A Long Long Sleep - Anna Sheehan
Synopsis: Rosalinda Fitzroy has been asleep for sixty-two years when she is woken by a kiss. Locked away in the chemically induced slumber of a stasis tube in a forgotten subbasement, sixteen-year-old Rose slept straight through the Dark Times that killed millions and utterly changed the world she knew. Now, her parents and her first love are long gone, and Rose— hailed upon her awakening as the long-lost heir to an interplanetary empire— is thrust alone into a future in which she is viewed as either a freak or a threat. Desperate to put the past behind her and adapt to her new world, Rose finds herself drawn to the boy who kissed her awake, hoping that he can help her to start fresh. But when a deadly danger jeopardizes her fragile new existence, Rose must face the ghosts of her past with open eyes— or be left without any future at all.
I'm not a huge science fiction fan; however, this book may have swayed me. Well, it may be because this book is only part science fiction: It's also Sleeping Beauty retold, it's dystopian, it's fantasy, it's romance. It's everything you could want in a book.
It takes place in the future and Rose has just woken up after 62 years of preservative coma. She wakes up to a kiss (the Sleeping Beauty part) and finds everyone she knew and loved is gone. It's heartbreaking to see her have to continue her life, not only where the world (and universe) is completely different, but she has to do it without the comfort of people that she knows.
I expected this book to place more emphasis on the romance: the love of her life is gone (because she's been asleep for 62 years) and then I figured she'd get over him by falling for the boy who woke her up. But it was so much more than that. It deals so much more with Rose learning about her place in the world, what her place was in her family, and coming to terms with the way history played out.
My two favorite things about this book - The first is seeing how Rose and her family played a hand in their history, and then her waking up to have to deal with those consequences. It was fascinating to watch Rose get uncomfortable in her history class, because it highlighted all the negative aspects of the what she lived through. It naturally projects the reader into their on futures. It's hard to imagine, but this makes it seem like a possibility to have to live with your own consequences.
The second is Otto, a sort of alien, governmental experiment. The post-colonialist in me is freaking out about Otto. He is created and controlled by the corporation that Rose's parents owned. There are only a few of species like Otto. They cannot speak, but Otto writes and communicates beautifully. He is treated terribly by most people because they don't understand him. He's just so much like colonized natives, mistreated, but used for the colonizer's purposes (ok, I won't go into my post-colonial readings of this novel...) I love Otto, he's definitely my favorite character.
Finally, I just want to say that Rose is so strong and her progress is so noticeable. This is definitely one of those books that breaks your heart and puts it back together again. I still ache for Rose - she is so endearing and she just had to lose so much. It's heartbreaking, but it's also beautiful.
A Long Long Sleep - Anna Sheehan
Synopsis: Rosalinda Fitzroy has been asleep for sixty-two years when she is woken by a kiss. Locked away in the chemically induced slumber of a stasis tube in a forgotten subbasement, sixteen-year-old Rose slept straight through the Dark Times that killed millions and utterly changed the world she knew. Now, her parents and her first love are long gone, and Rose— hailed upon her awakening as the long-lost heir to an interplanetary empire— is thrust alone into a future in which she is viewed as either a freak or a threat. Desperate to put the past behind her and adapt to her new world, Rose finds herself drawn to the boy who kissed her awake, hoping that he can help her to start fresh. But when a deadly danger jeopardizes her fragile new existence, Rose must face the ghosts of her past with open eyes— or be left without any future at all.
I'm not a huge science fiction fan; however, this book may have swayed me. Well, it may be because this book is only part science fiction: It's also Sleeping Beauty retold, it's dystopian, it's fantasy, it's romance. It's everything you could want in a book.
It takes place in the future and Rose has just woken up after 62 years of preservative coma. She wakes up to a kiss (the Sleeping Beauty part) and finds everyone she knew and loved is gone. It's heartbreaking to see her have to continue her life, not only where the world (and universe) is completely different, but she has to do it without the comfort of people that she knows.
I expected this book to place more emphasis on the romance: the love of her life is gone (because she's been asleep for 62 years) and then I figured she'd get over him by falling for the boy who woke her up. But it was so much more than that. It deals so much more with Rose learning about her place in the world, what her place was in her family, and coming to terms with the way history played out.
My two favorite things about this book - The first is seeing how Rose and her family played a hand in their history, and then her waking up to have to deal with those consequences. It was fascinating to watch Rose get uncomfortable in her history class, because it highlighted all the negative aspects of the what she lived through. It naturally projects the reader into their on futures. It's hard to imagine, but this makes it seem like a possibility to have to live with your own consequences.
The second is Otto, a sort of alien, governmental experiment. The post-colonialist in me is freaking out about Otto. He is created and controlled by the corporation that Rose's parents owned. There are only a few of species like Otto. They cannot speak, but Otto writes and communicates beautifully. He is treated terribly by most people because they don't understand him. He's just so much like colonized natives, mistreated, but used for the colonizer's purposes (ok, I won't go into my post-colonial readings of this novel...) I love Otto, he's definitely my favorite character.
Finally, I just want to say that Rose is so strong and her progress is so noticeable. This is definitely one of those books that breaks your heart and puts it back together again. I still ache for Rose - she is so endearing and she just had to lose so much. It's heartbreaking, but it's also beautiful.
