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! 

Starters....the apocalypse theme has me by the throat.

Hunger Games + Death of Grass = An uncontrollable thirst for teen dystopia novels

I have been rooting though my rather large collection of reading copies lying about in the flat and have tracked down all of the ones that squeeze nicely into the Dystopia theme, and Starters by new author, Lissa Price, was on the top of the ever increasing pile.  An eye catching book with a beautifully rendered sketch on the front of a girl with mismatched eye colours, I knew nothing of the book or the author and I do so love surprises.


Starters is set in a future a healthy distance away from the present, with holo technology saturating the human landscape and a world dealing with the aftermath of biological warfare.  The Starters are essentially children, and Enders are of an older generation, capable of living past the 200 years mark.  Anyone in between perished during the conflict as a result of an infection spread by spores, lending to the name of the war as the Spore Wars.  Callie is a Starter, and one without any legal guardian, with both parents dead she must squat in abandoned buildings with her younger brother Tyler in order to survive, all the while trying to avoid getting shipped out to the Institution, a place for any unclaimed Starters and a place where you would never want to end up.  In order to provide a better life for herself and her brother, Callie makes the difficult decision to offer her body up for use to Prime Destinations, a company that 'rents' the bodies of Starters out to wealthy, thrill seeking Enders.  But nothing is ever that simple, and on her final contracted job Callie is inhabited by an Ender with a plan, a plan to expose Prime Destinations for what it really is and someone who is willing to kill to get her own way.

This was an excellent exploration of humanity, and such an awesome way of stretching and testing the relationships between the very young and the very old.  Callie's characterisation is strong and really becomes the driving force for this fast paced, inventive narrative.  I am by no means saying I have not come across similar concepts before, I mean I loved the TV series "Dollhouse" which deals with similar ideas for a more adult and cult TV based audience.  However, Callie is a very fresh and interesting character, one with which the reader can easy empathise as she takes on the role of being a parent as well as a loving sister.  Her decisions are almost all based on her being able to offer Tyler something more than the life they now lead, trying to take back some of the life they once had.  She is an admirable girl whose deepest emotions and fears are laid bare for us to devour in very much the same way as her body is used as a holiday in the novel.

Set amongst the action, the thrills and the epic plot twists we are also treated to some romance, not too much, but just enough to get you rooting for Callie to steal a kiss with the wealthy and incredibly handsome Blake.  Not forgetting that there is the implication of a blossoming love triangle.  Even this element of the plot is not what it seems, and I just love how Price makes every little detail matter, every interaction and every memory, even down to the tiny detail of a photograph taken on a mobile phone that becomes an important key in the relationship between Callie and Blake.  It is this wonderful grasp of plot and character that makes this such an engaging read.

Starters is a hard book to ramble about without giving too much away of the plot, it is a novel that is much more fun to be surprised by as a reader rather than approached with an intimate knowledge of it's key players.  So I shall cease my rambling, to a point.

This is beautifully written, poignant read for the "Hunger Games" generation of teens (and adults) that challenges our very notion of what it is that makes you who you are.  Deliciously sinister and packed full of promise for further instalments in the the series.  Starters does end well, and you are not left with too many loose ends, just the right amount to make you want to read on in the follow up novel "Enders" which I believe is due out next year (2013).  I loved this novel and I always enjoy a quick read, you can't go wrong with something like this, it has a little bit of something for everyone....unless you detest science fiction, in which case, go pick up a Mills and Boon novel or read some Jane Austen.  This one gets a massive thumbs up from me and I will be sharing it amongst my friends just to see if they agree.

The Death of Grass....a forgotten apocalyptic classic

I had never heard of John Christopher and in turn, of course, I had never heard of his most famous novel "The Death of Grass".  I am rather thankful for our lovely library here in Chichester as this skinny little book looked the perfect size for a short read and the blurb on the back grabbed me right away.  I will warn you, this is not a happy book, it is by all accounts brilliant, however it is one of the bleakest books I have ever had the pleasure to read.

