Review: Burrowed by Mary Baader Kaley
In the distant future, a genetic plague has separated humanity in two – Subterraneans who live in underground burrows to protect their health, and strong surface-dwelling Omniterraneans.
The unique thing about this book is the presentation of the Chosen One trope. We’re all pretty familiar with the teenage/young adult woman who has some special ability that enables her to save the world in some future dystopian society.
Burrowed, does indeed have a teenage/young adult woman who is particularly able to overcome the problems within her future dystopian society.
The difference, though, is that no one really likes Zuzan. She’s awkward, wears clunky goggles because she’s light-blind, and generally looks like a freak - in a society of people who look like freaks.
From her early childhood, she’s been treated as a problem and even internalized her precociousness as an inherent “badness” within her that she needs to get rid of. The one thing that is in her favour is her intelligence. Zuzan is crazy smart and only limited in her options by a genetic caste system that predicts the expected longevity of a person (and therefore the investment value of training them).
There is a tangly romance subplot - isn’t there always - but much like Zuzan, these relationships and the people within them aren’t the typical dashing love interest we all generally expect. For the characters in Burrowed, the most desirable traits are intelligence and kindness - which makes sense in an environment where kindness is a rare commodity and science is the linchpin of survival for both branches of humanity.
While the novel has many strengths, it is obviously a debut novel. The first half is done well, but the plot starts to get murky around the midpoint. For a very long time, nothing in particular seems to happen but the characters rotating through their daily lives.
The final 3-4 chapters pick up a burst of speed where everything that hasn’t been happening gets crammed in to ultimately result in a pretty unsatisfying ending.
Generally, I’m a fan of ambiguous endings, but this feels more like “missing chapters” than simply ambiguous. I even looked to see if it was the first in a series, but there’s no indication of a second book yet. Even if there were, I think the ending is still just a weird place to stop.
All in all, it's a unique take on the Chosen One trope. Zuzan is a bit overly self-righteous, which wears thing, particularly as the novel progresses. With some additional polish to bring the second half up to par, this could be a pretty decent novel in the genre.
