LoveReading4Kids Says
December 2024 Book of the Month
First in a trilogy (huzzah!), Rachel Delahaye’s Electric Life deserves to be held up as a paragon of YA dystopian fiction. Fronted by a character to root for — a young woman whose every decision, dilemma, danger, doubt and desire cuts to the core of what it means to feel alive — it’s set in future versions of London that feel freakily familiar.
Alara lives in Estrella, the hyper-sanitised “Star City” in which everything is digitally monitored, and everything is safe. A place in which no one can be bored or dissatisfied — how can that be possible, when every need is taken care of?
Alara’s family sit near the lower end of Estrella’s social strata, with her talented food technologist mum long overlooked for promotion, and her dad a Refuse Manager. While Alara’s formidable gaming skills might offer her family a route to a more comfortable life, instead they bring her to the attention of Estrella’s leaders, who task her with venturing into the dangerous Void to check out what’s really going on in London Under.
Feared and distrusted by the citizens and leaders of Estrella, London Under is the original city on which Estrella was built. On arrival, though, through the dangers and her fears, Alara’s desire for something more comes to the fore. In London Under, she feels alive — there’s passion, community, imperfection and unpredictability, in contrast to the controlled, comfortable version of life in Estrella.
“Comfort. Is that the best we can hope for in life?” she muses, which is one of the themes of this remarkable novel, along with fear of the other, the conflict between personal need and the desire to do right by your family, and what it means to lead a fulfilling life. Bring on book two!
Joanne Owen
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Electric Life Synopsis
Alara’s incredible gaming skills bring her to the attention of Estrella’s leaders. She is chosen to go on a dangerous mission to London Under, the original older, long-deserted and distrusted city on top of which Estrella (the Star city) was built, to gather ‘vital’ intelligence. Estrella is the perfect society, an immaculate, sanitised, connected environment where everything is channelled through the digital medium.
There is no dirt, no pain, no disease, no natural world, even feelings like boredom are frowned upon and discouraged. Alara is dropped down to London Under and into a “new” world which bewilders her and disorientates her.
How will she survive in a society where noise dirt and sometimes pain are everyday experiences and where food is not synthetic and tastes real? Will she accomplish her mission? Who can she trust? How will she get back to Estrella and her family and her life without worry?
Fast paced thrilling story set in a believable and plausible future Explores important themes throughout the story. In a society where there is nothing to worry about are we really free even if that offered almost total safety and entertainment for the rest of our lives? What would it feel like to experience feelings and pain and dirt and real taste if you had never experienced these things before?
With a strong dynamic female character, this is the first story in a trilogy
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781912745326 |
| Publication date: |
6th July 2023 |
| Author: |
Rachel Delahaye |
| Publisher: |
Troika Books |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
336 pages |
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Rachel Delahaye Press Reviews
'I’ve said it before, but have to say it again - Rachel Delahaye is an outstanding writer who really knows how to create believable worlds and compelling characters, immersing the reader completely in the story. Electric Life is impossible to put down once started.' ReadingZone.com
About Rachel Delahaye
After studying linguistics and working as a magazine writer and editor, Rachel Delahaye now writes for children and always has new projects brewing. Rachel was born in Australia but has lived in the UK since she was six years old. She lives in Bath and is married with two children and a dog called Rocket.
Rachel’s first book for Troika published in May 2022, Day of the Whale, was nominated for a Carnegie Medal
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