Destiny of a Free Spirit by Stephen Ford - REVIEW
Destiny of a Free Spirit by Stephen Ford is an ambitious speculative fiction novel filled with profound themes about humanity and our place in the world, making the reader question what it truly means to be human.
Set in the far future (or not so far for the pessimist out there), after a devastating nuclear war, the world is divided into two realms: Ecologia, where Stone Age people live alongside mammoths and sabre-toothed cats, and Economica, a technologically advanced society served by robots, both governed by the powerful Commission. While Ecologia worships the Commission as a deity, Economica resents it as an obstructive bureaucracy. Peter discovers a portal between the realms and leads a double life, but when his friend Simon uncovers the Commission's true nature and is silenced, Peter's questions about his future intensify. As the portal's closure looms, Peter must decide where he truly belongs.
Peter, who at the beginning of the story is a member of Economica’s elite with the job and finance that go with it, is an interesting subversion of the stereotypical protagonist within the post-dystopian genre. He isn't an underdog; he doesn’t need anything tangible or suffer from injustice placed upon him by the system. In fact, he tried to join a political group to help the workers suffering injustice, only to come to the reality that there aren’t any workers left to suffer injustice. Peter is comfortable, but not truly happy. Ford ensures that Peter doesn’t come across as ungrateful or unaware of the privilege he has. As you go through the book, you learn more about Peter and find someone who struggles to connect with others despite desperately wanting to. He is not a revolutionary, but that’s not what this story is about. Peter is human; and that is one of the overarching themes within the book. Are we still human when we feel like what we do has no purpose? When all our basic needs are met, how do we find meaning? Some of us are creative and can find a purpose through that. Who, despite not believing himself to be an altruistic person at his core, wants to help people when there are no people to help? And is that perhaps why he keeps slipping through the portal to Ecologia, to find purpose?
That doesn’t make Peter a flawless person; the book includes enough moments showing him conducting himself in less stellar ways, mostly involving the women in his life and the relationships he had a hand in ending due to his refusal to communicate. Or the way he handles his “affairs” when making his decision. Another standout character is Peter's best friend Simon, whom he refers to as one of the best minds he’s ever known. Serving as the man in the chair in a way, Simon has been onto the Commission far longer than Peter has. Ford's implication that Simon is on the spectrum has isolated him far more than it has his friend. Whereas Peter was still taken in and managed to thrive socially yet awkwardly, Simon wasn’t given as much social grace. When the reader is first introduced to him, it’s stated that Peter might be his only friend, and despite this, we are given the impression that he is happier than his friend. Despite not having status and all that comes with it like Peter and Tim, he is pursuing what he values through learning, particularly learning the things the Commission doesn’t want you to learn. We only ever see him show genuine sadness after the Commission has already interfered with him, taking away his curiosity and intelligence. Simon is also another great world-building tool, as even though it is heavily implied that he is on the spectrum, no one seems to be able to confirm this, implying to the reader a lot more has either been lost or edited out of public knowledge.
The overall writing style of the book lends itself very well to the story. Ford's overtly flowery language in his descriptions adds a lot to the characterisation of Peter, from whose perspective the reader is experiencing the story. He’s very upfront and, by his own admission, isn’t very good at communicating. This doesn’t mean that the book is boring to read; however, Ford brings in many techniques that more writers should utilise in their writing. In particular, his world-building of both Ecologia and Economica. One of the standout moments is the way both sides understand how they came to be. We first hear the story from the group leader in Ecologia, through a myth of Gaia and how she was attacked by the destructive forces of Vulcan. The myth not only tells the reader exactly what happened whilst avoiding a tedious info dump but also highlights the pieces of culture that have managed to survive. Vulcan and Gaia are deities we as readers could have come across, known to us from ancient civilisations long past. It also adds another layer of realism; humans have explained things away with myths for thousands of years. Comparing it to Simon and Peter finding out the people who live in Ecologia are descendants of a hippy group, Ford gave them a history, cultural view and culture with two short scenes that make them feel real.
Throughout the book, Ford demonstrates remarkable imagination, from the creation of robot replicas of loved ones to the revival of mammoths. This showcases his deep love for the natural world and reflects how both his childhood experiences and his adult career in technology have shaped his writing. His description of the Commission is reminiscent of Isaac Asimov's I, Robot , raising thought-provoking questions about humanity losing control over itself with our ever-increasing reliance on technology. Overall, Destiny of a Free Spirit is an interesting look at humanity and society, commenting on happiness as a community and an individual, creating a compelling read.
