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A review by simsian
Daughter of Nothing by Eric Kent Edstrom
3.0
(Disclosure: I met Eric Edstrom at WorldCon 71 and received a free copy of his most recent novel, Daughter of Nothing, from Story Cartel in exchange for an unbiased review.)
I was initially quite skeptical of the novel. The underlying nefarious nature of St. Vitus became clear to me very early on as a voracious reader of dystopian sf. Other reviewers have likened it to the 2005 film, The Island, though I somewhat more optimistically thought of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel, Never Let Me Go, published the same year. Truth be told, one of the underlying premises of Daughter of Nothing is one I've seen many times. That's no reason to expect a wholly derivative work, but the author truly set himself a difficult task.
And then he pulled it off nicely. The story's central trope is of far less importance than I initially expected. This is very much a character driven YA novel with an empathetic protagonist and a well-paced plot. At times, it felt a tad predictable but in the end I have to write that off due to my own familiarity with this particular sub-genre.
One element of the novel that was of particular interest to me came from the unexpected cut off which really allows the novel to stand on its own while not precluding sequels. I would expect very different follow up novels as the author explores the wide swath of the world that was, of necessity, left out of this centrally located and terribly oppressive first volume.
I was initially quite skeptical of the novel. The underlying nefarious nature of St. Vitus became clear to me very early on as a voracious reader of dystopian sf. Other reviewers have likened it to the 2005 film, The Island, though I somewhat more optimistically thought of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel, Never Let Me Go, published the same year. Truth be told, one of the underlying premises of Daughter of Nothing is one I've seen many times. That's no reason to expect a wholly derivative work, but the author truly set himself a difficult task.
And then he pulled it off nicely. The story's central trope is of far less importance than I initially expected. This is very much a character driven YA novel with an empathetic protagonist and a well-paced plot. At times, it felt a tad predictable but in the end I have to write that off due to my own familiarity with this particular sub-genre.
One element of the novel that was of particular interest to me came from the unexpected cut off which really allows the novel to stand on its own while not precluding sequels. I would expect very different follow up novels as the author explores the wide swath of the world that was, of necessity, left out of this centrally located and terribly oppressive first volume.