This review was originally published in AUREALIS MAGAZINE.
Young Adult
NIL Queer Content
_______________________________
‘Birth. Delivery. Dedication. Harvest. Pairing. Transfer. The six milestones in life…’
Most societies impress expectations upon their young adults, pre-requisites for the ultimate rite of passage. In Eridu, however, those expectations include the need to suppress all intense emotions, to maintain only tenuous connections with others, and to actively maintain a repressive hierarchy.
Alanah Andrews’s dystopian tale follows a few defining months in the life of Eve, an adolescent on the cusp of adulthood. For years Eve has seemed the ideal student: obedient, productive and, most importantly, unfeeling. Unfeeling, that is, until her ‘brother’, Luc, fails the harvest and as happens to all of the unworthy, is culled--his consciousness permanently separated from his body. As Eve experiences grief for the first time, she begins to question the indoctrination she has faithfully adhered to her whole life. Told in first person and present tense, readers are softly drawn, just as Eve, into a brave new world of emotion and societal intrigue.
With narrative devices reminiscent of Orwell, Huxley, and Collins, Eve of Eridu explores complex themes whilst distilling some of sci-fi’s best tropes to make them palatable for a younger audience. Transhumanism, distorted socialism, and stoicism are at the forefront of the story, but the book also explores hints of a futuristic style of totalitarianism. Eve of Eridu engages readers on an intellectual level, asking them to face questions about the nature, consequences, and, limitations, of our own humanity, whilst also keeping readers thoroughly entertained.
This book will appeal mostly to young adult readers, but there’s more than enough stimulation here to keep readers of any age interested in the fate of Eve, Luc, and the underground city of Eridu.
Buy it HERE.
Young Adult
NIL Queer Content
_______________________________
‘Birth. Delivery. Dedication. Harvest. Pairing. Transfer. The six milestones in life…’
Most societies impress expectations upon their young adults, pre-requisites for the ultimate rite of passage. In Eridu, however, those expectations include the need to suppress all intense emotions, to maintain only tenuous connections with others, and to actively maintain a repressive hierarchy.
Alanah Andrews’s dystopian tale follows a few defining months in the life of Eve, an adolescent on the cusp of adulthood. For years Eve has seemed the ideal student: obedient, productive and, most importantly, unfeeling. Unfeeling, that is, until her ‘brother’, Luc, fails the harvest and as happens to all of the unworthy, is culled--his consciousness permanently separated from his body. As Eve experiences grief for the first time, she begins to question the indoctrination she has faithfully adhered to her whole life. Told in first person and present tense, readers are softly drawn, just as Eve, into a brave new world of emotion and societal intrigue.
With narrative devices reminiscent of Orwell, Huxley, and Collins, Eve of Eridu explores complex themes whilst distilling some of sci-fi’s best tropes to make them palatable for a younger audience. Transhumanism, distorted socialism, and stoicism are at the forefront of the story, but the book also explores hints of a futuristic style of totalitarianism. Eve of Eridu engages readers on an intellectual level, asking them to face questions about the nature, consequences, and, limitations, of our own humanity, whilst also keeping readers thoroughly entertained.
This book will appeal mostly to young adult readers, but there’s more than enough stimulation here to keep readers of any age interested in the fate of Eve, Luc, and the underground city of Eridu.
Buy it HERE.
RSS Feed
