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Born on the lush island nation of Mahana, Fred lives under the tyrannical rule of a book-burning king. Under the king's rule, Mahanians are controlled by a military dictatorship and threatened with forced starvation, while people with disabilities are exiled. After Fred's father suddenly disappears, Fred joins an underground movement of dissenters and becomes an unwitting global icon in the fight for Mahanian freedom. When he is recruited and relocated by an organization that appears sympathetic to Fred's cause, he arrives in a seemingly peaceful foreign nation, where the impact of social media and technology creates a new, stranger struggle.
A dystopian thriller, a speculative fiction, and a coming-of-age story, Wong's novel thrums with biting bursts of staccato-like prose - a fitting accompaniment to a fascinating exploration of contrasting political systems. As Fred unpeels layers of truth and sees beyond the optics of altruism and the illusion of choice, Slice the Water unpacks the myriad amplifying impacts of technology, addiction, and complacency. "A twisty adventure story with endearing, heart-melting characters. Slice the Water is a biting Swiftian satire that critiques both book-burning despots and well-meaning techno-progressive elites. PP Wong sweeps her readers up in a universe that feels uniquely alive and wondrously imagined - one that brilliantly reveals our own world." "Wong has the preternatural gift of making the strange familiar and the familiar strange. The world of this novel is a refracted version of our own, with themes of suppression, addiction, celebrity, grief, and love made slightly more magical and slightly more monstrous, but always smart, witty, and relevant. This novel is a knockout." "You may think you recognize the world of PP Wong's Slice the Water: the oppressive whims of a tyrant dictator; an under-resourced small country whose suffering is hidden from the world stage. But the novel is on every page surprising and keenly imagined in its world-building. The stakes are dire. You care deeply about the fate of this village. You're fearful in the face of the hopeful naïveté of the teenage protagonist and his friends as they learn about the danger and corruption in the world around them. Slice the Water is a tough story, yet a feast to read."
A dystopian thriller, a speculative fiction, and a coming-of-age story, Wong's novel thrums with biting bursts of staccato-like prose - a fitting accompaniment to a fascinating exploration of contrasting political systems. As Fred unpeels layers of truth and sees beyond the optics of altruism and the illusion of choice, Slice the Water unpacks the myriad amplifying impacts of technology, addiction, and complacency. "A twisty adventure story with endearing, heart-melting characters. Slice the Water is a biting Swiftian satire that critiques both book-burning despots and well-meaning techno-progressive elites. PP Wong sweeps her readers up in a universe that feels uniquely alive and wondrously imagined - one that brilliantly reveals our own world." "Wong has the preternatural gift of making the strange familiar and the familiar strange. The world of this novel is a refracted version of our own, with themes of suppression, addiction, celebrity, grief, and love made slightly more magical and slightly more monstrous, but always smart, witty, and relevant. This novel is a knockout." "You may think you recognize the world of PP Wong's Slice the Water: the oppressive whims of a tyrant dictator; an under-resourced small country whose suffering is hidden from the world stage. But the novel is on every page surprising and keenly imagined in its world-building. The stakes are dire. You care deeply about the fate of this village. You're fearful in the face of the hopeful naïveté of the teenage protagonist and his friends as they learn about the danger and corruption in the world around them. Slice the Water is a tough story, yet a feast to read."