What do you think?
Rate this book
The Office of Mercy: A Novel
A cool and compelling” (Flavorwire) debut of a new postapocalyptic world for fans of The Hunger Games
On the screen and on the page, dystopian fantasies have captivated the public imagination. In The Office of Mercy, debut novelist Ariel Djanikian has conceived a chilling, post-apocalyptic page-turner that has earned her glowing comparisons to George Orwell and Suzanne Collins.
In America-Five, there is no suffering, hunger, or inequality. Its citizens inhabit a high-tech Utopia established after a global catastrophe known as the Storm radically altered the planet. Twenty-four-year-old Natasha Wiley works in the Office of Mercy, tasked with humanely terminating—or sweeping”—the nomadic Storm survivors who live Outside. But after she joins a select team and ventures Outside for the first time, Natasha slowly unravels the mysteries surrounding the Storm—and the secretive elders who run America-Five.
On the screen and on the page, dystopian fantasies have captivated the public imagination. In The Office of Mercy, debut novelist Ariel Djanikian has conceived a chilling, post-apocalyptic page-turner that has earned her glowing comparisons to George Orwell and Suzanne Collins.
In America-Five, there is no suffering, hunger, or inequality. Its citizens inhabit a high-tech Utopia established after a global catastrophe known as the Storm radically altered the planet. Twenty-four-year-old Natasha Wiley works in the Office of Mercy, tasked with humanely terminating—or sweeping”—the nomadic Storm survivors who live Outside. But after she joins a select team and ventures Outside for the first time, Natasha slowly unravels the mysteries surrounding the Storm—and the secretive elders who run America-Five.
322 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 21, 2013
25 people are currently reading
1716 people want to read
About the author
Ariel Djanikian
5 books127 followersAriel Djanikian is the author of The Office of Mercy and The Prospectors. Her work has appeared in The Paris Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Tin House, The Millions, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. Born in Philadelphia, she holds an MFA in fiction from the University of Michigan. She currently lives in the DC area with her husband, two kids, and puppy and teaches fiction writing at Georgetown University.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 286 reviews
April 15, 2013
Normally I don't keep reading books that irritate me, but I just kept punishing myself with this gem of a novel.
I'm always wary of synopsis that promise that fans of awesome book, or awesome author with LOVE this novel. Apparently, fans of The Hunger Games should love The Office of Mercy. Well, I loved The Hunger Games?!?! Ergo, I loved The Office of Mercy. Uh, no. No I didn't.
The Office of Mercy is a dystopian that tells the story of Natasha, a citizen in America-Five. American-Five is a 305 year old post-storm settlement that "swept" 5.9 billion folks from the face of the earth. And by "swept," I mean bombed the earth back into the Stone Age. The Alphas, who established the community and the eternal life of the community, are stoked about this monumental achievement.
Oh, but wait! See, some super smart folks got away and lived. The Office of Mercy (yes, there's an office of just about everything, including government, agriculture, and the dumbest, exit) is charged with sweeping the remaining tribes that near their dome perimeter. The thought is that The Office of Mercy is dispatching the outsiders to a better place where they won't suffer. Gah. *eyeroll*
The premise is intriguing, but the execution is a total fail.
1. The book bugged me immediately. At first it was the name of our protagonist; Natasha. The author overuses the name to the point of distraction. Have you ever met a new mother who finds excuse after excuse to use their baby's name repeatedly because they like the sound of it? Natasha, Natasha, Natasha! I wanted to stab my eyeballs out.
2. There were info dumps concerning the empathy code that the citizens follow so that they can murder and be super happy. The code could have scared the shit out of me, but instead it was YA simplistic and about as deep as a puddle. Since I'm an adult, and this is published by Viking as an adult novel, I had to rage a bit.
3. The terminology in any sci-fi can be hard to accept. I never accepted the vocabulary choices in this book. The elevator is called "the elephant," there is an office of everything, and they don't abbreviate. Seriously? When the citizens swear, they say, "By Alpha," or some such nonsense. It's truly obnoxious.
4. Natasha is only twenty-four, so it makes perfect sense that her love interest in the book is creepy older guy and her BOSS, Jeffery. Jeffery totes has a thing for Natasha and has since she was a little girl and he gave her extra chocolates. OOOOOH MY GOD! MY MIND!!!!! Jeffery is so not swoon worthy it hurts. I didn't buy their romance AT ALL. NONE. NO. Natasha is such a freaking Mary Sue and then she goes off with Jeffery and I had to scream. I didn't think her choices could get worse. I didn't, but then JEFFERY the creeper.
5. I haven't read pseudo science this bad since Feed, by Mira Grant. At one point, Natasha is injured and they doctor from the Office of Health tells her that she gave Natasha a few dozen bundles of nuero-synapses and 40 billion fresh blood cells. Wow! That sounds technical and completely legit.
6. The book has nothing new to offer us. 15% in and I was sure it was a bad rip-off of Under the Never Sky, which I loved. In UTNS, the protagonist lives in a dome, post-storm, has interactions with outsiders, and has access to a virtual world called The Realms. The Office of Mercy has The Pretends. Again, the name alone is painful.
7. Where is the scary murder government? Apparently, the same folks who built the dome don't keep tabs on their citizens very well because Natasha and friends can go in and out without detection. Really? These are the guys that killed everyone, but a handful of anti-sweep protesters are allowed to hold meetings in the library and nobody is monitoring the exits? Mmm, kay.
If it's post-apocolyse/dystopian you're looking for, just skip this one. There are so many good dystopians out there. This just isn't one of them.
I'm always wary of synopsis that promise that fans of awesome book, or awesome author with LOVE this novel. Apparently, fans of The Hunger Games should love The Office of Mercy. Well, I loved The Hunger Games?!?! Ergo, I loved The Office of Mercy. Uh, no. No I didn't.
The Office of Mercy is a dystopian that tells the story of Natasha, a citizen in America-Five. American-Five is a 305 year old post-storm settlement that "swept" 5.9 billion folks from the face of the earth. And by "swept," I mean bombed the earth back into the Stone Age. The Alphas, who established the community and the eternal life of the community, are stoked about this monumental achievement.
Oh, but wait! See, some super smart folks got away and lived. The Office of Mercy (yes, there's an office of just about everything, including government, agriculture, and the dumbest, exit) is charged with sweeping the remaining tribes that near their dome perimeter. The thought is that The Office of Mercy is dispatching the outsiders to a better place where they won't suffer. Gah. *eyeroll*
The premise is intriguing, but the execution is a total fail.
1. The book bugged me immediately. At first it was the name of our protagonist; Natasha. The author overuses the name to the point of distraction. Have you ever met a new mother who finds excuse after excuse to use their baby's name repeatedly because they like the sound of it? Natasha, Natasha, Natasha! I wanted to stab my eyeballs out.
2. There were info dumps concerning the empathy code that the citizens follow so that they can murder and be super happy. The code could have scared the shit out of me, but instead it was YA simplistic and about as deep as a puddle. Since I'm an adult, and this is published by Viking as an adult novel, I had to rage a bit.
3. The terminology in any sci-fi can be hard to accept. I never accepted the vocabulary choices in this book. The elevator is called "the elephant," there is an office of everything, and they don't abbreviate. Seriously? When the citizens swear, they say, "By Alpha," or some such nonsense. It's truly obnoxious.
4. Natasha is only twenty-four, so it makes perfect sense that her love interest in the book is creepy older guy and her BOSS, Jeffery. Jeffery totes has a thing for Natasha and has since she was a little girl and he gave her extra chocolates. OOOOOH MY GOD! MY MIND!!!!! Jeffery is so not swoon worthy it hurts. I didn't buy their romance AT ALL. NONE. NO. Natasha is such a freaking Mary Sue and then she goes off with Jeffery and I had to scream. I didn't think her choices could get worse. I didn't, but then JEFFERY the creeper.
5. I haven't read pseudo science this bad since Feed, by Mira Grant. At one point, Natasha is injured and they doctor from the Office of Health tells her that she gave Natasha a few dozen bundles of nuero-synapses and 40 billion fresh blood cells. Wow! That sounds technical and completely legit.
6. The book has nothing new to offer us. 15% in and I was sure it was a bad rip-off of Under the Never Sky, which I loved. In UTNS, the protagonist lives in a dome, post-storm, has interactions with outsiders, and has access to a virtual world called The Realms. The Office of Mercy has The Pretends. Again, the name alone is painful.
7. Where is the scary murder government? Apparently, the same folks who built the dome don't keep tabs on their citizens very well because Natasha and friends can go in and out without detection. Really? These are the guys that killed everyone, but a handful of anti-sweep protesters are allowed to hold meetings in the library and nobody is monitoring the exits? Mmm, kay.
If it's post-apocolyse/dystopian you're looking for, just skip this one. There are so many good dystopians out there. This just isn't one of them.
April 10, 2013
I was excited to see this book at the library, as the jacket blurb made it seem like it was right up my alley. From the get go, however, I was pretty disappointed. The internal logic is flimsy, the writing alternates between overly florid and choppy, the main love interest is totally creepy, and the world building is haphazard and shallow.
We're introduced to America-Five and their perfect life. There's no hunger, no poverty, no want of any kind. Sexual relationships are discouraged by the founders, the Alphas, and purely intellectual relationships based on the Ethical Code are encouraged. I can only surmise that all these people are sterile since there's no contraception and physical relationships do happen. New children are created via genetic engineering and incubated in vats. Each generation is named after the Greek alphabet. Our heroine is an Epsilon.
A lot of time is spent describing the Dome and life in it, but it's so implausible that I could only shake my head and forge ahead. Then we're introduced to the Ethical Code which was also so painfully flimsy that I just had to ignore it. Seeing as how it's the basis for the whole plot of the book, though, I kept having to deal with it.
Natasha Wiley is our intensely naïve, slightly Mary Sue heroine. She makes a string of painfully bad decisions, aided by the complete inattention of everyone in America-Five. Her sexual relationship with a member of another generation is made deeply creepy by a revelation later in the book.
