Synopsis:
In a drought-ravaged post-apocalyptic future, the voices in Shakti’s head tell her how to survive. But when hegemony control officer Lucas Seraph murders her brother as he shuts off the water supply to another doomed city, Shakti is thrown into a desperate flight to understand and control the frightening powers growing within her. Pursued by death cultists, mutilated rebels, and the demons in her own mind, Shakti’s only way back, her last chance to save billions of lives from the burning of the world, lies bound in the past of the very man who pursues her across the wastes…
My Thoughts:
I received a copy of this novel from Voracious Readers in exchange for an honest review. I’m glad I requested a copy! I greatly enjoyed this read and it definitely made me reflect on where we are and where we are headed as far as global warming and climate change.
The Pros: This is a pretty tight and fast-paced novel with a well developed setting and strong characters. The author shows a lot of skill in world building through succinct descriptions of environments and characters’ reactions to them. There are not lengthy paragraphs breaking up the action and yet you get a strong sense of the oppressiveness of the world. The tragedy of the results of global warming and its impact on life is driven home repeatedly. The inability of human nature to change as a result equally so. The characters are generally sympathetic except for the antagonists, who are well-crafted to be thoroughly disliked. A common theme of life being suffering and what you choose to do with that suffering is built into every character arc. While the story takes place in India and the culture plays a part in the story, it is woven into the narrative in a way that avoids the displaced feeling of culture-shock for the reader.
The Cons: I really only have two minor complaints about this book. The first is that it would have benefitted from closer editing. While the errors weren’t frequent or serious enough to detract from the story, they were noticeable when they happened. The second is that since the story jumped from viewpoint to viewpoint, sometimes I found myself pausing to remember where that character’s storyline left off. Other times, events overlapped in different viewpoints so it was slightly disjointed or disorienting. Again, definitely not enough to affect my enjoyment of the story as a whole. Having fewer viewpoints and possibly a consistent rotation between them may have helped.
Overall, a fantastic read. I would absolutely recommend this novel to any fan of post-apocalyptic or sci-fi fiction.
Want to give it a try? Check it out on Amazon here!
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