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About the Book

The Earth’s ecosystems have collapsed and only ashes remain. Is one girl’s courage enough to keep hope alive in the wastelands?

It’s the year 2123, and sixteen-year-old Adina has just accidentally killed fourteen thousand seven hundred and fifty-six people. Raised in the eco-bubble of Eden Five, Adina has always believed that the Amonston Corporation’s giant greenhouse would keep her safe forever. But when her own careless mistake leads to an explosion that incinerates Eden Five, she and a small group of survivors must brave the barren wastelands outside the ruined Dome to reach the Sanctuary before their biofilters give out and their DNA threatens to mutate in the toxic air.

They soon discover that the outside isn’t as deserted as they were made to believe, and the truth is unearthed on their dangerous expedition. As time runs out, Adina must tackle her guilty conscience and find the courage to get everyone to safety. Will she make it alive, or will the Nomalies get to her first?

About the Author

Victoria Williamson is an award-winning author who grew up in Scotland surrounded by hills, books, and an historical farm estate which inspired many of her early adventure stories and spooky tales. After studying Physics at the University of Glasgow, she set out on her own real-life adventures, which included teaching maths and science in Cameroon, training teachers in Malawi, teaching English in China and working with children with additional support needs in the UK. Victoria currently works part time writing KS2 books for the education company Twinkl and spends the rest of her time writing novels, and visiting schools, libraries and literary festivals to give author talks and run creative writing workshops.

Victoria’s previous novels include The Fox Girl and the White Gazelle, The Boy with the Butterfly Mind, Hag Storm, and War of the Wind. She has won the Bolton Children’s Fiction Award 2020/2021, The YA-aldi Glasgow Secondary School Libraries Book Award 2023, and has been shortlisted for the Week Junior Book Awards 2023, The Leeds Book Awards 2023, the Red Book Award 2023, the James Reckitt Hull Book Awards 2021, The Trinity School Book Awards 2021, and longlisted for the ABA South Coast Book Awards 2023, the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2020, and the Branford Boase Award 2019. Her latest novel, The Pawnshop of Stolen Dreams, is a middle grade fantasy inspired by classic folklore.

Twenty percent of the author royalties for this book are donated to CharChar Literacy, an organisation working to improve children’s literacy levels in Malawi.

You can find out more about Victoria’s books, school visits and free resources for schools on her website: http://www.strangelymagical.com

What I Thought

As a huge fan of Victoria Williamson’s middle grade books and the dystopia genre in general I was excited to read her YA debut.

This is actually a really dark novel and quite horrifying in places. Think the harshest, creepiest parts of Hunger Games, Divergent, Maze Runner and another underrated fave of mine – Under the Never Sky – rolled into one.

The darkness was suitable for the themes the book explores such as food poverty, ecosystem collapse, genetic modification, death, and exploitation of the African people and lands. I’m intrigued to find out more about Victoria’s research for this book.

What we do have in our protagonist Adina is very much a stroppy teenager who doesn’t take life all that seriously, and she isn’t the most likeable at the start – particularly in how she acts toward one character. This does seems in stark contrast to how she acts toward others such as the Dome’s resident confused man of visions, and her younger sister Tash, so it does have us holding out – deserved – hope for her character development.

The story is told from Adina’s point of view from a future point in time and she does provide a commentary that gives us a heads up for some of the action that I might like to have been a little more surprised by, although thinking about it maybe my heart wouldn’t have coped.

I believe this is the first of a trilogy and although the ending certainly wrapped up the first part of the journey there are so many questions still to explore. If possible it would be good to see some slightly lighter points in future books just to balance the devastation.

Huge thanks to The Write Reads and the publisher Neem Tree Press for the gifted copy (and goodies) for the purposes of an honest review.