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The Great Catastrophe nearly destroyed the earth. Hundreds of nuclear and biological weapons brought down governments, technology, and order. Those who remained began carving their own areas of what was left of the world. Not far from what was once Washington DC, a small settlement named Paradise has been growing. There is no God there, no marriage, no children born through intercourse, no old people, and no freedom. Men are simply the labor and sperm donors for the settlement. Each citizen is assigned to a role for the betterment of the whole. A group named the council makes all the rules in secrecy. They are also corrupt and scheme against one another. Before her death, councilmember Ellen reveals to a young archeologist, Beth, that it is Ellen’s own frozen egg from which Beth was given life. Ellen knows time is short, so she tells Beth that Beth needs to escape Paradise immediately. Beth oversees a man named John, who was recently unfrozen after being found in the basement of a cryonics center. Although this new world is very confusing to John, he believes Beth when she claims they must escape. Escape, in fact, is on the minds of others. However, the council is not inclined to let its labor force leave freely.
Maring’s dystopian novel is an account of how various individuals might react to a devastated earth. In his version, like-minded individuals group together and form a society based on their personal beliefs. Sometimes, they will then push those beliefs on others. Maring shows the reader the possible outcomes of these communal experiments. For example, Paradise, the most traditionally classic Utopian city, will fall victim to the lure of power. New Jerusalem, based on biblical principles, fares better. Later, another group will splinter and form Liberty, which is like New Jerusalem but strives to leave religion out of government. The line of dystopian novels that influence Maring’s work is long, but those most closely related include Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, which includes genetically engineered citizens reportedly working together for the common good, and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, which illustrates as Maring himself does the repression and loss of freedom many utopian societies often bring to the table.
Maring demonstrates his growing skill as an author through the control he exercises over the expanding cast of characters and the steadiness of the book’s pacing. His sentences are straightforward and easy to read. There are several grammatical errors in the book, but they won’t stop an interested reader from enjoying the story. Readers who enjoy character-driven, dystopian science fiction will find plenty to like, and the relatively short length will keep the book from being as intimidating as some of the more recent and popular offerings in the genre. Although the main characters are all adults, they are relatively young adults. Therefore, the appeal of the book will absolutely extend to young adult readers and will likely be enjoyed even more by that age group than adults. The inclusion of love stories, combat, differing political and religious views, and a look at a dystopian America leaves the book with a broad appeal.