The Children of Men

Is there any place for morality if the human race is about to go extinct? Is there room for hope or should anyone who is ill, depressed, or a “burden” to society just take part in the mass suicides? Is it possible to use political power to make things more comfortable for a doomed society without becoming a tyrant?

PD James' excellent novel explores all of those questions in a dark sci-fi novel with heavy Biblical parallels about a world in which all men have become infertile. But then one miracle pregnancy has the chance to save the world from its impending doom.

The book, though short, starts a bit slow, with the first few chapters being ultra heavy in expositional world building. After that things get good. The last half of the novel is filled with suspense and the whole thing has a ton of political, religious, and moral arguments that are touched on without pedantry.

But mostly it's a story of redemption, about a man guilty of an (accidental) unspeakable act of violence who risks his life to save a miracle child that could save all of humanity. A powerful novel with a better story than the totally different but also good film adaptation.