Pure

Starred review from November 14, 2011
Baggott’s highly anticipated postapocalyptic horror novel, a dramatic shift from her lighthearted poetry, women’s fiction (as Bridget Asher), and children’s books, is a fascinating mix of stark, oppressive authoritarianism and grotesque anarchy. Like most survivors of the Detonations, teen Pressia is disfigured, a doll’s head fused into the place where her hand should be. She’s better off than people who were merged into each other, with animals, or even with the Earth itself, but she’s also at risk of being drafted into the paramilitary Operation Sacred Revolution. The few who survived unscathed—known as “Pures”—live in the Domes, impenetrable arcologies where the few children are forced into rigid training and genetic enhancement. When Partridge, believing his mother to be alive in the wilderness, escapes from a Dome, he’s rescued by Pressia. Along with a conspiracy theorist named Bradwell, they gradually discover dark secrets about events on both sides of the Dome walls. Baggott mixes brutality, occasional wry humor, and strong dialogue into an exemplar of the subgenre. Agent: Sobel Weber Associates.

Starred review from May 1, 2012

In a creepy dystopian future, the detonation of nanotechnology bombs causes people to fuse with whatever was near them during the explosion--animals, other people, or, sometimes, objects. Since the blast, the unaffected "Pures" live inside the Dome in isolation and under rigid control. In swirling ash and constant fear, the misshapen "Wretches" live outside, eking out meager existences, hiding from the local militia, and plotting to attack the Dome. Partridge the Pure wants to find his mother and the truth about his past. Pressia the Wretch seeks safety and salvation. When the two meet, they find something else entirely. Baggott's imagery is matchless in this freakish and compelling tale of love and revolution. A full-cast narration (Khristine Hvam, Joshua Swanson, Kevin T. Collins, and Casey Holloway) transports the listener thoroughly into Baggott's imaginative and substantial details. VERDICT A sure hit for fans of Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games and Stephenie Meyer's The Host. [The Grand Central pb will publish in December.--Ed.]--Terry Ann Lawler, Phoenix P.L.

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