Description
This is not a dystopia. This is not a wasted landscape, a place without hope. This is not the land of Bradbury, Lowry, Collins, Orwell, or Roth. This is not a dystopia. But there are some who would disagree. **** Fifty years after the Third World War and its catastrophic impact on the environment and its inhabitants, societies are just beginning to remember how to do anything but survive. But as attention shifts from bare survival to quality of life, it is clear that not all visions for society are the same--and there are some who would risk a new era of conflict to make their vision a reality. It is in this society teetering between disasters that four young adults find themselves with more power--and in more danger--than they ever expected. Ophelia is a high-ranking government employee, fiercely committed to her vision of the future and harboring a terrifying secret. Derek is the leader of a growing revolution, intent on changing the society he hates--through whatever means possible. Caden is a young, rising soldier caught in a dangerous dance between loyalty and honesty. Indie is a farmer, struggling with mental illness and swept into a conflict that threatens to destroy her home and her future, even as she holds a key to the past that could change it all. Told from four perspectives, Collective explores the politics of idealism, the meaning of freedom, and the choice to define ourselves in the face of an always changing world.
Chapter 1: Ophelia
