Imagine Sleeping Beauty with a sci-fi/dystopian twist. That's the basic plot of A Long Long Sleep, with some extra elements added in, of course. When Rosalinda is awakened with what she thinks is a kiss, as far as she knows she's only been in a chemically induced stasis-sleep for maybe a few months. A year at most. But it's been sixty-two years. And things have changed dramatically from the world she knew.
As the daughter of the owner of the solar system's largest conglomerate, Rose is suddenly thrust into the lime-light and figuring out who she can trust is only one of her problems. Her body is a wreck from her long stint in the stasis tube and relationships with peers are just as tricky as ever. As she slowly falls for the boy who woke her up, she's terrorized by dangers, both real and in her nightmares, and the trouble of navigating this new life makes staying out of the peaceful stasis tube harder than ever.
I really liked the premise of this story. It was just enough Sleeping Beauty and the spiral of sci-fi technology and time-bending was really fun. I wasn't totally thrilled with the execution. Rose's self-depreciation felt overdone and her vacillation between completely helpless and fighter-chick didn't flow for me as well as I'd wanted it to. Sometimes conversations felt so dull and awkward - but other times, especially with a character named Otto, it felt more authentic.
In all, it was a good enough read, teens might appreciate it more than I did. There's certainly a great structure there, I just needed a little different dressing on it.
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1 comment:
This sounds perfect for my sister. She loves fairy tale re-tellings and sci-fi.
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