Briar and Rose, the 2 siblings on the coronary heart of Gliff, stay in a world that looks like an uncomfortably plausible near-future model of our personal. Folks nonetheless use smartphones, and so they’re all the time glued to them. Most youngsters have an “educator” (a smartwatch) strapped to their wrist, and it information each interplay they’ve. Everybody’s identification and household historical past is logged intimately on the cloud and will be pulled up through facial recognition — apart from “unverifiables” like Briar and Rose, who reject up to date expertise and stay on the fringes of society, evading detection. If captured, unverifiables are pressured to bear “reeducation” and given work assignments that usually include deplorable situations.
Gliff sees two adolescent kids confronting their very own Courageous New Phrase, and that very phrase is repeated and deconstructed over the course of the e book. It’s an odd and somber novel that incorporates plenty of wordplay. I don’t know why I hold selecting up dystopian fiction that feels a bit of too near dwelling, however this one particularly struck a chord with me. I beloved the dynamic between the children, and the way in which an encounter with a horse involves outline their lives as acts of resistance. It’s all a bit of heartbreaking, however their humanness is actual and a refreshing distinction to the inhuman surveillance state round them. I used to be excited to listen to that there’s a followup coming known as Glyph. I’ll positively be studying that when it’s out.
