Gremriel reviewed Dissension by Stacey Berg
Review of 'Dissension' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
There's a lot to like about the story and the protagonist, Echo Hunter 367. She reminded me a lot of Natasha Ionadis, a very devout, dedicated servant of the Church, an entity that stands as the last bulwark against total destruction of the remaining survivors of mankind.
Echo is a troubled soul, constantly at war with herself and torn between what she wants to believe and what her rational mind thinks. We spend a lot of time inside her head, as she continues to do the Church's work, which includes killing some very young children.
But she sees the signs of a failing system, and in a desperate attempt tries to convince the leaders of this, which results in her excommunication.
Much like Natasha ([b:The Walls of Westernfort|298461|The Walls of Westernfort (Celaeno, #2)|Jane Fletcher|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388598961s/298461.jpg|289557]), Echo finds herself on the other side and discovers that much of what Church wanted her …
There's a lot to like about the story and the protagonist, Echo Hunter 367. She reminded me a lot of Natasha Ionadis, a very devout, dedicated servant of the Church, an entity that stands as the last bulwark against total destruction of the remaining survivors of mankind.
Echo is a troubled soul, constantly at war with herself and torn between what she wants to believe and what her rational mind thinks. We spend a lot of time inside her head, as she continues to do the Church's work, which includes killing some very young children.
But she sees the signs of a failing system, and in a desperate attempt tries to convince the leaders of this, which results in her excommunication.
Much like Natasha ([b:The Walls of Westernfort|298461|The Walls of Westernfort (Celaeno, #2)|Jane Fletcher|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388598961s/298461.jpg|289557]), Echo finds herself on the other side and discovers that much of what Church wanted her to believe, isn't exactly true.
There's much to like about this book, but I'm personally not convinced with the worldbuilding. An example is how the author tries to show us how civilization changed in 400 years, by using some made up words for common things. A week is called a seven. A year is an annual. Grain is grown in Stads and the city is divided in Claves. There are some weapons, such as a static stick and something that's called a Projtruder. It's anyone's guess what a Projtruder is, because it is never explained what the darn thing is (except it has a lethal setting).
What bothered me the most, was the concept of the Saint. A Saint is what powers the city, but how that exactly works, no idea. a Saint is actually a girl with some specific DNA, who sacrifices herself and somehow provides the electricty for the city, including a massive forcefield It has to do with something called denas, or DNA for us pre-apocalyptic folks.
Somewhere in the last 25% of the book, Echo and Lia fall in love, but the romance elements are so minimal, even the Alpennia books could be considered steamy. And there's no happy ending. (I can applaud authors who do that, but I find it rage inducing sometimes)
3.5 stars