My latest book review is of Chris Wooding’s The Fade. This story takes place on the moon of some uninhabitable planet. The people of that moon must live underground due to the fact that they would die a very painful death if they were to be caught on the surface when both their suns were up. This novel explores subterranean life to its full extent and brings a realistic edge to it. It is a world where massive civilizations flourish, and despite the lack of subterranean resources, the inhabitants still found ways to live full lives.
There is a war in this world, a war involving the two major nations- the Gurta and the Eskaran. But it’s not just any outright war; there are a lot of political aspects to it. This novel takes part in the recent trend of discussing the idea of “war economy” in stories. War economy is the idea of using war to fuel a nation’s economy, and in this story, corrupted leaders have kept the war going for this purpose.
The story follows an Eskaran soldier who’s been trained from childhood to kill, she is imprisoned and must find a way to escape or face a certain death. On her quest to freedom, she uncovers unimaginable horrors and is faced with extremely tough decisions.
This novel explores the themes of war, violence, contradicting belief systems, prejudice, politics, corruption, and death.
This realistic interpretation of warfare makes this one of the most depressing books I’ve ever read, and I would only recommend it for the more mature readers.