Review: The Forever Contract by Avery Sawyer

The Forever Contract by Avery Sawyer

In the very near future, the country is plunged into drought and unrest. Scare resources and constant heat are making life completely miserable. Casey doesn't think she can stand slugging back another gel pack or working one more shift at the wells. Fortunately, there's a solution: anyone over the age of seventeen can sign the Forever Contract and enter a utopian paradise. While people's minds take a permanent vacation, their bodies get warehoused and hooked up to a complex array of sensors and feeding tubes. As Casey's brother says, "You upload your consciousness to the system and you're free to live as long as you want, however you want. No more pain, no more heat, no more awful dust, no more work. Just pure thought. It's what our species has always been meant for. Suffering is for philosophers. Not for me."

Casey's ready to sign--a permanent vacation is just what she needs. There's only one problem: her boyfriend James doesn't trust it.

Told from his and her perspectives, The Forever Contract is a 17,000 word (60 page) novella suitable for readers in grade 8 and above.

Would you sign the contract?

(From the Publisher)

 

This short YA novella is a undiscovered gem in my opinion. Sawyer creates an imaginative dystopian world brought on mostly by lack of water, a severe drought. The powers that be create a virtual reality for their citizens so their minds can live in a place free of suffering, while keeping their earthly bodies in a stasis. Kind of like a voluntary Matrix.

The story follows two 16 year olds, Casey and James, who are faced with the decision of whether or not to enter into the Forever contract and join other family members and friends in the virtual world. You care about Casey and James almost immediately, a necessary feat because of the fast pace of the novella structure. Their relationship is a refreshing break from a string of love triangles found in other YA novels.

Of course, as with all dystopian fiction, the world is never quite what its made out to be, and the twists in The Forever Contract are somewhat predictable, but nevertheless satisfying. When James and Patrick go on a sort of "heroic" rampage near the end I was a little mystified as a reader. I think because of the short nature of the story, Sawyer did not have enough time to set up how scary and oppressive the world really was, and thus the characters come off seeming a little less heroic and a little more terrorist like than Sawyer had intended. My main criticism of the story is actually that there was so much more to tell, it really could have made a wonderful full length novel. Regardless, it was an engaging narrative, with good characterization that left you wanting to hear more of the interesting world the author created.