What does it mean to be human? Is being human the best thing for a society? This book first starts out as a last community at the end of the world. But all is not peaceful and there are many secrets being kept from the villagers by the long lived elders/scientists from before. I really liked the first bit with the odd things like everyone dying at age 60, why is there a strict curfew which automatically puts the villagers to sleep at the same time every night but also how they wake up sometimes with bruises, scrapes, and tiredness. Those things kept me eagerly reading, especially when one scientist ends up dead suspiciously and everyone seems to have a motive for murder. The stakes are raised nicely with the lowering of the shield against the fog and man eating insects until the murderer is found.
It did get a bit confusing as the story went on and it always kind of threw me when Abi would talk to someone because it was never announced, just automatically switching from third person to first for a bit. I think that could have been better. The secrets with Blackheath were also weird and how people kind of wanted the murder solved but also not and there were so many secrets kept. The murder could have been solved a lot sooner and it might have saved a few. But I did enjoy the ending.
It did get a bit confusing as the story went on and it always kind of threw me when Abi would talk to someone because it was never announced, just automatically switching from third person to first for a bit. I think that could have been better. The secrets with Blackheath were also weird and how people kind of wanted the murder solved but also not and there were so many secrets kept. The murder could have been solved a lot sooner and it might have saved a few. But I did enjoy the ending.