Oculum Echo

by Philippa Dowding

From the Governor General's Literary Award-winning author of Firefly, comes OCULUM ECHO, book two in The Children of Oculum Series.

The explosions come in the night. Miranda1, Mannfred, Grannie, and the one thousand children of Oculum must flee their farm, chased by the UnRuly. But there is hope: a voice from the past sends word of a book that may hold the secret to their survival.

Just as the children of Oculum begin their journey through the wasteland, Echo1 wakes from an eighty-three-year sleep and is given a mission to find the four domes of the children of Oculum, to find the First One ... and to ask The Question. In the end, what will Echo1 protect in this world, and what must be destroyed?

OCULUM ECHO is the sequel to the award-nominated OCULUM, (DCB, 2018), book one in The Children of Oculum series, which was nominated for the OLA Silver Birch and the SYRCA Diamond Willow awards.

Genres: Dystopia

224 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2022

About the author

Philippa Dowding is an author, poet, and composer/musician based in Toronto. She is the winner of the Governor General's Literary Award, Young People's Literature, Text, and the Ruth & Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Award, for her book FIREFLY.

Philippa was a writer early in life, and began writing poetry and short stories at age nine. She studied English Language & Literature at Western University in London, Ontario, and completed an M.A. in English at The University of Toronto. Soon after graduating, she began her professional writing life as a copywriter in the magazine and newspaper industry, where she won many industry awards.

When she had a family, she began telling bedtime stories to her children. One story, about a lost gargoyle living in a child's backyard in downtown Toronto, became her first published book in The Lost Gargoyle series.

Philippa has won literary nominations across Canada, the U.S. and Europe, including the Diamond Willow, Hackmatack, Silver Birch, Red Cedar and Red Maple awards. Her third book, The Gargoyle at the Gates, was named a White Raven Book by the International Youth Library in Munich.

NEW BOOK: The Love Song of Mr. Byrd is coming this fall!

Visit Philippa's website for more about her books, poetry, and music: http://pdowding.com/

Reviews

[Karen Upper · Rating 5 out of 5]

This narrative begins with the awakening of a robot called Echo 1 and learns that it’s assignment is to check on humanity, the earth and the children of the four great domes of Oculum. Despite all the technology that built it, compassion, forgiveness, hope, are all human emotions that Echo 1 develops along his journey into vast unknown world.

A reader will be intrigued by the science fiction-like cover. The choice of a cool colour palette for the cover illustration captures and enhances a feeling of bleak desolation. In simple, juxtaposition is a green-eyed robot who holds a single daisy. The colour green and the daisy are by themselves symbols of hope, new beginning and innocence.

Short concise chapters, told in varying viewpoints, propell the narrative forward and reveal that in this new world order, this new beginning is still fraught with war, strife and discord. Survival is often at any cost. This makes the innocence of the children of Oculum and Echo1 that much more unmistakeable.

As the story builds, twists, and the climax is reached in the ultimate battle, both Echo 1 and Miranda 1 realize that each have reached a new juncture in their purpose. Questions arise. Can the gift from Echo 1 be the key that children of Oculum were searching for?
This can be read as a stand alone story.

FIVE STARS -- Highly Recommended for Grade 5-9

[Paul Kemp · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent sequel which stands on it's own. Sometimes the best part of a sequel is the familiarity you have with the characters while adding new ones. (Echo) The part Echo plays is unique and makes the story work so well, while the other characters mature into the leaders of a fragmented world.

[Jillyama · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recommend reading Oculum first because it is a good read and sets you up nicely to understand the characters and events in Oculum Echo.

When I started reading Oculum Echo I found the events in the first few chapters overwhelming because they mirrored so much of what is actually happening in the world today. However I kept reading because I remembered how much I enjoyed Oculum and how it ended with a feeling of hope. This book reminds me of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe because in both stories children work together to battle adversity, demonstrate their strength and maturity, and take on leadership roles in the new society. I am hoping there is a third book in this series where we follow Miranda & co. in the quest to find the other children and bring them to safety, and see how Grannie fares with the children at MedFell Hall and the tentative truce with the UnRuly in the valley.

[JoAnne Richards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Philippa did not disappoint. I am sad the story is finished. I want more! And I fell in love with Echo1. Beautiful story. Loved it!

[Kay S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not going to lie; I read this book out of PURE SPITE. I wanted to DNF it AGES ago but saw someone had given it a glowing review and had to at least try to see what they were going on about. Literarily speaking, this book is an opus. It hold within its pages a massive world populated with interesting characters and creations. It's a brilliant work of sci-fi that's bound to be part of one of the great sci-fi series.

That being said boy oh boy did I hate it. It was long, drawn out, and boring. Having not read the first one I can't say for certain but I feel like it suffers greatly from 'sequel syndrome' where the author is puttign a lot of plot points in place for coming books and it ends up a boring convoluted mess.

