In his debut novel, William Campbell Powell poses questions of what makes us human in a world where mechanical children are the norm. Here is our thoughts on Expiration Day!
From the Back: It is the year 2049, and humanity is on the brink of extinction….
Tania Deeley has always been told that she’s a rarity: a human child in a world where most children are sophisticated androids manufactured by Oxted Corporation. When a decline in global fertility ensued, it was the creation of these near-perfect human copies called teknoids that helped to prevent the utter collapse of society.
Though she has always been aware of the existence of teknoids, it is not until her first day at The Lady Maud High School for Girls that Tania realizes that her best friend, Siân, may be one. Returning home from the summer holiday, she is shocked by how much Siân has changed. Is it possible that these changes were engineered by Oxted? And if Siân could be a teknoid, how many others in Tania’s life are not real?
Driven by the need to understand what sets teknoids apart from their human counterparts, Tania begins to seek answers. But time is running out. For everyone knows that on their eighteenth “birthdays,” teknoids must be returned to Oxted—never to be heard from again.
I’ve sat down to write this review probably 4 times since reading this book. The one thing that I kept trying to do was portray the book in a better light than what my words say. This isn’t a bad book, it’s not poorly written, and it poses some serious questions about humanity and what makes one human. Why couldn’t I put that into good words? I’m just going to come out and say it. The book was dull.
It wasn’t action packed, it wasn’t taut with all sorts of tension and mystery, it just. Is.
Then, before my 5th time writing the review, it really dawned on me. It’s that dullness that connects us to the character, and that, due to the book written in a diary format, you truly get to understand Tania Deeley. Everyday life isn’t all that interesting when you think about it. Sure, there are high’s and low’s of each day, but when all is said and done, could you write a book about each day? Probably not. To understand this book though you have to understand Tania Deeley, and through her writing, you get her. That’s sort of the brilliance in William Campbell Powell’s book. He creates this world where children have all but become extinct, and lets you in on it a little bit at a time through one girl’s diary.
The book isn’t without tension though. There are moments where you are sitting on the edge of your seat zipping through the pages discovering things as they are revealed. The end is so filled with drama that it seemed that it could have been ripped right from a John Grisham novel.
Expiration Day isn’t without flaws either though. The fact that it’s written in a diary format, while it works in one aspect lets you in on the climax of the book just for the fact that it’s…well…it’s a diary, past tense. She’s writing the events that have already happened, so you know the end.
The Bottom Line: This is William Campbell Powell’s first book, and it’s quite a sketch on the question of humanity, and what makes us human. There are plenty of parts that you can skim through, and I thought the book could have been trimmed up by about 25-50 pages, but the very slow build still was able to draw out the intricacies of Tania and those around her. It’s definitely worth a look, and I’m looking forward to more work from this author.