SILENT CITY

Post-apocalyptic Ireland is a chilling setting for this dystopian novel.

When something called the Emergency strikes Ireland, turning most of its human population into terrifying zombie-like creatures called skrake, 14-year-old Orpen is on her own after her two mothers die. She’s captured by a band of banshees, women who serve as warriors and guards for the few thousand humans left living in Phoenix City, a walled city adjacent to Dublin. Judged fit by Ash, the formidable banshee leader, Orpen becomes part of A-Troop, the squad that captured her, and is trained to fight and kill. The banshees are structured on the Spartan model, with bonded pairs of women who live and fight together. Orpen soon becomes attached emotionally to her partner, Agata, despite her mysterious absences. Orpen also learns about the strict social hierarchy of the city, with management (mostly male) at the top; farmers, breeders, and wallers, who work constantly to build and repair the thick, high walls that keep out the ravening skrake, next; and, at the bottom, the shunned dwellers in what’s called the shanties, formerly the Dublin Zoo. Banshees hold special status as enforcers, but most of the city’s scant resources are controlled by the leaders, who reinforce their power by holding occasional human sacrifices of rule-breakers. The novel’s worldbuilding is crisply efficient, with enough detail to create a sense of dread, especially in set pieces like a banshee foray into a long-abandoned airport to hunt for supplies. Orpen’s candid first-person narration lets the reader learn about her new world as she does, an isolated place without electricity or cars, factories or guns, and dwindling levels of literacy. The plot is fast-paced and suspenseful, and the banshees satisfyingly heroic.

A girl comes of age as a warrior in a ruined world in this headlong thriller.