The last of the Hugo nominees this time. The evil alchemists have created human constructs that could control all forces of nature. The latest attempt has been divided into two parts: to twins being raised as ”cuckoos” in normal families. The twins have been able to communicate telepathically since childhood, but on more than one occasion the alchemists have put a stop to it, believing that premature contact would ruin the experiment. After they establish contact again, after a long pause, they start to grow stronger—and because the alchemists still think of them as something of a test run for the pair that will actually be used for nefarious purposes, they now face termination.
The book was written in nice, easy-to-read, but fairly meandering language. There were many descriptions of mundane details having little to do with the plot; sometimes it felt like even the description of a person waking up in the morning and dressing themselves took several pages. As a whole, it wasn’t a bad book at all, but exceptional children on the run from an ancient and powerful organization is an old trope. In fact, there was another nominee this year with a strikingly similar plot—The Ten Thousand Doors of January—and that book did it better. I will reiterate: this wasn’t a bad book at all, and the last half was particularly enjoyable, but it will not be in the running for my top choices given this year's stiff competition.
492 pp.
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