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clairedoster's review
4.0
An interesting world with plenty of depth to keep you going. I particularly enjoyed Echo's struggle between her "programed" self and her "blasphemous" nature. Overall, I enjoyed the novel as well as the relationship with Echo and Lia and would love to read more!
bookishkandice's review against another edition
4.0
This was a new kind of book for me. I read the synopsis and it looked interesting. I am blown away by the details in this book! The work in which the main character, Echo, lives in is crazy! I can totally see ya as humans reverting to this kind of set up if the world ever has an apocalypse but dang is this frightening! The character development and story writing through this book is excellent.
kblincoln's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars, actually
Future Dystopian novel with a more adult sensibility. This time it's a future post-apocalyptic world where a ruined city in the midst of a canid predator-ridden desert keeps out all living beings but humans with a forcefield. But this forcefield, and the trickling remnants of electricity, are all held together by a Saint-- a girl whose mind is used as a kind of governing computer-- surrounded by a church that keeps its nuns pregnant with clones that act as scout-soldiers.
The moral ambiguity of a church both protecting and repressing society isn't something new, and forced pregnancy has been done before. However, what sets this book apart from the only tolerably entertaining ye-generic-dystopian novel is the voice of the heroine-- clone Echo Hunter 367. While being bad-ass and a bit brainwashed, she's also emotionally vulnerable and earnest. I stuck with the novel as tangles in church secrets and clone relationships, saves abandoned children, befriends citizens of the city struggling to survive, and engages in a romantic-esque relationship with the healer Lia because I liked her. Even when her motivations and blindness to church machinations becomes a bit more plot-driven (as opposed to rising from characterization) then I could entirely believe, it was okay.
The novel ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, as well as a betrayal I didn't think was in line with Echo's newly unfolding life/personality away from the church, so there's a part of me that may not be interested in continuing the series, but I guess we'll see.
Future Dystopian novel with a more adult sensibility. This time it's a future post-apocalyptic world where a ruined city in the midst of a canid predator-ridden desert keeps out all living beings but humans with a forcefield. But this forcefield, and the trickling remnants of electricity, are all held together by a Saint-- a girl whose mind is used as a kind of governing computer-- surrounded by a church that keeps its nuns pregnant with clones that act as scout-soldiers.
The moral ambiguity of a church both protecting and repressing society isn't something new, and forced pregnancy has been done before. However, what sets this book apart from the only tolerably entertaining ye-generic-dystopian novel is the voice of the heroine-- clone Echo Hunter 367. While being bad-ass and a bit brainwashed, she's also emotionally vulnerable and earnest. I stuck with the novel as tangles in church secrets and clone relationships, saves abandoned children, befriends citizens of the city struggling to survive, and engages in a romantic-esque relationship with the healer Lia because I liked her. Even when her motivations and blindness to church machinations becomes a bit more plot-driven (as opposed to rising from characterization) then I could entirely believe, it was okay.
The novel ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, as well as a betrayal I didn't think was in line with Echo's newly unfolding life/personality away from the church, so there's a part of me that may not be interested in continuing the series, but I guess we'll see.
maryrobinette's review against another edition
4.0
This is a post, post, post apocalypse novel that had so much really cool stealth world-building going on in it. The main character, Echo, is compelling in part because she has her coming-of-age story as an adult.
agoldstarforyou's review
4.0
A cool post apocalyptic story about following an agent of the church that rules over the world leftover. Echo is the possibly defective clone of advanced soldiers who is starting to doubt herself and those around her. Love a character who could absolutely kill you ten times over who has a heart of gold. I liked that there wasn't to much description, more letting things unfold through the story. Though that did make it a bit hard to connect with the world at times, Echo as a character was compelling enough to carry the story along. I didn't love the end of the story as the conclusion drawing everything together felt a bit to convenient but it was a decent, enjoyable story overall. Liked the relationship between Echo and Lia though would have liked it to be a bit more developed.
"And in that instant, she saw the entire edifice of the Church, the foundation of the world, crumbling to nothing as if it had no more substance than a handful of sand slipping through nerveless fingers."
"And in that instant, she saw the entire edifice of the Church, the foundation of the world, crumbling to nothing as if it had no more substance than a handful of sand slipping through nerveless fingers."
gracepf9's review against another edition
2.0
This book had fine writing, nothing particularly interesting. Its world building was vague and the unfolding of the plot was a little too convenient for my liking. But the worst part was its FAILURE to the queer community!! The author writes a lesbian “couple” that never kiss or properly get together, but instead confess their love right before one sacrifices her life!! TEXTBOOK bury your gays vibes. I was NOT pleased
ethelkleppinger's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
helenid's review
4.0
It doesn't take a leap of faith to contemplate the position of power that the church would keep following some dystopian disaster. What doesn't occur to us is the format the church would have. And I can't possibly run this book by telling you :D
Fascinating world building, interesting characters all make this an exciting read.
