1.19.2025

finished reading

This premise piqued my interest: a contemporary speculative dystopian story set in the permafrost tundra in Canada. Unfortunately, the stereotypes and tropes explored are too clichéd for me. Sex workers, entitled male characters (really, not one of the male characters is multi-dimensional), and commercial exploitation by capitalists. The narrative threads were all over the place, with flashbacks and backstories in weird sections of the book. As critical as I sound, the premise and the world-building absolutely held my interest.

From the publisher:
In the far north of Canada sits Camp Zero, an American building project hiding many secrets.

Desperate to help her climate-displaced Korean immigrant mother, Rose agrees to travel to Camp Zero and spy on its architect in exchange for housing. She arrives at the same time as another newcomer, a college professor named Grant who is determined to flee his wealthy family’s dark legacy. Gradually, they realize that there is more to the architect than previously thought, and a disturbing mystery lurks beneath the surface of the camp. At the same time, rumors abound of an elite group of women soldiers living and working at a nearby Cold War-era climate research station. What are they doing there? And who is leading them?

An electrifying page-turner where nothing is as it seems, Camp Zero cleverly explores how the intersection of gender, class, and migration will impact who and what will survive in a warming world.

#52BookClub prompt 14: Climate fiction

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