Review: Addictive post-apocalyptic thriller
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 24, 2014
Ceri A. Lowe's PARADIGM is a post-apocalyptic thriller told from two alternating viewpoints - Alice Davenport, who witnessed the end of the world when she was eleven, and Carter Warren, who has always wanted to be part of rebuilding it.  But Alice and Carter are telling stories separated by eighty years, and their very different ways of looking at the world (both the world before the so-called "Storms" destroyed life as we know it, and the world after Paradigm Industries recreated it) are distinctly different.  Alice watches as relentless rain and hail decimate London in 2015, and she is left alone in her decrepit tenement apartment with little food or fresh water - until representatives of the Industry rescue her.  Over the next five years she lives in an underground community set up by the Industry to keep humanity alive while the world outside devolves into a poisonous nightmare.  Eighty years later, Carter is a candidate for the Community's Controller General, its highest leader.  But to achieve the honor he's lusted for since he was a child, he must pass a number of tests, as well as prove to the Industry that he has a "Contribution" that will set him apart from any other candidate.  What happens to Alice in Year 5 and what happens to Carter in Year 82 are interconnected, in ways that may not be fully clear until Lowe's next book (yes, it's a series, so don't expect any real answers!).  But their stories are undeniably fascinating, and PARADIGM is undeniably addictive.PARADIGM has a lot in common with a ton of post-apocalyptic and dystopian books out there, from the classics ("Brave New World," "1984," and "Fahrenheit 451") to more modern retellings ("Divergent," "Hunger Games," and even the "Uglies" series).  And while I found myself at times feeling a bit of déjà vu as I read the novel, I have to admit that Lowe's vision is a unique one.  The world-ending event this time is the result of global warming and human materialism - as Alice puts it, "Instead of doing something about the planet, about wars, about the madness, people just hoped things would improve."  Things didn't improve, and weather (in the form of five-year "Storms") destroys most life on the planet.  Paradigm Industries, which rescues the remnants of humanity from the devastation, sets up a world that is distinctly communal (the group is definitely more important than the individual) and strictly ordered (freedom doesn't have much meaning for Carter's society).But Lowe's version of the future isn't as black-and-white as that of most such YA novels today.  There's no clearly defined "bad guy" (no President Snow, for example), and the questions Lowe poses to her readers are as complex and multi-faceted as those Margaret Atwood poses in "Handmaid's Tale."  The world in this novel DID fall apart because of human selfishness and greed, and because we cared too much about individual rights and freedoms and not enough about the good of the whole.  At the same time, as Carter eventually realizes, there's a big difference between "living" and merely "existing."  The Industry may have saved humanity from extinction, but is the world they have created (with imitation meat and chocolate, hovering "night drones" which spy on conversations, and the criminalizing of "useless things" like books, art, and music) really living?PARADIGM actually has less in common with today's plethora of YA dystopian romances than it does with more adult novels like "Fahrenheit 451" and "Brave New World."  Lowe is a literary writer, and her novel is less action-packed and romantic, and more cerebral and philosophical.  Carter and Alice are fascinating characters, linked by a common world but separated by time and circumstance.  Alice is Carter's history, and he is her future.  He knows her name, but not her connection to his own life.  Both of their stories are compelling, but the fact that they are teenagers (they are both around sixteen when their stories heat up) isn't really important.  This isn't a book FOR teens, but a book ABOUT teens in a world that seems all too possible.Which brings me to the one criticism I have about PARADIGM - its cover.  The cover art is strikingly similar to that of the "Divergent" series, in a clear attempt to attract teen readers who fell in love with Tris's dystopian adventures.  But PARADIGM is a very different novel, with a distinctly different style and a much broader and more challenging scope.  This is not a "Divergent" clone, and that cover does it a disservice.  I wish Lowe had come up with something as original as her novel.Overall, if you enjoy literary science fiction and books that actually make you think, PARADIGM is a fabulous read.  Be forewarned that it's the first in a planned series (what isn't, these days?), since you'll definitely be hooked!  But this is an exceptional novel, so I'm OK with that.  I'm already looking forward to Lowe's next installment, and that's very rare for me.  Highly recommended.[Please note:  I was provided a copy of this novel for review; the opinions expressed here are my own.]