Previously Published Review: This Time of Darkness, H.M. Hoover

I'll begin by stating that I was unfortunate as a child to never run across this particular author. As an adult, I have so far read Children/Treasures of Morrow, Orvis, and This Time of Darkness. I have to say, all of them are fun reads, and if I HAD read them as a child, would unreservedly have rated them all as 5s, and been quite enthusiastic about the ideas, characters, and plots presented.

Coming to them as an adult, I notice a lot of little things that I wouldn't have noticed or cared about as a child. (There will be spoilers below, but nothing directly concerning the plot - simply to give examples.)

Several of these little things are contradictions in the maturity level of the intended readers. On the low-maturity end, there is very little exposition or explanation for the state of reality as it is presented. Every physical area gone through is accepted as-is, with no questions or commentary on their history, future, or relatedness to the other areas. While it is appropriate for the characters to not know, as a reader, I wanted to have a bit more background information on what they were seeing and experiencing. Limiting the information by simply hinting at past conflicts makes those places seem more juvenile and safe. In addition to that blandness, the relationship between the leads is strictly platonic, placing it securely into lower-middle-school range.

Contrast that with high-maturity flashes such as the following: Amy's mother wants her gone so that she can have a live-in-boyfriend, people who break even minor rules are straightforwardly assigned to torture in the form of 'treatments' which leave them mentally handicapped, a fellow-student is described as so bright that he was bored in school and spent his time "playing with himself until he was fixed." Now, perhaps I have too many pets, but there's only one thing I see that particular phrase referring to, and it's a little jarring to come across in the middle of an ostensibly middle-school read.

Other slight hangups are in the suspension of disbelief. Several times, events unfold in statistically unlikely ways to pave an easier way for the leads, or to present events and/or concepts for them to ponder. While pondering is well and good, I would have preferred a less heavy-handed method to allow the children to arrive at the same ideas. In a similar vein, having the children put a bit more of their own effort and ingenuity into the actual attempt would have made their adventures a bit more dramatic and purposeful.

Now, despite the above nitpicks, overall this was a highly enjoyable read, and I'm holding on to it to offer as a recommended read for any budding sci-fi, futurist, or dystopian literature fans.

Brief Plot Description: Amy lives in the sealed world with everyone else, including crazies who live on the sidewalks.  Space is tight, food and water are scarce and bad, and people are controlled through drugs, media overload, and conditioning.  When a boy appears who claims that there is a world outside, everyone thinks he's crazy.  Amy gives him a chance, and they make their way up and out: first into a domed pleasure world for the elite, and eventually into the agrarian post-apocalyptic world of the unprotected outdoors where the boy is from.