistent though our narrator was no longer drugged and clouded as the story unfolded. I also loved that Kristina chooses to stay single, realizing that her love triangle was a toxic pursuit and that neither partner was good for her. With that being said, the natural chemistry between her and Tarm was still so palatable. There's one scene in Pais where they're laying together and talking, and their acknowledgment that they're no good as partners in that moment was so real and raw, so humanizing and emotional. And then when we lose a key character during the final fight scene, all the emotions from the big journey just come to a head. As with the first book, societal and political issues remain paramount, especially Saida's insistence on the importance of establishing something like a Board of Education in a world that chose to get rid of theirs generations ago. I think this series will especially resonate with other American readers, because watching characters acknowledge the horrors of a government run like a corporation and a burgeoning technocracy felt so unfortunately relatable.
I read Part One: Experiment during the election cycle, and it took me a while to recover enough to read the sequel. Once again, it was startlingly relevant and really worth the read. Before I dive deeper, I want to say that my favorite thing about this book was how it held the characters accountable for their actions. There really was no coddling here, and I loved that. I wish more books had the cojones to send one of their MCs to jail lol, though I wish it was for a longer time. Of course he got the Wolf of Wallstreet ending. 🙄 Accurate, but it did piss me off a little lol.
Once again, this story follows Kristina Simmons, once an engineer for Tarm Industries and now Titus Tarm's stand-in as its primary owner. After seeing her autonomy crippled in the first book, she struggles with how to fight against a Mathesius Family-led government in this one. As a result, the book is a bit slow to start, but once it finds its stride, it gets explosive. And I do mean explosive...
While I still didn't really like Kristina in this book, I understood her so much. I sympathized with her a lot, and I found her ending to be very strong. It takes a lot to walk away, especially when you're trauma bonded. I think that says a lot about the series, that I didn't like the narrator but was still very invested in her story. I previously compared that to Breaking Bad, and I honestly think it still rings true with this one... Bad people doing bad things with oddly pure intentions, but you just can't look away. A really powerful and hopeful ending to the series. Definitely a must read, especially in this day and age.
Holy molyyyyyy, this book! What a ride! Kristina Simmons is back in action, and wow, Tesland is a whole new beast. She’s freed from prison by King Frazer, only to realize the Mathesius Family is running the show, planning to use the population to build new workers to fuel TI and make them rich... and an army to take over the world. Oh, and Titus is presumed dead, Frazer’s basically a puppet, and Kristina’s stuck rebuilding T.I. for these power-hungry maniacs. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg, folks. Things get wild, fast, and every twist kept me on the edge of my seat!
We meet some wildly interesting new characters, including Liam, Kristina’s mysterious ally within the Mathesius Family. This dude knows way more than he lets on, and he’s giving Kristina all the secrets she needs to expose the Family’s plans. There’s also a little romance brewing between Kristina and Frazer (you know, keeping it sneaky just like in Part One), but the plot thickens when Kristina discovers some major secrets—like, I was flipping pages like a maniac, not knowing what would happen next. At times, I found myself going back to reference my copy of Part One... Seeing Liz and her weird partner guy at the Unveiling Gala, and the insulated lab coat she's sleeping under after the Gala... Wow, the author's been dropping hints since the very beginning, and I definitely did not see how all the threads were going to come together. Like, we even find out why Ralph involved the authorities after the thing at Gideon's bar in Part One!!!
And can we talk about how Kristina just grows throughout this story? From being trapped in toxic relationships and manipulative power plays to owning her voice and taking control of her destiny, YES, QUEEN! She starts pushing back, becoming a true leader, and I couldn’t help but cheer her on, even though she still kinda frustrated me. But she REALLY grew. Meanwhile, the Mathesius Family is getting creepier by the minute, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. From fighting to free Celeste from her own iron corset to dealing with election drama and mind-controlled zombies (yep, looking at you, Jacob), this book has EVERYTHING. Plus, there’s a heart-wrenching loss that had me ugly crying by the end. And the final scene picks up a few years out, revealing that she now goes by her birth name (Christine Bellamy) and has worked hard to separate herself from the trauma she carries.
