Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A weird and wonderful winner, 3 Jan 2006
By A Customer
The mix of the futuristic and the mythical in this highly original story is reminiscent of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. The book follows the fortunes of two girls, one born to slavery who is freed, the other born free and subsequently enslaved, and their desperate quest to escape a stifling world and start a new life. There are the lovely little touches which are Susan Price’s trademark, such as the ‘ancestors’ people inherit – mementoes of family history. For those who are bonded (slaves) this might be ‘nothing but four trinkets, threaded on a thin, transparent string’. For the wealthy (and free), this could be ‘a graceful silver tree, with its dangling fruit of tiny, framed photographs’. It’s an exciting and unusual book, full of different perspectives and unexpected gaps in the protagonists’ knowledge that make it clear that we really aren’t in our own time any longer...
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting . . . , 13 Feb 2007
This book is set on a world in which the rich are genetically altered (it is practically unheard-of for a rich baby not to be 'designed') and slavery is commonplace.
Slaves are called 'bonders' and are generally reputed to be stupid, ugly and dirty - not least by Affroditey - a spoilt teenager - up until the part where her father shoots himself, leaving Affie to fend for herself (as her mother apparently does not give a fig).
So Affie herself becomes a bonder.
However, at the beginning of the book, another scene is taking place, in which Kylie, a bonder, is working for the rich couple that are later to become Affie's employers, and worships Odin (a god from Norse mythology). At the end of the chapter she is sold on, as her employer finds out where she is really taking Apollo, Kylie's young son who has been 'adopted' by her employers.
So Kylie is forced to leave her beloved Apollo as she is sold on . . .
Some time into the future, Affie, after a hellish experience in the training center, is sold to Kylie's previous employers - who call her 'Kylie' as well, as bonders have to answer to the names their employers give them.
When taking Apollo (whom she despises) for a walk, she meets the priestess and God-speaker Odinstoy - who takes an interest in her and Apollo immediately - for she is, unbeknownst to Affie, the previous Kylie - Apollo's birth mother. And Affie, fascinated by this character and relieved and overjoyed at the affection she bestows on her, takes as much opportunity as possible to visit her, before discovering what her real intentions are . . .
I liked this book as it was succinct and the plot was easy to follow, it was an interesting contrast between a futuristic world with much higher technology than this day and age, slavery and the worship of Greek, roman and Norse gods. In the case of Affie, she first appears as a spoilt brat with a head full of air and suddenly becomes a downtrodden bonder, so the readers are moved from revulsion to pity. odinstoy, however, moves from being a slave to a famous god-speaker, and the reader may not realise at first that she was Kylie when Affie first encounters her - this comes as a surprise.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A riveting read, 12 April 2006
I found this book utterly unputdownable. It creates a fascinating, believable world with two very different but equally brilliant heroines, the daffy, selfish Affey - but you do care what happens to her - and the warm, resourceful Kylie aka Odinstoy. There's a lot of dark humour, too. The ending will have you on tenterhooks
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