“WHAT’S RIGHT IS RIGHT.”

Sonya was the face of the Delegation and a true believer. Her Insight, “a circle of light around her right iris”, was her constant companion, ensuring she was never alone. Every choice she made was assigned a value, adding or subtracting DesCoin.

“It’s a game that assigns moral value to even the smallest decisions of your life.”

When the Delegation fell, it was replaced by Triumvirate. Almost everyone had their Insight, the technology that was used to track, reward and punish, removed. Sonya, who was 16 when the photo that made her famous was taken, was only a year older when she was imprisoned.

Now the youngest person in Aperture, Sonya is given an opportunity to earn her freedom by finding an illegal second child, Grace Ward, who was three when she was taken from her parents.

““Our offer is simple,” he says. “Find her - or find out what happened to her - and earn your ticket out of here.””

Since the Delegation fell, Sonya’s world has consisted of two streets, Green Street and Gray Street (Delegation colours) and four buildings. Building 1 is a place of acceptance and feels most like a prison. Building 2 houses most of the young people and is a place of chaos. Building 3 is a place of pretending. Building 4, Sonya’s building, is a place of reminiscence.

This is the first time in ten years that Sonya has stepped foot outside her restricted world. She adapts surprisingly well to the changes, taking it all in her stride rather than wandering around aimlessly as I’d expected she would have.

I would not have done well living in this world, where you lose three DesCoin just for groaning. DesCoin reminded me a bit of the points system in The Good Place, although motive doesn’t appear to factor into DesCoin maths.

Because I didn’t get to know many of the people imprisoned in the Aperture, they were mostly interchangeable to me and the romance didn’t work at all for me. My favourite character was Knox, mostly because of her attitude and her active resistance against the status quo.

One of the scary things about Sonya’s world is that it’s only degrees away from our own. Status buys you privileges that are illegal for everyone else. Technology is literally imbedded in you. The government controls your choices and who you become is largely predetermined. I can easily imagine a world where society moulds its citizens in such an extreme way to play the role that’s been designated for them.

“Find out who you are when no one is watching.”

Content warnings are included on my blog.

Thank you so much to Hachette Australia for the opportunity to read this book.