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Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite
Cassian Dolton’s They Were Torn Asunder follows 11701, a twenty-five-year-old coal miner in the Rénlèi Republic, where the state placement test decides each citizen’s occupation and social standing. Unable to read, 11701 saves for her two annual days of leave so she can retake the exam and qualify for work aboard a cargo ship. A cave-in during the shift before her leave threatens those plans, while longtime friend 22232 risks his own position to get her aboard a government vessel bound for Yóukè. In the tourist district, 11701 encounters a side of the country she has never experienced and learns of an illegal way to improve her written score. With the exam approaching and 22232’s fate uncertain, passing the test could change far more than her job.
Cassian Dolton’s They Were Torn Asunder is brilliant dystopian science fiction, and Dolton knows exactly how to make a republic like Rénlèi come to full life. The settings are fantastic, especially around Gùshì, where sulfur exhaust turns rain acidic, while miners sleep in welded shipping container bunks beside a sea stained purple by copper waste. As for the characters, I loved the miners themselves. A miner called 85234, hoping to open a dockside restaurant, is my favorite. Dolton gives them a dream and makes it so fleshed out it becomes personal to the reader, from choosing the hours to serving better food. General Zhang and Foreign Affairs Secretary Yīn Tiān are excellent characters who widen the political scale, with issues such as Rénlèi’s aging population and war with neighboring Matryoshka on the table. Well written and unsettling, readers who enjoy dystopian science fiction will adore this.
