Eloia Born by Britta Jensen

Leanora is of the opinion that the Mists have rendered everyone in her tribe blind. Her father is the only one who is allowed to know that she thinks she is one of the few people to regain partial sight. She thinks her mother has passed away. She feels infatuated with Dex, the boy she has known since she was a young child. All of these notions are disproved by Leanora’s voyage in Eloia Born, in addition to many others.

Consider Eloia Born to be the spiritual successor to M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village and Lois Lowry’s The Giver as a dystopian tale and quest story. We rapidly discover that the residents of Leanora’s colony are blind not by accident but on purpose. Though it is not explicitly stated in the narrative, we also discover that the big experiment of “a society without bias” has failed.

For instance, the disparity in social standing between Leanora and Dex’s families discourages them from starting a relationship. Despite being blind, people still make judgements about others based on their physical characteristics or skin tone. Leanora and Dex leaving their village, as they must do, is the point at which the tale diverges from more typical, comparable plotlines.

RELATED STORIES

Stuck in Her Head by Kylie Wang

8 Best Trending Fiction Books of 2023

December 23, 2023

1.5k

8 Most Anticipated Young Adult Books of Fall 2023

November 11, 2023

1.5k

The fact that there are other individuals in the world and different opportunities for friendship and love is something these two youngsters swiftly come to realise. Their paths start to diverge as they pick up new abilities. I liked how openly Jensen discussed how people change in late adolescence and how sometimes “high school sweethearts” (for want of a better term) drift apart.

Although Jensen included a section at the beginning of the book outlining the research she performed before creating her characters, I am not blind, so I cannot comment to the veracity of her descriptions of life with restricted vision. The one false note I noticed in the story, and it’s a jarring one, is the character who was added later and speaks in a racist patois, saying things like, “Dey wish you bless dem and stay wit dem,” etc.

The white and brown characters, one of whom uses the expression “like an animal,” view this character, who has blue skin, as having “exotic beauty.” It appears that some preconceptions are still prevalent in a society where racism has been theorised to be nonexistent.

About The Book

A girl who’s lost her mother. A boy learning about love. Both with a secret neither knows about and a journey that could tear them apart. When half-sighted Leanora catches her father committing an unspeakable crime she is forced to flee her village with her blind best friend, Dex. Together they seek answers to the Mists that caused disabilities in many communities on their planet.

The journey of discovery isn’t without hardship. Dex drifts away from Leanora, new truths emerge about her family and a newfound power haunts her. Across the deserts of Eloia her heart calls her in a new direction. Does she have the courage to heed its call, even if it means leaving everything she knows behind?

Check out the user reviews of Eloia Born on HypeBunch.