A review by kieralesley
Psynode by Marlee Jane Ward
4.0
Psynode is the fantastic follow-up to Marlee Jane Ward’s successful debut Welcome to Orphancorp and is a fitting continuation and expansion of the world, themes and tone of the first. Mirii has left the Orphancorp but is desperate to find Vu, this leads her to scamming her way into a job at the capitalist endgame nightmare-world that is Allnode.
I found the story here a little less emotionally resonant than Orphancorp, but much bigger in terms of narrative and world. In some ways Psynode is more action-packed than Orphancorp – the final sequence is particularly brutal and memorable. The cast and world feels larger and we start to get a sense of the wider injustices of the world and the people living and struggling or thriving within it. Without giving too much away the people Mirii crosses paths with and the different agendas at play are fascinating and there’s a lot of room for Ward to work with going into the third book.
The social commentary is no less biting here than it was in Orphancorp. Still focusing on the people who fall through the cracks through no fault of their own, and how does one little babe survive on such tiny rays of hope? Even the glimpses we get of Mirii dreaming the life she could have if she “went straight” and gave up on finding Vu are bleak – grinding away in an Allnode factory for decades to earn luxuries such as a room of her own.
Ward’s language use is a highlight of this series – rough, stylised, 20-minutes-into-the-future slang-laden without ever feeling put on or out of place. Mirii’s voice is authentic and rich as she narrates her experiences and her world.
This is the socially-aware, original dystopia series you didn’t know you’d been waiting for.
I found the story here a little less emotionally resonant than Orphancorp, but much bigger in terms of narrative and world. In some ways Psynode is more action-packed than Orphancorp – the final sequence is particularly brutal and memorable. The cast and world feels larger and we start to get a sense of the wider injustices of the world and the people living and struggling or thriving within it. Without giving too much away the people Mirii crosses paths with and the different agendas at play are fascinating and there’s a lot of room for Ward to work with going into the third book.
The social commentary is no less biting here than it was in Orphancorp. Still focusing on the people who fall through the cracks through no fault of their own, and how does one little babe survive on such tiny rays of hope? Even the glimpses we get of Mirii dreaming the life she could have if she “went straight” and gave up on finding Vu are bleak – grinding away in an Allnode factory for decades to earn luxuries such as a room of her own.
Ward’s language use is a highlight of this series – rough, stylised, 20-minutes-into-the-future slang-laden without ever feeling put on or out of place. Mirii’s voice is authentic and rich as she narrates her experiences and her world.
This is the socially-aware, original dystopia series you didn’t know you’d been waiting for.