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BOOK TOUR STOP x RANDOM THINGS TOURS: One by Eve Smith


A catastrophic climate emergency has spawned a one-child policy in the UK, ruthlessly enforced by a totalitarian regime. Compulsory abortion of ‘excess’ pregnancies and mandatory contraceptive implants are now the norm, and families must adhere to strict consumption quotas as the world descends into chaos.

Kai is a 25-year-old ‘baby reaper’, working for the Ministry of Population and Family Planning. If any of her assigned families attempt to exceed their child quota, she ensures they pay the price.
Until, one morning, she discovers that an illegal sibling on her Ministry hit-list is hers. To protect her parents from severe penalties, she must secretly investigate before anyone else finds out.

Kai’s hunt for her forbidden sister unearths much more than a dark family secret. As she stumbles across a series of heinous crimes perpetrated by the people she trusted most, she makes a devastating discovery that could bring down the government … and tear her family apart.

One law. One child. Seven million crimes.

This is a terrifyingly real world where an vicious government has taken total control — removing any autonomy, removing choice, removing your right to your own body — where a harsh dictatorship requires conformity at all costs. And even if you believe in population control like I definitely do to an extent, it’s a chilling premise to see how far it could go, a powerful and unsettling warning not only about the danger of overpopulation and impeding climate catastrophe but the danger of losing our freedom entirely if we continue down this path of destruction.

Smith created a fully immersive world, giving us a strange feeling of recognition coupled with complete alienation. A world that looks like ours but the Thames Barrier has broken and all resources are allocated carefully. We see news and media clippings, hear from protestors and government officials to get to know this world intimately. She immediately set up a suffocatingly intense atmosphere that made me feel eyes on the back of my neck. That unsettling voyeuristic air hung over ever page.

Kai’s narration was lyrical, poetic and descriptive - she thought deeply and paid attention to everything, forcing us to analyse this world and her part in it too. She was undeniably compelling; a villain to some, a hero to others depending on where you look at and that blurry morality is a powerful recurring theme through this story. Everyone is the same; especially our government - trying to save us from a catastrophic extinction but also removing our humanity. What’s worse?

As Kai’s exploration gets further, it gets unbearably tense — a web of lies, corruption and secrets that run deep. There’s loose threads to follow but watching as they slowly come together was spectacular, exploring the deepest black markets, the buried roots of her family tree and the highest powers that be for a truly remarkable and explosive ending. This is one to watch.

⭐⭐⭐⭐



Thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours and Karen at Orenda Books for inviting me to take part in this tour. I was gifted an advanced reviewers copy of this title in return for an honest review. 

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