Merel lives with her Mum, dad and little brother Bexley in a world after cataclysmic climate collapse and mass extinctions across Earth. Her constant companion is a
white crow named Corvus.
Living in a small town built higher than the massive sea level rise, all residents are productive citizens under firm rules and traditions, governed by the council elders. An enormous cover overhead protects them from the sunlight – but makes everything muted shades of grey in the gloom. Scientifically engineered plants help with lighting but colour is mostly absent from their lives.
Merel is with her best friend Ren at a special ceremony where someone questions their lives and traditions. It sows a seed of doubt within the young of the settlement, but the older generations roar in protest. Soon, a punishment is dealt in which banishment to the open ocean by small boat is enforced, and the fine balance of the community begins to shift.
When Merel herself breaks important rules, she’s constantly on edge. All too quickly she is caught between those who want to punish her and those who claim to want to save her. Her decision to break the rules makes her question – which is the lesser of the two evils?
She is already grieving for the loss of a huge part of her planned future, and she cannot see a safe way forward for herself. Any choices she may have made with more time are suddenly taken from her and she quickly loses any links with her past as well.
The 1st in a new dystopian series by a New Zealand author, we are introduced to Merel who reminds me a little of Tris from Veronica Roth’s Divergent series.
Like Tris, Merel wants to work hard in her community and honour her parents. At least until events around her are quickly out of control and all that she knows is tipped on its head. She must make life changing decisions in barely more than moments.
The Edge of Light is an easy but compelling read and as in other OneTree House Young Adult novels, the inner style of clear sized font with slightly larger line spacing, is perfect for reluctant readers.
The view inside a possible future set inside a New Zealand South Island town is an intriguing and thought provoking one. If climate change, mass extinctions and massive sea level rise does occur, what rules of society and traditions would we take into the future? How would our communities survive let alone prosper in a world so foreign from the status quo? The voice of youth is an important theme and one taken from our present, but how safe is it from corruption and control?
Looking forward to following Merel on her journey into books two and three in this trilogy, and discovering an unknown world along with her.
Author – A M Dixon
Age – 13+
(2023, OneTree House, Dystopian, NZ, New Zealand, Action, Growing Up, Control, Sea level rise, Climate Change, Future, Traditions, Rules, Semi darkness, Twilight living, Littleton, Weather control, Science, Conspiracies, Birds, Betrayal, Lies, Fear, Population control, Secrets, Crows, Sailing Ships, Series, Trilogy, First Person)