Synopsis
The hateful Path, that of the 9th Born.
The survival of the Ark—humanity’s last bastion after God’s wrath destroyed the world—is balanced by birth order: the oddborn are assigned a Path, the evenborn are given over to the will of God. And it is upon those of the 9th Born Path to sanitize the evens.
John 59129’s first walk as a Niner is the same day the scientists of the Ark plan to defy God by seeking to turn back time. An electrical surge sends John past the safety of the Ark, into an unblemished world. A glimpse of perfection. Of all the evenborn saved.
But when John wakes, he’s back in the Ark, twenty years after the failure to harness time. Was his encounter real or just a dream caused by his accident? Are those in charge of the Ark keeping the oddborn caged? Is God the monster, or is it mankind?
For John 59129 to find out before his own child is born, he must be willing to play the odds.
Review
Unlucky Evens, Cursed Odds is a dystopian Sci-fi novella by Bill Adams, the author of The Godsblood Tragedy and co-author of SPFBO finalist The Tenacious Tale of Tanna the Tendersword. While all of those works share Bill’s name on the cover, this book couldn’t be more different in terms of tone and voice, and while I could normally see that being the start of a negative review, Adams shows his full versatility in this work.
Like the mid-1900s speculative fiction greats—Bradbury, Le Guinn, Huxley, Orwell, and Butler—Adams weaves a brief tale that is not only entertaining but holds a mirror to the hubris of our society. In many ways, I was reminded of Le Guinn’s Ones That Walk Away from Omelas, though this is several shades darker.
The source of that darkness is the Biblical parallels to child sacrifice and leaning into the themes of the price of progress and the happy ignorance of the masses.
The story centers around John 59129’s struggle with his role in a society that requires sacrifice and perfect devotion to operate and benefit the ruling class. And while the story has its share of twists and turns from the typical Sci-fi trappings: a broken world, wibbley-wobbly timey-wimey shenanigans—the real star of the show is the power dynamic of the society contrasted against John’s growing doubt.
If you are a fan of speculative fiction in the vein of Brave New World or 1984 and are looking for a quick read, I strongly recommend Unlucky Evens, Cursed Odds, and I hope you are satisfied with being left with more questions than answers.
After all, that’s what good literature often does: it makes us think and ask our own questions in response.
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