Notes from the Burning Age

I entered this novel expecting a dystopian adventure. What did I find but a dystopian spy novel that John Le Carre would be proud of. It was a surprise but a very welcome one. I loved the way the author just kind of slid you into that reality, introducing different elements along the way, and really made you feel the main character's pov, his sense of alienation, his self-doubt. It just gets better from there.

Genuinely poor.

I continue to love everything North has put out.

Probably more of a 3.5.

I think it's been a long while since I've read a proper dystopian novel, so this one took me some time to finish. Not that it wasn't interesting, but I couldn't find the pacing engaging enough. But I really did find the themes of climate change as well as the whole idea of future generations trying to piece together details about their ancestors' technologies very fascinating. There is also a lot of translation, researching and archiving that goes on here and that was cool, because these are some fields which are very underrated despite being important and it's quite rare that we find characters with these occupations in fiction. The plot was also interesting but what left the most impression on me was the question it leaves in our mind throughout - are we as humanity capable enough to learn from our mistakes, not let capitalist greed drive our decisions, and do something substantial to prevent our planet from further destruction. It's definitely a very timely novel in this aspect, and I think anyone who enjoys the dystopian/ cli-fi sub genre would surely enjoy this one.

This is a book of loss and devastation, what remains, and what grows from the ashes of a broken world. North brings this plausible dystopian world to life with stark imagery and elegant prose. Although the premise has the components of a spy thriller, the story is definitely a slower burn.

The overarching narrative never quite grabbed me, but the cat and mouse interplay between Ven and his on-again, off-again adversary/captor was really intriguing.

I had not read any of Claire North's work prior to this novel, but I've come away impressed and excited to see what she writes next.

As an aside, I hope Orbit sticks with Leo Nickolls and Siobhan Hooper for the cover art/design on future books. They did an outstanding job with this one.

My thanks to NetGalley and Orbit for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

See this review and others at The Speculative Shelf.