State
of Grace by Hilary Badger (Hardie Grant Egmont)
ISBN 9781760120382
PB $19.95 RRP
Reviewed by Nean McKenzie
By the co-creator of the Zac Power
series, State of Grace is a young
adult book about a girl called Wren who lives with a group of other teenage
creations in a paradise, not unlike the Garden of Eden. Wren spends her time
swimming in the idyllic lagoon, hooking up with her friends and worshipping
their creator, Dot. Despite this perfect world, Wren begins to have flashbacks
to another life in a different world. She tries to fight it, as she wants to
get to 'completion night' and be chosen, but when a boy called Dennis arrives
from outside, everything changes.
This is a story where things become
clearer as the book progresses, but it is obvious from the outset (to the
reader, at least) that things are not as they appear. The little world Wren
lives in is actually a trial for a drug called Grace, given to a select group
of people with depression and other psychological problems. The world created uses
religion for happiness and a sense of purpose. Blaze is the only other person
apart from Wren who questions the reality of the world they live in, as he also
experiences memories of another life.
The language of this world is very
effective: 'sungarb' for clothes, 'tatas' for breasts, 'dotly' for good and
never using remotely negative words, just putting a pre in front, such as
prenormal (different), prehealthy (sick) and prelight (dark). The revelation of
the drug is not until right at the end, so most of the book has a rather creepy
undercurrent, especially when Gil, one of the creations, tries to take charge
and make new rules. A group called the Circle who is against the Grace trial
also surfaces at the end, and there is action as they help Wren (real name
Viva) and Blaze (real name Luke) escape to the real world. Viva gradually
remembers the pain in her past and is able to live with it.
Like popular novels Divergent and The Giver,
this is a young adult story about a utopian world, which turns out to be not as
good as it seems. It's also about facing reality and the benefits of doing
that. These are interesting concepts to explore and the well written State of Grace should go down very well
with the readership.
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