In a future ravaged by greed and war, The Domicile has emerged. A new civilization governed by clandestine Elders where citizens are united by white masks and uniform identities. To remove one’s mask, to go outside the Domicile, to show defiance, means being sent to the Meurtre, a horrifying death sentence.
Q437B doesn’t follow the rules. She craves sunlight, dares to love her childhood friend B116A, and – the most forbidden of all – has seen the true face of her beloved beneath the mask.
But when Q becomes an Adulte, The Domicile threatens to take away everything that makes her happy. She is forced to marry an abusive soldier who demands she conform. Whispers spread about the unconventional lessons she teaches her new students. And when Q openly disobeys the Elders, the people become restless, questioning the truth of the world in the wake of such defiance.
Rumblings of discontent stir as others begin to follow the path toward their freedom. The Revolution has begun, and Q is the spark that ignited the flames.
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MY REVIEW
OK. So a white mask with gold glitter is not bad as masks go ... but it's still a mask. It hides something that is beneath. In this case, it is the people of this society. Everyone is supposed to be 'the same' ... speak the same language, have the same thoughts. (Ask the people in Babel how well that one worked.) A world where choice is taken away is no fit world in which to live.
I feel Q's pain at wanting to have a more genuine life. And I'm a teeny bit jealous that she figured it out years before I did. But it is what it is. I kept wanting to give her a name other than 'Q' or 'Q437B' - they seemed so cold an impersonal; but that, of course, was the point. So I find yet another society (and this one is not even real!) in which I would have died young because of my mouth.
Q is a great heroine. She learned at an early age that there was more to life than the Domicile. Her grandmother told her stories of the world before. And her parents were 'not cured' by the powers that be of an illness that would have been survivable. I'd be ticked off at the authorities too.
Ms. Ruggles' education shows in her writing. I was enthralled from the first sentence. But then, "I heard is screams first" is a gripping first line. Something's definitely up and anyone with a soul would want to know what's happening. Sometimes I have trouble with dystopian books because it's hard to wrap my mind around the deluge of information that comes from understanding a new civilization or society. The Sixth Domicile did not present this problem.
Huzzah, huzzah, this is the first of the Domicile series. That means that there is more to this story. That is a very good thing ... because I didn't want this book to end.
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MEET THE AUTHOR
Now getting her Doctorate in social work, she’s used this education to help her writing some of the gritty issues entwined in her stories. When Courtney isn’t writing her next book while drinking coffee, you can find her doing homework (drag) with chocolate chip flavored coffee, reading series of books (because school books are only so interesting) while drinking pumpkin flavored coffee, playing with her little boy, or daydreaming of future beach houses while drinking some other scrumptious flavor of coffee.
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(Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the author and publishers via Enchanted Book Promotions in exchange for my objective review. This post contains affiliate links.)
Thank you so much, LuAnn, for featuring The Sixth Domicile and me on your blog and the amazing review!!!
ReplyDeleteI call 'em like I read 'em, Courtney! :O)
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