Dowding's writing is amazing though. No argument there. It is stunning to read. If a bit like Tolkien's description of Fangorn in it's "dear god please make it stop"-ness. The themes it deals with takes me back to the days of my post-apocalyptic literature class. It's a bleak landscape and I think the level of understanding needed to fully grasp just how bad of an environmental disaster these characters are dealing with push this into almost YA territory. I can see middle grade kiddos who love sci-fi getting into young kids on a large quest but... it's a lot.

[Rebecca Upjohn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in a dystopian world devastated by disease and environmental disaster, Oculum Echo is a story for our times. Against the realities of human and natural destruction, march the children (and a few adults) who have inherited this world, struggling to survive and determined to make it better. It is a story of reilience, discovery, perseverance and ultimately hope and love in a world that is damaged, perhaps irrevocably.

The characters of Miranda1, William1, Mannfred, Cranker, and Grannie introduced in the first book, Oculum, continue their story as they navigate the broken world. A new character, Echo1, a robot with artificial intelligence awakens at the beginning not knowing its purpose. Echo1 is accompanied by Perigrine1 a video drone that looks like a falcon and Guide, a voice in Echo1’s ear.

Guide, how long have I been asleep?

Guide answers, Eighty-three years…

What am I?

… You are a creation, but what you become is up to you, Echo1…

Am I alive?

…You have free will, Echo1, You decide what a life is, and what to do with yours.

And this is one of the empowering themes in the book: to figure out choice and autonomy, to find agency.

Echo1 learns a purpose: to check on the earth, children, humanity and the four domes of Oculum spread across the continent, to find the First One, and ask The Question. What this means we don’t yet know. And so, Echo1 sets off across the world. Through Echo1’s perspective we see the dead earth, the detritus of destruction from the Olden Begones, a time before now. We feel Echo1's perplexity and innocence while experiencing the world.

Miranda1, Mannfred, and Cranker are living with Grannie on her farm with all the younger children from Oculum when news comes from the Shiny Man, an ally, of a lawless group called the UnRuly who are searching for land, food and weapons. Miranda1 worries for William1, her friend from Oculum, who left some time before, traveling to MedFell Hall, a safe haven in a green valley in the northern mountains which the UnRuly have now learned of. When bombs from the UnRuly begin to fall, Grannie, Miranda1, Mannfred, Cranker, and the children from Oculum flee the farm with their precious seeds, cuttings and plants, their few supplies of food, animals and water and run. Their destination is MedFell Hall and they need to reach it before the UnRuly who are driven by greed and bent on destruction. Mannfred, Cranker and William2 leave to infiltrate the UnRuly who are following the children, and try to find a way to rescue Grannie’s captured brother. Echo1 walks to find each of the 4 Oculum domes.

The story is told mainly from the alternating points of view of Miranda1, Mannfred and Echo1. The multiple POVs create a rich tapestry of experience and reactions to the state of the world and the behaviour of humanity. Each make choices for survival. They face cruel adults, families from the long-destroyed cities, feral pigs, the plague-carrying rain, and other obstacles while traveling on foot through the bleak landscape where nothing grows. Chapters from William1 begin and end the book, giving a view beyond the main story and hinting that there is more story to unfold. There is one chapter from Cranker’s POV. Echo1’s perspective is that of someone completely new to the physical world and discovering what it means to be alive.

The storytelling is compelling. The writing is beautifully paced with layered details threaded through creating a complex setting. The emotions feel real. The author has created a rich language that is both new and understandable for young readers. It gives a sense of both an old world and a future one. It is familiar and alarming. How will this go, we wonder? Is it too late for the earth? Can the children survive and rebuild? The distinct characters each have their strengths and challenges. Miranda1 one sees birth and death for the first time. She is forced to kill. Mannfred protects those who are weaker and smaller despite feeling to do so he is always running away. Echo1 reaches beyond his purpose and faces a sacrifice. Grannie continues teaching the children to survive despite her knowing the realities of a harsh world.

There are many moments where the characters face hard choices, something that will keep readers turning pages. We want them to succeed and we worry that they can’t. They are only children, after all. How can the children and the innocent change the world? It is a big order. And why are we in a place where they need to? But the collective gives hope to the story. The children and Echo1 accept what is and face it as best they can. Guidance comes, at times, from the past in the forms of Grannie’s experience, Echo1’s Guide, the Shiny Man, William1’s reading, and sometimes people of the cities who remember the way it was before the devastation.

Ms Dowding does not turn away from the frightening events of the world. It is a metaphoric parallel to our own, but grace blossoms in the children and Echo1 supported by the few guides that aid the young characters as they face whatever will come.

Near the end, Mannfred and Cranker follow Miranda1 from the safety of MedFell Hall after she is asked The Question by Echo1: will she find and lead the children of the ten Oculum domes of the world into the future?

On his way back out into the harsh world, Mannfred says:

I’m almost a man, but whatever comes, wherever this next adventure takes us, I’ll always have room for a little more love.

Oculum Echo is a book that gets richer with each reading. It would make an excellent novel study for students from grade 5-8 for its relatable themes and characters and the resonance it sets up with our current world.