2017
This
is a fast-paced novel where the stakes and the tension remain high. The young
people, and in particular protagonist Catarina Agatta,
take huge risks. They face pain and violence. Certainly here we come across Christopher
Vogler’s ‘trials, allies and enemies’ or Joseph Campbell’s ‘road of ‘trials’ in
their respective story theories.
Emily Suvada
presents us with a thoughtfully conceived world. The story takes place as the planet is swept
by a dangerous virus. Some people are secured in bunkers but this comes at a
cost.
People are
coded and programmed like computers. Even DNA can be altered by the cleverest
of the programmers such as Catarina’s father Lachlan Agatta. It’s difficult to
understand this technology but Suvada herself has checked out her facts and
indeed I’ve also run them past a scientist. A world like this can exist and probably
will in the future. We’re heading that way already. That alone makes this book
very readable.
There is some
sexual tension as well as Cat operates with three young men. This is not the
main thrust of the story, however.
We can read
this book on two levels. It can be taken at face value as a dystopian thriller
or we can see the plague itself, its side effects and the way it is tackled as
symbolic of society, even of our current society.
A riddle is
solved by the end of the book but we are straight away presented with another.
Suvada leaves the way nicely open for the sequel.
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