The Living

By Anna Starobinets

As part of The Living you cannot die. As part of The Living you have no free will. Yet one man is born who is different to the rest; one who could bring society crashing down. A stunning and sinister vision of a dystopian future by a critically acclaimed young Russian author.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hesperus Press Ltd.
• Release date: Oct 26, 2012
• ISBN: 9781780940434

Reviews for The Living

[psutto_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Living Anna StarobinetsVery GoodFuture dystopiaIn the future there are exactly 3 Billion humans. There is no death, those that cease do so only for a “Pause” of “3 seconds of darkness”. People are born with an “in-code” that keeps track of all their various incarnations. All members of the human race are particles making up the body of “The Living”. Then one man is born without an in-code, who is this Zero and what does it mean? This is a very neat idea and the writing is also spot on. However it owes an obvious debt to Logan’s Run with people having a compulsory pause when they get old and there is even a “carousel” later in the book, admittedly not the same as the Carousel in Logan’s run but really! It also fizzles out a little toward the end as if the author didn’t really know how to end the book. Before that it is a page turner and gets gripping in the middle section especially.Overall – Flawed but still a very good read, recommended to dystopia fans