There was a little in this book to like and a lot to dislike. Fiercely uneven from beginning to end, I can't recommend this book to anyone.
We're introduced to America-Five and their perfect life. There's no hunger, no poverty, no want of any kind. Sexual relationships are discouraged by the founders, the Alphas, and purely intellectual relationships based on the Ethical Code are encouraged. I can only surmise that all these people are sterile since there's no contraception and physical relationships do happen. New children are created via genetic engineering and incubated in vats. Each generation is named after the Greek alphabet. Our heroine is an Epsilon.
A lot of time is spent describing the Dome and life in it, but it's so implausible that I could only shake my head and forge ahead. Then we're introduced to the Ethical Code which was also so painfully flimsy that I just had to ignore it. Seeing as how it's the basis for the whole plot of the book, though, I kept having to deal with it.
Natasha Wiley is our intensely naïve, slightly Mary Sue heroine. She makes a string of painfully bad decisions, aided by the complete inattention of everyone in America-Five. Her sexual relationship with a member of another generation is made deeply creepy by a revelation later in the book.
There was a little in this book to like and a lot to dislike. Fiercely uneven from beginning to end, I can't recommend this book to anyone.
February 5, 2013
I was fortunate to receive an advanced copy of this book. The summary hinted at The Hunger Games, so I was both excited and skeptical.
Like THG, this is set in a futuristic America. And that's where the similarity ends.
This book is HEAVY. From the first pages, it will cause your mind to bend in ways you don't expect from fiction. It will test your sense of morality. Make you question right and wrong at every turn of the page.You'll pass judgement (I think that's what the author intends), and you'll be so sure you're right, only to have your judgements thrown back at you - repackaged in such a way that right and wrong don't mean much at all anymore. You'll be left with that curious package long after the book ends. You'll wonder what to do with it, whether or not you liked it.
I didn't like this book. This book made me uncomfortable.It made me think and ponder and question.For that reason, I loved this book.
Like THG, this is set in a futuristic America. And that's where the similarity ends.
This book is HEAVY. From the first pages, it will cause your mind to bend in ways you don't expect from fiction. It will test your sense of morality. Make you question right and wrong at every turn of the page.You'll pass judgement (I think that's what the author intends), and you'll be so sure you're right, only to have your judgements thrown back at you - repackaged in such a way that right and wrong don't mean much at all anymore. You'll be left with that curious package long after the book ends. You'll wonder what to do with it, whether or not you liked it.
I didn't like this book. This book made me uncomfortable.It made me think and ponder and question.For that reason, I loved this book.
December 20, 2017
I'm going to give this one my "Yeah, no" rating. I started composing pans of it in my head while I was reading it, which didn't seem very fair... but I'm finding it hard to feel regret on that score. It just wasn't very believable, in kind of a lot of ways. Perhaps the one that irked me the most was . But that's just one example in a long list.
I also got progressively angrier as it turned out that the only conceivable motivating force for a female rebel and contra-philosopher was the attractiveness of the men on various sides. The Hunger Games gives a perfect example of how you can involve romance in a story of rebellion, but not make it as if that's the only thing females are capable of fighting for. Would that this story had followed that example.
Here's my most damning criticism: I'd rather read 1984. And I REALLY avoid reading 1984. But if you're going to be a knock-off, at least do it well.
I also got progressively angrier as it turned out that the only conceivable motivating force for a female rebel and contra-philosopher was the attractiveness of the men on various sides. The Hunger Games gives a perfect example of how you can involve romance in a story of rebellion, but not make it as if that's the only thing females are capable of fighting for. Would that this story had followed that example.
Here's my most damning criticism: I'd rather read 1984. And I REALLY avoid reading 1984. But if you're going to be a knock-off, at least do it well.
February 14, 2014
“If they cannot be made good they must be killed.” A Federal agent spoke those words to the Sac and Fox Indians during their removal from Illinois. More than a hundred years later and half-way around the world we ‘destroyed villages in order to save them.’
Ariel Djanikian moves this meme into a post-apocalyptic future in her first novel, The Office of Mercy. The ‘good guys’ are the technologically advanced people living inside America-Five, a domed city, whose Alphas had unleashed the apocalypse that killed billions. Those who must be killed in order to be saved, that is, saved from suffering, are the descendants of the survivors, who live much like Indians. The killers work in the dome’s Office of Mercy. You may think of the OOM as the Department of Defense fighting the War to End All Wars.
If you like reading about characters you can identify with, they are here in this book. If you are looking for ‘good guys’ or ‘bad guys’ you won’t find them. Djanikian is too good a story-teller to take the easy way out. The ending will haunt you.
Ariel Djanikian moves this meme into a post-apocalyptic future in her first novel, The Office of Mercy. The ‘good guys’ are the technologically advanced people living inside America-Five, a domed city, whose Alphas had unleashed the apocalypse that killed billions. Those who must be killed in order to be saved, that is, saved from suffering, are the descendants of the survivors, who live much like Indians. The killers work in the dome’s Office of Mercy. You may think of the OOM as the Department of Defense fighting the War to End All Wars.
If you like reading about characters you can identify with, they are here in this book. If you are looking for ‘good guys’ or ‘bad guys’ you won’t find them. Djanikian is too good a story-teller to take the easy way out. The ending will haunt you.
February 13, 2013
Here’s a braver new world with somewhat less sex and more psycho-soma. Examining the high price of paradise, "The Office of Mercy" forces the reader to see war and eternal life from another prospective as the truth of America-Five unravels. Natasha learns at what price "sweeps" bring peace and that the reality of eternal life is not for all, and we see her world as heartless and controlling. (I'd like to see a book telling the stories of the Alphas.) I found the ending heavy and, yes, the book made me uncomfortable, as it was meant to.
February 6, 2017
Had put this on interlibrary loan reserve so long ago that I forgot what this book was about. Basically it's about brainwashing and social conditioning leading people to believe they are being "ethical" and "merciful" - when they're actually being murderous.
TRIGGER WARNING: Genocide, "re-education".
TRIGGER WARNING: Genocide, "re-education".
February 11, 2014
Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy
I’m going to be completely honest here and say what we’re all thinking – a comparison to both George Orwell and Suzanne Collins in the same sentence doesn’t exactly make sense, does it? And while I appreciate the publisher’s desire to pull in THE HUNGER GAMES’ audience, if you go into THE OFFICE OF MERCY looking for another Katniss, you’re going to be disappointed. Not because THE OFFICE OF MERCY is in any way inferior to THE HUNGER GAMES, but it’s a totally different type of book – in the same way that Collins and Orwell wrote very different works, even though they may both have books that take place in dystopian environments.
THE OFFICE OF MERCY is clearly literary fiction. It may have dystopian and science-fiction elements, but the story is focused on Natasha and her significant internal conflict. The “genre” elements are background to the character growth and the stories of the people of America 5. There’s a lot in the way of moral and ethical dilemmas, with situations Natasha is put in that are so hard to conceive with our modern day sensibilities, but that Djanikian takes and convinces you are totally reasonable. There is also a bit of a young adult feel to the book, as well, despite the fact that Natasha is in her twenties. The way the romance plays out, the powerful elders, and the plot line of self-discovery all lend themselves to a young adult vibe. This should not, however, in any way discourage you from reading it.
Djanikian’s writing is magical. THE OFFICE OF MERCY does not feel in any way like a debut novel. There’s a clean, deliberate feeling to the prose, which flows smoothly across the pages. She has a very matter-of-fact way of telling the story, giving the impression that each word was carefully considered, with the total effect being a book that didn’t seem as long as it was. It was so easy to get lost in the pages, entranced by the story.
THE OFFICE OF MERCY has action and romance, and leaves the reader with lots to think about. It was a fascinating exploration into the gray area of humanity, and what humans are capable of doing when they view something as lesser. No one character is perfectly in the right – there is ambiguity that allows the reader to think for themselves and form opinions. THE OFFICE OF MERCY isn’t a light read, by any means, but it is definitely worth the time you’ll invest in it.
Sexual content: Kissing, implied sexual situations
I’m going to be completely honest here and say what we’re all thinking – a comparison to both George Orwell and Suzanne Collins in the same sentence doesn’t exactly make sense, does it? And while I appreciate the publisher’s desire to pull in THE HUNGER GAMES’ audience, if you go into THE OFFICE OF MERCY looking for another Katniss, you’re going to be disappointed. Not because THE OFFICE OF MERCY is in any way inferior to THE HUNGER GAMES, but it’s a totally different type of book – in the same way that Collins and Orwell wrote very different works, even though they may both have books that take place in dystopian environments.
THE OFFICE OF MERCY is clearly literary fiction. It may have dystopian and science-fiction elements, but the story is focused on Natasha and her significant internal conflict. The “genre” elements are background to the character growth and the stories of the people of America 5. There’s a lot in the way of moral and ethical dilemmas, with situations Natasha is put in that are so hard to conceive with our modern day sensibilities, but that Djanikian takes and convinces you are totally reasonable. There is also a bit of a young adult feel to the book, as well, despite the fact that Natasha is in her twenties. The way the romance plays out, the powerful elders, and the plot line of self-discovery all lend themselves to a young adult vibe. This should not, however, in any way discourage you from reading it.
Djanikian’s writing is magical. THE OFFICE OF MERCY does not feel in any way like a debut novel. There’s a clean, deliberate feeling to the prose, which flows smoothly across the pages. She has a very matter-of-fact way of telling the story, giving the impression that each word was carefully considered, with the total effect being a book that didn’t seem as long as it was. It was so easy to get lost in the pages, entranced by the story.
THE OFFICE OF MERCY has action and romance, and leaves the reader with lots to think about. It was a fascinating exploration into the gray area of humanity, and what humans are capable of doing when they view something as lesser. No one character is perfectly in the right – there is ambiguity that allows the reader to think for themselves and form opinions. THE OFFICE OF MERCY isn’t a light read, by any means, but it is definitely worth the time you’ll invest in it.