Fascinating world building, interesting characters all make this an exciting read.
colossal's review against another edition
4.0
A clone warrior asks too many questions of the leadership of the last city.
Echo Hunter 367 is called that because she's the fifth member 'E' of batch 367 of genetically enhanced clones filling the role of Hunter for the bizarre Church that she serves. They have a priest-class who are genetic engineers and technologists, and nuns who carry the clones and raise them, and a Saint who's the critical living mind that interfaces with the computers that run the last city on Earth.
It's grim and dark dystopia, particularly as the Church seems beyond sinister, despite its stated goals. It's also pretty clear that the stakes couldn't be higher in terms of what happens if either the Church or the City fail as this is the last known enclave of humanity.
You get great insight into both how the Church works as well as how the City works with Echo spending lots of time in both. The romance when it eventually comes is low-key and almost an afterthought, but so critical to Echo's character, illuminating both past actions and present.
This is an excellent book with some terrific world-building. I can't help but feel that a single change in this society, letting city people visit the nuns that they give up, would make much of the plot irrelevant. That being said, the Church is hardly a warm fuzzy organization and it makes sense that its leadership would ignore the human factor. Even Echo, raised in the Church, has no concept that people would miss their sisters and daughters when they're taken to be nuns.
I would not hesitate to recommend this. Echo is compelling and the world-building is superb.
Echo Hunter 367 is called that because she's the fifth member 'E' of batch 367 of genetically enhanced clones filling the role of Hunter for the bizarre Church that she serves. They have a priest-class who are genetic engineers and technologists, and nuns who carry the clones and raise them, and a Saint who's the critical living mind that interfaces with the computers that run the last city on Earth.
It's grim and dark dystopia, particularly as the Church seems beyond sinister, despite its stated goals. It's also pretty clear that the stakes couldn't be higher in terms of what happens if either the Church or the City fail as this is the last known enclave of humanity.
You get great insight into both how the Church works as well as how the City works with Echo spending lots of time in both. The romance when it eventually comes is low-key and almost an afterthought, but so critical to Echo's character, illuminating both past actions and present.
This is an excellent book with some terrific world-building. I can't help but feel that a single change in this society, letting city people visit the nuns that they give up, would make much of the plot irrelevant. That being said, the Church is hardly a warm fuzzy organization and it makes sense that its leadership would ignore the human factor. Even Echo, raised in the Church, has no concept that people would miss their sisters and daughters when they're taken to be nuns.
I would not hesitate to recommend this. Echo is compelling and the world-building is superb.
coolcurrybooks's review against another edition
4.0
I first heard of Dissension while sitting at home on the couch, next to my mother who was reading a magazine put out by the Houston medical center. She made a noise, and when I asked her what it was, she passed me the magazine, open to an article about a local doctor who wrote a science fiction novel starring a queer, female clone solider. My mother said, “It’s so you.” Turns out, she was right. Dissension fits squarely into what I want in my fiction.
Echo Hunter 367 is solider created to serve and protect the Church, the leader of the last known human settlement in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. When she returns to the Church after a mission in the waste, she begins to realize that the Church is failing. Equipment is malfunctioning. The new batches of cloned soldiers are diverging farther and farther from the blueprint. And unrest is growing among the civilians in the city, some of whom think they no longer need the guidance of the Church. As doubt begins to grow inside Hunter, she’ll have to decide where her loyalties lie, and more than that who she is. What does it mean to have humanity?
Dissension has a tight focus on its protagonist. While there’s a larger story going on, just as important is Hunter’s own development and how she gradually learns to see herself as a person. In keeping with Hunter’s personality, there’s an emotional restraint to the writing. Dissension also includes a romantic relationship between Hunter and another woman, although romance was not at the forefront of the story. In fact, it was pretty low-key, which was perfect for my tastes. At the same time, I do think Hunter’s relationship with Lia, her love interest, could have been further developed.
I was fascinated by the world building of Dissension. Berg never explains or even hints at what caused the civilization ending catastrophe of four hundred years ago, and the lack of explanation never bothered me at all. It was enough to see where the city was in the present day, beginning to thrive among the ruins.
The idea of building something new out of ruins applies to the Church as well. Interestingly, it didn’t have much religion to it, or at least what I normally think of as religion. I noticed that for all the references to the Church, nuns, priests, tithing, ect, there was never any mention made of God or some other deity. At one point, it was out right said that the Church didn’t promote the idea of life after death. Instead, the Church seemed mainly like a scientific organization housed in an old cathedral and taking on the exterior trappings of Christianity.
