Review: Freaks by Tam H. Athot

Synopsis:

“Syranda and magic are an interconnected tree with the same root, with many branches, and beautiful fruits in many shapes and colours.”

 Syranda is a hidden country whose peaceful, democratic system drifting almost unnoticed into dictatorship. An integral part of the people of Syranda are individuals with special skills who have been a great asset to the country’s prosperous development throughout history. But in the last decade something has changed, and democracy has slowly eroded, slipping into dictatorship, led by Angelus, the Minister of Defence. The main pillar of the dictatorship’s construction was the production of an enemy image. Anyone with ability began to be excluded and eventually persecuted.

 Angelus’ daughter Vitu was also born with a special gift, which her father tried to hide from the world. When Vitu became a teenager, she had to face the fact that her father was more concerned with serving the regime and his own ambition than her life, and she too was forced to flee. In her search for a way out, she learned a lot about her abilities, her fellow human beings and herself.

 “Many people think that dictatorship will come suddenly, spectacularly, with a great blare of trumpets and horns, and that everyone will notice it, that one sacred moment when the trumpets blare and the drums beat, and a loudspeaker shouts, “Attention, attention, the dictatorship has arrived, the dictatorship is here, everyone should lock themselves in their houses, because the oppression has arrived, from now on it’s what I, the dictator with the big hat and the red nose, dictate.”

 “The prey within us dies tonight and at dawn the predator will awake along with the sun!”

Favorite Lines:

“The world you live in is more complex and complicated than you think…”

“At that moment, two old, kind-hearted people fell in love again, more than they had many decades before when they first met.”

My Opinion:

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.

First, I want to give kudos to Athot. Athot is Hungarian so this book has been translated to English and that in itself is impressive. There were some choppy parts due to the translation but I don’t think it distracted from the overall story. The story follows a teenage girl who has superpowers in a world where those with abilities are persecuted. I thought this was a very unique world and a breath of fresh air from some of the other books that I have read. 

There are some political metaphors throughout this series as Athot uses this book as an outlet and to make a statement on the status of our planet and the direction we seem to be navigating towards so be on the look out for some hidden messages/parallels throughout the series. In addition to those undercurrents, there are also several questions raised including whether evil can be hereditary, how dictatorships come to power, and how people get caught up on the wrong side of things.

Summary:

Overall, I thought this was an interesting idea and Athot brought a vision to life in a creative way. If you like supernatural/fantasy themed books with touches of politics and psychology, then this book could be for you. Happy reading!

Freaks