Breeder

by Honni van Rijswijk

Overview

2022 Lammy Award Finalist for LGBTQ Speculative Fiction

Will Meadows is a seemingly average fifteen-year-old Westie, who lives and works in Zone F, the run-down outermost ring of the Corporation. In the future state of the Corp, a person’s value comes down to productivity: the right actions win units, the wrong ones lose them. If Will is unlucky and goes into unit debt, there’s only one place to go: the Rator. But for Zone F Breeders, things are much worse—they’re born into debt and can only accrue units through reproduction.

Every day in Zone F is a struggle, especially for Will who is fighting against time for access to an illegal medical drug, Crystal 8. Under the cover of night, Will travels to the Gray Zone, where life is less regulated and drugs—and people—are exchanged for gold. There, Will meets Rob, a corrupt member of the Corporation running a Breeder smuggling operation. Will also meets Alex, another teen whom he quickly recognizes as a Breeder in disguise.

Suddenly, Will has an illicit job and money, access to Crystal, and a real friend. As the pair grows closer, Alex shares her secret: she is part of the Response, an uprising to overthrow the Corporation. Caught up in the new friendship, Will and Alex become careless as the two covertly travel into Zone B for a day of adventure. Nothing goes as planned and Will’s greatest fear is realized. Will his true identity be revealed?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781094099804
Publisher:	Blackstone Publishing
Publication date:	07/13/2021
Pages:	195
Sales rank:	1,140,404
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Honni van Rijswijk is a writer, lawyer, and academic. Breeder is her debut novel. Her fiction has appeared in Southerly and was short-listed for Zoetrope: All-Story. She is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of Technology Sydney, where her research focuses on intersections between law, technology, and culture. She lives in Sydney, Australia, with her partner and their daughter.

Editorial Reviews

07/01/2021

Gr 9 Up—In the aftermath of a cataclysmic environmental crisis, the Corporation is in total control, and people are valued solely for what they can produce. Boys and men are put to work. Girls are Breeders, forced to act as surrogates, growing and birthing babies for the Corporation. Will is a 15-year-old boy living in the poorest zone of the Corp. He knows his society is inhumane but believes there is no point in resisting an absolute power. When Will's life falls apart and his secrets are revealed, he realizes passive acceptance is no longer an option. Will is an engaging narrator, irreverent and fatalistic about his lot in life. He naively parrots many of the lies that have been fed to him by the Corp, and readers must discern his reliability in different situations. The themes introduced are intriguing: the dangers of unchecked capitalism, gender identity and the commodification of gender, and the conflict between self-preservation and morality. Despite such an interesting premise, this novel does not fully realize its potential. It often feels rushed, secondary characters are flat, their motivations and actions sometimes illogical, and the worldbuilding is confusing. With a totalitarian regime clearly in the habit of lying to its populace, it is possible that these perceived flaws are actually intentional confusion funneled through the narrator. The effect leaves something to be desired. VERDICT This dystopian novel poses fascinating questions but rushes their exploration, and is recommended for additional purchase.—Elizabeth Lovsin, Deerfield P.L., IL

School Library Journal

2021-05-11
The Corporation runs everything inside the Wall.

If you’re not part of the Corp, you’re in debt to them and there is no escape. Will Meadows and his Ma live in Zone F, where Will attends school and works long hours at the desalination plant. Ma gets him his daily doses of Crystal 8, starving herself to be able to afford the drugs. When they run out, Will is forced to become a Breeder runner in the Gray Zone in exchange for a supply of Crystal. In a world where environmental degradation has left most people infertile, Breeder runners smuggle young girls and women into the Incubator, where they are branded, forcibly inseminated, and made to give birth. The smugglers get a cut of the profits. While in the Gray Zone, Will meets Alex, an escaped breeder disguised as an undocumented Wall Kid. When Will is captured by the Corp, he thinks his life is over, but the corruption of the Gray Corps may offer a way out. Will has to find a way to save himself and Alex—or die trying. This short, fast-paced novel set in a futuristic yet terrifyingly familiar world is perfect for fans of Marie Lu’s Legend series. Readers will find themselves fully immersed in the bleak Corporation landscape and the lives and fates of those struggling to survive. Main characters are cued as White.

An absorbing tale of survival in a post-apocalyptic future. (Dystopian. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews