Synopsis
Two species of humans — one technologically advanced and one living in nature — have coexisted peacefully on their home planet for over a century. But when an ancient treaty is breached, devastation follows.
Balika has always felt like an outsider. When tragedy strikes, she is left without a reason to remain with her tribe. Looking for a place where she can belong, she leaves the familiar forest and ventures into the desert to bond with a mythical animal through music. But her forgotten life calls her back when she discovers an unexpected threat to her land.
Sammah works long hours as an experience developer and returns to his tiny apartment alone. He suffers from anxiety and spends most of his time in the virtual world. He opens up to a friendship with a colleague, but just when things start to look up, he gets trapped in a strange and dangerous affair. He might either lose himself, or the only person he truly cares about.
Struggling to make the right choices, they get pulled into a brewing disaster. Their worlds are about to collide, and their paths are fated to cross. Caught on different sides of the conflict, Balika and Sammah take up the fight in their own ways. If they want to save what they love most, they must risk everything. Will that be enough?
Content warnings: violence, death (including death of a loved one, death of a parent, death of a child), bullying, torture, blood, language. Even though the book is ultimately hopeful, it contains some violent scenes that some readers might find difficult. Please be careful if you are sensitive to the above.
Review
I read this to rate for the Indie Ink Awards and I’m glad I was able to reserve it. It’s my final read for this year’s comp.
For some reason it took me over a month to cut through, no idea why, but I’m glad to have read it.
This is a fantasy novel that takes place on a planet that has two separate species of humans on it. One lives close to the earth, hunting and surviving off the land. The other is more technologically advanced, living in a society further along than ours. Balika, an outsider, is thrust out of the only comfort she’s ever known. Sammah, also an outsider, is thrust out of his comfort zone when a friend starts getting close to him.
I loved that the two main characters mirror each other throughout the entirety of the novel. Their journeys may not be identical, but their struggles, their internal turmoil, as well as their outcomes, mirror, intermix, and come together in a really special way. And I especially appreciated the author’s ability to write the character of Balika as different while not making her seem inferior. While her people might have thought the construction machines were giant beasts, not understanding technology, there is nuance and intellect described throughout that highlights very well as just different, not dumb.
In a sense, I will say that the two storylines did not mesh all that well for me. As in, they just didn’t gell for me, and for most of the novel, I wasn’t sure where the build up would take me. It certainly pays off in a big way, it just took a while for me to catch up.
As much as this is a scifi fantasy, it also has notes of eco-horror too. Protecting the world from destruction, as well as repairing what’s been done. There’s also all the necessary dystopian scifi notes of a world that’s too attached to the simplicities that technology bring. All in all a solid mixture.
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