May 162014
Ramirez’ debut novel demonstrates a formidable talent. It starts off with a murder that shouldn’t be possible, goes on to subvert common genre tropes, and it’s all written in spare, simple, self-reflective prose that would do any MFA course master proud. The Noah is a generation ship escaping the mysterious destruction of Earth, a society lives for its future generations. There’s a significant dystopian element, including a strict Ministry of Information as dark as the one who put rats over Winston Smiths’ face. It’s not perfect – I found rather unnecessary the repulsive rape scene early on but it’s very good.