Ariane is a girl growing up on Novo, an artificial planet
orbiting a spoiled Earth. Life here is strictly
controlled,
and elitist choices mean that nobody over forty-five, or
ill, was allowed to come. But it seems safe, and a well-
provisioned life - though she has troubling dreams. The
girl is about to discover her TRUE CALLING.
Ariane's life and studies are disrupted when at seventeen
she receives an official Calling to meet assigned
partners;
within a year she must marry and start producing babies.
The girl feels that this is too early, and she wants a
choice of husband, but the official line is that the
scheme
will rebuild a healthy population. The process will
include
monitored dates and public voting which is supposed to
substitute for the young people's eroded human rights.
Ariane, her friend Eve and classmate Cal speak up as much
as they dare, but individuality is not allowed. Ariane's
father is an officer in Novo's army. He quietly tells her
that growing unrest with the way civic power is used may
endanger the family. Ariane has to comply with the
authorities' rules or risk losing everyone she loves.
This is a tension-filled cross between The Testing and
Hunger Games, in that public entertainment is made from
young people being forced to do things, in order to prove
their skills and fitness to lead or reproduce. Any young
adult readers who have enjoyed those books will be
intrigued by this particular spin. Some readers will be
keener on the body polishing, costuming and televised
dating than I was; more interesting to me was the way that
sectors are landscape designed to resemble places in the
United States, including Hawaii. Really though, it's all
part of the same concept. Every place and every one has to
look perfect.
Further erosion of human rights foreseeably occurs, but
some citizens are too busy watching the entertainment to
notice, and Ariane and Cal's nascent relationship is
threatened. If there is a revolution coming, at which
point
would you join in, we are being asked; at what stage would
you say enough is enough and try to overthrow the
government? Are there parallels with any present day
society? Personally I found this aspect far more involving
than the reality show dating, but then I watch very few
reality shows and read a lot of history and dystopian
science fiction. Siobhan Davis has worked in the area of
Human Resources and intends to write a trilogy of which
TRUE CALLING is the first part. YA readers and SF fans
will
be intrigued with the way her world is developing.
I wonder which situation is hardest.
Mine, because I remember everything, or hers because she
can’t.
Planet Novo, nestled in space twelve hundred miles above
the
surface of the Earth, is the new home of 17 year-old Cadet
Ariana Skyee. Forced to flee to Novo two years previously—
to
avoid the succession of natural disasters which have
ravaged
Earth—Ariana and her family are part of the chosen few who
have been carefully selected to share in this new
existence.
Other survivors reside in a technology deprived
post-apocalyptic America; under the constant scrutiny of
the
ruthless regime, and deliberately kept in the dark about
life on Novo.
The new government is strategically focused on the
continuation of mankind and development of Novo society.
They consequently announce the introduction of a televised
e-pageant, ‘The Calling’, which compels every seventeen
year
old into impending marriage and parenthood.
Devastated at the removal of her free will and forced
abandonment of her desired military career; Ariana grows
increasingly alarmed at the authorities apparent
pre-occupation with her. As a series of tragic events tear
her family life apart, Ariana feels progressively more
isolated and alone.
Her growing feelings for much-admired, fellow Cadet Cal
Remus, intensify as ‘The Calling’ gets underway. Hot-
headed,
but fiercely loyal and protective, Cal shares knowledge
which appears to indicate that the fragile fabric of their
new society is disintegrating in front of their eyes.
Confused by the government-sanctioned memory erase—which
has
stolen her memories of those left behind on Earth—Ariana
is
struggling to comprehend the continuous, inexplicable
dreams
of the mysterious Zane.
Discovering the past helps shape her future, with
devastating personal consequences.
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