Review: Desolation: Keep Your Imaginary Friends Close by D. Harrigon

I received a free copy of this book from the author in return for an honest review.

‘More monsters. More violence. More twists.

‘Stealing the biggest boat in the colony is a difficult task. It’s easier with friends.

‘Hetch finds herself with a cabal of helpers she didn’t ask for, but desperately needs. Getting to Landing Site One now seems tantalisingly within reach. But who exactly is getting on the boat?

‘More twists and turns await Hetch as she tries to force her childhood fantasy into a shattering reality. The consequences of her actions in the first book are compounded by a new set of players who have their own agenda.

‘Who will survive?’

Desolation: Keep Your Imaginary Friends Close, by D. Harrigon, picks up two months on from the events of Desolation: The Overdue Library.

Hetch is, so far, managing to avoid being recognised as the infiltrator of Muha-Maho Palace, while working with Veva, Pearson, and other allies to skim salvaged materials and supplies to fit out a technologically-advanced boat (“Bilbo”) for their planned expedition to Landing Site One – the true location of which Hetch discovered in the previous instalment.

Of course, plenty of obstacles come up: a particularly vicious crab takes Pearson’s steam engine out of action; Hetch has to deal with being pulled in for a regional identity parade, as well as the hostility of Aqualina, the contender she reluctantly took down in a fight at the palace; and a trio of false friends steal a cutter containing metal and flour Hetch and co. desperately need for their mission.

Then Captain Galetea, unaware of Bilbo’s true purpose, makes an offer the gang can’t refuse: she’ll supply everything they need to complete the boat in record time, in return for them pursuing the rebel Daughters of the Iron Drum, who have not only taken our heroes’ goods, but a precious man from the huts at Muha-Maho.

We meet Daughters Nzinga, Organa, and Inari as they sneakily join a salvage mission, commandeer the loaded cutter – and end up in mortal danger when the man they’ve kidnapped fights back in ways that are surprising to say the least.

Desolation: Keep Your Imaginary Friends Close is a more than worthy follow-up to Desolation: The Overdue Library. Now we have a grounding in the fundamentals of Hetch’s world, the author makes the most of the opportunity to add colour and texture, yet keeps the plot moving and the threats coming at the fast pace he set in the first instalment.

The key way Harrigon builds upon book one is by introducing additional characters and storylines, giving the plot a more sophisticated feel and heightening the sense of action and excitement.

Nzinga’s narrative particularly exemplifies this. Through her, we get insights into the ideology and aims of the Daughters of the Iron Drum; scenes of extreme peril that deliver on the interlude at the end of The Overdue Library; and an antagonist for both Hetch’s crew and the denizens of the Palace – albeit one the reader can sympathise with, having knowledge of her inner conflicts and where she ends up.

We also get to know some of the characters we’ve already met a bit better. It was interesting to find out more about Hetch’s backstory and see where she lives. As I’d hoped, engineers Veva and Pearson (aka Vee and Pea) are in the series for the long haul. A handful of others reappear to help or hinder Hetch, and are entertaining either way. And, as the blurb and my summary indicate, we get to meet some more of the planet’s grotesque, inhospitable creatures.

Something that’s really stood out to me so far in this series is the way the colonists have clung on to Earth culture for so long, as part of their centuries-long conviction that they’re only on this sub-optimal planet until they can assemble the means to get back “home”. While this particularly comes through in their attachment to Earthly books and films (and apparent refusal/failure to create any entertainment media of their own), I think their custom of choosing names for themselves based on their geographical ancestry is an inspired touch.

This all puts me in mind of histories/stories of (terrestrial) migration: how first and subsequent generations of migrants stay connected (or otherwise) to their country of origin, and how they perceive themselves in terms of nationality and belonging. Clearly, in this case, the majority of the colonists dislike the planet so much/are so invested in the ‘we’re going back to Earth as soon as we can’ narrative that they don’t consider themselves to be “of” the planet. At the same time, if they got to Earth having missed 300+ years of human affairs and cultural developments, would they feel like they belonged there either? Could the reality be a letdown after three centuries of hype?

As in the previous book, Harrigon has largely managed to avoid the common “men writing women” mistakes – usually, when characters are described in terms of beauty, it’s pertinent to the plot, or it’s through the eyes of another character who’s rather taken by them. However, one apprentice engineer is described as ‘surprisingly attractive’, and I couldn’t work out what was so surprising!

Desolation: Keep Your Imaginary Friends Close is an exciting and multifaceted addition to a continuing series.