Synopsis:
A STRICT HIERARCHY. A VOW.
A stomach-churning hell or a better life.
Life and death are only a body part away—and love may cost more than they were born with.
What won’t they pay?
Review:
I went into this book thinking it was just a dystopian sci-fi novel, but I was wrong. It is dystopian; the world is falling apart, people are struggling to survive despite their advanced technology, and something happened in the past to lead them to this disturbing point in history.
What I was wrong about was the just sci-fi bit. This book could easily be categorized as horror too. Content warnings are mentioned below the book description on retailers, and I advise you check them out before reading.
The main character, whose name is never given, is a woman. At the beginning of the tale, she’s pregnant (about 5 months along), and her husband is known as an Anomaly. The Anomalies are born with the gene for innovation/creativity, something that has died out in most of society, and are responsible for designing the future. Rigid laws are in place for both Anomalies and Commons, and breaking said laws are grounds for severe punishment.
Life isn’t easy for the main character. She lives in an area known as The Valley; it’s either third or fourth in line in terms of the societal hierarchy, which means she gets by, but sometimes just barely. Even with her Anomaly husband’s better pay/resource allocations, things are tough. But she knows he could do better for himself—and their upcoming family—if he’d only take his Vow. He doesn’t want to, and she doesn’t understand why. She also doesn’t understand the differences in the laws that govern him, which comes into play later. But she does want a better life for herself and her future son, and she’ll do just about anything to get it.
Every aspect of their society is dictated by The Dome (basically the governing body of their world.) Children are tested at age 8 for the Anomaly gene. If they’re positive, they’re ranked by how potent the gene is. The more potent, the better their position in the world. If they don’t have the gene, which is the outcome for the majority of the population, they’re deemed Common and given more menial jobs based on their aptitudes. The job and the area they live in determines what they’re given as payment (this is financial as well as resources/food.)
I’m going to pause diving into the story content any further at this point to say the book is very well written and the worldbuilding was thorough. It was an interesting read, but this book will not be suitable for everyone, so check out the content warnings before you decide to take the plunge.
*POTENTIALLY DISTURBING CONTENT DISCUSSED BELOW THIS POINT*
One of the main themes of this book is cannibalism. I mentioned above that food is allocated by The Dome, but much of that food is human in origin. I didn’t realize this at first (I’ll admit I’m not one to read content warnings ahead of time), so it sort of smacked me in the face around chapter 2 or 3. The consumption of fellow humans is so commonplace in the book’s world that no one thinks of it as bad or off-putting. It’s just part of their life.
There were a few scenes where the main character has nightmares about an experience she had at “the farms” (yes, it is what you’re thinking it is). There’s also a scene where she donates an arm during a food shortage. That was difficult to read from a conceptual standpoint, because as the reader, you know what they’ll use her arm for.
I will admit to having a couple nightmares of my own as a result of reading this book.
But the storyline was compelling in a horrifying sort of way, which I hope is what the author was going for.
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