Think 1984 meets the Hunger Games meets the Terminator and you start to get a feel for the vibe of this book. I read the Hunger Games and wondered about how a society could evolve to end up as the world depicted in those books. Pure shows you a society only ten years removed from a nuclear apocalypse and headed towards a Hunger Games like future. Add in nanotechnology and people being fused to animals, machines and the earth itself against their will and then the Terminator feel kicks in as well.
In Pure, 16 year old Pressia is facing life in a dystopian / post-apocalyptic future where people measure time as either being Before and post detonations. Most of humanity is scraping by in post nuclear holocaust world but the select few live a life of relative ease inside the Dome. Pressia faces capture by a fascist security force when she comes of age so she goes on the run to survive. While on the run she encounters resistance fighters, family she didn't know she had, and truths that will either destroy or remake her world. The narrative is complex and very dark which makes the moments of real human connection (both in the present of the story and in the past memories of the characters) that much more poignant.
The world created in Pure has a harsh gritty realism and the imagery Baggott uses will stay with you after the book is finished. The one I can't get out of my head is the description of the suburbs as The Meltlands because of the large amount of melted remains backyard swingsets and other outside toys. This is the first in a trilogy and the movie options have already been sold to Fox.
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