One afternoon in June, I once again found myself in the far corner of King St. Waterstones, crounched on the floor investigating books. Fractured had been popping up on my Kindle for months and here in front of me was its predecessor. Interest piqued I flipped it open. Then it ended up in a carrier bag and on its way back to Sibsey Street. Less than 24 hours later I was back, picking up the sequel, then came the waiting until Friday (OK, I started this blog a long time ago its now like 3 Fridays ago..., when I returned to find the final instalment awaiting me. Giddy with glee I plunged back into a Britain very unlike the one we know.
The year is 2054 and Britain is under a totalitarian Law and Order (Lorder) regime, in the wake of riots that brought the country to its knees. A Britain cut off from the rest of the world, a 1984-esque deceptive idyll.
In the Britain's answer to The Hunger Games, Matched or Divergent, Teri Terry (I only hope she married into the double name - otherwise those are some evil parents) has crafted a thrilling dystopian mystery, with a plot that thickens at every turn every answer posing more riddles than it solves and for the most part a breakneck pace that deservedly places it in league with the aforementioned giants. I can only theorise that it's British setting is the reason for its relative anonymity.
Kyla, is a slated. A juvenile offender whose punishment is to have her memory wiped, thus resetting her personality, and making it almost impossible for her to re-offend. Placed in an adoptive family she adjusts to life, knowing only what she has been told, the past a door completely closed to her. Only it isn't. Kyla is remembering things she shouldn't be and the Levo on her wrist (the device used to monitor and control Slateds) isn't working as it should. Over the course of 3 books we follow Kyla's search for her true identity, breaking lots of laws in the process, and the downfall of a regime that is not what it seems.
This is not just a coming of age tale, this is an examination of a nation and its relationship with its young people. A questioning look at law and order, punishment and human rights and the role a government should play in it. It is a beautiful exercise in highlighting the importance of free speech and democracy. But most of all this book is about memory. What makes us who we are, what shapes us, defines us. Are we what we remember, or are we, a predefined person, are we inherently good, or inherently bad? By the end of shattered each character has a different view, a different notion of what makes a person who they are, and more importantly who they want to be.
For those fans of all the trendy isms, This Trilogy more than passes the Bechdel test. Women occupy a lot the major roles, the movers and shakers of Kyla's immediate world are women, be they protagonist or antagonist. There are no one dimensional characters here, yes there are tropes, the ones who will do anything for power the ones who want anything but power, etc but fiction just as in life only has an very exhausted supply of ideas; and yes literary buffs some people are just that evil and self interested; but no of those tropes feels like that each character is well crafted and expertly woven into the narrative fabric the complex fabric of which keeps twisting and turning and slapping you in the face with yet another wet kipper of astonishment until the very end. Unless you're talking about the love element - because it's blatantly obvious how that will end from book one, though I suppose that one is all down to how you react to the character.
Anyway that aside: Rather Excellent
4 stars!
Bethxx
P.S I rarely give out 5 stars The Book Thief however MADE ME CRY and that takes astounding writing. Or being very over tired, but I can tell the difference between the two.
Kyla, is a slated. A juvenile offender whose punishment is to have her memory wiped, thus resetting her personality, and making it almost impossible for her to re-offend. Placed in an adoptive family she adjusts to life, knowing only what she has been told, the past a door completely closed to her. Only it isn't. Kyla is remembering things she shouldn't be and the Levo on her wrist (the device used to monitor and control Slateds) isn't working as it should. Over the course of 3 books we follow Kyla's search for her true identity, breaking lots of laws in the process, and the downfall of a regime that is not what it seems.
This is not just a coming of age tale, this is an examination of a nation and its relationship with its young people. A questioning look at law and order, punishment and human rights and the role a government should play in it. It is a beautiful exercise in highlighting the importance of free speech and democracy. But most of all this book is about memory. What makes us who we are, what shapes us, defines us. Are we what we remember, or are we, a predefined person, are we inherently good, or inherently bad? By the end of shattered each character has a different view, a different notion of what makes a person who they are, and more importantly who they want to be.
For those fans of all the trendy isms, This Trilogy more than passes the Bechdel test. Women occupy a lot the major roles, the movers and shakers of Kyla's immediate world are women, be they protagonist or antagonist. There are no one dimensional characters here, yes there are tropes, the ones who will do anything for power the ones who want anything but power, etc but fiction just as in life only has an very exhausted supply of ideas; and yes literary buffs some people are just that evil and self interested; but no of those tropes feels like that each character is well crafted and expertly woven into the narrative fabric the complex fabric of which keeps twisting and turning and slapping you in the face with yet another wet kipper of astonishment until the very end. Unless you're talking about the love element - because it's blatantly obvious how that will end from book one, though I suppose that one is all down to how you react to the character.
Anyway that aside: Rather Excellent
4 stars!
Bethxx
P.S I rarely give out 5 stars The Book Thief however MADE ME CRY and that takes astounding writing. Or being very over tired, but I can tell the difference between the two.
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