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Necessary Ill
Sandy, a young woman thrust violently out of her farm life into the dispassionate science of neuters like Jin, discovers her own needs for safety and adventure, art and science, self-protection and love. But human life is full of change, and as the world is thrown off balance for all, each must learn to see in new ways for the survival of friends and enemies alike. Reviews “Taber’s debut novel presents an all-too-credible dystopic future world and, in Jin, a complex character whose mind approaches the world and its priorities in a very different way. The characterization of truly genderless individuals—not androgynes or hermaphrodites—and the portrayal of an approach to the world that is both ruthless and compassionate make this an excellent candidate for book discussion groups and provide strong evidence for the availability of significant genre literature. Highly recommended.”
— Library Journal , starred review, March 15, 2013 “Skillful pacing, unpredictable twists, nail-bitingly tense moments, and an adroit resolution make this an unusual and engrossing addition to the post-apocalyptic genre.”
— Publishers Weekly , starred review, Jan. 28, 2013 “At its heart, Necessary Ill concerns itself with character and situation; with the social experience of marked vs. unmarked bodies, and the ethics of preservation of life. Is it better to kill many in order that the species might survive? Is it right to permit the human race to drive itself to extinction, if by one’s actions one can prevent it? Is it ever possible to act ethically in taking choices away from other people? Necessary Ill doesn’t answer the questions it raises, or at least not all of them. But it asks them thoughtfully, and with an eye for character that makes for an enjoyable read.”
—Liz Bourke, Tor.com, March 2013
— Library Journal , starred review, March 15, 2013 “Skillful pacing, unpredictable twists, nail-bitingly tense moments, and an adroit resolution make this an unusual and engrossing addition to the post-apocalyptic genre.”
— Publishers Weekly , starred review, Jan. 28, 2013 “At its heart, Necessary Ill concerns itself with character and situation; with the social experience of marked vs. unmarked bodies, and the ethics of preservation of life. Is it better to kill many in order that the species might survive? Is it right to permit the human race to drive itself to extinction, if by one’s actions one can prevent it? Is it ever possible to act ethically in taking choices away from other people? Necessary Ill doesn’t answer the questions it raises, or at least not all of them. But it asks them thoughtfully, and with an eye for character that makes for an enjoyable read.”
—Liz Bourke, Tor.com, March 2013
347 pages, Paperback
First published January 3, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 13, 2018
The book features the presence of a large number of human neuters, whose personal pronoun is “it” and whose chests are free of nipples. It is implied that they are also without genitalia (but they do have a urethra for urination.) They speak to each other in stripped-down phraseology and call sexed humans “gens”. Another way in which they are different from “normal” humans is that they have heightened senses. This allows them to interpret human behaviour readily but they lack empathy. They of course have to disguise themselves as “normal.”
Chapters narrated in the present tense focus on the neuter Jin. The other main character’s viewpoint chapters are in the past tense. These feature the gen, Sandy, who when we first meet her is rescued by a neut from rape at the hands of the gang who have just raped and killed her mother and so becomes closely associated with neuters.
For some not very clearly articulated reason (gens are overburdening the planet? Really?) there is an organisation of neuters dedicated to spreading plagues designed to reduce gens’ numbers. Jin is such a spreader. In that light any animosity shown by gens towards neuters - which would have been in evidence in any case due to the common human failure to accommodate difference - is hardly surprising and therefore given a justification by the narrative. It seems an odd undertaking for a reviled/misunderstood minority to initiate and carry through, even if, “Genders fear what they don’t understand, and the way they choose to understand neuters is to turn them into something they don’t fear. Women. As if carving a slit through the tiny neut urethra would suddenly give it estrogen* and ovaries and an acceptable biological flow.”
The plagues start as biologically based but one predicated on soundwaves embedded in music, effective in inducing heart attacks in gens who show aggressive tendencies, has the most success.
To mitigate the effects of the inevitable anti-neut campaign a group of neuts in the film industry make a film of Jin’s life-story to try to make him, and by extension all neuts, more relatable to gens. (Like that would work.)
Necessary Ill is well enough written but I’m afraid the story it tells never quite convinced me.
Chapters narrated in the present tense focus on the neuter Jin. The other main character’s viewpoint chapters are in the past tense. These feature the gen, Sandy, who when we first meet her is rescued by a neut from rape at the hands of the gang who have just raped and killed her mother and so becomes closely associated with neuters.
For some not very clearly articulated reason (gens are overburdening the planet? Really?) there is an organisation of neuters dedicated to spreading plagues designed to reduce gens’ numbers. Jin is such a spreader. In that light any animosity shown by gens towards neuters - which would have been in evidence in any case due to the common human failure to accommodate difference - is hardly surprising and therefore given a justification by the narrative. It seems an odd undertaking for a reviled/misunderstood minority to initiate and carry through, even if, “Genders fear what they don’t understand, and the way they choose to understand neuters is to turn them into something they don’t fear. Women. As if carving a slit through the tiny neut urethra would suddenly give it estrogen* and ovaries and an acceptable biological flow.”
