Debris by Jo Anderton
Review by Barbara S. (barbsis)
Four Stars
In Movoc-under-Keeper you are either a pion worker or a debris collector. A pion handler gets paid the rather big bucks because they can create darn near anything from buildings to statues to electricity and everything in between. A pion handler is sort of a magician. They use an inherent magical ability to manipulate pions. On the other hand, a debris collector is sort of like a garbage man and gets paid accordingly; picking up the hazardous waste by-producs of the pion usage. The debris is strong enough to dismantle pion workings and fell buildings. A debris collector has a special suit which reminded me a little of Inspector Gadget where anything you would need to collect debris can be instantly “created” from inside you. The suit involves some sort of metal that is injected into the blood. It’s not really a suit per se, but separate units at neck, waist, wrists and ankles that emits blinding light. They can project all kinds of tools from their wrists to help collect debris – shovels, picks, pincers, etc.
Tanyana Vladha is a brilliant pion manipulator who says someone magically attacked her causing her creation to fall and darn near kill her and the spectators. Interestingly enough, the Veche (kind of like a ruling council) had respresenatives on hand that day doing a surprise inspection. Suspicious? It certainly was to Tanyana. After the accident, Tanyana is “demoted” to debris collector and has to adjust to a life as a garbage picker. She’s good at it but hardly plans to live this way forever. She continues to investigate her accident and runs into road block after road block with the Veche. Suspicious? You bet!
It took a long time to figure out what the heck was going on and what the heck they were talking about but once I figured it out, I really enjoyed Tanyana’s struggles with this new life. She made friends with her debris team and hasn’t lost all hope of a reversal of fortune.
