Unconventional revolutionary science fiction fantasy narrated with multiple diverse perspectives. It is set in a futuristic apocalyptic world grappling with bigotry, power, racism, fear, hate and oppression, apart from the seasonal destruction unleashed by Father Earth and yes…some magic weaved in too. A world at war…between humans as well as humans vs Earth and other races.
I cant quite remember now what it was about this trilogy that made me pick it up.
Was it the cover, the fact that it is a Hugo award winner or something about the blurb or an excerpt or just a random impulse?
Not that it matters now anyway. It is a trilogy that drew me into its dark apocalyptical world from the very first chapter and led me through a futuristic Earth that is as broken, bent, wounded and angry as its inhabitants.
When I reached the third book I deliberately staggering my reading pace to extend the unique reading experience this trilogy delivered.
The first book follows the survival experiences of three women protagonists, who are in different stages of life. A despairing mother in her 40s, on a desperate quest to find her daughter. A young women barely in her 20s finding a place for herself and a girl hardly in her teens displaced from her home and cast into a brutal environment. All three of them navigating a world stricken by seasonal natural calamities. A dystopian world that has disintegrated into small self-contained communities. The story is expressed from three different perspectives to begin with before adding in more view points. As the main players driving the story are revealed so are the layered conflicts and the intentions powering them.
Found the narrative style wildly stirring. The way it mixes first person, second and third. Quite an incredible feat really, to pull it off so smoothly while not just sustaining the reader’s interest but igniting it. Every time the second person narration emerges, it leaves the reader wondering about the enigmatic narrator and creating an intriguing connection with the character being addressed, through most of the first book.
It produces a startling reading experience, the switching of narratives and viewpoints. Equivalent of psychedelic music in literature perhaps. This I believe is what sets this sci-fi fantasy apart, from other reads and elevates the story.
The book has its fair dose of edgy gloom doom scenarios, violence and gore but not as much as in GRRM.
A.R Sara 