Alice in No-Man's-Land
by James Knapp
Introduction
In exchange for an honest review, I received a free copy from the publisher via NetGalley. The author’s Revivors series is a favorite of mine.
Genre / Intended audience
Science Fiction / YA, some realistic violence and death; mild sexual situations
Narration
First person, past tense as told by the main character Alice
Characters
Alice Walshe - seventeen year old main character
Cody Walshe - Alice’s brother
Yuric Walshe - Alice’s father, ultra powerful real-estate mogul for Cerulean Holdings
Greta - Yuric’s assistant / lover
Basilio, Maya - Bloc teenagers who help Alice
Setting
Near future, former United States (now UAC) after a catastrophic prion plague
Theme
Survival, coming of age
Plot
Alice Walsh is separated from everyone she knows when someone attacks her father’s airship. Her escape pod crashes in the Ypsilanti Bloc, plunging Alice into a nightmare world she isn’t prepared for. She doesn’t know the fate of her brother, father, or the rest of the crew, but Alice fears the worst. As the daughter of a very powerful real-estate mogul, Alice has lived a sheltered life and, although she is brilliant, she lacks practical skills.
She knows that vast swaths of urban areas called Blocs have been walled in for the protection of people like her. Her father is an expert in ‘renewal’ — the process of clearing and reclaiming these areas.The rest of the UAC lives on the other side of the walls, safe in their assumptions. The Blocs are supposed to be sparsely populated with squatters (residents who have been declared non-citizens). Alice has been led to believe these squatters are too lazy or stupid to get out.
When two teenage scavengers, Basilio and Maya, find her escape pod, she must set aside her prejudices long enough to accept their help. First she has to learn to trust them, and then she has to throw away everything she has ever believed.
About the Author
James Knapp, who also writes under the name James K. Decker, is the author of several science fiction novels. Find out more on
or the author’s website: http://www.james-knapp.com.
My Opinion
I enjoyed Alice in No-Man's-Land. The author explores classic themes of science fiction in his depiction of extreme separation of the classes. Alice's family is not just rich - they’re at the very top of the 1% - but she is only seventeen and terrified. It helps (in gaining our sympathy) that she’s completely unaware of just how privileged her life is. It also helps that we’re always in Alice’s head due to 1st person narration.
Through most of her story, Alice focuses on just one goal — to call her mom. The naïveté of that goal is another factor that makes her character and the story compelling. She tells herself, if she can just accomplish that one thing, all will be well. Her mom will come to her rescue (and find her brother), and everything will return to normal. But nothing will ever be ‘normal’ again.
The author does an excellent job of keeping things realistic. Basilio and Maya are teenagers — jaded and focused on their own survival, but still just kids. The people she meets are desperate, hungry people scrabbling to stay alive, but still just people. The author avoids making anyone a superhero at survival, and when they get into trouble, it feels truly dangerous.
Alice sees death and destruction everywhere, and by the time she unravels the truth, she has to admit to herself that she always knew. Renewal is code for extermination, and the people of the Blocs have been abandoned by the rest of the world. There is a brilliant passage near the end of the story where she remembers things she heard her father say in the very first chapter and thinks, “You knew this, Alice. You knew all of this.”
The characters are smart, realistic, and sympathetic, and this world is not just plausible, but almost familiar. These elements come together brilliantly in a near perfect science fiction tale.
I give it a strong four out of five star rating.