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Reviewed by Francis Mont for Readers' Favorite
The Consent of Shadows by Naza Semoniff is a frightening narrative about a dystopia that feels eerily familiar. Jack Aldren appears at the start as a conscientious citizen, dutifully following his role as a city bureaucrat, going through the motions of meaningless repetition, while deeply disturbed by unsettling fragments of images that could be memories, but he is not quite sure what is real and what isn’t. He meets Eva, who seems to know more, but is not sure what they can do about their fragmented lives. Together they explore the boundary between reality and illusion, identity and facelessness, memories and deception. They decide to sabotage the system, which seems to be pushing them along a pre-calculated path, where even their hesitant rebellion appears to be choreographed. In the end, they decide to break the system by refusing to be logical and predictable, throwing a paradox into the equation that seems to be in control of their lives. Do they manage to escape the city’s hold on them into a frightening unknown?
This novella is a masterpiece of literary fiction, following in the footsteps of giants like Orwell and Huxley. The writing style is perfectly suited to the topic: short, staccato-like sentences, separated by blank lines, to remind the reader that thought is needed to fully absorb what has been said. The theme is identity, memories, control, compliance, consent, and rebellion. This topic is very highly relevant today in our AI-driven world, where everything seems to be about efficiency, seamless integration, and where the very concept of hope for something different becomes unthinkable, as memories of different pasts have been erased by the system. The writing is top quality, with a large vocabulary and an eerily rhythmic cadence; it often reads like poetry in its imagery and emotional impact. It is not a fast read, as it forced me to stop frequently, reflecting on my own emotional response, as parallels between fiction and reality surfaced in my mind over and over as I was reading. I very highly recommend The Consent of Shadows by Naza Semoniff to readers who value intelligent, beautifully crafted, and relevant literature.
