Sarah Blake (3) (1984–)

It’s been ten years since the trees had begun releasing massive amounts of pollen, making the air too toxic to breathe. At first there was a massive die off of humans, beginning of course with the young and elderly. There were pockets of humans who survived – mostly those in hospitals and other buildings with air purification equipment.

But now, things have stabilized. The humans are living in highly airtight pods with intensive filtration. Young children are appearing again.

Izabel, her husband (formerly a surgeon, now a driver of robotic harvesting machines), and their young daughter seem to have a life that is normalizing.

That is until someone punches a hole in one of the domes, causing instant death of the family in this formerly murder-less society. It happens a second time. And a third. People are terrified. Izabel has the feeling it may be someone who knows her; worse yet it seems to be someone that knows where she lives. And strangely enough, her daughter seems to be able to channel the killer - or someone watching the killer.

I thought this was an interesting world. The author has set it up for Izabel to become a detective. Will more sequels follow in this post-apolcalyptic detective series?… (más)

I rarely read books set into the future. But this after the climate change aka the turning captured me. First of all, the luscious picture of fruit on the cover would not let me pass it by.

Then the idea that climate changed had killed most the earth's population and the survivors and first generation after that live in plastic domes. They will die if they do not were protective masks and go through a system of locks to enter a different dome. There are cars still but they have to be protected from the outside environment. After the turning, trees thrived and loaded the air with so much pollen that it could kill you. I could envision the huge pollen gathering and entering crevaces in domes that were not adquately protected.

Why did I get excited by this future setting. I have asthma and get very sick if I go outside on high pollen days. It was not all bad, the blueberries grown in their pods were enormous, strawberries fist sized and articokes were basketball size.

There is a homemaker by the name of Izabell, a husband named Kaito and their young daughter, Cami, who sleeps with her eyes open.

Enriching the story are: a Japanese folktale, magical realism, a gentle tree named Elm, a serial killer who slashes the domes and Izabel's memory of what it was like before the turning. I enjoyed this trip into a different time period. There were things I found to be strange and that which was familar like the pollen (in an exaggerated way).… (más)

Clean Air by Sarah Blake has elements of dystopian, speculative fiction, a family drama, a murder mystery, and magical realism. Unfortunately, I don’t really get it. The different genres mix together in the book but, for me, do not coalesce into a whole. For me, part of the reason may be that the characters do not become real. I walk away unsatisfied and not the reader for this one.

Read my complete review at target="_top">http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2022/02/clean-air.html

Reviewed for NetGalley and a publisher’s blog tour.… (más)