Dark Parties by Sara Grant
Hardcover, 320 Pages
2011, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 0316085944
Synopsis
Sixteen-year-old Neva has been trapped since birth. She was born and raised under the Protectosphere, in an isolated nation ruled by fear, lies, and xenophobia. A shield "protects" them from the outside world, but also locks the citizens inside. But there's nothing left on the outside, ever since the world collapsed from violent warfare. Or so the government says...
Neva and her best friend Sanna believe the government is lying and stage a "dark party" to recruit members for their underground rebellion. But as Neva begins to uncover the truth, she realizes she must question everything she's ever known, including the people she loves the most.
Review
A clearly dystopian novel that easily touches upon fears and situations in the world today, Dark Parties is scary in its realistic potential. Neva and her friends look alike. They look like everyone else in the Protectosphere. So much so that many teens use identity marks to stand apart from all the others. Interbreeding with a limited number of people will do that.
Neva's grandmother used to tell her about a time before the Protectosphere, before people were sealed inside the shield that keeps them safe from the barren land outside. Neva's like most dystopian protagonists - she's part of the small minority that knows that the life she's living is worse than the rest of the population is willing to acknowledge and she's willing to risk it all for something different and hopefully better.
While Neva's a standard character, Dark Parties is well beyond a standard story. Society hiding within a Protectosphere is realistic. Given the current opposing viewpoints on immigration and border control, a Protectopshere isn't something all that outlandish. I thoroughly enjoyed the look at what could result from cutting people off from outside influence for generations. Not just in so much as the way it effects genetics, but how it impacts commerce and other aspects of a society as a whole. Dark Parties is an entertaining book, while also causing the reader to consider long-term ramifications of real world situations.
Dark Parties is a wonderful example of government trying to protect its people and going bad in the process. This is a thought-provoking read that'll delight dystopian fans.
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