While Earth gets hotter day by day, Elize’s deteriorating mental stability awakens forces that even the Ministry, the seat of world power, cannot control.
In this final installment of the first trilogy in the 10 episode Nemecene™series, the hunt for twins Keeto and Elize continues, and a race to save Elize from her own self-destructive behavior emerges. With the help of their mother’s ex-medic, Dr. Tenille, and his secret connection with the new director of the Unification Research Arm, Elize gains access to classified experiments that could hold the answers to her psychosis.
Coupled with their half-Gadlin friend Zafarian’s ingenious hacks into high council data packets, the snooping trio discover that the twins’ absent father had been hiding more than his true profession from them. But he is not the only one with questionable origins.
Groups of mysterious beings are appearing, and certain children are at risk, once again. What transpires inside the illusory safety of their young community is unspeakable, as is their fate. If the twins only knew what really happens at the Almedina orphanage, and who is ultimately responsible …
Sothese, the master of subterfuge and deception, rises to the challenge of otherworldly first narrator. Through the visceral style that remains the trademark of his kind, he teases the mind and body with artful prose and misdirection. You may not feel for him, but you will definitely feel him.
As both the Pramam’s personal advisor and governor of the Global Spiritual Unit, Sothese’s reach extends beyond political maneuvering. Obsessions, submissions, and transgressions coil around those who should know better than to entwine themselves with him, yet the temptations can be irresistible … to anyone.
Debunked government propaganda ignites a movement calling for transparency that risks exposing the twins’ location. While the Pramam’s leadership decays from within, allies emerge, but are they already too late to stop the gathering?
Chaos replaces order with Keeto and Elize as bait. Only a shift in perception can restore the balance in the Unification, on the planet, and inside Elize’s splintered mind.
Would you question your beliefs?
Quarter Finalist
Assessment:
Plot: The third episode of Kaz Lefave’s series explores a fantastical futuristic world with many diverse players. The tightly-plotted narrative is dictated by flashbacks, jumps into the future, and a magical realistic realm—each used successfully to explore characters' motivations and fears as they pursue peace, vengeance, and clarity.
Prose: Lefave's prose is descriptive and eloquent, bringing an entirely new meaning to the term, "world-builder." With considerable skill, the author has concocted vivid, vibrant, cosmic worlds that hone in on several diverse narrators and their day-to-day hopes, dreams, and fears.
Originality: Lefave has crafted an unusual and interactive world here that's supported by an expansive glossary, a "real-life" biochip experience, dynamic lettering and formatting, and a cast of unique narrators with individual missions and motivations.
Character: The character list is vast, yet meticulous detail is paid to the composition and introduction of each one. Their innermost workings and thoughts are revealed as the author takes time to explore what makes them tick.
Date Submitted: August 27, 2018
Nemecene: Through Fire and Ice (Episode 3 in the Nemecene series)
The third entry in Lefave’s (The Gadlin Conspiracy, 2017, etc.) dystopian series finds twins Elize and Keeto at the center of a government’s war against their Gadlin race.
When the twins first moved to the city of Eadonberg, they feared that their father would have Elize committed, like their mother. Now Elize’s psychosis is getting worse as she continues hearing voices and experiencing blackouts. However, the siblings may be able to find some answers in their new city, starting with the nature of their father’s secret project at the Unification Research Arm, where he was once director. They’re also searching for a boy named Teddy, who may have some insight into what happened to some recently abducted children as well as into the twins’ missing childhood memories, which could explain Elize’s mental deterioration. Meanwhile, Sothese, who’s the governor of the Global Spiritual Unit and the adviser to a political and religious figurehead called the Pramam, is hunting the twins. He wants revenge for their actions in the preceding novel; he’s also aiming to become the Pramam’s successor—whatever it takes. As the Unification government wages war against the Gadlins, blaming them for terrorist acts, Elize retaliates by leading the Gadlins’ underground community in an uprising. Although Lefave’s story picks up subplots launched in earlier books, it does show some narrative progress. The twins, for example, who’d previously only pondered their origin, finally receive a startling revelation. The author relays the action through three narrators: Sothese, Elize, and Keeto. The most engaging account is Elize’s, which is often abstract—her spoken dialogue intermingles with the taunting or advice-giving voices in her head—but never confusing. Throughout, Lefave’s prose is fervent and self-assured: “They are tuned into Eli’s deviant vocal chords, and they are waiting for the nefarious songstress to get a little too disruptive at the opportune moment.” This installment concludes the first trilogy of a proposed 10-part series, leaving a number of points unresolved.
Alluring, lyrical prose, although story questions still linger.
