THE SCREAMS OF OUR ANCESTORS ECHO ACROSS THE EMPTY DESERT PLAINS SURROUNDING OUR SMALL TOWN; THERE IS NO ONE LEFT BUT US."
--opening to Vessel
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Seventeen-year-old Paige has one chance to escape an arranged marriage to a boy in her post-apocalyptic cult--
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becoming her town’s human sacrifice. |
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Paige just has to hide the creeping attraction she's been feeling towards another girl until she dies.
Her plan to trade her life for freedom nearly works—until her brother and the girl she loves get themselves arrested, are declared heretics, and are sentenced to death. Paige reckons with the crumbling of her lifelong beliefs and faces her worst nightmare: stay closeted and lose those she loves most, or come out and blow up everything she’s ever known. Either way, there's no going back. |
V I B E S
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Paige lives in New Standard, an idyllic world where no one goes hungry and everyone has a place to live.
It's also a place of forced abortions, witch burnings, and eugenics. Enjoy the unofficial book soundtrack here. 
Image credit: "Houses Along Alley in Suburbs" by Efrem Efre |
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Lee does a great job of world-building and showing us how groupthink and brainwashing works, and our delight as we watch Paige's awakening gets us fully invested in her success. "
--Amazon reviewer
This book, while a futuristic parable, nonetheless shows the insidiousness of the messaging, and the confusion a person feels when they are starting to question everything they were taught to believe. While the ending of this book feels abrupt to me as a reader, it rings true in the sense that it's the end of Paige's story in New Standard. Whatever comes next? Is unknown.
A recommended read."
--LibraryThing reviewer
I ended up getting around to this book later than I meant to for some reason and I regret not getting to it sooner. This book is such an interesting loo[k] into a post apocalyptic cult one can't escape from given how inhospitable the surrounding landscape is (never mind the fact that attempting to leave will get you killed if caught).
--LibraryThing reviewer
D E E P - D I V E
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Header image credit: Women Wearing White Dress by Anastasia Shuraeva