I’m seriously obsessed with this series. It’s funny, it’s dark, and it’s one heck of an emotional rollercoaster. At first glance, it's about the dangers of unchecked power, condeming powerful people for bad behavior, and the warning of technocracy and billionaires in government. But at its core, it’s about breaking free from trauma, reclaiming your power, and choosing to fight for a future that’s yours—not anyone else’s. Kristina’s journey is one of resilience, and watching her finally choose herself after everything she’s been through is so empowering. Trust me when I say, you NEED to read this series. It’s a wild, heartbreaking, and humbling story that’s more than worth the ride.
Well if this author isn’t the next prophet… reading this story was so riveting especially during this past election season. Mama… I was shook. I’m not the biggest reader honestly, but there were many times where I had to put the book down and take a deep breath because what’s happening in this dystopia is currently happening right now in our world. It was THAT riveting. And made the story so much more interesting to read. The way the author infuses dark topics like eugenics and lack of bodily autonomy into the dialogue and the everyday lives of the characters was so impressive… it made the characters feel so real and while this is years into the future, it didn’t really feel that far away. Overall it’s an epic story, and once you get in, it’s hard to work your way out of it. I’d recommend following the author on her Instagram to get more content related to the story because it helps and well, it’s just funny 🤣 would definitely recommend if you want to immerse yourself in an (almost) different world and get lost in such an inventive and creative story 😁
I don't want to give away too much about the plot (or the great twists and turns that it takes), so I'm going to write this review and hope to avoid too many spoilers.
If you're looking at this, hopefully you've read the first part of this series: Experiment. Execution picks up exactly where you finished in part one, bring you crashing into the world of Kris once again.
I'm likely to start mentioning spoilers if I go much further into details, so I'll leave you with my feelings instead. I felt such a connection with these characters, Nikki paints them in exquisite detail, making you feel like you've known them for years. You will smile, laugh, and cry. You will feel shocked, joyful, confused, frustrated (really frustrated!) and relieved. The impact this book has will be with you for a long time, giving plenty of food for thought. It's also happily quite scientifically accurate!
Added a lot to the world and clarified a lot of factors from the first that the narrator wasn't immersed in. Has all the twists you'd expect the series to have with some surprises. Really felt for Titus in this one, but was pleasantly surprised the FMC/MMC didn't work things out and end up together. Sad about the character who died
OH. MY. GOSH. I finished my ARC copy a full day ago, but I really had to sit with everything that happened. I'm also very seriously thinking about rereading Part One, because holy shit did I miss a lot of details. Nikki Elizabeth didn't miss a beat, though... From the man the woman with tattooed eyes was whispering to during the Unveiling Gala and Ralph Simmons's true motivations, everything comes together so tightly. If you're looking for a series that is gripping, empowering, and horribly relevant all at once, you have to check out Industrialized. The cast we know returns after the war, with the exception of Titus Tarm whose assumed dead. Some new characters enter the scene, too, with the fabled Mathesius Family resurfacing through dogmatic leaders that ultimately brainwash the population into buying into their ideals. They've secured political power, and the changes they're making aren't good. From banning abortion to their preferred partners program that is poised to shape a new population as they see fit to family tax credits incentivizing compliance in forced population growth, this was so disturbing and so, so fascinating. And Kristina! She's confirmed as an unreliable narrator, and we also get to see that whatever was going on with Frazer was intentionally downplayed in Part One. Now, I'm going to go into some HUGE spoilers because I just need to react, so please don't read them until you also read the story LOL.
Oh, and one more thing about Kristina... This story really confirms that while she's the narrator, she's not the hero of the story and was never meant to be. Near the beginning, she considers introducing perpetual motion electricity to Tesland but the thought is fleeting before she thinks, no, that'll collapse the energy sector and Frazer would be pissed. Later, we see her getting frustrated over the creation of public parks. Jacob gets her to recognize that a lot of her beliefs are wrong, but she really doesn't change until the final scene when absence makes her mind grow stronger. Disturbing, and empowering with a few laughs sprinkled in, this was a GREAT conclusion to this series. Selfishly, I hope it's not the conclusion. I really, really want to spend more time in Tesland, especially now that it's democratic and seemingly better. Special thanks to Miss Elizabeth for welcoming me onto her ARC team again!