{Book Review} The Seeker Effect by Anne Schlebusch

Hi guys! Happy Monday . How are we already in November? Time is truly flying by. 

October held many awesome ARC read opportunities for me, and this was another one from The Crow's Copy that I got to review. This time it was The Seeker Effect by Anne Schlebusch.

So first, let me share more about Anne Schlebusch from her publisher's website :

Anne Schlebusch is the author of Bloomer (Modjaji), named a 2023 Brittle Paper Notable Book in Africa. She has published short stories, co‑authored language textbooks, and written five YA novels, one winning the 1995 MML Young Africa Award. The Seeker Effect is her first speculative novel, exploring dystopian themes. She holds an MPhil in Applied Language Studies from UCT and relishes challenging formats and genres, inviting readers to question what’s considered normal and boundaries about reality. She lives in Cape Town.

Now let me share a Blurb about the book as well :

The Seeker Effect is a must-read speculative fiction foray into a dystopian future in which the drowning earth’s orbit has shifted, and times are out of joint.

Five citizens have been temporarily let out of their isolation pods, and they are ready to do anything to avoid returning to the pointlessness of that incarceration.

The book skilfully weaves determination, fear, humour, magic realism, mystery, psychology, science and climate, along with the pace of a thriller. The tight writing delivers insights on being human and asks how to erode, and maybe decimate, authoritarianism.

Now onto my review :

I will be honest: I struggled through the first two/three chapters to get into the story. But boy oh boy ... when I got into it, I truly couldn't stop. 

The story is set in a dystopian world with climate chaos. Espensially since they live in a little bubble. The story revolves around five young citizens who are temporarily released from their "pods" for a process called Recalibration. It follows the story and path of our five characters, our protagonist Flike (who truly saves the day !), along with her "friends" or fellow citizens Ully, Ater, Ives, and Bryo, and their designated animal companions.  They are faced with a choice: return to meaningless confinement and live by the set of rules they are given and enforced by drones and judges, or risk everything for freedom .

One of the main reasons I do believe the ending of the book hits so hard is because I do feel like in the future something like this might happen for real in society where we are all forced to live a certain way . Truly, the book opens your eyes and is brilliantly written. 

So onto my rating :

This is truly a book I will recommend if you like thinking outside the box and seeing the world in a different light. 

* I received this book in exchange for my honest review *