Stolen Voices- Ellen Dee Davidson

Although this author was previously unknown to me, in Stolen Voices, she masters the science fiction genre. When the world as we know it has ended, a new world evolves where citizens lose any individual voice and all is ruled by a small elite group and the Voice who speaks for them all, the Masker. Miri, at 15, has reached the age where she and her fellow students will become masked and join the ranks of those who use their talents only to promote unity. Unfortunately, Miri has not yet discovered her talent, which placed her in peril of becoming classed with the lowest of servants. During the masking of her peers, she sees a sight that frightens her as she watches their masking and the Masker draining them of all their individuall colours to augment his own power. Miri is then discovered and informed by the Masker that she will become a servant. With the help of the Masker’s servant, she escapes to the outside where she is feared, mistrusted and eventually heralded as one who has a great talent which had been thought to be forever lost. In time, Miri must make the hard choice between the world she thinks she knows and a new world where there may indeed be individual ideas. There are lots of themes inherent in this novel; coming-of-age, the value of the individual, the use or mis-use of talents and the difficulty of making hard choices. I really just enjoyed the fast-paced and unique plot line of this story and hope to see more from this author.

It reminded me somewhat of The Uglies. et al, by Scott Westerman.