With her debut novel, Patricia Forde crafts a richly imagined future society, the development of which feels all too plausible in today's climate.

As Wordsmiths, young Letta and her master, Benjamin, are charged with the task of maintaining the List, a collection of 500 words that make up the only language available to the residents of Ark. John Noa formed Ark after the great Melting, when the world was flooded and the land destroyed. This new society was meant to be a safe haven, and Noa their savior, creator of a world free from the ignorance of those who would deny the realities of the harm that humans have caused the planet. But when Letta meets a boy named Marlo and is drawn into his world of beauty and art, she begins to doubt whether Noa's intentions are as pure as she once thought or, worst of all, if he's actually been lying to them all along.

This is a story with a message and a purpose, one full of relevance and originality. With this novel, Forde reminds us that words do hold power, both to heal and to destroy, and that because of this we should be mindful of how we employ them. This is a love letter to the ways love and art can lift our spirits and replenish our souls in a world that often seems dark.

 

This article was originally published in the August 2017 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Gr 7–10—In this gripping postapocalyptic thriller, a handful of people have survived the Melting, a climate change—induced catastrophe, thanks to the foresight and scientific inventiveness of John Noa and his band of Green Warriors. These survivors now live together in a community known as the Ark, where life is possible but far from pleasant: water and food are strictly rationed, art and music are forbidden, and even speech is stringently controlled. Blaming the Melting on humanity's ability to dissemble, Noa has limited speech to a diminishing number of words kept on an official List—now down to 500 entries—with harsh penalties for those who use unauthorized vocabulary. In a plot that hews closely to YA dystopian tropes, Letta, the brave young protagonist who is charged with helping maintain the List, is a firm believer in Noa's rules until Marlo, a handsome member of the resistance, shows up injured in her shop and shortly thereafter, her master, Benjamin, is reported dead under mysterious circumstances. As she helps Marlo and investigates Benjamin's purported death, Letta uncovers Noa's plan to render humanity completely speechless with the chemical Nicene—a name that calls to mind the Nicene Creed, the doctrine stating Christianity's most fundamental beliefs. Although the underlying premise and certain plot elements sometimes require a large dose of suspended disbelief, ultimately, this new entry into the dystopian field can be enjoyed on many levels. It is a well-crafted page-turner, as well as a compelling commentary on censorship and the role of language, while also inviting discussion about what distinguishes humans from animals. VERDICT For dystopian fiction aficionados, this well-paced entry offers plenty of food for thought.—Eileen Makoff, P.S. 90 Edna Cohen School, NY