Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite

Elysian's Son by Douglas S. Reed is set in a future ruled by the Unified Sovereign Alliance, where David, a nearly blind boy, lives inside the domed city of Mekhane. After questioning official doctrine at the Academy, he is selected for the Cultivation Project and assigned to Lady Myla, the wife of a powerful Director. Their sanctioned meetings reveal fractures inside the ruling order and expose secrets surrounding David’s origins. When his guardian is silenced, David and Lady Myla are forced to flee the controlled cities and enter the Wilderness, a contested expanse shaped by banishment, belief, and rival powers. As the Authority deploys a Guardian of the Way to track them, their flight draws them toward a forbidden destination called Elysian, a place whose existence threatens the structure holding their world together. “Here’s to a promise of a future neither one of us had dreamed of. A future that pulses with power, a future meant to be claimed.”

Elysian's Son by Douglas S. Reed is a fantastic speculative fiction novel, with Reed deftly managing both the clinical authority within the dome and the fully fleshed-out world he has built. I love that David is a person of color, shown in one of the many graphic illustrations included. As a POC myself, and given that this novel is not age-restricted, the representation is priceless. David and Lady Myla drive the plot forward through their own pursuit, and because they are being pursued themselves. Reed uses names that are descriptors for most other characters: The Guardian, The Warrior, The Teacher. This stylistic choice further separates David from the rest. The settings are cinematically rendered and also operate as systems: Ravana runs on pleasure and ritual, the mountain farm disguises captivity as refuge, and the lighthouse acts as a gate where identity is verified. Overall, this is an intelligent, philosophical, and unique work that can easily be classified as literary fiction. Very highly recommended.