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hmatt's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I expected to really like this, and it didn't disappoint.
- Canadian setting that is foolproof (i.e. I can look up locations on Google Maps and they're exactly as described. This is one of my favourite things to do in nonfiction and it was such a delight and added so much credibility to this fictional narrative.)
- Really rich world-building that doesn't feel like its being over-explained
- Nothing happens. Like, things do happen, but the story is mostly about this kind of liminal time in the protagonist's life. It's a very tense, unsure time, and I loved how we were just getting a little glimpse of a bigger world.
- SHORT, ohmygod, I love a short book where nothing happens. 2022 is the year of short stories and novellas for me. This was great to tote around on a couple weekends away where I wanted to travel light, and it's helping me combat a 2-month-long reading slump.
- So many little (but painful) quotable passages, which I will now insert some examples of:
For generations we have waited for it to become normal. And it has not. We are still horrified.
It was not instantaneous, the "end of the world," the way it is in nightmares. The sky didn't tear open around an asteroid, the earth didn't swallow us up. And of course, the world did not end at the same time for everyone. No one back then would have been able to say: This is the day our world ended. Or even: This is the year.
On a human scale it was slow enough that for a long time it did not seem truly dire; on a geological scale it seemed that nothing was happening; till suddenly the feedback cycles tipped over, became too front-heavy to regulate themselves.
I wonder what they do in the domes if they catch someone like this. Or do things like this simply not happen there? No, they must have a system. People are people wherever you go; and they aren't any better than us.
I'm an infrequent Readerly user, but sometimes you just gotta do "book maths", so here's my gist: https://www.readerly.com/gists/4079816 - and here's the maths bit:
- Take the eeriness of the unknown phenomena in Annihilation
- Add the teen-girl body horror of Wilder Girls
- Set it in Canada(ish, lol) and in an established post-apocalyptic society like in Station Eleven
- Throw in a mysterious "other place" that the protagonist is drawn to - same vibes as The Giver
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Animal death, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, and Chronic illness
Minor: Torture and Suicide
"Chronic illness" tag used in reference to the fictional parasitic infection that is passed down genetically(?)
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