June 2010 Book of the Month.
Set in the future on an isolated island with its citizens divided into ‘sects’. To change position exams must be taken. We follow a young girl taking such an exam with her chosen subject a man who forged the beginning of their society. As she answers the examiners so she questions her beliefs and that of her upbringing. What emerges is a debate about philosophy and artificial intelligence, an extraordinarily thought-provoking work which was written as a children’s book and indeed long-listed for the 2009 Guardian Children’s Prize. The writing is simplistic, the themes are not.
Comparison: Unique but try Jostein Gaarder (Sophie’s World) or Ray Bradbury.
| Primary Genre | Fiction |
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2041 - First global dust storms, 2050 - First shot in The Last War fired, 2051 - The Great Sea Fence completed; the Republic founded, 2052 - First plague released, and 2077 - The Great War begins. A...Fourteen-year-old Anax thinks she knows her history. She'd better.
She's sat facing three Examiners and her grueling five-hour examination has just begun. If she passes, she'll be admitted into The Academy - the elite institution that runs her utopian society.But Anax is about to discover that for all her learning, the history she's been taught isn't the whole story. And that The Academy isn't what she believes it to be.
The reader is about to discover a provocative novel of dazzling ingenuity. Anax's examination leads us into a future where ancient - eternal - philosophical questions have dramatically collided with the march of technology, where just what it means to be human is up for debate, and where the concealed stain of an Original Sin threatens the very existence of her Brave New World.
Genesis features in the following genres: Fiction, Modern and Contemporary Fiction, eBooks of the Month, Young Adult Fiction, Books of the Month, General Fiction, Recommendations, Children’s, Teenage and Educational
Genesis is available in Paperback, Ebook, Hardback
Genesis was written by Bernard Beckett and published by Quercus Publishing Plc