Sexual content: Kissing, implied sexual situations
May 20, 2020
America-Five is perfection. Those living within have no wants unsupplied. Their bodies are repaired if necessary and their lives are infinite. Everyone has a job that supports the compound and lives are communal and structured. No child is born until there is three times the resources that are needed to sustain it, and children are born in large cohorts that are raised by groups. As one ages, their job responsibilities and knowledge increases as well.
Surely it is the best of all worlds. In fact, it is so perfect that the inhabitants have created an Office Of Mercy. The purpose of the office is to constantly scan the environment outside the compound, where danger abounds. Those humans who survived the great apocalypse which sent the America-Five citizens inside are pitied. Their lives are barren and short. Surely it is a mercy to end their suffering when they are detected. Bands of humans are swept away by weapons that rain down fire on them and destroy them.
Natasha works in the Office of Mercy. She is proud of her ability to successfully scan the Outside and proud to be on the teams that sweep away those who are out there suffering. She is still young and rooms with someone. Her best friends are her roommate, a man from her cohort who also works in the Office of Mercy and her boss, Jeffrey.
When a situation arises that will require Outside in person surveillance, Natasha is excited to be chosen as part of the team. Most inhabitants of America-Five never go outside in their entire lives so it is quite an honor. But things are very different than Natasha expects to find. She gets lost and finds herself in close contact with a group of outsiders. She is shocked to realize she can emphasize with them and that they are more like her than not. Is the Mercy the blessing she has always be taught or is it genocide that cannot be defended?
Ariel Djanikian has written a debut novel that explores the interaction of humanity with technology and what changes might occur as we become more and more dependent on technology in our daily lives. Her vision of the future is one that readers will have a hard time believing could ever be better than the freedom we expect in our daily lives. Is freedom to fail more important than a leveled out society where all decisions are made for you? This book is recommended for readers of science fiction.
Surely it is the best of all worlds. In fact, it is so perfect that the inhabitants have created an Office Of Mercy. The purpose of the office is to constantly scan the environment outside the compound, where danger abounds. Those humans who survived the great apocalypse which sent the America-Five citizens inside are pitied. Their lives are barren and short. Surely it is a mercy to end their suffering when they are detected. Bands of humans are swept away by weapons that rain down fire on them and destroy them.
Natasha works in the Office of Mercy. She is proud of her ability to successfully scan the Outside and proud to be on the teams that sweep away those who are out there suffering. She is still young and rooms with someone. Her best friends are her roommate, a man from her cohort who also works in the Office of Mercy and her boss, Jeffrey.
When a situation arises that will require Outside in person surveillance, Natasha is excited to be chosen as part of the team. Most inhabitants of America-Five never go outside in their entire lives so it is quite an honor. But things are very different than Natasha expects to find. She gets lost and finds herself in close contact with a group of outsiders. She is shocked to realize she can emphasize with them and that they are more like her than not. Is the Mercy the blessing she has always be taught or is it genocide that cannot be defended?
Ariel Djanikian has written a debut novel that explores the interaction of humanity with technology and what changes might occur as we become more and more dependent on technology in our daily lives. Her vision of the future is one that readers will have a hard time believing could ever be better than the freedom we expect in our daily lives. Is freedom to fail more important than a leveled out society where all decisions are made for you? This book is recommended for readers of science fiction.
November 12, 2017
Much, much less corny than I would have thought from the premise.
March 11, 2013
Haunting, spellbinding and thought-inducing.
The Office of Mercy is the type of book where just when you think you know which side you stand on everything shifts and your left wondering whose opinions are the right ones. While this dystopian novel mirrored many young adult novels, there was an added elements that made it stand on it's own. It was the first adult dystopian novel I read so some of the situations were a bit more mature, but I think it would be a novel that any adult or teen would enjoy.
Natasha was refreshing character. She was a bit feisty and didn't go along with the stream of followers. She knew what she seeing and feeling was not right and instead of continuing the blind trust, she took matters into her own hands to right some of the wrongs of her society. Besides Natasha, we don't really get to know too many characters. This made me feel a bit disconnected and since we were following the story through Natasha's eyes, I felt her loneliness and understood how hard it was for her to not conform.
The best thing about this book is the complicated feelings it induced. I thought I was on one side of the battle the entire time, until all of sudden things exploded and then I didn't know what to think. What I thought was originally morally wrong, I had to go back and examine to determine if what the people did was the right thing to continue the human race and make a better future. As always this novel shows that ethically many decisions are not always black and white, and while you may not agree with every issue sometimes you just have to pick a side.
A great debut by Ariel Djanikian, The Office of Mercy is sure to bridge the gap into adult dystopian novels.
The Office of Mercy is the type of book where just when you think you know which side you stand on everything shifts and your left wondering whose opinions are the right ones. While this dystopian novel mirrored many young adult novels, there was an added elements that made it stand on it's own. It was the first adult dystopian novel I read so some of the situations were a bit more mature, but I think it would be a novel that any adult or teen would enjoy.
Natasha was refreshing character. She was a bit feisty and didn't go along with the stream of followers. She knew what she seeing and feeling was not right and instead of continuing the blind trust, she took matters into her own hands to right some of the wrongs of her society. Besides Natasha, we don't really get to know too many characters. This made me feel a bit disconnected and since we were following the story through Natasha's eyes, I felt her loneliness and understood how hard it was for her to not conform.
The best thing about this book is the complicated feelings it induced. I thought I was on one side of the battle the entire time, until all of sudden things exploded and then I didn't know what to think. What I thought was originally morally wrong, I had to go back and examine to determine if what the people did was the right thing to continue the human race and make a better future. As always this novel shows that ethically many decisions are not always black and white, and while you may not agree with every issue sometimes you just have to pick a side.
A great debut by Ariel Djanikian, The Office of Mercy is sure to bridge the gap into adult dystopian novels.
March 4, 2016
Unnerving and powerful, but ultimately too bleak for my taste, The Office of Mercy is at first glance your typical run-of-the-mill dystopian sci-fi novel with a strong female lead. What's unique about it, though, is that it can challenge the thinking of pacifists and militants alike when it comes to the ethics of violence. Djanikian forces readers to reconsider the cost of utilitarian thinking (maximizing the happiness and minimizing pain/suffering for as many people as possible), yet offers no alternative paradigm from which to operate.
[spoiler alert]
Djanikian in the pursuit of realism, I would assume, portrays human nature at its worst, rather than resorting to happy endings wherein all characters become their best selves and triumph over evil and ignorance and suffering climactically. I couldn't help but feel a bit of despair and a sense of futility in the protagonist's attempts to "rage against the machine." The novel ends with a whimper, the main character, Natasha, robbed of her spark and defiance as she chooses conformity over self-risk and the unknown.
Any sort of redemption meta-narrative is sorely missed here.
[spoiler alert]
Djanikian in the pursuit of realism, I would assume, portrays human nature at its worst, rather than resorting to happy endings wherein all characters become their best selves and triumph over evil and ignorance and suffering climactically. I couldn't help but feel a bit of despair and a sense of futility in the protagonist's attempts to "rage against the machine." The novel ends with a whimper, the main character, Natasha, robbed of her spark and defiance as she chooses conformity over self-risk and the unknown.
Any sort of redemption meta-narrative is sorely missed here.
April 8, 2013
Apparently I'm big into the dystopian future thing this year. The Hunger Games, Monkey House, this. I suppose it's about time I revisit Orwell. It's been about 10 years...
My critiques of this are similar to that of The Hunger Games series: when the author is making a point, she beats you over the head with it. "The road to peace is lined with corpses," or something to that note, among others. I personally like agendas to require a little more thought than that, but maybe that is my years of training as an English major, where we sometimes like to create things that aren't actually there. My major complaint, however, is in the three short sections that aren't centered on Natasha. They are jarring and, in my opinion, unnecessary. I don't think they really add anything.
There are definitely similarities with the Collins books, as well as Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. However, I don't think this is necessarily just a retelling of the same stories. I think there's more going on here than just that.
My critiques of this are similar to that of The Hunger Games series: when the author is making a point, she beats you over the head with it. "The road to peace is lined with corpses," or something to that note, among others. I personally like agendas to require a little more thought than that, but maybe that is my years of training as an English major, where we sometimes like to create things that aren't actually there. My major complaint, however, is in the three short sections that aren't centered on Natasha. They are jarring and, in my opinion, unnecessary. I don't think they really add anything.
There are definitely similarities with the Collins books, as well as Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. However, I don't think this is necessarily just a retelling of the same stories. I think there's more going on here than just that.
December 20, 2017
2.5 stars This was an interesting concept in a post apocalyptic / dystopian world where survivors live in underground settlements (a bit reminiscent of Wool by Hugh Howey), but I just couldn't connect with Natasha or any of the characters. I'm not sure how I'd change the story, but I definitely wish it ended on a more hopeful note.
March 1, 2021
Surprised and pleased that I liked this more than I anticipated!
With The Office of Mercy, we have a pretty standard future world story with an ethically dubious conflict. It wears its influences on its sleeve (particularly Brave New World and 1984), but it is also clearly in conversation with those works as opposed to ripping them off. It's an aggressively competent novel, with Djanikian hitting all the right story beats and philosophical points and whatnot. There's nothing glaringly "wrong," but it's also doing nothing new.
I did like the writing as a means of characterizing Natasha. She's a naive and impressionable character, and the narration allows for her impetuous judgements and meek responses without beating us over the head with how wrong she can be. There's also this lovely moment when Natasha leaves the settlement for the first time and the forest is described in this lush detail missing from the cold interior dome.
While I enjoyed this for what it was, it is a bit difficult for me to recommend. Again, the central conflict has been done to death in other works, and while Djanikian does well with the material, there's nothing that stands out to distinguish it from other novels that say the same things competently. But, if future worlds that discuss the ethical quandary of "is doing a kill good????" are your cup of tea, you might want to check this out.