The plagues start as biologically based but one predicated on soundwaves embedded in music, effective in inducing heart attacks in gens who show aggressive tendencies, has the most success.
To mitigate the effects of the inevitable anti-neut campaign a group of neuts in the film industry make a film of Jin’s life-story to try to make him, and by extension all neuts, more relatable to gens. (Like that would work.)
Necessary Ill is well enough written but I’m afraid the story it tells never quite convinced me.
April 16, 2019
The neuts tailor their plagues to target people of all “racial, religious, social, and economic” groups. When that’s not possible, complementary plagues may be released to restore the balance. Regardless, Jin is a mass murderer, and herein lies the genius of this book: we’re made to sympathize with a mass murderer, and see those who try to stop him as the bad guys. Don’t worry though–it’s never made out to be black-and-white. The situation only gets more complicated as the book goes on, and even tries to tackle how one might lower the birth rate without selecting for race, socio-economic class, religion, etc. There are no easy answers here. Even other neuts aren’t always so sure about the spreaders, despite the fact that the Network supports them explicitly.
At first the neuts seem to be described fairly monolithically. They’re relatively unemotional, they have a particular pattern of speech, they’re unusually focused and intelligent, they don’t like to be touched, etc. However, the author quietly introduces us to neuts who break each of these types, thus keeping things from seeming stereotyped. It would have been nice, though, to see a neut who was capable of feeling romantic love even if they can’t feel sexual attraction. We do get to see an artist’s enclave, and we meet musicians and actors as well as the scientists.
The only (very mild) negative I had was one woman’s reaction to finding out some of what Jin had done. She accuses Jin of “nothing but interfering with people’s lives,” which seems like an awfully mild way to view mass murder.
Content warning for rape and attempted rape, although most of the gory details are elided.
This is a brilliant story with utterly fascinating characters, amazing worldbuilding, and an intriguing plot. I highly recommend it.
Original review posted on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/2019/04/r...
At first the neuts seem to be described fairly monolithically. They’re relatively unemotional, they have a particular pattern of speech, they’re unusually focused and intelligent, they don’t like to be touched, etc. However, the author quietly introduces us to neuts who break each of these types, thus keeping things from seeming stereotyped. It would have been nice, though, to see a neut who was capable of feeling romantic love even if they can’t feel sexual attraction. We do get to see an artist’s enclave, and we meet musicians and actors as well as the scientists.
The only (very mild) negative I had was one woman’s reaction to finding out some of what Jin had done. She accuses Jin of “nothing but interfering with people’s lives,” which seems like an awfully mild way to view mass murder.
Content warning for rape and attempted rape, although most of the gory details are elided.
This is a brilliant story with utterly fascinating characters, amazing worldbuilding, and an intriguing plot. I highly recommend it.
Original review posted on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/2019/04/r...
February 19, 2018
Interesting premise - in a world of over-population, a secret society of neuters (humans born without external genitalia), is working on a number of projects. Jin (prefers to go by it), is a spreader of deadly diseases formulated to cull society of the worst individuals.
Wanted to like this book more but there are so many holes! Given how incredibly bright Jin is, couldn't it have figured out how to use existing resources more efficiently? Wouldn't more of the gender-typical humans have been against the policies that the neuters endorsed? With one exception, even all the neuters were on board with the existence and purpose of spreaders. There was not enough sociological and psychological insight into what makes people tick. Someone as bright as Jin could have read a bunch of books and learned, at least in the abstract, as to what motivates people.
The diversity, gotta accept everyone for themselves, angle was good though.
Wanted to like this book more but there are so many holes! Given how incredibly bright Jin is, couldn't it have figured out how to use existing resources more efficiently? Wouldn't more of the gender-typical humans have been against the policies that the neuters endorsed? With one exception, even all the neuters were on board with the existence and purpose of spreaders. There was not enough sociological and psychological insight into what makes people tick. Someone as bright as Jin could have read a bunch of books and learned, at least in the abstract, as to what motivates people.
The diversity, gotta accept everyone for themselves, angle was good though.
April 7, 2019
I did enjoy this book, it covers environmental and population issues, and gender roles, all subjects close to my heart. I liked the main characters, a laconic and neuter human named Jin, and a shell shocked teenager who acts in an emotionally stunted manner herself. (Possibly as a reaction to her experiences).
Jin is a mass murderer, who justifies its actions as being 'for the best' in an overpopulated world. Whilst my instinct it to view its design and spread of fatal viruses with utter horror, there was some actual humour there ... if you 'please wash your hands' after visiting a public loo, you're safe from one of the viruses.
