I rarelly read a book twice within a very short amount of time, but some books are more special than the others and may request knowledge and sensibilities unseen before. An ecological thriller sent in a dystopian timeline, One by Eve Smith published by Orenda Books was one of my most challenging reads of the year, not only because I am pretty new to the ecological thriller genre.
One is set in a Britain of the future, implementing with a strong hand the policy of one child. Kai, an employee of the Ministry of Population randomly discover that there may be a secret sibling whose search reveals a journey through human psyche and human behavior. Apparently, no matter how far in time we may arrive, the human nature with its weaknesses may remain always the same.
What fascinated me in the case of One is the inquisitive questioning of the limits of politics, no matter what is the aim in sight. The one child policy is aimed to counter the devastating effects of the ecological crisis, but how far a state could go in their citizens´ life in order to allow the survival of the world? When exactly suspending the citizens´ rights and freedoms is the only way left to the state to intervene? Decades ago, for different reasons, China implemented a similar one child policy, through a dramatic state intervention into people´s private lives.
Conspiracy, corruption, ecological thriller, dystopian disfunctionalities, there are so many elements that makes One unique, both in terms of topics and approaches. I could not compare this book with anything I´ve read before, but I would definitely love to read more by Eve Smith and explore more of her books that seems to use motives of contemporary politics into literary projections.
Rating: 4.5 stars
Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own
Thanks for the blog tour support x
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