3.5/5 stars
With The Office of Mercy, we have a pretty standard future world story with an ethically dubious conflict. It wears its influences on its sleeve (particularly Brave New World and 1984), but it is also clearly in conversation with those works as opposed to ripping them off. It's an aggressively competent novel, with Djanikian hitting all the right story beats and philosophical points and whatnot. There's nothing glaringly "wrong," but it's also doing nothing new.
I did like the writing as a means of characterizing Natasha. She's a naive and impressionable character, and the narration allows for her impetuous judgements and meek responses without beating us over the head with how wrong she can be. There's also this lovely moment when Natasha leaves the settlement for the first time and the forest is described in this lush detail missing from the cold interior dome.
While I enjoyed this for what it was, it is a bit difficult for me to recommend. Again, the central conflict has been done to death in other works, and while Djanikian does well with the material, there's nothing that stands out to distinguish it from other novels that say the same things competently. But, if future worlds that discuss the ethical quandary of "is doing a kill good????" are your cup of tea, you might want to check this out.
3.5/5 stars
November 26, 2017
A dystopian utopia; as is typical of the modern dystopia, this is a world that believes itself truly ethical and right... until one looks beyond the surface. It's clearly a debut novel in terms of prose and pacing, with kinks that need to be worked out. It's also compelling, in that it provides quite a bit of space for thinking about the ethics of suffering and, in particular, a jumping off board for discussing euthanasia. Djanikian does a great job of creating likable characters who hold tightly to what we would find truly abhorrent, and that is a feeling that we need to grapple with, more than ever given current politics.
I didn't find the relationship described in so many other reviews to be particularly creepy, if only because it fits in so clearly with the overall very terrifying (to me) vibe of the settlement as a whole. It does stand out to me from the rest of the book, I suppose. That being said, it's worth pointing out that there's a cross generational relationship here with a serious power differential that may really creep people out.
I didn't find the relationship described in so many other reviews to be particularly creepy, if only because it fits in so clearly with the overall very terrifying (to me) vibe of the settlement as a whole. It does stand out to me from the rest of the book, I suppose. That being said, it's worth pointing out that there's a cross generational relationship here with a serious power differential that may really creep people out.
December 21, 2017
I’m drawn to post-apocalyptic stories, so I really started out wanting to like this book. But I couldn’t understand the people in the settlement. Their belief system and values were not internally consistent. Did the author want me to think that all humans had gone crazy after the storm? I couldn’t figure out how the author wanted me to see Natasha, the female lead—strong, vacuous and waffle-y, whiney? Even to the very end I was hoping to discover some truth that would make it all make sense. The only thing I was left with was that the world had gone to shit and humanity had become its own worst enemy in the stupidest way possible.
February 9, 2013
Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales.
Quick & Dirty: This was a good YA Dystopian novel that really left you thinking, but it was slow moving and a little hard to get into.
Opening Sentence: The sun sank behind the trees, and the blue-black shadows of the forest encroached farther down the sloping beach.
The Review:
Natasha Wiley has grown up in America-Five. America-five is one of the many facilities in the world where groups of people live. The facilities are run by the Alphas who have lived for many generations and have tried to perfect the way their society runs. Everyone has a job, there is no hunger and everyone is basically happy and content. At least everyone that lives in the facilities. They reproduce by taking DNA and creating a certain amount of new human beings. They only create a new generation if they have enough room, food, supplies and so forth to support them. They have perfected a way to regenerate their bodies so they will all live forever. American-Five currently has 5 generations and they are creating a sixth.
The world we know today was mostly destroyed by a huge storm and the only people to survive were the people living in the facilities and a few other groups of people that live in the outside. The people that live outside are known as the Tribes and the people in the facilities feel that they live a very harsh painful life. So to stop their suffering they do the humane thing and eliminate them. Natasha works in the Office of Mercy in America-Five and they are in charge of keeping track of the tribes and sweeping them (which is what they call it when they kill a tribe member). There was just a major sweep done of a tribe and it is time to clean up the mess and repair any damage to their equipment. Natasha has never left America-Five but she has always dreamed of going outside. She finally gets her chance when they put together a team to go clean the sweep site and she is on it. It is a standard mission, but there is another tribe in the area and things don’t go as planned. Natasha is kidnapped by some of the tribe members and they don’t seem as barbaric as she was always led to believe. They are real people and it makes Natasha question everything about the society she lives in and if what they do to the tribe people is really the right thing.
Natasha is a good strong character with a good voice. She has grown up in this utopian society that really believes they are trying to bring the world peace. She has always had a few doubts about the system but she was taught to put up a wall and ignore anything that she thought was wrong. After meeting the tribes people her sympathetic side shows through, and she questions her logical side. I admire her good qualities but she is very inconsistent and is persuaded by others very easily. At times I felt she should have stuck better to her decisions and worry less about what others think.
Jeffery is another big character in the book; he is Natasha’s boss at the Office of Mercy. He has always seemed to be more sympathetic then others and Natasha always felt that he understood her. She has always been attracted to Jeffery, but relationships between different generations have always been looked down upon. Physical and emotional relationships aren’t forbidden but they aren’t really encouraged by the Alphas. Jeffery has a lot of depth to him, and I thought that he was a very interesting character.
Overall, this book was a very interesting read to me. It started out really slow at first, but the pacing got a little better the more I read. The characters weren’t the most consistent and at times I felt the book jumped around a little bit. I think the writing was well done but there are defiantly areas that could use some improvement. The ending was very interesting and it really left you thinking which I liked. Overall, I would think that people who enjoy YA Dystopian should give this one a try.
Notable Scene:
Amid these thoughts, Natasha had become somewhat careless in monitoring her surroundings. And only several meters before reaching the rise of land which led to where Douglas and Nolan were working, she saw a bright streak of close movement in her peripheral vision. Her muscles tensed. She threw herself into a defensive position, just as she’d practiced a hundred times in the Pretends: her back up against the trunk of a large, half-dead sycamore tree, her gun unholstered and thrust forward in both hands.
“Natasha, what’s the matter? You’re nervous—”
Arthur’s voice from the Office of Mercy. She had forgotten; they could see her heart beating.
“There’s something. An animal.”
“You’re loaded?”
“Yes.”
The flash of pale movement appeared again through the bushes. It could not be a bear, unless it was a very small bear. She had once seen a mountain lion on the sensors here. What if a mountain lion had slipped into the deadzone without anyone noticing? Or what if it had lived here for months, and just emerged from hiding now that the Pines had gone? It barked. Natasha raised her head from the crosshairs. The animal bounded out of the bushes, its pink tongue hanging to one side and its ears down, its coat bright in the sun.
FTC Advisory: Viking Press/Penguin provided me with a copy of The Office of Mercy. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
Quick & Dirty: This was a good YA Dystopian novel that really left you thinking, but it was slow moving and a little hard to get into.
Opening Sentence: The sun sank behind the trees, and the blue-black shadows of the forest encroached farther down the sloping beach.
The Review:
Natasha Wiley has grown up in America-Five. America-five is one of the many facilities in the world where groups of people live. The facilities are run by the Alphas who have lived for many generations and have tried to perfect the way their society runs. Everyone has a job, there is no hunger and everyone is basically happy and content. At least everyone that lives in the facilities. They reproduce by taking DNA and creating a certain amount of new human beings. They only create a new generation if they have enough room, food, supplies and so forth to support them. They have perfected a way to regenerate their bodies so they will all live forever. American-Five currently has 5 generations and they are creating a sixth.
The world we know today was mostly destroyed by a huge storm and the only people to survive were the people living in the facilities and a few other groups of people that live in the outside. The people that live outside are known as the Tribes and the people in the facilities feel that they live a very harsh painful life. So to stop their suffering they do the humane thing and eliminate them. Natasha works in the Office of Mercy in America-Five and they are in charge of keeping track of the tribes and sweeping them (which is what they call it when they kill a tribe member). There was just a major sweep done of a tribe and it is time to clean up the mess and repair any damage to their equipment. Natasha has never left America-Five but she has always dreamed of going outside. She finally gets her chance when they put together a team to go clean the sweep site and she is on it. It is a standard mission, but there is another tribe in the area and things don’t go as planned. Natasha is kidnapped by some of the tribe members and they don’t seem as barbaric as she was always led to believe. They are real people and it makes Natasha question everything about the society she lives in and if what they do to the tribe people is really the right thing.
Natasha is a good strong character with a good voice. She has grown up in this utopian society that really believes they are trying to bring the world peace. She has always had a few doubts about the system but she was taught to put up a wall and ignore anything that she thought was wrong. After meeting the tribes people her sympathetic side shows through, and she questions her logical side. I admire her good qualities but she is very inconsistent and is persuaded by others very easily. At times I felt she should have stuck better to her decisions and worry less about what others think.
Jeffery is another big character in the book; he is Natasha’s boss at the Office of Mercy. He has always seemed to be more sympathetic then others and Natasha always felt that he understood her. She has always been attracted to Jeffery, but relationships between different generations have always been looked down upon. Physical and emotional relationships aren’t forbidden but they aren’t really encouraged by the Alphas. Jeffery has a lot of depth to him, and I thought that he was a very interesting character.
Overall, this book was a very interesting read to me. It started out really slow at first, but the pacing got a little better the more I read. The characters weren’t the most consistent and at times I felt the book jumped around a little bit. I think the writing was well done but there are defiantly areas that could use some improvement. The ending was very interesting and it really left you thinking which I liked. Overall, I would think that people who enjoy YA Dystopian should give this one a try.
Notable Scene:
Amid these thoughts, Natasha had become somewhat careless in monitoring her surroundings. And only several meters before reaching the rise of land which led to where Douglas and Nolan were working, she saw a bright streak of close movement in her peripheral vision. Her muscles tensed. She threw herself into a defensive position, just as she’d practiced a hundred times in the Pretends: her back up against the trunk of a large, half-dead sycamore tree, her gun unholstered and thrust forward in both hands.
