Review: The Delta Codex

The Delta Codex by Deva Fagan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.7★
Now this was a very fun read: the world is so immersive and rich, I think it's the most outstanding aspect of this novel. The characters took their sweet time to evolve, speeding up in the third act, which didn't bother me at all, but in audiobook form, it was hard to gauge how long that was. My biggest concern, which isn't really a concern, is the age rating. This is totally in the upper side of middle-grade, I'd say, for kids 12 to 14, dealing with subjects such as religion and emotional grooming. The ecological side was well treated, with simple explanations (maybe too simple if we're targeting the upper age range, but easy to brush through). I would have loved it if the main character had her development sooner, most of the book giving into silence and almost a meek attitude that I'd find kids difficult to see themselves reflected in (some will, but I fell its a smaller demographic). I really appreciate characters using they/them pronouns too!! So refreshing to see characters with disabilities, too, from illness to selective mutism (I'm gonna treat a vow of silence as selective mutism here).
I feel this is great to initiate kids into the dystopia genre, very entertaining and with such important matters.

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