July 2, 2024
Anomaly, the debut YA novel by Emma Lord, is fast-paced, compelling and confidently plotted. In 2020, Piper Manning awakens 52 days after a virus has wiped out her town—and perhaps all of Australia. Isolating herself from others, she strives to control the destructive powers she has developed after surviving the virus. Setting out to find food, Piper discovers another ‘anomaly’ (someone who survived the virus), the badly injured Seth, who explains the looming horror they must escape. Lord seamlessly moves between the past and present, using Piper’s memories to reveal her past problems. These challenges made her an outsider, a quality that prepared her to confront the seemingly insurmountable obstacles ahead. Her trenchant humour is her weapon against disappointment and fear. Lord’s copywriting experience has helped hone her concise style but not at the expense of her characters, who are fully realised, or her depiction of the NSW country landscape, which is vivid. Like the Australian dystopian classic Tomorrow, When the War Began and Neil Druckmann’s The Last of Us, Anomaly’s taut prose propels the action while painting a stark picture of a frightening world that demands ordinary young people become extraordinary heroes. While Anomaly is a gripping page-turner, it does contain challenging themes such as torture, sickness and death, and is best suited for readers aged 14+.