“Natasha, what’s the matter? You’re nervous—”
Arthur’s voice from the Office of Mercy. She had forgotten; they could see her heart beating.
“There’s something. An animal.”
“You’re loaded?”
“Yes.”
The flash of pale movement appeared again through the bushes. It could not be a bear, unless it was a very small bear. She had once seen a mountain lion on the sensors here. What if a mountain lion had slipped into the deadzone without anyone noticing? Or what if it had lived here for months, and just emerged from hiding now that the Pines had gone? It barked. Natasha raised her head from the crosshairs. The animal bounded out of the bushes, its pink tongue hanging to one side and its ears down, its coat bright in the sun.
FTC Advisory: Viking Press/Penguin provided me with a copy of The Office of Mercy. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
December 2, 2020
I was surprised at how much fun this was. It starts off a little slow (for me). Watching the main character's transition was its saving grace. The way the character changed wasn't sudden or dramatic, but consistent and firm until we realized that the character had changed. It's hard to describe without giving something away. I truly enjoyed this book.
March 24, 2013
The setting is the mostly depopulated eastern portion of North America a few centuries from the present in a bunker/city known as America-Five. Other Americas are said to exist, but they do not factor into the story.
The backstory, revealed appropriately in bits of conversation and introspection, suggests that most of humanity was intentionally exterminated by the Yangs, the group that originally built and populated the America bunker cities, and perhaps other places. Who exactly the Yangs were, a bunch of ultra-rich survivalists, a governmental hierarchy, a religious cult, or something else, is left vague. Their intent was apparently to kill all of the people on the planet other than themselves, and their justification for this seems to be that the population had become unsustainable and civilization was on the verge of collapse. People were killing one another in conflicts over resources. Others were dying of starvation. Exterminating them all would end their pointless suffering. It would be merciful.
The Yangs failed in this. Some small populations of humanity survived and went on to create the ‘tribes.’ The Yangs themselves were overthrown by the Alphas, who may have been a faction or the children of the original Yangs. So much for the backstory.
The main character of the book, Natasha, is a resident of America-Five. She works in the Office of Mercy. Their job is to locate and ‘sweep’ any tribes entering the area around their bunker city. The preferred method is to use a ‘nova’ (assumed to be something like a tactical nuke) to exterminate whole tribes at a time, although manual sweeps using Office of Mercy ground troops with small arms are also done when necessary.
Natasha comes to question what she is doing, about the rightness of it, which leads her to take actions and make discoveries, some of which are unexpected.
This book is technically well-written. The prose is professional. There is no dump of information to relate the backstory in a prologue or in lengthy exposition. The writing is good, but the story isn’t. I didn’t find it so, in any case. I read fiction primarily for enjoyment, and in that regard, this book fails for reasons both large and small.
Apart from being depressingly dark and dismal, the book contains no characters I could force myself to care about. None of them is admirable. None tries to achieve anything that I felt worthy of succeeding. None captured my sympathy. None was even especially likeable.
I found the backstory implausible. Although no one can accurately foresee the future, the one that preceded the ‘Storm’ (the attempted global extermination) left far too many questions as to how it came about. To me, it seemed so unlikely I could not suspend disbelief enough to accept it for the sake of a story that had no characters or goals I could care about.
The philosophical questions it seems to ask are: Is mercy killing of people ethical? Is it ever justifiable? Can genocide ever be seen as an unfortunate necessity? This story takes no clear stand, but seems to lean toward a ‘yes’ to all of these. Maybe the point is that sometimes things are so bad there are no ethical choices. I’m not prepared to say this is true, but this is a work of fiction. Sometimes fiction can reveal deep truths using events that never have and never will happen. This does not do that.
There are also some little, niggling things. Two especially struck me as strange. America-Five grows its children in vats. They grow replacement organs for their citizens the same way. Okay. Not a problem. This is a plausible future tech. But America-Five also keeps livestock. Why aren’t they growing their meat in vats? It’s the same technology. The other minor logical disconnect was that they have something like tactical nukes and satellites, but they rely on security cameras mounted in trees to monitor the tribes. Why no spy satellites? Why no surveillance drones? They obviously have the technology for these, but they leave themselves blind to the movements of the tribes they both fear and wish to ‘help’ by killing them mercifully.
I expect this book will appeal to some readers. Dark, dystopian novels do have a following, which is why I suppose traditional publishers keep publishing them. This is just another of that type. It did not appeal to me, however, and I cannot recommend it.
The backstory, revealed appropriately in bits of conversation and introspection, suggests that most of humanity was intentionally exterminated by the Yangs, the group that originally built and populated the America bunker cities, and perhaps other places. Who exactly the Yangs were, a bunch of ultra-rich survivalists, a governmental hierarchy, a religious cult, or something else, is left vague. Their intent was apparently to kill all of the people on the planet other than themselves, and their justification for this seems to be that the population had become unsustainable and civilization was on the verge of collapse. People were killing one another in conflicts over resources. Others were dying of starvation. Exterminating them all would end their pointless suffering. It would be merciful.
The Yangs failed in this. Some small populations of humanity survived and went on to create the ‘tribes.’ The Yangs themselves were overthrown by the Alphas, who may have been a faction or the children of the original Yangs. So much for the backstory.
The main character of the book, Natasha, is a resident of America-Five. She works in the Office of Mercy. Their job is to locate and ‘sweep’ any tribes entering the area around their bunker city. The preferred method is to use a ‘nova’ (assumed to be something like a tactical nuke) to exterminate whole tribes at a time, although manual sweeps using Office of Mercy ground troops with small arms are also done when necessary.
Natasha comes to question what she is doing, about the rightness of it, which leads her to take actions and make discoveries, some of which are unexpected.
This book is technically well-written. The prose is professional. There is no dump of information to relate the backstory in a prologue or in lengthy exposition. The writing is good, but the story isn’t. I didn’t find it so, in any case. I read fiction primarily for enjoyment, and in that regard, this book fails for reasons both large and small.
Apart from being depressingly dark and dismal, the book contains no characters I could force myself to care about. None of them is admirable. None tries to achieve anything that I felt worthy of succeeding. None captured my sympathy. None was even especially likeable.
I found the backstory implausible. Although no one can accurately foresee the future, the one that preceded the ‘Storm’ (the attempted global extermination) left far too many questions as to how it came about. To me, it seemed so unlikely I could not suspend disbelief enough to accept it for the sake of a story that had no characters or goals I could care about.
The philosophical questions it seems to ask are: Is mercy killing of people ethical? Is it ever justifiable? Can genocide ever be seen as an unfortunate necessity? This story takes no clear stand, but seems to lean toward a ‘yes’ to all of these. Maybe the point is that sometimes things are so bad there are no ethical choices. I’m not prepared to say this is true, but this is a work of fiction. Sometimes fiction can reveal deep truths using events that never have and never will happen. This does not do that.
There are also some little, niggling things. Two especially struck me as strange. America-Five grows its children in vats. They grow replacement organs for their citizens the same way. Okay. Not a problem. This is a plausible future tech. But America-Five also keeps livestock. Why aren’t they growing their meat in vats? It’s the same technology. The other minor logical disconnect was that they have something like tactical nukes and satellites, but they rely on security cameras mounted in trees to monitor the tribes. Why no spy satellites? Why no surveillance drones? They obviously have the technology for these, but they leave themselves blind to the movements of the tribes they both fear and wish to ‘help’ by killing them mercifully.
I expect this book will appeal to some readers. Dark, dystopian novels do have a following, which is why I suppose traditional publishers keep publishing them. This is just another of that type. It did not appeal to me, however, and I cannot recommend it.
March 5, 2013
Pros: thought provoking ending, didn't read like a dystopia but ended like one
Cons: protagonist is very naive and makes some questionable decisions
Natasha Wiley lives in America-Five, one of several enclosed cities set up by the Alphas to protect the people from the evils of the outside world: suffering and death. She works in the Office of Mercy, whose job it is to end the suffering to the tribespeople living outside their walls, by giving them a quick, merciful, death.
But she starts to doubt her mission and the 'wall' she's been taught to keep up between herself and the humans living outside. She empathizes with them, and when she comes face to face with some tribesmen, she makes choices that forever change her life and the lives of those around her.
This book was problematic for me in that I had certain expectations about what was going to happen, given that it's a dystopian novel, that the author didn't follow. The bad thing about this was that I spent a lot of time thinking about how I would have done things to elicit the response I thought the author was going for rather than enjoying the fact that this dystopian novel was going in directions I couldn't predict. Looking back on the book after finishing it, it followed the dystopian conventions, just not in a way that's easily recognizable while you're in the middle of it.
Natasha is a complex individual. She's learned the propaganda of the inside and has helped 'sweep' (ie kill) tribespeople in the past via the intelligence she's gathered on them. However, her upbringing has left her surprisingly naive with regards to the tribespeople. Despite watching them on screens in the Office of Mercy she doesn't seem to understand how difficult life outside really is. And while her sheltered upbringing does make it understandable that she not comprehend how people relate to each other in a war like situation, some of her decisions are still frustrating to read. Instead of understanding them as separate people with their own motivations and drives, she projects her own desires on the tribespeople, something she's been very specifically trained to avoid doing, and makes decisions based on faulty reasoning. Indeed, she makes decisions that lead to consequences she never considered possible.
Part of me wanted Natasha to get away with her plans, as ridiculous as they seemed, so she could have a happy ending. And part of me wanted to see her come face to face with the consequences of her actions in a true coming of age style ending. Because I wasn't sure what the author was up to, the conclusion took me completely by surprise. In retrospect all the clues were there, but my uncertainty with regards to what message the author was trying to get across made the ending more exciting.
In the middle of the book Natasha falls in with a group of malcontents in the community who also believe the sweeps should stop. I found it interesting that rather than portray these people as freedom fighters in her eyes, they came off as crackpots. Even when she was working with them.
