Amatka

By: Karin Tidbeck

Narrated by: Kirsten Potter

A LOCUS AWARD FINALIST

ONE OF THE GUARDIAN’S BEST SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY BOOKS OF 2017

A surreal debut novel set in a world shaped by language in the tradition of Margaret Atwood and Ursula K. Le Guin.

Vanja, an information assistant, is sent from her home city of Essre to the austere, wintry colony of Amatka with an assignment to collect intelligence for the government. Immediately she feels that something strange is going on: people act oddly in Amatka, and citizens are monitored for signs of subversion.

Intending to stay just a short while, Vanja falls in love with her housemate, Nina, and prolongs her visit. But when she stumbles on evidence of a growing threat to the colony, and a cover-up by its administration, she embarks on an investigation that puts her at tremendous risk.

In Karin Tidbeck’s world, everyone is suspect, no one is safe, and nothing—not even language, nor the very fabric of reality—can be taken for granted. Amatka is a beguiling and wholly original novel about freedom, love, and artistic creation by a captivating new voice.

The world building

Very interesting storyline and world concept. It makes me want to delve in deeper. Just the right length as well.

Dystopic, repressive, totalitarian society

Karin Tidbeck's Amatka is a bit of riddle wrapped in an enigma. The title is the name of an agricultural colony run by a mysterious committee that is never seen. Whether the world is a colony planet from a deprecated Earth or a fictitious place is never clear. The main character is sent from another colony to do market research for hygiene products. She ends up staying and there the mysteries begin. Most people are afraid of anything new and references to a splinter colony have been expunged. Inconsistencies begin to pile up and she finds herself in opposition to the local government. The ending doesn't resolve all the questions.

The world seems to be made of some multifunctional 'stuff' that requires some human involvement to maintain it form and function. This takes the form of people constantly 'marking' things by repeating their names. The overall feel is one of Siberia with a repressive government expressing total population control.

The narration is acceptable with heavily accented dialects. Pacing is smooth for a quick listen.

Just awesome

Great book!!! The idea of it was fascinating and i couldnt put it down . Narrator was great too!

Worth the shot

I gave this a shot because it seemed short and sweet as compared to my usual 20 hour, 5 to 8 book series I usually get drawn into.

I was drawn in because I was looking for sci-fi/fantasy with LGBT characters and was left pretty satisfied overall with the representation being what it is. She’s a lesbian and that’s just it. You could swap genders around and the story wouldn’t be affected and I like that.

So you’re left thinking “oh this must be a perfect world” but it’s really just that there’s so many other things to be worried about. It starts out on a train with the main character heading into a town for a market research job, so already we get the indie horror vibes. As you learn more about the town, the people, the job, things just aren’t quite what they seem.

I can’t recall the last time I was left feeling weird after finishing a book. There’s a lot of wondering about the literal world building and how it would look though I don’t feel a deep longing for it to continue, like I did with The Giver.

Definitely not the way you’re going to expect things to end. It’s like an episode of the twilight zone or something like that. Just wild.

A good book, but a little clumsy.

I adore Jagannath, so I thought I'd try this. This story was good, and I'd recommend it, but it felt like it was stretched out. Something about it felt a little clumsy.

The book was very meta and I think some clumsiness was intentional given the world she was making. Still, I varied between intense fascination and boredom, and even if the characters feel that way it doesn't mean the reader should.