Review: A story of love, freedom and hard choices
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 23, 2013
This is a very interesting book in that it shows two different societies, each dystopian in its own way, with procreation being the main issue in both cases. One society is prosperous, but the price of maintaining this prosperity is depriving those deemed "unworthy" of the right to procreate. The other, set on an inhospitable planet where pollution is making both people and animals infertile, demands procreation, more or less at any cost. While the two setups seem on the opposite ends of the spectrum, they show one universal truth that we, living in the Western world, tend to forget. Individual freedom, especially freedom to love and choose our life partners, is a rarity and a luxury that requires a certain level of prosperity. When a society has to make hard choices, whether to maintain a standard of living or to insure its very survival, freedoms and rights tend to fall by the wayside. It's popular in today's political discourse to separate "economic" and "political" freedoms. This book shows, on a very basic and personal level, how the two cannot possibly be separated.Moving on to the actual review, the book is very well put together. The characters, the pacing, the balance of exposition and action, even the romantic scenes are all nicely done. I am not a fan of romance, but I liked the way it was built into the story. The world feels complete and thought through, instead of just being a cardboard background for the main characters' relationship. I am looking forward to the next book in the series.