In Ora: The Land of the Superior – Sotto Voce

Pages: 361
Released On: 29/09/2021

What is a superior modern world life? When humans have found keys to tailor genes, eradicate diseases, advanced physiques, intelligence, and technology?

Luke found himself back in Ora, the land of the superior, where everyone was tall, beautiful, and perfect, a stark difference from his home, the Origin. When the division happened, Ora detached itself from the Origin and raised to become a perfect society, while Origin went downhill.

Even though his curiosity was revived, Luke had only one goal in his mind, to find the cure of the new disease for his companion. They had exhausted all options at home, but he was not about to let her give up.

As they navigated their way through the strange and intriguing Ora world, they try to maintain hope that they’d get what they were coming for, to preserve their existence through the magnificent but exorbitant and mysterious world of Ora.

*****

Thanks to the author for a gifted copy of this book in return for an honest review.

I was really impressed with this book. Speculative fiction can be a bit hit-and-miss but I felt this hit the right mark. There are some spelling and typo issues, but I don’t believe English is the author’s first language so this is understandable, and you do soon start to gloss over them.

It is true that, whilst this is a fictionalised book in a fantasy world, there are many aspects that are a bit too close to home. It’s a future that is getting closer and closer to being our reality. It feels like fantasy but the topic of border lines and differing cultures is very topical.

I think it could benefit from being tightened up here and there to make it a more seamless read, but it doesn’t fell too long or waffly, everything has its place.

This book flits between the Ora (the new world) and the Origin (the old world), and whilst I appreciate the scenes in Origin are required to give the new world some context, I found myself enjoying the Ora scenes more. I really liked the descriptions of the outside space as well as the clinical locations. The relationship between Luke and Ruyi was really interesting too and kept me invested in the story. The main characters are well developed and very human and relatable.

There are two covers for this book and I think they work equally well. The old cover represents the relationship between the two main characters, whereas the new cover presents more of a link to the scientific background.

I think this is a love story between Luke and Ruyi, and between the dystopian and utopian worlds; it’s not necessarily a romantic love, but it’s a powerful love all the same. Overall, it could do with a bit more editing and tidying up, but it is an interesting topic with an important message and was enjoyable to read.