As always, many thanks to Orenda Books for including me on the blog tour for Paul E. Hardisty's "The Hope". The book is the third in a trilogy that started with "The Forcing" and continued with "The Descent". I reviewed "The Forcing" in February 2023.
""The Hope" is the final book in "The Forcing Trilogy". It's eerily prescient in many ways, considering the current state of the world. From my review of "The Forcing":
In "The Hope", Hardisty takes events from the previous books to their seemingly inevitable post-apocalyptic present. It opens in 2082, two generations after humanity has suffered a global catastrophic collapse. Due to the machinations of greedy corrupt oligarchs, rampant environmental destruction, and nuclear war, the world's population has been reduced to small, isolated groups. The majority of survivors live in squalid conditions, scavenging anything they can to keep alive. The very wealthy, having engineered the collapse, banded together to form huge armies and seize territory. Now, they live in vast private enclaves heavily guarded by soldiers, both human and robotic.
The events of the book take place in an enclave in Hobart, Tasmania established by Vallient, the leader of what was called the "Alpha Omega" regime. One of his descendants, Vallient Junior, known as "Eminence", now rules the Hobart enclave. He is hated and feared by everyone who lives outside the walls, but the people feel powerless to oppose him. Their terror is understandable: Any one of them could be captured and tortured, killed, or forced to work as a slave within the enclave’s lavish grounds.
This all sounds very dark, and it is, but the book's tone is enlivened by the narrator, 16-year-old Boo Ashworth. She lives with her Uncle, her Auntie Julie, their son Leo, an elderly man named Raphael who escaped from the enclave, and a young man known only as "Boy”. They rescued Boy years ago, discovering that his tongue has been cut out and he cannot speak or write. Boo has close family ties to the previous books; her grandfather recorded the events of "The Forcing" and her Uncle told the story of "The Descent".
Auntie Julie is dying, but there are no drugs to save her. Like many others who are sick, her family takes her every day to stand in front of the gates to the enclave, where medical care is still available. They have taken Julie there many times with no success, but one day the guards take her in, probably because she is a doctor and her skills are still valuable. They never hear from her again.
The others spend their days scouting for useful items and hiding from the regime’s ever-present spy drones and soldiers. We meet Boo as her house is being invaded by these soldiers, and she hears Raphael scream at her to run. Boo's family has an escape plan, which they have trained for just in case the Eminence's eye turns in their direction. She hesitates to flee but:
On the way to the shelter, Boo turns back to see her house going up in flames. The soldiers have destroyed everything, including Uncle's forbidden library of books. The Eminence has outlawed the possession of books, but Boo has grown up with them all her life. Her family seeks out and collects any books they can find. Uncle lets Boo read one book at a time, and she has read every one in their library. They are the most precious objects in her life, and now they're unrecoverable. It’s a shattering loss in a world where knowledge has been systematically destroyed. Luckily, Boo managed to take one book with her; a manuscript that her uncle has been working on for years. He kept it hidden or with him at all times, but Boo has been reading it without his knowledge.
Boo reaches the shelter, but no one else is there and she has no idea whether the others are alive or dead. She begins to write a journal in the hope that someone, someday, will find it and learn what happened to her and her family. Through this journal, we come to know Boo's history; where she grew up, how she got to Tasmania, how her family lives now. Her most recent concern is Uncle and Leo's separate, unexplained absences. They've disappeared several times on different journeys, without notice or a clue as to their purpose. On one trip, Uncle was gone for over 33 days. Neither he nor Leo will tell Boo where they've been or who they visited. After his last trip, Leo never returned, and Boo is terrified he might have been killed or captured.
To pass the time while waiting at the shelter, Boo continues to read her Uncle's manuscript. She learns that he's been meeting secretly with a man named Ashworth (a pivotal character in the trilogy). Ashworth believes that it's still possible to change the status quo and create a new world in which people don't live in poverty and despair. But first, Uncle needs to understand how humanity ended up in this bleak present. Ashcroft wants Uncle (who he calls by his given name, Kweku) to write an account of his story as a blueprint the world can use to achieve a better outcome.
The dialogues between Ashworth and Kweku are one of my favorite parts of the book. Their discussions address issues we're experiencing in real life; one of the qualities that make the entire trilogy so compelling. They talk about human nature, philosophy, power, technology and most importantly, unintended consequences. Kweku is shocked and infuriated as Ashworth relates the course of events that led to global cataclysm. He's desperately hoping to hear that Ashworth has a plan to establish a new and better world.
Although the scenes with Ashworth and Kweku are absorbing, I always look forward to Boo's story, which continues in the shelter. The only member of her family who shows up is Boy. He is badly wounded, and when Boo asks him about Uncle and Raphael, he just shakes his head and groans. He uses hand signals to tell her that the Eminence's drones are out in force, looking for Boo. Inevitably, a drone tracks Boy to the shelter, and he and Boo have to make a run for it. A sudden explosion erupts, and Boo is knocked unconscious. Boy carries her into a forest for safety, but Boo is captured by enclave soldiers. She is astounded when she recognizes one of them, but this knowledge does not save her. She becomes the property of the Eminence inside his fearsome enclave.
Trapped in a luxurious but inescapable prison, Boo learns that a cruel, calculating woman called "Immaculata" runs the Eminence's Sanctum (his harem). She's also the real power behind the throne and takes great pleasure in sadistic torture and psychological abuse. Immaculata is grooming Boo to be one of the Eminence's "partners". Boo is terrified of what's coming, but there are those in the enclave who will risk their lives to save her. This young girl could be the key to breaking Eminence and Immaculata's iron grasp on Hobart. One question remains: Can people who've never known freedom find the courage to fight for it?
Seeing the events of "The Hope" from Boo's perspective really brings the book to life. We experience her fears, dreams and fierce determination to survive. Switching between Boo, her Uncle, and Ashworth's story, Hardisty illuminates the events that led to the present, exploring past decisions and their long-term consequences. The book reflects choices that we are making today, both locally and globally.
I don't want to call "The Hope" science fiction, because as I said in my review of "The Forcing", the events of the books are only too plausible. Hardisty simply takes these events to one of the worst, yet very possible, outcomes. He skillfully brings his scenarios to life through his characters, some of whom were decision-makers and others who merely suffered the consequences. The Forcing Trilogy tells an absorbing, cautionary tale that is incredibly relevant to our present, and should serve as a warning for the future.
Random Notes
—In their discussions, Ashcroft and Kweku talk about a book called "Years of Warning" by Yuval. This may refer to the works of Yuval Noah Harari, who wrote “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind".
—There's a nice shout-out to the UK publisher in the book; can you spot it?
Paul Hardisty
Canadian Paul Hardisty has spent twenty-five years working all over the world as an environmental scientist and freelance journalist. His debut thriller The Abrupt Physics of Dying was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger and was a Telegraph Thriller of the Year, and The Forcing (2023) and The Descent (2024) were a SciFi Now Book of the Month and shortlisted for the Crime Fiction Lover Awards. Paul is a keen outdoorsman, a conservation volunteer, and lives in Western Australia.
Please buy/order "The Hope" from your local independent bookstore, or go to bookshop.org and order there. They now offer ebooks as well.
For audiobooks, go to libro.fm.