There are several discussion possibilities for this book with regards to how people are portrayed and how/if we project our own beliefs on them rather than seeing them for who they are. I was surprised that a group with the opportunity to brainwash their citizens so easily (as propaganda does to the young) would end up with so many malcontents without some sort of outside force giving opposing views. Do people question their beliefs if they're not faced with a reason to? Under what circumstances?
The book uses several conventions from both post-apocalyptic and dystopian novels. The ending packs a punch though some of Natasha's decisions are hard to swallow and may turn off readers who want a grittier read.
Cons: protagonist is very naive and makes some questionable decisions
Natasha Wiley lives in America-Five, one of several enclosed cities set up by the Alphas to protect the people from the evils of the outside world: suffering and death. She works in the Office of Mercy, whose job it is to end the suffering to the tribespeople living outside their walls, by giving them a quick, merciful, death.
But she starts to doubt her mission and the 'wall' she's been taught to keep up between herself and the humans living outside. She empathizes with them, and when she comes face to face with some tribesmen, she makes choices that forever change her life and the lives of those around her.
This book was problematic for me in that I had certain expectations about what was going to happen, given that it's a dystopian novel, that the author didn't follow. The bad thing about this was that I spent a lot of time thinking about how I would have done things to elicit the response I thought the author was going for rather than enjoying the fact that this dystopian novel was going in directions I couldn't predict. Looking back on the book after finishing it, it followed the dystopian conventions, just not in a way that's easily recognizable while you're in the middle of it.
Natasha is a complex individual. She's learned the propaganda of the inside and has helped 'sweep' (ie kill) tribespeople in the past via the intelligence she's gathered on them. However, her upbringing has left her surprisingly naive with regards to the tribespeople. Despite watching them on screens in the Office of Mercy she doesn't seem to understand how difficult life outside really is. And while her sheltered upbringing does make it understandable that she not comprehend how people relate to each other in a war like situation, some of her decisions are still frustrating to read. Instead of understanding them as separate people with their own motivations and drives, she projects her own desires on the tribespeople, something she's been very specifically trained to avoid doing, and makes decisions based on faulty reasoning. Indeed, she makes decisions that lead to consequences she never considered possible.
Part of me wanted Natasha to get away with her plans, as ridiculous as they seemed, so she could have a happy ending. And part of me wanted to see her come face to face with the consequences of her actions in a true coming of age style ending. Because I wasn't sure what the author was up to, the conclusion took me completely by surprise. In retrospect all the clues were there, but my uncertainty with regards to what message the author was trying to get across made the ending more exciting.
In the middle of the book Natasha falls in with a group of malcontents in the community who also believe the sweeps should stop. I found it interesting that rather than portray these people as freedom fighters in her eyes, they came off as crackpots. Even when she was working with them.
There are several discussion possibilities for this book with regards to how people are portrayed and how/if we project our own beliefs on them rather than seeing them for who they are. I was surprised that a group with the opportunity to brainwash their citizens so easily (as propaganda does to the young) would end up with so many malcontents without some sort of outside force giving opposing views. Do people question their beliefs if they're not faced with a reason to? Under what circumstances?
The book uses several conventions from both post-apocalyptic and dystopian novels. The ending packs a punch though some of Natasha's decisions are hard to swallow and may turn off readers who want a grittier read.
March 9, 2017
Unique premise, with a bit of a twist I admit I didn't see coming.
And yet it didn't feel fully three-dimensional. I had a lot of questions about the worldbuilding, and the characters felt underdeveloped and more designed to move plot around than individuals of their own. I also couldn't stop feeling "Brave New World" comparisons.
Again, worth a read but not something that resonated deeply with me.
And yet it didn't feel fully three-dimensional. I had a lot of questions about the worldbuilding, and the characters felt underdeveloped and more designed to move plot around than individuals of their own. I also couldn't stop feeling "Brave New World" comparisons.
Again, worth a read but not something that resonated deeply with me.
March 6, 2013
4.5/5
The citizens of America-Five don’t know joblessness, starvation, or poverty. They live in a technologically advanced underground settlement where their only encounter with the world outside—nature, with its sky and plants and animals—is through the windows of the compound and the cameras placed throughout the perimeter providing video feeds to their computer screens. Twenty-four-year-old Natasha has always longed to go Outside and she gets her golden opportunity when she is selected by her mentor, Jeffrey, to be part of a team that will repair broken sensors. This experience, however, will test her beliefs, her loyalties to her society and people she cares for and most importantly, it will change her life forever.
Ariel Djanikian’s debut novel about a utopian society in a dystopian world starts off strongly. She paints a clear picture of America-Five, comparing it to a flower buried underground: the stem houses the living quarters, the petals are the different occupational departments (the Office of Mercy, for example, is located within the Department of the Exterior), and the bud is the Dome, a central hub where the citizens gather. The citizens abide by a trio of simple core values—World Peace, Eternal Life, and All Suffering Ended. It is the suffering—or perhaps to be more specific, how the citizens of America-Five define suffering—that is the key to their deep-rooted philosophy.
My advanced review copy of this novel (provided by The Viking Press via Goodreads First Reads giveaway) thankfully does not compare this story to The Hunger Games because other than having a female protagonist living in a dystopian future, they are not similar at all. Though The Hunger Games series isn’t what I would call shallow reading, Djanikian’s novel made me evaluate, Thinker style, my feelings on America-Five’s beliefs and the people’s way of living. Though their needs are met, I got the sense that there is a hollowness to their existence that they may not even be aware of simply because they are so far removed from the world as we know it. Then there’s the Office of Mercy itself, the function of which is an entire morality and ethical issue on its own. I won’t dwell on what the title means because I think it’s better for the reader to find out on his or her own what it’s really about. Not that it’s a spoiler, per se; I’m sure there are other reviews that go into more detail. It’s just that personally, I enjoyed the story more when I made the discovery as I delved further into the book. Thank goodness for the vague summary provided by the publisher!
Now, I really, really liked this book; I wish I can declare that I loved it. Natasha, our protagonist, is rather naive and there are understandable reasons for this. She does grow throughout the story, which is admirable and refreshing (how many stories have we read with static characters? Too many to mention, I bet), and I rooted for her as she began to doubt and pick apart everything she’s been taught. However, that didn’t stop me from growing frustrated with her and her actions. Also, there was a lot of exposition near the end that felt kind of awkward and wordy; it was your basic info dump that would have been better spread out.
Overall, Ariel Djanikian’s skillful hand with pacing and prose combine to create a fast-paced, thought-provoking novel that resonated in the mind of this particular reader. Though it is still early in the year, I can safely say that this will make it on my list of favorite books of 2013.
The citizens of America-Five don’t know joblessness, starvation, or poverty. They live in a technologically advanced underground settlement where their only encounter with the world outside—nature, with its sky and plants and animals—is through the windows of the compound and the cameras placed throughout the perimeter providing video feeds to their computer screens. Twenty-four-year-old Natasha has always longed to go Outside and she gets her golden opportunity when she is selected by her mentor, Jeffrey, to be part of a team that will repair broken sensors. This experience, however, will test her beliefs, her loyalties to her society and people she cares for and most importantly, it will change her life forever.
Ariel Djanikian’s debut novel about a utopian society in a dystopian world starts off strongly. She paints a clear picture of America-Five, comparing it to a flower buried underground: the stem houses the living quarters, the petals are the different occupational departments (the Office of Mercy, for example, is located within the Department of the Exterior), and the bud is the Dome, a central hub where the citizens gather. The citizens abide by a trio of simple core values—World Peace, Eternal Life, and All Suffering Ended. It is the suffering—or perhaps to be more specific, how the citizens of America-Five define suffering—that is the key to their deep-rooted philosophy.
My advanced review copy of this novel (provided by The Viking Press via Goodreads First Reads giveaway) thankfully does not compare this story to The Hunger Games because other than having a female protagonist living in a dystopian future, they are not similar at all. Though The Hunger Games series isn’t what I would call shallow reading, Djanikian’s novel made me evaluate, Thinker style, my feelings on America-Five’s beliefs and the people’s way of living. Though their needs are met, I got the sense that there is a hollowness to their existence that they may not even be aware of simply because they are so far removed from the world as we know it. Then there’s the Office of Mercy itself, the function of which is an entire morality and ethical issue on its own. I won’t dwell on what the title means because I think it’s better for the reader to find out on his or her own what it’s really about. Not that it’s a spoiler, per se; I’m sure there are other reviews that go into more detail. It’s just that personally, I enjoyed the story more when I made the discovery as I delved further into the book. Thank goodness for the vague summary provided by the publisher!
Now, I really, really liked this book; I wish I can declare that I loved it. Natasha, our protagonist, is rather naive and there are understandable reasons for this. She does grow throughout the story, which is admirable and refreshing (how many stories have we read with static characters? Too many to mention, I bet), and I rooted for her as she began to doubt and pick apart everything she’s been taught. However, that didn’t stop me from growing frustrated with her and her actions. Also, there was a lot of exposition near the end that felt kind of awkward and wordy; it was your basic info dump that would have been better spread out.
Overall, Ariel Djanikian’s skillful hand with pacing and prose combine to create a fast-paced, thought-provoking novel that resonated in the mind of this particular reader. Though it is still early in the year, I can safely say that this will make it on my list of favorite books of 2013.
February 23, 2013
Office of Mercy is novel that asks what would utopia look like? What would it cost to achieve that utopia? And once achieved, would it be worth living in? Office of Mercy is a book that seemingly attempts to be akin to 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, and Never Let Me Go. The setting is an indoor settlement called America-Five which is able to satisfy its citizens (supposed) every need. There is some vague allusion to a post-apocalyptic event that ended the prior outside habitation of the world.
What does the new world look like? There is an “Office of Mercy” that burns to death the humans still living outside the America-Five settlement … and they do this supposedly out of mercy (hence the name ….) Oh and there is no birth, babies are made in a science lab. There are no families. Sex is not common. Nobody dies and nobody ages once they reach adulthood. But there is still love, still enjoyment of life just not to any method of excess. From where I sit, it is not a life worth living.
