Publisher: Doubleday
Pages: 448
Format: Hardcover
ISBN-10: 0385539835
ISBN-13: 9780385539838
Publisher: various formats
In 1843 Chicago, fragile naturalist Zadock Thomas falls in love with the high society daughter of Joseph Gray, a prominent ornithologist. Mr. Gray sets an impossible condition for their marriage—Zadock must deliver a sealed and highly secretive letter to General Irion, fighting one thousand miles southwest, deep within the embattled and newly independent Republic of Texas. The fate of the Union lies within the mysterious contents of that sealed letter, but that is only the beginning . . .
Three hundred years later, in the dystopian city-state of the Texas Republic, Zeke Thomas has just received news of the death of his grandfather, an esteemed Chicago senator. The world has crumbled. Paper documents are banned, citizens are watched, and dissenters are thrown over the walls into "the rot." When Zeke inherits—and then loses—a very old, sealed letter from his grandfather, Zeke finds himself and the women he loves at the heart of a conspiracy whose secrets he must unravel, if it doesn't destroy his relationship, his family legacy, and the entire republic first.
Have you spotted this book already? There is a video on Youtube where they show the artwork in this book and all the special stuff. It is beautiful! When Leeswammes offered me her copy because she did not like it I was really happy.
Obviously that got me interested but the story about bloodlines and inheritance is interesting discussion and I was curious how that would keep up from the 1870 to 2053.
I started reading this book the day before I was leaving on a trip with friends. This was a great mistake. This book needs attention. There are various voices Zadock, Zeke, Elswyth, Eliza and a lot of other characters that get time. As the stories go in parallels it is important to keep track of what part of the story is told by who. I only read 50 pages in 3 days as I was loosing track all the time. When I got back home I took the time for the book and finished it in 2 days.
Some things in the book are a bit difficult to understand. The past does follow the known history that you can look up but the dystopian future world has some stuff that does not get explained until later in the story. I felt I missed out on some of the significant meanings of actions at the beginning because of the lack of knowledge. They did click later in the story though.
The characters we are following are the 'good' side. Zeke not wanting what he is supposed to mean for his family but knowing he is the best choice as his cousin is not such a nice person. Eliza trying her best to be there for him. I found their interaction interesting as there was such a lack of freedom in their world but they still managed to be true to each other. It might have been interesting to know more about Daxon his motives too. He was the bad guy but I am convinced there was more to his story than was told in the book. Overall this book is an experience, a puzzle, a big riddle with a lot of interesting information to solve for a reader.
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