Hunter’s treated as a cog in the machine by the Church, but that appears to be how the Church sees everyone. As far as I could tell, the priests are cloned copies too, although I don’t know what their specific enhancements are (something to make them smarter or somehow better scientists?). I do get the feeling that the Church might consider a single microscope to be more valuable than an individual priest… but the Church is also led by a priest. It’s like this huge, messed up system that doesn’t recognize anyone as actual people. I guess that’s what makes it different from similar organizations in other dystopian/post-apocalyptic novels. There’s not really an upper class of the Church that’s hugely benefiting from the system, and the leader himself, the Patri, doesn’t seem to have any special luxuries or treatment.
The picture I get is of an organization formed when human survival was incredibly in doubt and which decided to sacrifice basic humanity for the sake of survival. They’ve also changed very little in those four hundred years and are invested in doing things the way they’ve always been done because it’s the One Way to Survive. Only, it’s been four hundred years, things aren’t quite as bad, and the Church desperately needs to change.
And really, it wouldn’t take that much to fix some of the issues between the Church and the citizens of the city, but it’s also not surprising that the Church doesn’t do it. I don’t think it even occurs to them that they could change how they do things.
While I don’t think Dissension is a super action packed book, I had trouble putting it down all the same. The plot had some surprises in store, and while the ending wasn’t explicitly happy (heads up for fellow queer readers), there’s hope for the sequel.
Dissension sort of reminded me of Fires of the Faithful by Naomi Kritzer, a YA fantasy novel. Obviously, Dissension‘s sci-fi, but I think it’d appeal to the same sort of readers. Anyway, Dissension‘s a book I’d recommend to anyone looking for a post-apocalyptic story with a strong female lead.
Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.
Echo Hunter 367 is solider created to serve and protect the Church, the leader of the last known human settlement in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. When she returns to the Church after a mission in the waste, she begins to realize that the Church is failing. Equipment is malfunctioning. The new batches of cloned soldiers are diverging farther and farther from the blueprint. And unrest is growing among the civilians in the city, some of whom think they no longer need the guidance of the Church. As doubt begins to grow inside Hunter, she’ll have to decide where her loyalties lie, and more than that who she is. What does it mean to have humanity?
Dissension has a tight focus on its protagonist. While there’s a larger story going on, just as important is Hunter’s own development and how she gradually learns to see herself as a person. In keeping with Hunter’s personality, there’s an emotional restraint to the writing. Dissension also includes a romantic relationship between Hunter and another woman, although romance was not at the forefront of the story. In fact, it was pretty low-key, which was perfect for my tastes. At the same time, I do think Hunter’s relationship with Lia, her love interest, could have been further developed.
I was fascinated by the world building of Dissension. Berg never explains or even hints at what caused the civilization ending catastrophe of four hundred years ago, and the lack of explanation never bothered me at all. It was enough to see where the city was in the present day, beginning to thrive among the ruins.
The idea of building something new out of ruins applies to the Church as well. Interestingly, it didn’t have much religion to it, or at least what I normally think of as religion. I noticed that for all the references to the Church, nuns, priests, tithing, ect, there was never any mention made of God or some other deity. At one point, it was out right said that the Church didn’t promote the idea of life after death. Instead, the Church seemed mainly like a scientific organization housed in an old cathedral and taking on the exterior trappings of Christianity.
Hunter’s treated as a cog in the machine by the Church, but that appears to be how the Church sees everyone. As far as I could tell, the priests are cloned copies too, although I don’t know what their specific enhancements are (something to make them smarter or somehow better scientists?). I do get the feeling that the Church might consider a single microscope to be more valuable than an individual priest… but the Church is also led by a priest. It’s like this huge, messed up system that doesn’t recognize anyone as actual people. I guess that’s what makes it different from similar organizations in other dystopian/post-apocalyptic novels. There’s not really an upper class of the Church that’s hugely benefiting from the system, and the leader himself, the Patri, doesn’t seem to have any special luxuries or treatment.
The picture I get is of an organization formed when human survival was incredibly in doubt and which decided to sacrifice basic humanity for the sake of survival. They’ve also changed very little in those four hundred years and are invested in doing things the way they’ve always been done because it’s the One Way to Survive. Only, it’s been four hundred years, things aren’t quite as bad, and the Church desperately needs to change.
And really, it wouldn’t take that much to fix some of the issues between the Church and the citizens of the city, but it’s also not surprising that the Church doesn’t do it. I don’t think it even occurs to them that they could change how they do things.
While I don’t think Dissension is a super action packed book, I had trouble putting it down all the same. The plot had some surprises in store, and while the ending wasn’t explicitly happy (heads up for fellow queer readers), there’s hope for the sequel.
Dissension sort of reminded me of Fires of the Faithful by Naomi Kritzer, a YA fantasy novel. Obviously, Dissension‘s sci-fi, but I think it’d appeal to the same sort of readers. Anyway, Dissension‘s a book I’d recommend to anyone looking for a post-apocalyptic story with a strong female lead.
Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.