Read June 2019. Published 18th June 2019.
After World War III, the Earth is a different place. It has been ravaged by the hi-tech weapons the warring factions used against each other and very little habitable land remains. The rival armies were forced into a reluctant truce, before the planet was completely destroyed and an agreement called The Niagra Compromise was drawn up to offer a way for the survivors to move forward.
The World now consists of a portion of what was formerly America and is split into three territories - The White English in the north; The Brown Clayskin in the central area; and The Dark Kongo in the south - with an Assembly of elected Senators to guide them. The Compromise laid down strict rules about the role to be played by each territory, and the social status of the people that live within them.
According to recorded history, the people of Kongo volunteered to become the "bread basket" of the new world, at the time of The Compromise. Only land in the south was deemed suitable for cultivation, and only then with much hard labour, so the people of Kongo became land workers for the greater good.
The people of Kongo are split int two orders - The First Brother and The Second Brother. The First Brother are of lighter skin and considered more intelligent and are educated - it is their role to rule the The Second Brother and ensure crop quotas are reached, for the greater good. The Second Brother are of darker skin, considered of low intellect and undertake the hard labour required to feed the peoples of the new America.
The brutal work forced upon of The Second Brother means they live very hard lives. To help them accept their lot in the greater scheme, each worker is offered a pill every few years which wipes most of their memories - this is called The Rebirth and is considered a natural part of life for The Second Brother.
Arika Cobane, is born into the Kongo House Cobane. She is a First Brother and is selected to become a Record Keeper - one of the prized few who record the history of The Kongo. Her years of training as a Record Keeper offer her the chance to become one of the elite - a Senator of The Assembly - a prize almost within her grasp now she is valedictorian and nearing the end of her schooling.
But then, a new student arrives at The School House - one who causes Arika to question all she has been taught about The Compromise and the sacrifices that have been made in the name of peace. She realises that the laws she has been brought up to follow are the cause of misery for her own people. Furthermore, a deadly fever has arrived in Kongo, killing workers at a alarming rate, and rebellion is stirring among The Second Brother.
Arika must reawaken the fight she used to feel within her own fierce heart - before the fight was beaten out of her by the vicious and hateful Headmistress Jones. She must choose a side in the war to come, discover the true meaning of freedom and learn to live without fear. Is Arika the promised "One"?
Wow, this story completely blew my mind! It took me a while to piece together the scattered parts of my brain before I could sit down to write this review! This is a compliment to the skilled story-telling Agnes Gomillion has wrought in this debut novel.
This is a sophisticated and complex story, which will appeal to a much wider audience than the Young Adult market is is aimed at. It strikes me that this is a kind of cross-over story, in a way. This is a finely drawn dystopian world, reminiscent of the cruelties and rigid social structures of the ilk of Margaret Atwood, but it also promises the excitement and rebellion offered by Stephanie Collins in The Hunger Games books. Believe me, I have read a lot of dystopia over the years, and this is not easy to achieve.
Arika makes an interesting heroine, but she is not without fault and at times, you will find yourself begging her not to do something she is misguidedly bent on doing - of course, she doesn't listen and does it anyway! She is stubborn and sure that she does not need the help of others to get what she wants, but she learns better and you will be with her, egging her on, throughout her journey.
I have read that Agnes Gomillion loves the idea of "roots" in a story and this novel certainly has that.
Its origins lie in the Slave Trade days, but setting the book in a dystopian near future, gives it a freshness that carries it above an ordinary slave story.
Yes, the arrogance of a race that considers itself superior to the workers it has consigned to do its dirty work, not only by law, but by false science, comes across strongly in Gomillion's writing - drawing on its historical roots. However, by setting the story in the future, this has given her the freedom to introduce additional horrific elements - such as The Rebirth inflicted upon The Second Brother. Details like this will make you sick to the stomach and ache for rebellion.
I hate to give away spoliers, so I won't be doing that here, but be assured that the ending of this book - the first in this new Record Keeper series - is stirring to the soul. I cannot wait to read more of the adventures of Arika and discover the future waiting to be written for the people of Kongo.
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