Forbidden Child

Age recommendations: 12-15 (Girls will probably enjoy this book a lot more than boys)

Summary: The world has been destroyed by a global flood. It is a watery ball, floating in the dark mass of space. Few ships roam the seas. One large cruise liner, empty of people on the deck, and water in the pools looks deserted, as if no one was there. It looks cold and empty. But that is not what the eight thousand people living inside it would say. They would loyally declare that the Escape was their home, that they were lucky, and the Godmother had saved them out of mercy. And no one would have said this louder than Piper Pascal. Ever since her family died Piper has been striving for something more. Specifically she is striving, has been striving everyday of her life, to meet the Godmother. The woman who saved America, who loves them, who cares about them. The world Piper lives in is full of liars, tattletails, and cheaters. And it is Piper's job to catch the ones who don’t obey the law. And Piper does it well. She hates all sins. Loves the Godmother.

But this all changes when Piper finds the worst sin.

An illegal organism.

A baby.

My review: I love this book! It is dystopian fiction, but has no talk of anything inappropriate. It deals with problems of abortion, and is a lovely book about babies and the love of life. The pain is real, the stakes are high, and it is just such a good book because of the high contrast of light and dark. You see a world, that to us, is most definitely broken. It is a world in which if you don’t tattle then you will die. To us it looks so so wrong, and we can’t help but wonder “why don't these people see this is bad?” But they don’t see because they have never known anything else. I also loved it because of the large amount of darkness and brokenness, and the very very small amount of light. In short it is a good book for girls beginning to grow out of the more lighthearted middle grade fantasy, but still not completely ready for the young adult books.

Quotes: None found at the moment

Concerns: I love this book, but it is quite violent. There is quite a bit of death, and of killing, a torture weapon is used repeatedly with some detales about it, and babies are most distinctly viewed (at the beginning) as a very bad thing. While it is not overly graphic, it is disturbing, and it is very dark. Also it is a worldwide flood in the future and it is not overly emphasized that there is land left. In short it is a dark dark book, and should bring up some fruitful discussions.

Overall rating: 5 out of 5