The Inhuman Race by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne
Publisher – Harper Collins India
Published – Out Now
Price – £11.10 paperback
The year is 2033. The British Empire never fell. Communism never happened. The Commonwealth flies the flag of the Empire. Many of the Empire’s colonies are stripped bare in the name of British interests, powerless to resist. Upon this stage is Ceylon - a once-proud civilization tracing itself back to the time of the Pharaohs, reduced but not dead. The Great Houses of Kandy still control the most lucrative trade routes, since even dust and ashes can serve a purpose. In this surreal landscape, where technology and humanity intersect, we meet The Silent Girl - a survivor, an explorer.
Occasionally dear reader there are books I find that I want you very much to read but I also have to be really careful how much I tell you because part of the fun is unpeeling the story. Not so much because of killer twists but that the story moves in so many different directions that I just want you to enjoy the same ride I did. The author Yudhanjaya Wijeratne first came on my radar with the excellent The Salvage Crew a simple tale of a small team of salvagers in space that goes wrong and turns into debates about AI and alien life. Now my attention turns to the first book in the Commonwealth Empire trilogy The Inhuman Race set in an alternate 2033 where Ceylon is finely balanced between the British and Chinese Empires and the world is about to start changing. It became the type of read you stay up super late to finish and I LOVED it!
Near the sea a character we get to know as the Silent Girl awakens on the ruined coast of Ceylon where recently Chinese destroyers sent a radioactive bomb to remind the British to pull back, Among the ruins the Silent Girl and various gangs of children fight and live occasionally getting biscuits and milk from charities. The Silent Girl can only communicate through a series of tapes left in a tape recorder that help explain things where her sign language and drawings do not. Into this from Inner Ceylon enters a different child she calls the Pissa Boy for the area he is from. He is a spy for another group inside and the two children become friends, so he helps her get back to safety. There the Silent Girl finds more settlements and preparations for battle. The children are used for fighting and apparently the viewers love to watch this. The two move forward further into Ceylon to seek safety but set in motion a stream of events that could change the world for these lost children.
And that’s all I can tell you dear reader. Hat I loved about this is the first half of the book is about seeing the world through Silent Girl’s eyes and ears. Wijeratne creates a vivid world of Ceylon fallen into disrepair and ruin, but we see life for some children survives on the coast albeit hard. Moving inwards we see other parts of this Island and at this point we spot little clues as to what may be going on changing our appraisal of the world and making us even more worried about our two main characters. What then happens is shocking to the reader and also reframes the entire story in a very different direction and then we get to see Ceylon has fallen prey to a cruel demanding and ruthless British Empire and get involved in tales of corruption and power grabs ultimately also concluding in a legal case and some fascinating arguments.
The Inhuman Race is inventive, intelligent, and surprising science fiction where the changing perspectives of the characters that we meet help to create a much wider and more interesting world beyond the initial post-apocalyptic tale that I was perhaps expecting this to be. We look at colonisation; the concept of humanity and doing the right thing. I really appreciated the craft going into both the world and the storytelling and by the end you can see things have changed a lot and yet I have no idea what happens next. This is indeed a delicious feeling to have.
If you’ve ever trusted my booktempting take a chance on this even if I am being very careful not to ruin the story. It is very very strongly recommended, and I cannot wait to read what happens next!
