It’s been ages since I’ve talked about a book or film or TV series I love. I want to start doing more of it, as I find them.
Let’s start with Dissension by Stacey Berg.
For four hundred years, the Church has led the remnants of humanity as they struggle for survival in the last inhabited city. Echo Hunter 367 is exactly what the Church created her to be: loyal, obedient, lethal. A clone who shouldn’t care about anything but her duty. Who shouldn’t be able to.
When rebellious citizens challenge the Church’s authority, it is Echo’s duty to hunt them down before civil war can tumble the city back into the dark. But Echo hides a deadly secret: doubt. And when Echo’s mission leads her to Lia, a rebel leader who has a secret of her own, Echo is forced to face that doubt. For Lia holds the key to the city’s survival, and Echo must choose between the woman she loves and the purpose she was born to fulfill.
Full disclosure: I had the pleasure of editing this book in an earlier draft before it was acquired by HarperCollins. I loved it then, and I love it even more after the work that Stacey did with her terrific team at Voyager Impulse to bring the book home. This is a book that pushes all my happy buttons as a reader. A novel driven by people making high-stakes choices and experiencing the consequences. A woman finding her identity. A human being diving deep into challenges of loyalty, love, trust, and survival. Lovely writing, big feelings, small joys, humor, grief, persistence. A compelling cast of characters.
If you liked Solitaire or Dangerous Space, I think you’ll like Dissension. I feel like Stacey is a sister explorer of the same human territory that fascinates me. This book has made me laugh, and weep, every time I’ve read it.
You can read the first chapter here. Dissension is available Tuesday, March 15 on Kindle, and in paperback on Tuesday, April 12. I hope you read it, and I hope you love it as much as I do.
Enjoy your day.