I dug Fama’s part-historical fiction, part-ghost story Monstrous Beauty. Plus One is a major departure from it, though it’s still within the SFF genre. It postulates an alternate history where the Spanish flu separated American society into two groups of people. The Rays live during the day and sleep at night. The Smudges live during the night and sleep during the day. It’s an interesting premise that isn’t fully explained until pretty far into the novel, requiring a rather hefty suspension of disbelief.

Sol is a Smudge. She may have had potential at some point in her young life, but she occupies a dead end job in a factory now. She hatches a stupid and desperate plan to go steal her brother’s child – the brother who had been born a Smudge but was transferred to day – from the hospital during the daytime so that her dying grandfather – also a Smudge – can hold it before he passes. Things take off from there and don’t really ever slow down. It seemed to me that the entire novel takes place within the span of a few days.

Her kissing partner from the book’s cover is a day boy named D’Arcy whom she meets at the hospital while undertaking her foolish plan. He’s privileged, studying to be a doctor, and has powerful parents. He initially tries to foil Sol’s plan, but then becomes caught up in it, and the two fall in love (bet you didn’t see that coming).

There are a lot of little details that I liked. The society has a French flavor, which is not something I’ve seen before. I thought the setup of the day/night divide was an interesting way to explore privilege and class, though it strained my credulity and I didn’t ever really buy it. The explanation came too late for me. (Yet I didn’t care about Delirium‘s farfetched-ness. Go figure.) The love story is nice and features a pretty empowering (non-explicit) sex scene that I think will resonate with many teenagers. There’s some nice emotional moments between Sol and her grandfather and a complicated, thorny history between Sol and her brother as well.

Fama’s writing is good – she has a way with words. But all in all I just don’t think this story felt as polished as Monstrous Beauty, which juggled two time periods expertly. There are frequent flashbacks in Plus One that slow the pace considerably, though they’re interesting and provide necessary backstory. (I’m a tough reader for flashbacks; they’re too easily skimmed. I dislike them almost as much as I dislike dream sequences and visions.) The world-building wasn’t as strong as I wanted it to be. I liked the book; I didn’t love it. It’s a solid entry in what seems to be the moderately popular subgenre of alternate histories, though, and if you have readers who dig that sort of thing, this should interest them.

(P. S. – This book is not a dystopia.)

Review copy provided by the publisher. Plus One is available now.