Blame is a young adult novel which takes the dystopian genre which has seemed so beloved of YA fiction for the past few years and gives us a dystopian vision which is firmly rooted in the past. Without giving too much away, here is a society where children are punished for the crimes or offences of their parents or grandparents. A society where groups of people are interned for being different or ‘other’ and where society is ruled by a group of people who set themselves apart from others and yet are not so different from you or I.
I found myself reading it, thinking elements of this have already happened and are still happening. People are imprisoned, interned or punished for something that their parents or ancestors have committed or are perceived to have committed. I like that the main character is a smart, savvy teenage girl but that her gender is incidental; she just happens to be a girl. It doesn’t make her any less tough than her male counterparts, she doesn’t have to be tougher than them to prove a point (although she is) and she is certainly not weak or in need of rescuing because she is female.
I would say if you enjoyed 1984, Brave New World, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Hunger Games or the Charlie Higson zombie series then you would probably like this book. Yes, it’s a young adult book and will be found on the young adult shelves, but I think adults will get a lot out of it too.