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| Disaster's Chidren by Emma Sloley |
My rating: 2 stars 🌟🌟
Publisher: Little A
I'm going to keep this one short. I was so excited to read this as the summary sounded wonderful and I have Kindle Unlimited so it was very simple to obtain. Sadly, it never converted into a spectacular read.
Marlo and her fellow enclave inhabitants weren't ultimately the most interesting bunch though their existence sequestered from the wider society was a very interesting setup. The information on the culmination of climate change on the wider world is received in drips via email or news gleaned from the internet and I thought that at least was a novel way to tell that part of the story. For as much time as spent with Marlo and the others, it felt like they were at a distance too but I found I didn't care about them enough to much mind. The big deal of the story is will Marlo stay on the ranch or will she strike out on her own and go out to "the Disaster" and what about her love life? I can tell you this, by book's end, I no longer cared.
I like a quiet apocalyptic story (see Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, The Book of M by Peng Shepherd and The Last One by Alexandra Oliva) there was some very nice prose but the story just didn't speak to me.
Summary: Raised in a privileged community of wealthy survivalists on an idyllic, self-sustaining Oregon ranch, Marlo has always been insulated. The outside world, which the ranchers call “the Disaster,” is a casualty of ravaging climate change, a troubled landscape on the brink of catastrophe. For as long as Marlo can remember, the unknown that lies beyond the borders of her utopia has been a curious obsession. But just as she plans her escape into the chaos of the real world, a charismatic new resident gives her a compelling reason to stay. And, soon enough, a reason to doubt—and to fear—his intentions.
Now, feeling more and more trapped in a paradise that’s become a prison, Marlo has a choice: stay in the only home she’s ever known—or break away, taking its secrets of survival with her.
Set in a chillingly possible, very near future, Disaster’s Children is a provocative debut novel about holding on to what we know and letting go of it for the unknown and the unknowable.
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