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Published Feb 2016
384 pages
Genre: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History
Publication Information
The Hunger Games meets Cormac McCarthy's The Road in this richly imagined first novel in a new post-apocalyptic trilogy by award-winning poet Francesca Haig.
Four hundred years in the future, the Earth has turned primitive following a nuclear fire that has laid waste to civilization and nature. Though the radiation fallout has ended, for some unknowable reason every person is born with a twin. Of each pair, one is an Alpha—physically perfect in every way; and the other an Omega—burdened with deformity, small or large. With the Council ruling an apartheid-like society, Omegas are branded and ostracized while the Alphas have gathered the world's sparse resources for themselves. Though proclaiming their superiority, for all their effort Alphas cannot escape one harsh fact: Whenever one twin dies, so does the other.
Cass is a rare Omega, one burdened with psychic foresight. While her twin, Zach, gains power on the Alpha Council, she dares to dream the most dangerous dream of all: equality. For daring to envision a world in which Alphas and Omegas live side-by-side as equals, both the Council and the Resistance have her in their sights.
"Starred Review. [Haig's] prose is gorgeous and engaging, particularly when she describes the desolate landscape, now peppered with ruins from the Before. Fans of dystopias will appreciate this adventure filled yet character-focused tale." - Booklist
"Starred Review. Readers who enjoy the Hunger Games series, Pierce Brown's Red Rising, and like-minded dystopian literature will enjoy this first title in a trilogy." - Library Journal
"Cass's powers work conveniently as the plot demands, and the twists still carry an air of familiarity. Haig's prose is almost wistfully descriptive, elevating the otherwise tired story. " - Publishers Weekly
Haig emphasizes ideas, character, and setting more than fast-paced action. . . . An original premise gives this otherwise run-of-the-mill postapocalyptic novel an interesting spark." - School Library Journal
"Starred Review. With its well-built world, vivid characters and suspenseful plot, this book, the first in a planned trilogy, is poised to become the next must-read hit." Kirkus reviews
"Set in a vividly realised world of elite Alphas and their 'weaker' Omega twins, [this series] holds a mirror up to our obsession with perfection." - The Guardian (UK)
"Fantasy and sci-fi fans finally have a book they can bond over. This is going to be a series to watch." - RT Book Reviews
"Words like 'masterpiece' and 'instant classic' are cliché, but in the case of Francesca Haig's astounding The Fire Sermon, they're the only words to use... The Fire Sermon is completely without equal – it leaves Hunger Games, Divergence, Twilight blah blah-yawn twitching in the dust." - Starburst Magazine
"A hell of a ride. I would recommend it to anyone I can, regardless of age." - James Oswald, author of Natural Causes
This information about The Fire Sermon was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Francesca Haig grew up in Tasmania, gained her PhD from the University of Melbourne, and was a senior lecturer at the University of Chester. Her poetry has been published in literary journals and anthologies in both Australia and England, and her first collection of poetry, Bodies of Water, was published in 2006. In 2010 she was awarded a Hawthornden Fellowship. The Fire Sermon, her first novel, was published in 2015. She lives in London with her husband and son.
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