I did find the story a little disjointed at times, and the details of some of the plagues were confusing, but I kept going back to the story and staying up to read it. It's been a busy week, and I read this book in three days. That says it all really.
Jin is a mass murderer, who justifies its actions as being 'for the best' in an overpopulated world. Whilst my instinct it to view its design and spread of fatal viruses with utter horror, there was some actual humour there ... if you 'please wash your hands' after visiting a public loo, you're safe from one of the viruses.
I did find the story a little disjointed at times, and the details of some of the plagues were confusing, but I kept going back to the story and staying up to read it. It's been a busy week, and I read this book in three days. That says it all really.
November 13, 2013
Ultimately, for me, this book fell flat on account of it's characters - and it's not often I find myself saying that. Reading Science Fiction requires a certain baseline suspension of disbelief, a willingness to accept exotic and strange settings, technologies - and characters, and their motivations thereof. Also, in general I've never been one to harp on character development too much. But these characters pushed the boundary too far, and I found them too unrelatable. We have Sandy, an incredibly unflappable teenage girl who more or less shrugs off watching her mother be beaten and raped to death. Her reaction to then finding herself in a cave miles underground, populated by a race of genderless mutants who spend their days cooking up biochemical weapons they use to decimate humanity basically boils down to "okie dokie." Not a trace of anger, horror, disgust, or outrage. Then we have Jin, a "spreader," who's rationale for what it does is fairly unconvincing. Not in the sense that you wouldn't agree with it's reasons - how could you? - but rather, it just doesn't seem like the sort of rationale that a mass murderer would use to justify their crimes. And then there's a whole supporting cast of characters who regularly switch motivations and stances without much reason being given as to why. Another problem - or at least, missed opportunity - is that there's no real backstory given for neuts in general other than "they've always been around." Where did the network come from, and why? When and why did they decide to start spreading plagues? No history is ever given, it just is what it is. That's not a glaring flaw - you can just run with the story as it is - but it does seem like a waste of what could have been interesting exposition, at least. Also, the author's choice to narrate the story in different tenses depending on who the focal character is was a bit odd and occasionally jarring, although you do get used to it after a while. An okay read, passes the time, but it feels like an idea that could have been turned into a much better story.
June 11, 2013
It's the future. The world is overpopulated and resources cannot sustain human life. Humans start giving birth to non- gendered children, called neuts for genderless-sexless individuals. They also still birth males and females. The neuts have an underground society in which they are constantly working on curbing the population to save mankind. They develop plagues that carefully wipe out segments of the population. Neuts face prejudice by gendered individuals. This story centers around a neut named Jin, a plague spreader and its adventures and tragedies doing is work. I haven't been moved to tears reading in a long time, but this book touched many parts of my emotions... about what it means to be human, what responsibility we have to the earth and how love and pain exist so well side by side.
July 29, 2014
Generally, I liked this book. It's got a few very interesting concepts that are well-blended, and the plot doesn't bog down. The author's an editor in her "professional" life and there were definitely places where I felt that come through, where it felt as though the book was trying a little too hard to be "traditional" in its storytelling or to go with a current trend (the present-tense narration from one of the narrators struck me this way). But overall, I very much enjoyed it. I thought Taber had an interesting take on what it would be like to have a category of humans completely unaffected by reproductive hormones, and how their culture would be different from "gendered" culture. I'm also a dystopia fan, and I thought that this book explored some interesting ideas on that front as well.
May 3, 2013
Good to read something for adults every once in a while. I liked this book, but the way Taber switches between past and present tense for each chapter kind of bothered me. I'm not the kind of person that hates present tense, but I had to get used to it every other chapter, and I'm not sure why. Interesting story though!
February 7, 2014
I enjoyed this and having a hard time totally describing why.
- interesting post-disaster (or mid-disaster). And the disaster post-apoctolyptic aspect is minor to the story, which in itself is interesting.
- am always intrigued when an overall premise is too farfetched and turns me off - in this case the idea of a neuter human gender -- but then is major and works in the story.
- interesting post-disaster (or mid-disaster). And the disaster post-apoctolyptic aspect is minor to the story, which in itself is interesting.
- am always intrigued when an overall premise is too farfetched and turns me off - in this case the idea of a neuter human gender -- but then is major and works in the story.
February 8, 2016
On the plus side, a nifty take on gender issues, reactive prejudices, and the ethics surrounding population expansion and environmental degradation. On the negative side, the episodic structure hindered character development, the plot left too many avenues unexplored, and giving the neuters an inherent superpower (perception of self and others) just seemed a distraction.
April 15, 2013
I liked the idea. I enjoyed the unique characters. I thought the plot had merit. But.......It's too long and became rather convoluted. I finally lost interest three quarters through and gave up. Sorry.
January 2, 2014
I did not finish reading this. I was too disturbed at the start of it to continue, sadly. The premise is interesting, but it begins with sexually violent situations.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews