The First Sister

CW: sexual assault, medical experimentation, parental and domestic abuse, racism and xenophobia, transphobia

I had seen the cover of this book before but never thought of reading it. And I was almost the same when I kept seeing reviews of the sequel very recently. But suddenly I found the book on sale and as an extreme impulse buyer, I couldn't resist. And then immediately picked up the book because I was bored of others and this seemed like a perfect fit for one of my readathon prompts. And wow was this an interesting experience.

I usually read books very quickly, within one or two sittings because I just can't put a book down when I'm loving it. But I kept reading this one bit by bit everyday, not because I wasn't enjoying it, but I guess I just wasn't in the right frame of mind to binge. And this one is not a quick read either. The author's writing is straightforward, in the sense that it cuts through every pretense and pierces your heart with the myriad of emotions the characters are feeling. The pacing is just right, with quite a bit of time left for contemplation; and this is definitely needed because the author does not shy away from exploring tough themes like discrimination, exploitation, abuse and never ending wars due to scarcity of resources. And just as the book is marketed, it has a very solid religious backdrop based on misogyny just like The Handmaid's Tale. While this book maybe set in a very distant future, the idea of huge corporations controlling politicians to do whatever they wanted without regulations, and the use of organized religion as a tool for oppression and warmongering felt all too close to our real world.

The characters here are a bunch who are very easy to sympathize with. One of them is a nameless young woman called First Sister, part of the religious Sisterhood, who has no voice (literally) but it's very obvious that taking away ones voice and preaching them the canon of a religion endlessly doesn't mean they will forget their desires, or won't long for something more than they are allowed to have. There is a strength in her which even she doesn't realize, and it is this that compels her to make her own decisions instead of letting others decide the course of her life.

Lito on the other hand is also strong, but his strength is derived both from his training as an elite soldier, as well as the survival instincts he has had to develop to climb up from the lowest rungs of society to a more respectable position. Everything he does is keeping in mind of his sister's wellbeing and safety, and this sometimes compels him to act in opposition to his beliefs. He is also suffering from ptsd after a failed mission, as well as missing his long time duelist partner who has been separated from him. It's this grief and emotional turmoil of his that drives most of his story, and it was fascinating to see him grapple with the one after other surprise blows he is dealt with, and realize how he changes as a person as a result of it all.

Hiro and Ren are two other important side characters whose presence (and absence) deeply affects our main characters. Hiro's story is told through a series of audio recording fragments before every alternate chapter, addressed to Lito and their backstory is heartbreaking, but they also have a conviction about them to right all the wrongs done to them and I really appreciated their character despite not actually being present on page. Ren is another fascinating character to round out this quartet because she is a war hero which creates certain impressions about her initially, but unraveling her true personality was a delight and the way she helps the young First Sister realize what lies in her heart was wonderful.

In the end, this was an unexpected surprise of a book which I really enjoyed. It's definitely not a “fun” book because of all that it deals with, but it is thought provoking, and might make us question what we would do if any of the possible futuristic elements mentioned in this story become our reality. This is full of great characters, lots of emotional depth, and a twist at the end which I did not see coming at all but made perfect sense. I can't wait to see what The Second Rebel has in store for me.