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Humans and animals have been separated for millennia, throwing off the balance of the world. Humans used to have a special connection with animals, able to communicate with them which enabled us to be in balance with nature. All of that changed when the evil entity Nyx infiltrated the three spirits of Earth, Air and Sea. Nyx was trapped by the Earth Spirit, but the connection between the corporeal plain and the Spirit plain was disrupted, meaning that humans lost the ability to communicate with their animal brethren. Now, Nyx is growing stronger as Solar Storms ravage the Earth’s atmosphere, and only three teenagers, known as the Walkers, their animal counterparts and their guide can stop the end of the world.
Fletcher and his bear Eva, are the Earth Walkers – but have been corrupted by Nyx. Eli and his osprey Una, are the Air Walkers and Arianna and her salamander Jericho are the Sea Walkers. Robyn, a former PhD student at MRI is their guide, and can straddle the corporeal and spirit plains. Eli and Arianna are trying to rescue Convergers – teens who can communicate with their paired animal – from their base in Wales, while Fletcher has fled to Iceland in an attempt to rid himself of Nyx’s influence. Meanwhile, the shadowy MRI organisation is based at the ultra-secretive HAARP site in Alaska. The CEO, Vulcan, is determined to control the Convergers and has managed to do so using an unholy mix of torture and mind-control. He wants the Walkers, their powers and connection to the Spirit world means that he would be able to clear the way for Nyx, and control the entire world.
So, as usual, that’s an over-simplified synopsis of what is an extraordinary book. Resilience is a masterpiece of a dystopian world, mixed in with science-fiction. Although, in places, I found it somewhat difficult to follow, with the myriad of already established characters, that’s easily enough remedied if you read the first two books in the series, Convergence and Emergence. However, even as a newcomer to the series, and starting partway through, I still found the story line easy enough to follow and soon understood the lore of the world Smith had built.
Smith’s use of HAARP in itself was a genius move; the site already has an ominous mythology surrounding it – steeped as it is in conspiracy theories. Whenever the action in Resilience takes place here, the tension is palpable. Similarly, whenever the plot takes us to the farm in Wales, a feeling of warmth and safety is evident in the writing. If I were to criticise this book at all, it would be the unrealistic travelling by Helicopter. Somehow, these choppers seem to be able to traverse half way around the world in almost no time, with the characters feeling no jet-lag. But that’s a small criticism in an otherwise brilliant book.
S. A.
First published on Reedsy Discovery as part of their ARC program. You can read the original review here.
You can purchase Resilience from Amazon by clicking on its name. You can also buy the previous two books in the series here