Day of Now

LoveReading Says

Dystopian adventures are back with a bang it seems, and increasingly relevant sadly, their ruined futures feeling much closer than they once did.

In Miranda Reason’s clever debut, in a baking near future, weeds carry spores that spread a deadly rabies-like disease infecting animals and humans alike. Human society has been reduced to individuals or small communities who scavenge for food and whatever else they can find in empty buildings, keeping a wary distance from anyone they don’t know.

Dayna and her younger brother Pax live with their father, just the three of them, the children experts in growing their own food, and in self-defence. When their father is bitten by an infected rat however, they decide to look for adult help, Dayna responding to messages picked up on an old radio. She’s desperate to find people they can trust, but the adults they come across are – mostly – exactly the kind her father has warned them against.

When their father is captured by a ruthless gang, they determine to rescue him and prove tough and quick-thinking enough to hold their own against their elders, though they still find themselves in unsettling situations, Dayna particularly at risk as an adolescent girl. Each encounter brings new dangers and their father’s advice to trust absolutely no-one turns out to be horribly, heartbreakingly true.

It makes for tense, compelling reading - readers will find their heart in their mouth at frequent points in the young people’s journey. As well as being a terrific adventure story, like all the best dystopia, this novel also puts current society and human nature in the frame and sets readers thinking about what makes the best of us, the best of society.

Andrea Reece

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