Currently Reading: Immobility

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Dystopian future novels are all the rage lately.  This one is far less pretty and romantic than most.  Set in a world post-Kollaps (a cataclysmic event that is never revealed), the story follows Josef Horkai as he is awakened from his stored state.

Having been stored (in some sort of freezing process) for thirty years, or so he is told, Horkai cannot remember who he is or was, what happened to the world around him, or how he was paralyzed.  Instead, he is forced to rely on those who have woken him, including leader Rasmus and his duo of thugs, Oleg and Olaf.  

Although he feels that something is wrong and knows that Rasmus is lying to him, Horkai agrees to a task that will take him outside of the compound and into the unknown.  Horkai soon comes to the realization that he is different than the others and he may not even be human.  But if he isn't human, what is he?

The story is beautifully written, simple and precise.  It lacks the hope that many novels of this vein often have, but not to its detriment.  The biggest strength of the novel is its desperation and its hopelessness.  If the human race cannot be redeemed and repopulated, what do we have left?  It is a terrifying question, but one that Evenson forces the reader to consider.