The last remnants of humanity -- after several generations, only 125 strong -- live a peaceful existence on a small island that makes up the only land protected from the deadly, insect-filled fog that coated the planet and devoured the rest of humanity. Life is tranquil and idyllic for most of the inhabitants until they awake to find one of the three revered elders, Niema, and several other villagers dead and the fog rolling in. The A.I. overseer, Abi, explains that Niema's death triggered the barriers holding back the fog to drop and they can only be brought up again if Niema's murderer is found and brought to justice. The investigation is complicated as everybody's memories of the night the murder took place have been erased.
It becomes increasingly clear that the mystery runs deeper than the question of who killed Niema and the villagers' society grows more ominous and dystopian the more is revealed.
Abi served as the first-person narrator, but her perspective took a backseat as she focused the narration on the thoughts and feelings of the villagers whose minds she could read. This created a level of distance from all the characters -- from Abi because she is purposefully hiding information and relegating herself to a background element and from the villagers because we aren't fully in their heads, it's filtered through an outside view.
Of the many characters and relationships, we get to see I was most interested in the three elders and what their problems were. Niema, herself, has the air of a cult leader, while the other two benefit from her manipulation of the villagers but hardly participate, keeping to the edges of their society. Emory, an unusually inquisitive villager who takes on the investigation, and her family had more ordinary dysfunctions, that were nonetheless compelling.
It becomes increasingly clear that the mystery runs deeper than the question of who killed Niema and the villagers' society grows more ominous and dystopian the more is revealed.
Abi served as the first-person narrator, but her perspective took a backseat as she focused the narration on the thoughts and feelings of the villagers whose minds she could read. This created a level of distance from all the characters -- from Abi because she is purposefully hiding information and relegating herself to a background element and from the villagers because we aren't fully in their heads, it's filtered through an outside view.
Of the many characters and relationships, we get to see I was most interested in the three elders and what their problems were. Niema, herself, has the air of a cult leader, while the other two benefit from her manipulation of the villagers but hardly participate, keeping to the edges of their society. Emory, an unusually inquisitive villager who takes on the investigation, and her family had more ordinary dysfunctions, that were nonetheless compelling.