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lianne_rooney's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content, Physical abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Abortion, Pregnancy, Death, Confinement, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Forced institutionalization, and Animal cruelty
novelshire's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.5
Thoroughly compelling & absorbing speculative fiction, psychological thriller.
In an unspecified, dystopian-ish future, Aina and Whitney are exiled on an island, far from civilisation. They are limited in their exploration and activities by the Pill Clock. The clock has fingerprint recognition and they must be present every 8 hours for it to dispense a pill that prevents them from succumbing to the toxic spores that are being released from the thawing permafrost.
After nearly 12 years, their time on their island prison is due to end - but no-one comes on parole day. With the supply drops having stopped several years ago and no word from the Warden for months - what is really happening? And then a sheep appears from nowhere.
As the situation on the island becomes increasingly tense, we gradually learn the circumstances that led to their exile and can begin to piece together a little of what is happening in the outside world. (Although they aren't they focal point of the story, there's at least one authoritarian government and strong suggestions of climate breakdown.)
But mostly, this is an intimate, almost claustrophobic story of two people and how they deal with adversity and uncertainty. The glimpse we get of the past and the outside world ratchet up the tension until a breaking point is reached. This is a book you won't want to put down, desperate to discover what is really going on.
I'm personally not a huge fan of deliberately vague endings but the rest of the book was so compelling, it doesn't really matter.
Thanks to Bloomsbury for providing a netgalley review copy.
In an unspecified, dystopian-ish future, Aina and Whitney are exiled on an island, far from civilisation. They are limited in their exploration and activities by the Pill Clock. The clock has fingerprint recognition and they must be present every 8 hours for it to dispense a pill that prevents them from succumbing to the toxic spores that are being released from the thawing permafrost.
After nearly 12 years, their time on their island prison is due to end - but no-one comes on parole day. With the supply drops having stopped several years ago and no word from the Warden for months - what is really happening? And then a sheep appears from nowhere.
As the situation on the island becomes increasingly tense, we gradually learn the circumstances that led to their exile and can begin to piece together a little of what is happening in the outside world. (Although they aren't they focal point of the story, there's at least one authoritarian government and strong suggestions of climate breakdown.)
But mostly, this is an intimate, almost claustrophobic story of two people and how they deal with adversity and uncertainty. The glimpse we get of the past and the outside world ratchet up the tension until a breaking point is reached. This is a book you won't want to put down, desperate to discover what is really going on.
I'm personally not a huge fan of deliberately vague endings but the rest of the book was so compelling, it doesn't really matter.
Thanks to Bloomsbury for providing a netgalley review copy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Gore
Moderate: Emotional abuse
Minor: Abortion and Sexual content
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