The Biggerers

July 16, 2018
Lilwall’s ambitious and often undisciplined debut cleverly sets up a chilling near-future scenario: an unscrupulous scientist is cloning and manipulating embryos to produce miniature humans for a huge and greedy government-backed corporation that tortures them, drugs them with memory suppressants, and sells them as pets—ostensibly to teach 22nd-century children to care lovingly about something other than themselves. “Littlers” Bonbon and Jinx gradually learn to communicate illicitly with the adult “biggerers” who “own” them, Susan and Hamish, relatively kind pet parents who eventually try to unmask this horrible business. Gruesome episodes involve Jinx’s victimized littler beau, Chips, and poignant others show Isabel, a littler illegally raised in secret by Drew, a lab technician repulsed by his work. Using inventive but occasionally disjointed prose, Lilwall complicates the littlers’ gradual awakening to their human ability to love with satiric reflections on inhumane attempts to halt overpopulation and an all-too-human love triangle among three biggerers. Science fiction fans will appreciate the unusual perspective of humans as seen through their pets’ eyes, but may wish Lilwall had focused this dark comedy more clearly. Agent: Dan Mandel, Sanford J. Greenburger Assoc.

September 1, 2018

The central plot point of this debut--the existence of a race of miniature people living among us--is familiar from works as diverse as Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels and John Peterson's The Littles. Lilwall refers directly to another of her book's antecedents, Mary Norton's classic children's series "The Borrowers." But Lilwall has added many layers to this children's-story concept, creating an entertaining, action-filled, and often troubling work of dystopian fiction. The story is set in 2116. The "Littlers" are genetically engineered and raised in labs, to be adopted by full-sized people as companions or pets. The Littlers have richer lives than their owners, the "Biggerers." Jinx and Bonbon live together with adoring owners and meet up in the backyard with their neighbor Littler, Chips, whose home life is much more precarious. There is some good comedy here, as the Littlers, like adolescents, grapple with emerging feelings of attraction, shifting social dynamics, and developing communication skills. The narrative occasionally sags under the weight of one too many subplots, but the book is absorbing, and Bonbon and Jinx are memorable, charming protagonists. VERDICT Fantasy and speculative fiction fans will enjoy this terrific mix of adventure, social commentary, and dark humor.--Christopher Myers, Lake Oswego P.L., OR

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.