Kree
A Post-Exotic Novel
A woman navigates life and death in a post-apocalyptic world in Manuela Draeger’s literary novel Kree.
Long after wars and famine decimate the world, new creatures, religions, and autocracies arise to carve out places of power among the ragged, shrinking groups of survivors. Kree, a ruthless fighter since childhood, avoids it all as much as possible, allowing only two trusted companions to get close to her: Myriam, a healer with her own ideas about how to navigate their grotesque reality, and Loka, a dog whose terrible fate will alter the course of Kree’s own destiny.
Kree inhabits a gruesome, fetid world with dwindling resources wherein time, memory, and morals no longer have meaning. All she can do is wander, doing whatever is necessary to survive or to achieve goals that she has no conscious knowledge of. She travels through realms that defy easy explanation. There are frightening rumors of dead humans reborn as avian creatures, blurring the line between life and the afterlife. What brought the world to such a grim state no longer matters, least of all to Kree, a fierce, complex woman who spent a lifetime learning to kill but who is still capable of the occasional act of blunt mercy.
The book’s nonlinear storytelling emphasizes Kree’s sense of displacement while revealing piecemeal her past, present, and future. Bizarre imagery melds with the stark realities of oppression to create a harrowing, inescapable atmosphere. All chances of a happy ending seem to have died when the world did, but choosing one’s own path brings a form of Pyrrhic satisfaction, even when one does not get a choice of their final destination.
Kree is a dark, mind-bending novel about what humanity is left with once they have nothing to remember or to fight for.
Reviewed by
Eileen Gonzalez
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
