THE SWITCH

Living in harmony

released out now! 368 pages | Paperback/ebook

Author Justina robson Publisher Gollancz

“Perfect” societies never are. We know this deep down in our genre-reading bones (and, for that matter, if we turn even half an eye upon the world around us). Show us a utopia, and we’ll immediately look for the oppression behind the curtain that makes it all possible.

In balance-obsessed Harmony, anyone who doesn’t fit the mould genetically engineered for them is the deviant shadow cast by the light of an otherwise model citizenry: they must conform, however painfully, or be cast out. But Justina Robson’s latest doesn’t waste time on the protagonists finding out that their world is unjust. Battered by the punitive discipline of a monastic orphanage and washed up in the carteldominated slums on the wrong side of town, gay best friends Nico and Two already know that. The real question is not whether Harmony is unjust, but why – who benefits?

Summarised like this, it might sound like the lazier end of the YA market. But Robson thoughtfully and convincingly explores Harmony’s all-encompassing ideology. Alchemy is a science/ religion mash-up so thoroughly embedded in its citizens’ lives, particularly when it comes to sexuality and gender, that even those with reason to be sceptical – like hard-bitten cynic Nico – struggle to conceptualise an alternative worldview.

Of course, any novel that tips its hat to Iain M Banks – there’s a ship named “Avenging Deity In The Absence Of Democracy” – is going to be as bloody-minded about entertainment as it is about deep thoughts, and it’s all done with Robson’s characteristic verve. The plot is a zippy confection of double crosses and action scenes, and the dialogue is beautifully snappy, Nico’s armoury being replete with snarky comebacks as well as the impressive muscle showcased in the cover art. Nic Clarke

Citizenry must conform or be cast out