The government and the people of America-Five have somehow become convinced that any pain, any suffering, basically any semblance of humanity is inhumane and thus people should be killed if they are suffering and by killed I mean burnt to death. The concept of putting dogs “to sleep” is applied to humans. This twisted concept of mercy has been accepted nearly wholesale by the residents of America-Five, until the main character of this novel starts to question what she is doing when she pushes the button to incinerate the “tribes” on the outside. What follows is the unraveling of everything she knows, her pushing the boundaries and limits of the rules of her society and her confrontation with what truly lives on the outside.
Check out this review and others like it at BadAssBookReviews
I thought this novel had all sorts of good ideas. The setting is interesting, if not entirely unique. The idea of a government being able to get its residents to accept murdering and slaughtering as an act of mercy definitely pushes the boundaries and should make us think, what have we accepted as reasonable and just part of what a civilized nation must do. But, something was missing to make this book good enough to encourage me to stop, think and question. Maybe because I already do not accept that violence is an acceptable solution to most problems, perhaps that is why this message did not strike me as novel. I did want to keep reading and I did worry about what would happen to the characters. That is saying something, however I suspected the twists and turns, nothing surprised me. Ultimately though, this book is not what I thought it would be.
As I turned off my kindle once I finished reading this book, I stopped thinking about the concepts presented in it. In the end, Office of Mercy is an entertaining story but did not have the staying power of other fleshier dystopia novels that I believe it is trying to be.
So who should read this? If you read the genre of dystopia novels for fun (like I do), I am not sure if this book would be entertaining enough to be worth your time. If you read dystopia to think about bigger issues (which I do too), then I am not sure this book would be satisfying enough for you. However, if you straddle the boundary of reading this genre for fun and enjoying the questioning of all we know aspect then this book might be just for you. If you check it out – -let me know what you think.
What does the new world look like? There is an “Office of Mercy” that burns to death the humans still living outside the America-Five settlement … and they do this supposedly out of mercy (hence the name ….) Oh and there is no birth, babies are made in a science lab. There are no families. Sex is not common. Nobody dies and nobody ages once they reach adulthood. But there is still love, still enjoyment of life just not to any method of excess. From where I sit, it is not a life worth living.
The government and the people of America-Five have somehow become convinced that any pain, any suffering, basically any semblance of humanity is inhumane and thus people should be killed if they are suffering and by killed I mean burnt to death. The concept of putting dogs “to sleep” is applied to humans. This twisted concept of mercy has been accepted nearly wholesale by the residents of America-Five, until the main character of this novel starts to question what she is doing when she pushes the button to incinerate the “tribes” on the outside. What follows is the unraveling of everything she knows, her pushing the boundaries and limits of the rules of her society and her confrontation with what truly lives on the outside.
Check out this review and others like it at BadAssBookReviews
I thought this novel had all sorts of good ideas. The setting is interesting, if not entirely unique. The idea of a government being able to get its residents to accept murdering and slaughtering as an act of mercy definitely pushes the boundaries and should make us think, what have we accepted as reasonable and just part of what a civilized nation must do. But, something was missing to make this book good enough to encourage me to stop, think and question. Maybe because I already do not accept that violence is an acceptable solution to most problems, perhaps that is why this message did not strike me as novel. I did want to keep reading and I did worry about what would happen to the characters. That is saying something, however I suspected the twists and turns, nothing surprised me. Ultimately though, this book is not what I thought it would be.
As I turned off my kindle once I finished reading this book, I stopped thinking about the concepts presented in it. In the end, Office of Mercy is an entertaining story but did not have the staying power of other fleshier dystopia novels that I believe it is trying to be.
So who should read this? If you read the genre of dystopia novels for fun (like I do), I am not sure if this book would be entertaining enough to be worth your time. If you read dystopia to think about bigger issues (which I do too), then I am not sure this book would be satisfying enough for you. However, if you straddle the boundary of reading this genre for fun and enjoying the questioning of all we know aspect then this book might be just for you. If you check it out – -let me know what you think.
February 21, 2013
World Peace . Eternal Life . All Suffering Ended
With an Ethical Code like that where the main goal is to keep suffering to a minimum, it’s hard not to assume you’re jumping into a utopian fiction, right? However, Ariel Djanikian alters just the right amount of elements in her story to shift this utopian focus into a dystopian nightmare. Absolutely fascinating world building that’s wrapped around a truly plausible plot.
In the Office of Mercy, we meet Natasha that has lived her 24 years in America-Five, which is a post-apocalyptic society that’s enclosed in an underground dome. This North American population is one of the few that survived the “Storm” which annihilated millions of people. She works for The Office of Mercy and the book commences with her post “sweeping” or annihilating an outside tribe that was on the brink of starvation. Natasha’s assignment, along with a team of four others, is to go outside on a Recovery Mission to fix the sensors, document the sweep site and check for survivors.
In Natasha’s world, they live by an Ethical Code that dictates a few extremes. First being, no new life should ever be brought into existence without the settlement first proving that it has triple the energy, space and resources needed to sustain new life. Second, people in her society are exposed to ‘bio-replacements’ that rearrange cells in order to force their bodies to go on for more than one generation… just think… they live a VERY long time. Her society is governed by the Alphas who position themselves above all, including the tribes that live outside of their dome and wield control over life and death. They rule from a very depersonalized perspective, where they determine who lives or dies.
When Natasha is exposed to the outside world for the first time and comes face to face with a tribe she’s ordered to ‘sweep’, she finds it difficult to execute her orders and that is just the beginning of her belief system crumbling. Despite years of conditioning, she’s unable to erect a “Wall” that removes any ability to empathize for others, and as her journey continues, she begins to question the governing power and the Ethical Code she’s supported her entire life.
First off, I need to applaud Djanikian for her superb writing skills. Her strength is clearly in her ability to build an intricate society with fascinating concepts that cause the reader to embark on a mind spin. There were so many layers to this story that included themes on life, love, power, and control, that I feel a second pass at this novel would still unveil so much more to consider.
The Office of Mercy is delicately complicated yet powerfully daunting. It’s not an easy read by any means. Where my preference is a more dialog driven novel surrounded by a compelling cast, Djanikian’s focus is presenting a carefully crafted world and supplementing that with layers of considerations to ponder.
As a debut author, I have to say I’m impressed with Ariel Djanikian’s entrance into Dystopian Fiction. She has the skill to present a frighteningly real possibility with the proper world building to support her case. Well done!
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
With an Ethical Code like that where the main goal is to keep suffering to a minimum, it’s hard not to assume you’re jumping into a utopian fiction, right? However, Ariel Djanikian alters just the right amount of elements in her story to shift this utopian focus into a dystopian nightmare. Absolutely fascinating world building that’s wrapped around a truly plausible plot.
In the Office of Mercy, we meet Natasha that has lived her 24 years in America-Five, which is a post-apocalyptic society that’s enclosed in an underground dome. This North American population is one of the few that survived the “Storm” which annihilated millions of people. She works for The Office of Mercy and the book commences with her post “sweeping” or annihilating an outside tribe that was on the brink of starvation. Natasha’s assignment, along with a team of four others, is to go outside on a Recovery Mission to fix the sensors, document the sweep site and check for survivors.
In Natasha’s world, they live by an Ethical Code that dictates a few extremes. First being, no new life should ever be brought into existence without the settlement first proving that it has triple the energy, space and resources needed to sustain new life. Second, people in her society are exposed to ‘bio-replacements’ that rearrange cells in order to force their bodies to go on for more than one generation… just think… they live a VERY long time. Her society is governed by the Alphas who position themselves above all, including the tribes that live outside of their dome and wield control over life and death. They rule from a very depersonalized perspective, where they determine who lives or dies.
When Natasha is exposed to the outside world for the first time and comes face to face with a tribe she’s ordered to ‘sweep’, she finds it difficult to execute her orders and that is just the beginning of her belief system crumbling. Despite years of conditioning, she’s unable to erect a “Wall” that removes any ability to empathize for others, and as her journey continues, she begins to question the governing power and the Ethical Code she’s supported her entire life.
First off, I need to applaud Djanikian for her superb writing skills. Her strength is clearly in her ability to build an intricate society with fascinating concepts that cause the reader to embark on a mind spin. There were so many layers to this story that included themes on life, love, power, and control, that I feel a second pass at this novel would still unveil so much more to consider.
The Office of Mercy is delicately complicated yet powerfully daunting. It’s not an easy read by any means. Where my preference is a more dialog driven novel surrounded by a compelling cast, Djanikian’s focus is presenting a carefully crafted world and supplementing that with layers of considerations to ponder.
As a debut author, I have to say I’m impressed with Ariel Djanikian’s entrance into Dystopian Fiction. She has the skill to present a frighteningly real possibility with the proper world building to support her case. Well done!
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
November 1, 2025
Fun standalone.
24 year old Natasha Wiley works in the office of mercy in her community of New America— she helps track, identify and “sweep” human groups on the surface of Earth. It is after all a mercy since living with suffering is unimaginable. Until one day, she is finally allowed on a special mission outside where she interacts with those she has been tracking and things are not at all what she has been lead to believe….
This was an incredible mashup of wool (also silo) with 1984 in a way I didnt know I needed! I had fun with it.
24 year old Natasha Wiley works in the office of mercy in her community of New America— she helps track, identify and “sweep” human groups on the surface of Earth. It is after all a mercy since living with suffering is unimaginable. Until one day, she is finally allowed on a special mission outside where she interacts with those she has been tracking and things are not at all what she has been lead to believe….
This was an incredible mashup of wool (also silo) with 1984 in a way I didnt know I needed! I had fun with it.
June 11, 2013
**I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads**
I really enjoyed this book until I got towards the very end. I was unhappy with how it ended. I cringed when Natasha swept her family, the Pines, especially because she did not even resist against doing so. The Natasha that I had loved throughout the novel was lost to me; she was a completely different person and it broke my heart to see the fight leave her heart and soul. She was resigned to living the way the Alphas wanted her to, something that had never been an issue for her prior to this.
