Sarah Tarkoff
Harper Voyager
January 9th, 2018
Grace barely remembers what life was like before Great Spirit was there to personally ensure every person on earth lived a righteous life. Since Great Spirit let their will be known via the Prophets, the righteous, pious and good are rewarded with beauty and health. Any wrongful act is Punished immediately, and Punishment can consist of everything from just looking a little dull and ill to outright swelling of the skin and death. In this world, you know who is ‘good’ and who isn’t at a glance.
Teenage Grace is a preacher’s daughter, and her face tells everyone how pious she is. She volunteers to help the less fortunate, she regularly attends her father’s services. People aspire to be like her.
Driving along with her best friend Jude one evening, they end up in an auto accident. Grace is pretty sure it wasn’t her friend’s fault–but in an instant, he’s Punished to death.
Depressed, Grace throws herself into her charity work. That’s where she meets a boy that will change her view of this new world forever.
Sinless is an interesting dystopian YA novel that at first glance looks like a future fantasy. It quickly changes into a dystopian conspiracy that draws you in deeply, fusing new ideas and classic science fiction themes. It’s the first in a new series, and I’m interested to see where Tarkoff takes this richly crafted near future world.
JL Jamieson is a strange book nerd who writes technical documents by day, and book news, reviews, and other assorted opinions for you by night. She is working on her own fiction, and spends time making jewelry to sell at local conventions, as well as stalking the social media accounts of all your favorite writers.