The Architect of Grayland - Evelyn Arvey - ★★★★.½

AUTHOR: Evelyn Arvey

GENRE: Dystopian Science Fiction.

PUBLICATION DATE: February 20, 2024

RATING: 4.5 stars.

In a Nutshell: An indie dystopian novel that straddles various genres and does justice to all. Brilliant plot, excellent character development, and fabulous atmosphere. (Have you ever seen me use such gushy adjectives in a row?) If you think an indie work can't deliver the same thrills as a trad-published work, this book will prove you wrong. I'm so impressed! Much recommended!

Plot Preview:

Professor Mirri Daaha, a historical anthropologist, has just started her new project: testing the psychological and physiological effects of stress on primitive humans. For this purpose, eight ancient humans have been kidnapped from their time and placed in a special artificially-constructed isolated environment.

Elaine is one of the kidnapped humans. As she wakes up incoherent, not knowing who or where she is, she knows only one thing: she'll do anything to survive.

The story comes to us in the third-person perspectives of Elaine and Professor Mirri, with some first-person journal entries. Elaine gets many more chapters than Mirri.

PSA: Don’t read the Goodreads/Amazon blurb. Also, don’t read the table of contents.

Imagine reading a book that begins with this sentence:

"It was common knowledge: primitive humans were horrible, revolting creatures."

You might wonder whether to nod in agreement or to question the veracity of the line, or to rebuke its unfair harshness. And then, a few sentences later, the harsh truth tumbles out: the line refers not to “past humans” such as the Homo erectus or the Neanderthals but to US, here in the now! So weirdly amusing to read a book where we are “the primitives” and spoken of in such a disparaging way! 😬😄

Bookish Yays:

🥳 Gripping from the very first line! The book doesn't spend time in setting up the era or the world at the start, but builds up the picture part by part within the story’s natural progression. As Elaine wakes up unaware of anything, we learn about her new world along with her. Excellent handling of this aspect!

🥳 Despite being from separate eras, Mirri and Elaine have much in similar. They are two strong women trying to overpower their (vastly varying) circumstances, and determined to not just survive but thrive. Both are memorable characters, though you will be rooting only for one of them.

🥳 Professor Mirri is a complex yet quaint character. Her willingness to try new things in some avenues while sticking to the tried-and-tested in others makes her an interesting lead for the project. Her belittling approach towards past humans adds a further layer of intrigue to her personality. I also love how she keeps her eight teaching assistants firmly in their places and at the same time, gets easily swayed by insecurity.

🥳 Mirri’s specialty of Historical Anthropology leads to plenty of interesting analyses and conclusions. I especially enjoyed the discrepancy between Elaine’s actions and their (mis)interpretation by the professor's team. It made me wonder how many such incorrect estimations we ourselves might have made from artefacts dug up by anthropologists over the years.

🥳 It is not an easy task to write a timeline where a character is all alone and has nothing to occupy her. But Elaine’s inner monologues don't get boring. They do get repetitive, slow, and even frustrating at times. But all this is a reflection of how Elaine would feel stuck alone in a barren landscape. The writing, whether in third person or in first person, captures Elaine’s moods so perfectly that I started experiencing the same feelings as her. (I admit, this was not a good thing when Elaine felt claustrophobic. I felt as breathless as she!)

🥳 A part of the plot comes through Elaine’s journals written in her first-person voice. I appreciate how these sections felt like genuine journal entries than like descriptive novels. Many trad authors/editors still have to learn this art.

🥳 The setting of Elaine’s new life – the Foundation, a sentient domain where the kidnapped primitives reside – is exceptional despite being so grey. I simply loved how its functionality and its intelligence was written. It was almost like a main character in the plot.

🥳 The title, which applies to both Mirri (the ‘architect’ of the Foundation) and Elaine (the ‘architect’ who works with the Foundation to survive), suits the book to the core. The cover is also perfect for the plot.

🥳 Though technically a dystopian science fiction novel, this book is more like a drama that is equal parts character-oriented and plot-oriented. It is quite light on the sci-fi, focussing more on the humans involved in the story.

🥳 I found it very interesting that cats exist even in the future without any major behavioural changes! 😄 I wish there had been more of Professor Mirri’s cat.

🥳 Debut work, but no overload of tropes. The proverbial kitchen sink is nicely clean and dry in this book. Even when the potential for a relationship makes an appearance, it doesn’t dominate the main plot. I love the controlled writing.

🥳 While most of the proceedings are quite serious thanks to Elaine’s circumstances, the book still has quite a lot of humour, which took me by surprise. Moreover, the humour feels natural to the storyline and not forcibly shoved in, which is quite tough considering the bleakness of the plot.

🥳 The ending – wow! I never thought the author could pull it off but she did! In fact, I can’t believe she could end the story so successfully. You won't get all answers, but nothing major is left unaddressed. Simply brilliant!

Bookish Mixed Bags:

🤔 There are too many characters in the first chapter, with all the teaching assistants being introduced. I was worried about remembering all of them, and even their pronouns. But this complication exists only for some time and settles soon.

🤔 At 500 pages, this book is no cakewalk. While the tempo is fast and the storyline attractive, the length might dissuade some readers.

🤔 The content is divided into four sections, each for a phase of Elaine’s situation. Every phase has a distinct feel and flow, making it stand strong individually. However, I wish the sections didn’t have names. The titles are a bit too revealing about what comes next in the plot. Those who don’t mind section/chapter titles won’t mind this.

🤔 The blurb, both on Goodreads and on Amazon, reveals way too much. While many readers won’t mind knowing what’s coming, I was a bit annoyed to have some of my anticipation diluted by the spoilers.

All in all, I loved this book. It is not perfect by any means, but the flaws are minimal. Such books remind me of why I have stopped voting in the Goodreads awards, which aren't just white-dominated but also trad-dominated. Quality indie offerings are ignored, but trashy books by popular authors make the cut, just because they found more readers. Really sad!

This is the author’s debut full-length novel, and considering the way she has handled the plot development, character development, atmosphere, world-building, and language, I will gladly keep her on my must-read list.

Much recommended to readers who enjoy dystopian sci-fi, and also to readers who don’t enjoy it. By keeping the focus more on the characters than on the world, the book stays accessible even to those who are not so comfortable with futuristic world-building.

My thanks to author Evelyn Arvey for providing me with a complimentary copy of “The Architect of Grayland”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

The digital version of this book is currently available on Kindle Unlimited.