Saturday, May 8, 2021

Orleans by Sherri L. Smith

 genre: speculative fiction 


The Gulf Coast that we know no longer exists.  Natural disasters and a blood fever have led to the walling off this entire part of our country and, fifty years later, for teenager Fen, this world is home.  A trade and barter society helps sustain a more primitive kind of life - but it's a violent one where there are few you can trust.  When Fen is suddenly in charge of something she'd never anticipated and an outsider shows up with something to hide, Fen has to make some huge decisions - and the consequences could be far reaching.

The world building is really interesting here, I love post-apocalyptic stories and this one intrigued me.  The story was interesting enough although, to be honest, when we are looking at the world through the other point of view, things just felt a little too forced, I just couldn't quite believe that storyline.  Fen's dialect was consistent, which matters, and I didn't really see how the book would resolve, which I also appreciate.  I don't think it's the best plotted story and it took me way longer to read that I'd imagined when I started it but it felt me thinking about it, so that's three stars for me.


1 comment:

Kim Aippersbach said...

I quite enjoyed this one: I thought the world-building was original and well-done, and I really liked Fen's voice.

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