*****BEWARE SPOILER ALERT*****

A deadly virus wipes out all types of grass, including crops, as it sweeps through Asia.  Horror stories of piles of bodies and cannibalism filter through to the media in the United Kingdom, but no one is really worried because the Government tell them they have a plan.  They have an anti virus that will wipe out the Chung-Li virus before it lays any further waste to civilisation.  The Government......are lying.  The Chung-Li virus makes it's way to every corner of the globe and slowly depletes the landscape of it's life giving grasses.  John Custance sets out from London with his family and gathers companions along the way as he plans to reach the sanctuary of his brother's farm in the formidable valley of Blind Gill.  The group must face tough decisions and brutality along the way as humanity reverts to it's rawest form of survival instincts and morality all but vanishes from its embrace.

The exploration of societal breakdown here is terrifying.  The swiftness with which people resort to barbarism to save themselves, to survive, is truly harrowing.  Even with John and his group's first leg of the journey we see them taken to the extreme of shooting their way through manned roadblocks, killing those that are trying to keep them confined in the doomed metropolis of London.  From the very start of the narrative is is clear that authority loses it's function, it is no longer of any importance.  The Government makes plans to drop hydrogen bombs on the largest settlements in England in order to kill enough people to make food supplies stretch that much further.  It is this final revelation that pushes society to the brink, people start to riot, they start to kill and it all becomes a case of the survival of the fittest.  This really is a world you would not like to set foot into, but is it one that could become our own future?  This is certainly the question Christopher is trying to raise here, a grave portent of things to come.

The journey that John takes is as much a metaphorical one as it is a physical one.  His experiences of brutality, rape, theft and life threatening situations build a big change in character as the narrative progresses.  He starts as a father and a loving husband and ultimately becomes a tribal leader, someone who must make hard, cutting decisions about life or death and about the usefulness of his followers.  Even his own family begin to fear him.  The biggest turning point for John is when he allows Pirrie, a vicious pit bull of a man, to execute his own adulterous spouse, a woman hell bent on sleeping her way to the top of the food chain.  She makes the fatal error of making a pass at John and Pirrie sees it as his right to finally do away with the wife that has wronged him for so many years.  It is this allowance that turns the dynamic of John's group, his tribe, into something altogether more sinister and Pierrie's role as somewhat of a lieutenant becomes set in stone.  John knows he needs this crazy rifle wielding psycho for his skills with a gun, and his tactical approach to defence and attack.  Even when Pirrie asserts his right to take a new wife, a young girl still captured in the throes of childhood, John allows him this right, against the behest of his own wife.  The old order of morality slowly becomes lost, and barbarism rises it's ugly head to the surface.

I found it truly fascinating that the loss of one type of plant could cause such devastation and would love to investigate further as to the validity of the claims made in the narrative.  Something as simple as the disappearance of grass snowballing out of control as the livestock that feeds on it dies, and in turn human food sources dwindle.  Regardless of the possibility of this, the idea in itself is inspired and gave birth to the apocalypse of this narrative.  It really is amazing what we take for granted, just imagine a world with no green fields, no crops, I am sure it would be remarkably barren and not at all easy on the eye (not to mention of course the famine that would rip through the land).

Having been written in the 1950's, during the tense era of the Cold War, it is no surprise that Christopher has leant towards the dramatic theme of apocalypse.  This particular apocalyptic vision is disturbing because we become our own downfall, we let go of the things that hold a society together and lose ourselves along the way.  England becomes a war zone, destroyed and made perilous by it's own citizens.  If this is not a warning worth heeding I don't know what is.

Maybe even more poignant now than it was when it was first released, "The Death of Grass" is a brilliantly written novel that allows us to investigate, to ask questions about and to fear the coming of an unexpected threat.  Easy to read, yet still written with skill and pace, this is the perfect novel for fans of H.G. Wells and even fans of J.G. Ballard's "Drowned World".  There is so much one could write about the themes, the tense relationships and the rapid progression of barbarism but it would take me hours and hours to write a piece worthy of this narrative, and some serious rereading of course.

This is a novel that should be considered by a wider audience as a modern classic and I am so glad that Penguin Modern Classics have brought this almost lost masterpiece back into print.  An amazing, albeit incredibly bleak, read.

Oh and just a warning, there was a film adaptation made of this novel titled "No Blade of Grass", don't bother with it, even the author couldn't sit through more than a couple of minutes of it as it was a heap of crap.  Read the book, don't ever, ever watch the film!

Although....the rather epic film poster did make me giggle, epic taglines...."No room the run.  No Place to hide".  I can see why John Christopher was not best impressed.  He imparted a bold and important message, and the film makers seemed to fail in capturing the same feeling.  Shocker!