"A thrilling search for family and survival in a dystopian future."
March 2025 Book of the Month
A brilliantly conceived post-apocalyptic world is the setting for this perfectly pitched middle grade dystopian page turner.
This world is virtually uninhabited after the Flood which took out all the world’s technology, including the humans who were all connected to the central information hive. This is an utterly credible vision of a future where our ever-increasing thirst for technological advancement has proved to be society’s complete undoing.
We follow Jen and Father, scavenging and travelling across the country, seeking refuge and peace and other people. Gradually we learn that Father is not actually a biological relation of Jen's; he found her abandoned as an infant and more significantly is, in fact, not biological at all. Yet this human appearing ‘mek’, John, has defended and cared for his 'daughter' as she has grown with the help of parenting guides and logic. Coming across a small, self-sufficient human settlement, John sees he may be a liability to Jen and considered a danger in a world where machines/AI are feared for what they did to humans in the past. Jen is torn between her curiosity about other people and her loyalty to Father, theirs is a beautifully nuanced relationship.
For young readers, who have grown up in the digital age, this is not just a heartfelt, moving story exploring what it is to be human and what constitutes a family, but also a really thought-provoking exploration of just how far we should go in our quest for a better life.
The fact that it is also an engaging and accessible read is a great testament to the quality of the writing.
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