The Ordinaries

A Novella

Fiction - Short Story/Novela
70 Pages
Reviewed on 06/15/2025
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    Book Review

Reviewed by Mimie Odigwe for Readers' Favorite

When Agent SD38 spares the life of an Ordinary, his world begins to unravel. Ordinaries are a peaceful race whose arrival on Earth is to restore balance and peace to a deteriorating world. Unfortunately, their mission faces hostility. Clones are special agents specifically engineered to detect and annihilate all Ordinaries, and so refusing to kill an Ordinary is an act of rebellion. When another clone is killed in a bid to protect Anjel, the Ordinary, the stakes become higher. Labelled as fugitives, Anjel and Agent SD38 become unlikely allies, viewing the world from a fresh perspective and reevaluating their roles in it. Can they bring about change in The Ordinaries by Verna Clay?

The Ordinaries is a dystopian novella set in a crumbling, drug-ridden city teeming with violence and decay. Verna Clay’s novella is a striking allegory of societal decline, change in the modern world, and how, although there is only so much a person can change, one person can create a ripple effect that yields positive results. Many scenes in this fast-paced story made me pause and think. How perfect is the Perfect City? What does it mean for it to be situated next to a decayed city like San Diego, with both cities ignorant of each other's existence and their inhabitants reluctant to recognize or assist those beyond their borders? The Castoffs (addicted, discarded members of society), the seemingly utopian Perfect City, and the christening of Agent SD38 to Quince are a few of the various elements that make this book thought-provoking.