Curio

The group halted. One solider – an exact replica of the man next to him and the man
next to him and so on – stepped forward and bowed at the waist. A mechanical
hum accompanied the opening of his mouth, and a monotone voice spoke.

“Do you require assistance, Mistress Porcelain?”

Grey gasped.

The flat voice continued, “Are you fully animated, Miss?”

Book:Curio (Blink) by Evangeline Denmark, Blink, 2015

Genre: Speculative Fiction

Target Audience: Boys and Girls 16-19

Subjects: Revolution, Politics, Genetic Modifications

Summary: Fighting bad guys in her world one moment thrust into a world of animated
porcelain figures the next, Grey is totally confused. When she left her world,
it was controlled by a select group of people who had set themselves up as
better than everyone else. The population was controlled by giving a daily
potion that would keep them alive. Anyone caught violating the rules was
subject to horrific punishments. Her father and grandfather were rebels with
ancient blood in them, giving them strength to live without the daily potions.
Just as she leaves her world, Grey learns she has the same blood in her. When
she reaches the strange new world, she learns it is run in a similar fashion.
One group who believe themselves to be better than all the others, have set
themselves up, lording it over the rest and leaving those outside of their
group in suffering and poverty. Unfortunately for Grey, their ruler has taken
an interest in her and her different body and way of functioning. And once he
sets his sight on something, he refuses to let it go. If Grey wants to be
anything more than a body to be experimented on, she will have to do the
impossible – escape back to her own world – which is a slight problem since she
isn’t quite sure how she got here in the first place! In the meantime, she is
caught up in a revolution that some have undertaken to help the poor class.

Notes: This is a book with a very detailed, complex storyline, focused on two different worlds where one people group declares themselves to be better than
all the rest and therefore rulers to lord it over the rest. There aren’t any spiritual elements that I can find in the story. There is a hint in the second world of an Ultimate Being in the form of a “Designer” but nothing is expressed in the story about the Designer. It’s almost a deist worldview – obviously a creator sat the world in motion but isn’t actually involved in the creation
now. There are some hints of sexual content – nothing too blatant, just hints. The first world bans any touch at all between a man and a woman unless officially approved by the ruling class. So when they finally encounter touch,
they tend to go a little nuts. At first two characters act totally in love with each other. When Grey enters the other world, she instantly goes nuts over another guy who has apparently been having sex with someone else. There is also
plenty of violence as people fight and kill each other. There is one hint of
drugs as well as a “potion” makes one character feel extra strong and powerful
and he wants more of it. There is also an interesting element of “modifications”. Injured characters in the second world, the world where the “people” seem to be some sort of living dolls and wooden toys are repaired and have parts replaced or new parts put on. Some completely reject those who have been modified and a set of parents refuses to even claim their child once the child is modified – back to the idea that only one group of people is perfect and can lord it over the others.

Spiritual Content Recommendation Scale: 1/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

Romans 3:28-30 – For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles
too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and
the uncircumcised through that same faith.