The fire sermon a novel
Ratings3
Average rating3.3
"The Hunger Games meets Cormac McCarthy's The Road in this richly imagined first novel in a new post-apocalyptic trilogy by award-winning poet Francesca Haig. Four hundred years in the future, the Earth has turned primitive following a nuclear fire that has laid waste to civilization and nature. Though the radiation fallout has ended, for some unknowable reason every person is born with a twin. Of each pair, one is an Alpha--physically perfect in every way; and the other an Omega--burdened with deformity, small or large. With the Council ruling an apartheid-like society, Omegas are branded and ostracized while the Alphas have gathered the world's sparse resources for themselves. Though proclaiming their superiority, for all their effort Alphas cannot escape one harsh fact: Whenever one twin dies, so does the other. Cass is a rare Omega, one burdened with psychic foresight. While her twin, Zach, gains power on the Alpha Council, she dares to dream the most dangerous dream of all: equality. For daring to envision a world in which Alphas and Omegas live side-by-side as equals, both the Council and the Resistance have her in their sights"--
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Pros: fascinating premise, interesting protagonists
Cons: limited plot
400 years ago the Blast wiped out most of humanity. Now everyone is born as twins. One child, the Alpha, is perfectly formed. Alphas teach that the second child, the Omega, is born of the poisons that haven't entirely dissipated from the Blast, thereby explaining their deformities: a missing limb, an extra eye, the inability to speak. Visions. The Omegas, unpleasant to look at and more prone to disease, are sent away, but kept in decent enough conditions because when one twin dies, so does the other.
Cassandra is a seer, a rare Omega with no distinguishing features but the ability to sense things about the world around her. Raised with her twin brother Zach longer than usual, due to her unblemished appearance, both their lives are impacted. Zach's fear of Omegas and the rejection of his peers causes him to have ambitions that will change the lives of Omegas everywhere, starting with Cass.
I find myself somewhat conflicted about this book. I really liked the premise surrounding the twins and the political and ethical questions regarding the treatment of the Omegas, but there's very little plot. Most of the book is about Cass running away from her brother. That's not to say that the book isn't interesting, the characters pass through a cross-section of the world, and it's a very interesting world.
While I liked Cass and Kip - a fellow hunted Omega - I didn't end up with the emotional connection to them that I expected given the character driven nature of this book.
I liked that Cass had the idea that Alphas and Omegas shouldn't be considered separate groups, especially given their death connection, but the few times she brings it up her idea is shot down by others. I recognize how hard changing such ingrained beliefs would be and kind of hoped to see the author tackle it by having Cass bring it up more often, wearing her compatriots down or finding new and more concrete ways of getting her views across to more people. I'm wondering if book 2 will deal more with this.
The book was enjoyable to read but left me wanting more from it than I got.
