Mariah’s Dream

The first installment in Bridges’s Vortex of Éire series paints an evocative portrait of a not-so-distant future, rife with hardship and famine, but Bridges does not inject enough new material to make her dystopian world unique. Mariah is a young woman living in a desolate Belfast, ruled over by the rigid international Senate, a governmental organization controlling the population through strict vaccinations and food rationing. Mariah and her friends hatch a secret plot to grow crops, a form of rebellion that could endanger the lives of many. Bridges writes with a distinct voice; the setting is brought to life by her clever use of dialects and local accents. The focus on agriculture is a fresh idea, as it is often overlooked in postapocalyptic fiction. However, the conventional plot, wherein a dissatisfied populace rails against an overbearing dictatorship, leaves this dystopian tale floundering in a sea of similar works. [em](BookLife) [/em]