Shifa and her brother, Themba, live in Kairos City with their father, Nabil. The few live in luxury, whilst the millions like them crowd together in compounds, surviving on meagre rations and governed by Freedom Fields - the organisation that looks after you, as long as you opt in.
The bees have long disappeared; instead children must labour on farms, pollinating crops so that the nation can eat. But Nabil remembers Before and he knows that the soul needs to be nourished as much as the body so, despite the risk, he teaches his children how to grow flowers on a secret piece of land hidden beneath the train tracks.
The farm Shifa and Themba are sent to is hard and cruel. Themba won't survive there and Shifa comes up with a plan to break them out. But they have no idea where they are - their only guide is a map drawn from the ramblings of a stranger.
The journey ahead is fraught with danger, but Shifa is strong and knows to listen to her instincts - to let hope guide them home. The freedom of a nation depends on it . . .
A huge thanks to Hachette India for a physical review copy of the book.
Where the River Runs Gold is a passionate book about the need to protect nature and save the environment, lest we fall into a state of dystopia like the characters in the book.
↠ Shifa and
Themba are raised by their father Nabil as twins but Shifa is constantly watching out for Themba who is the more trusting and gentler of the two. Themba although never explicitly mentioned, is coded as autistic and the author beautifully depicts him as a boy who simply sees things in a different way. He is a wonderful artist and constantly takes to drawing and painting when he feels stressed. I particularly loved how he came up with rhymes to help himself remember more information.
His utter innocence and ability to forgive people who have hurt him just tugged at my heart. PROTECT THIS CINNAMON ROLL.
↠ The bond between the brother and sister is just wonderful and I loved that even after Shifa finds out they're not related by blood (
This is not a spoiler. It's mentioned in the first few pages), her feelings towards Themba never changes. She is decidedly angry at Nabil for lying to her but she never once takes out her anger on Themba. It was beautiful how even when she got into trouble because of her brother, she wasn't mad at him.
THE PURE SIBLING LOVE WAS JUST PRECIOUS.
↠ This dystopian world is one where the bees are dead and the greenery is dying. Where the only way of facilitating pollination of plants is by hand. And what better than
little, delicate children's hands to do the job. The government paints quite a wonderful image to the public, of life on these "
Freedom Fields" where children work and study but the truth is far from rosy. Within a few days of the duo's arrival at the Fields, Shifa realizes that the Fields are nothing short of a prison or labour camp.
↠ My biggest issue with the book was the
number of unanswered questions about the world building and the time jumps between chapters. How did the so called caste system of Paragons, Freedoms and Foragers come to be? Why at the Freedom Fields there's no mention of food crops but rather of pretty flowering plants? (
Considering the Freedom Fields were established to provide food to the people) And also the latter world building. The jump between the final chapter and the epilogue was so immense and we see there have been changes with the world but have no idea of how.
↠ Among the things I liked is the author's descriptive prowess. The descriptions of places are so beautiful and vivid that I had an image of every scene in my head as I was reading. Another thing I
really liked was how the author dealt with human nature. Generally in many middle grade books, the world seems to be in black and white but here there are morally grey characters. There are characters you think you will hate but then realize that they're nothing but victims of circumstance and I really appreciate how the authors portrays people.
Where the River Runs Gold is a beautiful book with important lessons on nature, love and family and would have been an exceptional read with more detail when it came to the world building.
(Actual Rating - 3 . 5)
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Do you read middle grade books? Any favourite books? Tell me in the comments below!
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