Book Review: Daughter of Bad Times

REVIEW: It feels strange describing the future depicted in Australian writer Rohan Wilson’s new novel as “dystopian”
That word implies some mad flight of fancy on the author’s part, whereas Wilson’s grim vision is so realistic one could almost call it inevitable
It’s the year 2072 and climate change has irreversibly altered the world as we know it
Rising sea levels have rendered entire populations homeless. When a massive tsunami devastates the Maldives, American private prison company Cabey-Yasuda sees an opportunity to profit
It opens “migrant facilities” – prisons by another name – where environmental refugees are put to work on production lines, trading their labour for the promise of eventual release and resettlement
Against this backdrop, we have a classic tale of star-crossed lovers: Yamaan, a Maldivian refugee, and Rin, the daughter of Cabey-Yasuda’s CEO
Yamaan is trapped in a Cabey-Yasuda facility in Australia; Rin is determined to bust him out, no matter the consequences
  READ MORE: * Book review: Cari Mora by Thomas Harris * Beside Myself: book review * The Porpoise by Mark Haddon * Waring’s toxic parliamentary years As a plot, it has great potential
Yet Wilson lets himself down somewhat by structuring the novel in a needlessly complicated way, skipping back and forth around the timeline so that we almost immediately know all of the major plot points and character dynamics
Had he simply told the story in chronological order, there would have been many

moments of suspense, relief, shock and apprehension for the reader as the plot unfolded
Instead, he offers up almost everything right from the outset, so there’s little to propel us through; we’re not hungry to find out more
This criticism aside, there’s a lot Wilson does well. His prose is clear and confident
He alternates skilfully between the perspectives of Rin and Yamaan, giving them distinct voices and equally fleshed-out characters
  He also manages to depict the 2070s in a chillingly believable way without going overboard on details
It would be tempting, as an author, to spend pages and pages describing your imaginary future world, dreaming up new products and fashions and ways of living
Instead, Wilson keeps his eyes on the plot, telling us only what we need to know and remembering that 50 years is enough to change some things, but not everything
The developments he does talk about are, like the climate-change crisis, very plausible: the dominance of self-driving cars, the use of 3D printing in surgery, smart glasses that have replaced smartphones
(Although that last one might be doubtful, considering the real-life precursor to this technology, Google Glass, was a flop
) It’s inherently interesting – and, in this case, terrifying – peeking into a world that could well become the reality within our lifetimes
As a cautionary tale, Daughter of Bad Times hits the mark perfectly. With less fiddly chronology, it could have hit the mark perfectly as an entertaining story, too
Daughter of Bad Times by Rohan Wilson (Allen & Unwin, $32.99)

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