I could not understand why the Pines lied to Natasha. I was hoping that she would be able to speak to Axel or one of the others and they would tell her that it was not what it looked like, that something happened (such as the citizens attacked first and they were only defending themselves) that caused them to abort the original plan at the last moment. But we never get to find out exactly what happened, because Natasha never gets to speak to her family again.
To make matters worse, the last two or three pages showed even further how gone the real Natasha really was. She was not even willing to move out of the settlement, WITH Jeffrey, to get away from the killings. Furthermore, the end left what happens to Jeffrey in the future up in the air.
Okay, so that was all the bad. But there was a LOT of good as well, up to the last few chapters. I loved the surprise twist when Natasha finds out that she is really one of the Tribes and was taken into the settlement when the Palms were swept. The surprises continued when she finds out that Jeffrey was the one who saved her from the fire and brought her Inside and then later when she find out why he did that. The relationships portrayed between the different characters were strong and real, and I could imagine what it was like being in those relationships, especially living with Min-He. Each of the main characters as well as the secondary characters were well developed, and it was usually easy to think "What would this character do in this situation?" and come up with a correct answer.
I enjoyed the writing style of Ariel Djanikian, and I am looking forward to reading more from her in the future.
I really enjoyed this book until I got towards the very end. I was unhappy with how it ended. I cringed when Natasha swept her family, the Pines, especially because she did not even resist against doing so. The Natasha that I had loved throughout the novel was lost to me; she was a completely different person and it broke my heart to see the fight leave her heart and soul. She was resigned to living the way the Alphas wanted her to, something that had never been an issue for her prior to this.
I could not understand why the Pines lied to Natasha. I was hoping that she would be able to speak to Axel or one of the others and they would tell her that it was not what it looked like, that something happened (such as the citizens attacked first and they were only defending themselves) that caused them to abort the original plan at the last moment. But we never get to find out exactly what happened, because Natasha never gets to speak to her family again.
To make matters worse, the last two or three pages showed even further how gone the real Natasha really was. She was not even willing to move out of the settlement, WITH Jeffrey, to get away from the killings. Furthermore, the end left what happens to Jeffrey in the future up in the air.
Okay, so that was all the bad. But there was a LOT of good as well, up to the last few chapters. I loved the surprise twist when Natasha finds out that she is really one of the Tribes and was taken into the settlement when the Palms were swept. The surprises continued when she finds out that Jeffrey was the one who saved her from the fire and brought her Inside and then later when she find out why he did that. The relationships portrayed between the different characters were strong and real, and I could imagine what it was like being in those relationships, especially living with Min-He. Each of the main characters as well as the secondary characters were well developed, and it was usually easy to think "What would this character do in this situation?" and come up with a correct answer.
I enjoyed the writing style of Ariel Djanikian, and I am looking forward to reading more from her in the future.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 4, 2013
The Office of Mercy is set in the a future after a small group of people wiped out the world’s population to stop suffering. They and their descendants live in a dome that is isolated from the outside world. Through their technology they have unlimited lifespans. Natasha works in the Office of Mercy. The work of this office is to track the tribes who come within the perimeter of their influences and sweep them. The idea is part of the ethical training which abhors suffering and seeks to eliminate it. Since the tribes live uncontrolled lives and undergo hunger, disease and eventually death; the ethical thing is to end their lives to reduce their suffering.
Natasha has her doubts. She is not as good as some at maintaining the Wall, which barricades emotion away and allows decisions to be made on a completely rationale level. Her life is complicated when she goes an a mission outside which falls apart. She meets some of the tribes people and is horrified to learn that they aren’t much different from the people in the dome.
I really wanted to like this book. The premise is fascinating, The idea of a ethics that requires the removal of people who might suffer is one worth exploring to tease out how our own prejudices around poverty and suffering work. The book is well written, but I couldn’t lose myself in the story. Part of my problem is that so much of the dome’s culture is unexplained. I found it hard to accept that someone who was a part of that culture would be allowed to continue existence with the ‘flaws’ that Natasha exhibits. At the same time I didn’t understand enough about the culture to follow the politics and motivations of the leaders. I also found that the plot line was too predictable. I knew the course of the action well in advance so things that were supposed to be surprises or cause suspense failed to do so.
The book was OK, If the lack of background or an excess of predictability won’t bother you, this is a worthwhile book to pick up.
Natasha has her doubts. She is not as good as some at maintaining the Wall, which barricades emotion away and allows decisions to be made on a completely rationale level. Her life is complicated when she goes an a mission outside which falls apart. She meets some of the tribes people and is horrified to learn that they aren’t much different from the people in the dome.
I really wanted to like this book. The premise is fascinating, The idea of a ethics that requires the removal of people who might suffer is one worth exploring to tease out how our own prejudices around poverty and suffering work. The book is well written, but I couldn’t lose myself in the story. Part of my problem is that so much of the dome’s culture is unexplained. I found it hard to accept that someone who was a part of that culture would be allowed to continue existence with the ‘flaws’ that Natasha exhibits. At the same time I didn’t understand enough about the culture to follow the politics and motivations of the leaders. I also found that the plot line was too predictable. I knew the course of the action well in advance so things that were supposed to be surprises or cause suspense failed to do so.
The book was OK, If the lack of background or an excess of predictability won’t bother you, this is a worthwhile book to pick up.
January 15, 2016
Natasha grew up in America-5, one of many glass domes that shelters survivors of a mysterious apocalyptic event referred to as the Storm, 300 hundred years after it happened. The community is composed of multiple generations of humans that have been bioengineered and cultivated by the initial survivors, and they have lived for so long through strives in bioreplacement, making them nearly immortal.
It all seems reasonable, except Natasha works in The Office of Mercy, a group of workers whose job it is to search out "tribespeople," or people who live outside of the dome, and eradicate them. The people of America-5 live under a strict ethical code, and part of that code is a twisted concept of eliminating the suffering of others, primarily through killing anyone who doesn't live as comfortably as they do.
What follows is a surprisingly philosophical read. If you can't guess the obvious from the synopsis, Natasha begins to question just how ethical her actions are when a large group of tribespeople is on the verge of being wiped out, and though the book is still very plot-driven, it still offers a lot of depth that so many dystonia novels lack. This isn't a pretty apocalypse where the situation is dire but a teen protagonist does nice things and kisses boys. It puts characters in brutal situations where there is no "right" choice, with actual repercussions.
Admittedly, the plot suffers at times to drive that point home. About 2/3rds of the way through the book I felt the characters were behaving irrationally to move the plot a long, and right after the big climactic action scene towards the end there is a 20-30+ page passage that feels a bit dense and dry, but I don't mind sacrificing plot for a few cerebral meanderings.
Overall, I really enjoyed The Office of Mercy!
It all seems reasonable, except Natasha works in The Office of Mercy, a group of workers whose job it is to search out "tribespeople," or people who live outside of the dome, and eradicate them. The people of America-5 live under a strict ethical code, and part of that code is a twisted concept of eliminating the suffering of others, primarily through killing anyone who doesn't live as comfortably as they do.
What follows is a surprisingly philosophical read. If you can't guess the obvious from the synopsis, Natasha begins to question just how ethical her actions are when a large group of tribespeople is on the verge of being wiped out, and though the book is still very plot-driven, it still offers a lot of depth that so many dystonia novels lack. This isn't a pretty apocalypse where the situation is dire but a teen protagonist does nice things and kisses boys. It puts characters in brutal situations where there is no "right" choice, with actual repercussions.
Admittedly, the plot suffers at times to drive that point home. About 2/3rds of the way through the book I felt the characters were behaving irrationally to move the plot a long, and right after the big climactic action scene towards the end there is a 20-30+ page passage that feels a bit dense and dry, but I don't mind sacrificing plot for a few cerebral meanderings.
Overall, I really enjoyed The Office of Mercy!
February 21, 2013
This is a post-apocalyptic novel which really sounded better than it actually was. I was truly hoping this one was going to be one of those books that knock you over with its originality, but all I got was the same old ideas rehashed.
We’ve all read at least one of these after-nuclear-war, after-a-zombie-attack, or in this case, after-the-Storm, novels. Something horrific happens on the planet and the human races struggles to stay alive. Well, in this version, the humans in North America have formed America-Five (which implies there are more of them, though we only get the vaguest of hints that there actually are other countries out there). The plot started out pretty nicely, with a good sense of claustrophobia and tension, but it soon unwound into a bit of a mess. The characters are poorly developed, with barely any background that the reader can sink her teeth into, and the twists in the storyline can be seen a mile away.
The writing is fine, though it’s nothing spectacular. There’s no real voice behind the words, so it comes off as something very neutral, and sometimes, dull. Ultimately, that’s what I found: that the book was dull, and purposeless. Most of the characters remain the same. There’s not growth or development that we can really see, which makes you wonder why the hell did we bother to read the book in the first place.
There are a lot of post-apocalyptic novels much better than this one, so I’d choose something else.
We’ve all read at least one of these after-nuclear-war, after-a-zombie-attack, or in this case, after-the-Storm, novels. Something horrific happens on the planet and the human races struggles to stay alive. Well, in this version, the humans in North America have formed America-Five (which implies there are more of them, though we only get the vaguest of hints that there actually are other countries out there). The plot started out pretty nicely, with a good sense of claustrophobia and tension, but it soon unwound into a bit of a mess. The characters are poorly developed, with barely any background that the reader can sink her teeth into, and the twists in the storyline can be seen a mile away.
The writing is fine, though it’s nothing spectacular. There’s no real voice behind the words, so it comes off as something very neutral, and sometimes, dull. Ultimately, that’s what I found: that the book was dull, and purposeless. Most of the characters remain the same. There’s not growth or development that we can really see, which makes you wonder why the hell did we bother to read the book in the first place.
There are a lot of post-apocalyptic novels much better than this one, so I’d choose something else.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 286 reviews