This book is all about people. Most of the reader’s time is spent inside somebody’s head, being told exactly how and what that person is thinking. In the opening, at least, there is very little action.
It is the tale of a 1984-type totalitarian society that masquerades as utopia, and a disparate group of rebels, thrown together by chance, who discover a horrible plot by the leaders. We see the story through the eyes of several characters, both good and bad, and sometimes we get disoriented as to who is talking to us.
The author has gone to a great deal of trouble to create all these characters in fine detail, and wants us to know all about them. Everyone is always second-guessing themselves. They think about an idea, then stop to contemplate what it means that they would think that way. The impression the reader gets, after a while, is that the author is telling us about a group of neurotics, none of whom deserve to be main characters in a book.
A hint: in the list of four effective ways readers learn about characters, “What the author tells us about them” is number five.
This technique works best when we see the opposite side of the human ego: Chief Inquisitor Caleb never has any doubts about himself or his actions, and it is fascinating to watch how his mind warps his reality to the point where he sounds positively benign. To himself.
Likewise, a great deal of imagination has gone into creating the trappings of the society, but revealing the details through sentences with five descriptive adjectives in a row can backfire. (to be fair, it only happened once, but still…)
The conflict, once it gets going, builds nicely to a surprisingly realistic ending.
This author has done a fine job of creating the world, the characters, and the conflict, but has neglected the other important factor; the experience the reader goes through. Complex sentences, sliding point of view, excess description and too much angst slows the action and weakens our connection to the story.
If you are a fan of intrigue, psychology and the manipulation of individuals and societies, you’re going to love this novel. Take out about 50 pages of inner dialogue, and the wider reading public would enjoy it, too.
Four stars.
This review was originally published on Reedsy Discovery.