On the 30th November, Aylesbury Library are having their first Literary Day, playing host to loads of great local authors. One of them is teen author - and ex-Princes Risborough librarian - Teri Terry...Think of the modern trend of (often excellent) dystopian thrillers, you'll think of The Hunger Games (The film of part 2 - Catching Fire - is out in November). You may think of Divergent (film out next April), or Wool (film on its way). What you don't normally think of is the Buckinghamsire countryside! But that's what you get in Slated, the first of a trilogy by Bucks author Teri Terry. And yes, it's begun the long process of being made into a film, too.
Slated is set fifty years in the future, in a Britain where child and teen criminals have their memories wiped - slated - and are given a second chance in life. They have to relearn to walk, talk and re-adjust to life, and are given a new name and a new family. 'Slateds' are naive, trusting, incurious. They are happy, by and large - and a good thing too, because they wear levos, which monitor their mood, and causes blackouts and even death if the count drops too low.
A 16 year-old girl is slated, renamed Kyla, and given to a new family (in the Chiltern countryside). But Kyla finds she is not like other slateds - she has terrifying nightmares that may or may not be old memories. Extreme anger should make her black out, but it doesn't. And she begins to question things that mustn't be questioned. What happened in her old life? Why was she slated? These are dangerous questions, for the country is policed by the ominous Lorders, agents who bundle away undesirables, and the slightest misstep could see her "returned" - whatever that means.Kyla soon finds that her questions are as dangerous to those around her as they are to herself. She quickly grows close to slated heartthrob Ben, and her indignant curiosity sparks changes his accepting nature, taking him on a path Kyla can't control.
The book is at its most intriguing when Kyla is trying to sort out the puzzle of her mind and her identity. The book explores muscle memory - her body knows how to do things she can't consciously do, and subconsciousness, and by the start of Fractured, it's sequel, it is dealing with something akin to multiple personality disorder. Kyla, herself, is fractured.
It's a lazy comparison to call Slated a British Hunger Games, and inaccurate for several reasons. The world of Slated is actually a lot more lifelike than most dystopias. It's governed by the Central Coalition (sound familiar?), and the changes within Britain are ones you could genuinely see become an issue, if we had the technology. But also, Slated is more of a slow burner than Hunger Games and the others. This isn't exactly a criticism, but it doesn't have the epic-ness of some other dystopian fiction. Not because it tries but fails, but because so much of the story is about what's going on within Kyla. Slated's climax is insular to Kyla - it will be intresting to see if they pull it off in the film (assuming - and hoping - it gets made). But be in no doubt, this is a great piece of fiction. It's clever, it's original, it's engaging. Slated sows the seeds for Fractured, which has more action in, and is bigger scale. And I can't wait to see how it all turns out when the final part of the trilogy, Shattered, is released next year. And don't forget, you can meet the author Teri Terry as she discusses the books and the role of dystopian fiction in general at the Aylesbury Library Literary Day on 30th November!
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