Ica's Tale

From the Treeboat Series

By: Z.A. Ispharazi

Narrated by: Meg Kingsley

You look so stupid, thought Ica in the privacy of her mind...but to her horror she is "heard" within seconds time, so the rebellious spark in her has transformed into a burning flame—one that an oppressive cityfort can't contain.

Ica Meinforg is telepathic, an ability she discovers during an unexpected interaction with a grim, humanoid being that roams the streets of the cityfort she was born in. This creature is one of many that otherwise go unnoticed by most of the citizens of Citadelia. After this strange event, her life rapidly changes, and she is confronted with the choice between freedom in the perilous outlands or normalization within the walls she has known her whole life.

Ica's Tale is a glimpse into the rich world of the Treeboat Series and is a companion novel to The Oaql Seed.

©2022 Zain Shirazi (P)2023 Zain Shirazi

Great short dystopian novel

This is a really good short novel written in the first person about a young girl named Ica who has a bit of a rebellious streak to her. She lives in a rigid propagandistic dystopian society she calls crapadellia. She’s basically a rhombus living in a square society. One day she has an encounter with a “gangly” and realizes she has telepathic powers - powers which the people in her society want to stifle. She then embarks on a quest to get out of her society and find freedom with a gang of bandits called the Pirahnas.

It’s really good if you like novels like “We” and movies like “THX1138” and “Logan’s Run.” Although with less action and more world building. If you like those types of stories then I highly recommend this one as well.

I read the book on kindle first but I honestly liked the audio version better. It’s a short listen and I think the narrator does a great job of bringing the story to life.