This dystopian novel is relatively quiet and thoughtful, but I was completely invested in the story and sped through in just a few days. I love the articles and resources that Peco and Ruth Gaskovski offer on Substack, so when I discovered Peco’s novel, I instantly knew I wanted to read it.

The worldbuilding here is so, so good and eerily believable. We’re in North America 300+ years in the future. The vast city of Lantua is a technologically advanced, progressive place where anything goes—that is, anything promoting self-centeredness and dependence on the state. Things like family and religion and privacy are acceptable only when controlled by the government. Couples, married or not, may have one child that is birthed in a bio bag. Body births are icky and illegal. Religion is okay as long as people don’t take it too seriously and it doesn’t usurp the almighty gods of self, safety, and state. Everyone is equal, except they’re not. The society is divided into echelons, and people move up or down depending on how well they follow the rules. Step out of line, and you may get demoted to a lower rung, where you don’t have access to the fine things enjoyed by the upper-echers. In Orwellian tradition, Big Brother is always watching, via “eyes” and drones—cameras and microphones everywhere. Don’t stress, though, they’re just here to help and keep you safe, after all.

Oh my. Can you see it?

The Benedites live in the Territories. They follow the old ways. They farm and raise their own children and go to church and worship Jesus. They, too, can be rigid and exacting. The Lantuan state sterilizes the majority of the Benedites so they don’t have too many kids and outnumber the Lantuans. (Phaoroh, anyone?) The Bennies hate forced sterilization and have managed to revolt and resist from time to time, but rumor has it that they are staging a larger uprising.

This is the backdrop. I don’t much want to comment on the characters or plot because it was SUCH a pleasure to read this book blind—without knowing a shred of what was going to happen.

Just the other day, I read this article about fertility by Peco, and it was such an enrichment to my reading of his novel. Great timing.

This book isn’t as high on action and thrills as you might expect. It doesn’t lean heavily into sci-fi, although I’d classify it as sci-fi dystopian. Instead, it asks those looming, moral questions and doesn’t apologize for it. Those of you who know your Bible will be rewarded with allusions and parallels. Those of you who know Latin (not me!) will need no translator for Bennie slang.

What are you waiting for? Go read this one!