"Jili"

-by kat chamberlain
2015
(Disclosure: i once lived in the author's closet for nine months. Which means i was either a political refugee, or a sex slave. Either way, it's pretty unlikely i'm unbiased.)

Post-apocalyptic/utopian-dystopian/young adult romance sci fi. A mouthful, but sometimes labels are our friends. To which i'll add one more - wonderful. A book i'd be happy to put in the hands of any young adult...and one that will be enjoyed by the not-so-young as well. Set after a global cataclysm called "the clouding", an event left intentionally vague. Nuclear mushrooms? The incineration of our atmosphere by pollution? Whatever the cause, it's dimmed our sun's presence, and reduced humanity to a fraction of its former fulsomeness. The survivors have split into two groups - the caerus live in automated cities with artificial suns, believing that technology is our salvation, and the ping shun technology and agriculture, embracing non-violence and communal reliance (i'm not sure whether the author realizes how insightful her agricultural angle is, as scientific evidence points to the agricultural revolution as a far greater disaster for our species than the industrial revolution). Ping life is far from perfect - they seem to be at least as touch-deprived as our own culture, perhaps with a generous helping of our sexual repression as well. The artificially-created border between caerus and ping is so deceptive, deadly, and daunting, there's been no intermingling for many generations.
And then comes jili - a teenage ping foundling who has only one friend, the clan sage who adopted her. He falls into a coma, and she is suddenly told she must infiltrate the caerus, to bring back a gene they have developed, which is the only thing that can save old tan. He left jili a message telling her to not go...and if she does, to not come back (a warning which will be left for the sequel to resolve). But faced with his death, she agrees to this suicidal mission. One crash course in mental and physical violence later, she is off...and finds the caerus caught up in hidden revolts. Their society is the ultimate in orwellian inhumanity, a state based entirely on consumerism, in which every product (down to the carpets and silverware) is wired to relay every bit of information about each person's behavior and preferences to the government's computers. Non-sanctioned creativity or construction are not allowed. Jili falls in with a band of revolutionaries, and tries to help them while keeping her own mission a secret. Why is she, a callow, untrained teen, sent on a mission that had already killed highly-qualified agents? Because of her identity (which is kept secret from her) as a fusor, a genetic mutant with elements of both ping and caerus.
The book is fascinatingly infused with a swirl of asian and western influences. I also love how chamberlain skillfully and simmeringly shows latent sexual tension between a teenager and an adult, without a trace of self-consciousness or stigma. Is there anything i didn't love? The thoughtfulness of the first half somewhat disappears in a swirl of mindless action. The book also dips into the worst cliches of Hallmark romance, with phrases like "he/she was soooooo beautiful my capillaries hurt" (i paraphrase). There's also a fair amount of power idolatry in jili's romantic attractions, along with our obsession with physical beauty. Indeed, if i were one of the producers of the film adaptation, i would urge chamberlain to change one of her two suitors from heartbreakingly handsome to average, or even ugly.
But the point hidden within that point, is that i would love to see JILI brought to the silver screen. Its thoughtful, multi-cultural elements are something the world could well use.

(JILI is available on Amazon kindle)