Genre: Dystopian
Q wakes up in a dark room. She remembers going into the muerte. People had taken their masks off and she was going to be a martyr. It turns out, they decided to keep her alive in order to use her influence to bring the people back into submission. She and B are allowed to be together, but the cost is high. She must decide if she can live with manipulating the people back into blindly following the elders or if she is willing to sacrifice it all to free them.
This series is just so heartbreaking, partly because (as with most dystopian novels) the people in it almost seem familiar. They have been making the choice for so long to trade their freedom for safety/a roof over their heads/free meals, and those in power are more than willing to manipulate them because of that. On the surface, their lives are ok. Money isn't exchanged, their every need is provided for, they get enough food, they aren't subjected to hard physical labor. In the last book, Q was married off to a Guerrier and started experiencing some abuse, which was unfortunately sanctioned by the elders. But because of her grandmother, she understood that just because the elders said it was acceptable, that didn't mean it was. Because of her grandmother - one of the only remaining people living who had experienced the outside - she had dangerous ideas about individuality, fresh air, and love. The man she loved had taken her outside to feel the sun on her face, and they had taken off their masks together. She was willing to sacrifice her own life in order to show the people of the sixth domicile just a tiny bit of that freedom. She thought she had succeeded.
Throughout the book, she is emotionally and mentally tortured by a system (elders) who know just what strings to pull to make her compliant. This book is very disturbing, and the ending isn't a happy one. I am eager that there are going to be more books because I want to see this resolved.
I do think it is important for people to read books like these. Freedom is important, but it does come with consequences. All of us have to ultimately make the choice to be free or to be compliant. We have to be watchful that those freedoms are not eroded by those in power who know how to manipulate us.
Purchase the books in this series by following the links below:
The Sixth Domicile
The Vrai Domicile
The Sauvage Domicile
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