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| Expiration Day by William Campbell Powell |
Expiration Day
William Campbell Powell
Published: April 22, 2014
Publisher: Tor Teen
Age Demographic: YA Sci-Fi
Pages: 336
What happens when you turn eighteen and there are no more tomorrows?
It is the year 2049, and humanity is on the brink of extinction….
Tania Deeley has always been told that she’s a rarity: a human child in a world where most children are sophisticated androids manufactured by Oxted Corporation. When a decline in global fertility ensued, it was the creation of these near-perfect human copies called teknoids that helped to prevent the utter collapse of society.
Though she has always been aware of the existence of teknoids, it is not until her first day at The Lady Maud High School for Girls that Tania realizes that her best friend, Siân, may be one. Returning home from the summer holiday, she is shocked by how much Siân has changed. Is it possible that these changes were engineered by Oxted? And if Siân could be a teknoid, how many others in Tania’s life are not real?
Driven by the need to understand what sets teknoids apart from their human counterparts, Tania begins to seek answers. But time is running out. For everyone knows that on their eighteenth “birthdays,” teknoids must be returned to Oxted—never to be heard from again.
(Note: I received an ARC of this book for review via ATW ARC Tours in exchange for an honest review.)
Completely enthralling, filled with intrigue, and masterfully thought provoking Expiration Day is a sci-fi novel that I absolutely could not put down until I had finished it. I knew from the synopsis, that this would be a book that I would fall in love with. Normally I don't read a great deal of sci-fi, but there was something about this one that I felt I could easily immerse myself into the stunning world created by William Campbell Powell. Emotionally driven and full of incredible insight and dynamic, this is a story that will leave you breathless and shaken in more ways than one by the time you read the end. Powell does a fantastic job of painting a grim portrait of a futuristic glimpse of a world where humans are facing virtual extinction. The message of hope, the vivid imagery of faith, and what it truly means to be human will ring true long after the last page has been turned.
Tania is a wonderful character brought to life through her vivid and emotional diary entries that tell the story of what this grim outlook on life is like. One of my favorite things about this her character and this book, is the fact that she is written in such a realistic way. She's a teenager and in this book she acts and thinks likes one, on top of being intelligent and questioning. Getting to see this harrowing and terrifying world through the eyes of a girl who was intriguing and compelling, was such a fantastic reading experience. While this book may not be filled with non-stop action, it is filled with questions of a moral nature and capacity.
Powerful and amazing, Expiration Day is a sci-fi dystopian young adult novel, that will move you in ways beyond the telling. It will dare you to question humanity and the faith and hope that rings through in a world on the cusp of bleak extinction. If you enjoy this genre of books, then this is one that I would definitely recommend to you. William Campbell Powell does not disappoint in the premise of the story nor with the beautiful way that it's told through one character's diary entries. One of the more interesting reads I've had the pleasure of getting to read all year.
William Campbell Powell was born in 1958 in Sheffield, but grew up in and around Birmingham. He was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham, and gained a scholarship to Clare College, Cambridge to study Natural Sciences. Leaving Clare College in 1980 with a BA in Computer Science, he entered the computer industry, which is where he has been ever since.
William has been writing since 2002, experimenting with various genres, but he is most at home with Science Fiction, Historical Fiction and fiction for Young Adults.
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