PURE by Julianna Baggott....or, mutants running around in an apocalyptic wasteland.

Sexy black proof copy on the table in the staff room, yes please.  There seems to be an abundance of titles at the moment that have been released with the word Pure in the title, probably best not to confuse them all as the Orange Prize winner by Andrew Miller is very, very different from this grim apocalypse laid out by Julianna Baggott.  This novel is likely to be referred to as a "Hunger Games" for adults, but I don't think that does it justice.  This is a cleverly written dystopia novel that echoes elements of Justin Cronin's "The Passage" and even Stephen King's "The Stand".  I am not saying she matches the rather legendary talent of Mr. King, but I feel it is more appropriate to compare this novel to his work than it is to compare it to "The Hunger Games".  In saying that however, this would be a brilliant novel to move onto after Suzanne Collins' masterpieces as it is certainly of the same genre and would be a good branch between Teen and Adult Fiction.

We are thrown mercilessly into the world of Pressia, a survivor of The Detonations, a series of bombs set off in America that genetically mutated or killed anything outside of a safe haven known simply as 'The Dome'.  Pressia must create small trinkets to earn food for herself and her Grandfather, in order to survive the barren and dangerous wasteland left behind by the bombs.  Everyone is mutated in some way, mostly by being fused to objects or other living beings.  Pressia wields a doll's head as a fist, fused to her wrist and her Grandfather wheezes through a handheld fan lodged in his throat.  This broken community lives in the shadow of 'The Dome', a place where a select few breathe clean air and are known as 'Pures'.  No one can get into or out of the Dome, or so both populations are led to believe.  Pressia's life is changed forever when she helps a young man escape death in an alley by the hands of thugs as she soon realises that he is a Pure, escaped from the Dome and is on a mission to find someone.  A mission that will take Pressia deep into the heart of corrupt leadership and connections to her own identity she thought all but lost.

This is truly a carnival of the weird, a collection of broken, mutated individuals, whose strength in survival is a testament to their endurance.  Baggott creates such vivid imagery, the characters we encounter leap from the pages and burn their identities into you retinas.  So brilliant and so unusual, I was almost expecting the descriptive imagery of the novel to somehow damage the integrity of the narrative.  I was so very wrong.  Every little detail and every little happening is integral to the story, everything has a role to play.  Prior to picking this up I did go through a few reviews online, and one stood out as saying that it seemed as if there are too many unessential stories in the plot itself.  I can only assume the person that wrote the review never finished the novel itself, because they couldn't be more wrong.  This is crafted almost to perfection, nothing stood out as unfinished, and in spite of this being the first in a series it ends well, the quest to find Partridge's mother comes to a conclusion and it is through this quest that more questions are raised and are unanswered.  So really, this leads well into what will be the second novel.

The narrative itself is told in chapters headed by Pressia, Partridge (the escaped Pure) and Lyda (left inside the Dome), there is also one chapter headed as El Capitan.  This approach gives the reader a much more rounded view of each of the characters and of the lives they lead.  Pressia's chapters were my favourite, probably because she is the character with the most depth and the most courage.  The blossoming and fraught story of love between Pressia and Bradwell (a boy with live birds fused, flapping in his back) is just beautiful.

Baggott works with a lot of themes in the novel, family, loss, identity and even religion.  In the opening pages the week following the Detonations is set out for us as flyers are dropped from the sky, into the arms of those left outside the Dome.

"We know you are here, our brothers and sisters.

We will, one day, emerge from the Dome to join you in peace.

For now, we watch from afar, benevolently."

Those inside the Dome have assumed the role of a deity, creators that control the fortune of those within and without the boundaries of their safe haven.  I think we all know what happens when individuals adopt the role of God, it never ends well for them.  This is certainly the case for the man in charge of the Dome.  More and more of the cracks beneath the surface emerge as the narrative goes on and we are exposed to his role in the horrific Detonations and to his own desperation.  This is a brilliant warning, and one that fits well into this apocalyptic future.

As with any good fantasy, there are of course some startling revelations and twists but it would certainly ruin the story if I were to reveal them in this review.  You can see some of these coming and the narrative allows you to second guess yourself a lot, this novel was just great fun to read.

Another part of it that I loved was the description of the landscape outside the Dome, ripped apart by the brutal detonations.  Everything is covered with ash, an ash that whips up storms and fills peoples lungs.  The landscape itself is also full of danger as there are living beings that have fused to the very ground itself, Dusts that prey on anything that moves.  These monsters are brilliant and make more than one appearance in the novel.  The attack by a swarm of Dust mice is particularly memorable.  So bleak and so barren, it conjures up some amazing visuals as you read.  It is not just the Dusts that pose a threat, there are also death marches  by an insurgent group called the OSR that also steal away children as soon as they turn sixteen.  Such a dangerous world to be a part of, yet somehow there are those that survive.

I could go on and on about the different oddities that surface in the novel, but I would be here all day and it is probably best for the reader to stumble upon these treasures themselves.  Basically, you should read this, it is absolutely fantastic and I can't wait until the next one comes out!