Sharp, gripping, and unexpectedly tender—a dystopian thriller that grabs and won’t let go.
A nineteen-year-old waste diver finds her tightly controlled world cracking open in Kilex’s engrossing dystopian tale. Lucy has spent her life scavenging the toxic ruins of Cyclopia, where a Skelyx device silences memory and emotion to keep everyone obedient to the all-powerful Oracle. After a near-fatal fall shatters her own device, sensations she’s never known; terror, love, wonder, flood in, and forbidden memories surface. Will emotion spark humanity’s last stand?
From the dangerous beauty of Cyclopia’s ruins to the soft tyranny of the Fields, Kilex builds a world that feels both alien and alarmingly familiar. Yet the novel’s real heartbeat is Lucy’s connection to others, especially 9, her silent, steadfast friend. Forged in early heartbreak, their connection glows with tenderness, regret, and hard-won forgiveness the Oracle cannot abide. Short chapters, clean prose, and deliberately paced action scenes keep the tension high. For all its heart-stopping rescues, the novel carries a sobering message about environmental decay, unchecked machines, and the human cost of safety. It presses on memory and vulnerability, posing questions it refuses to neatly resolve.
Brisk and emotionally charged; a page-turner.
Pub date October 24, 2025
ISBN 978-9699192708
Reading age 13-18 years
Price $3.99 Kindle edition
[…] whose technological enhancements and implants also leave her subject to control by forces unseen. Prairies Book Review says, “Brisk and emotionally charged; a […]