The mirror world by Femi Fadugba

274p.  The Mirror World is the sequel to Femi Fadugba’s speculative debut novel. Set in 2040’s London approx 5 years on from the events of The Upper World, Rhianna is now the central character.  It is not her Mentor Esso’s face we see on the cover this time but Rhia’s. Rhianna is arriving at Oxford University to take up her place as a first year Physics undergraduate. She seems determined to put Upper World experiences behind her and focus on her own ambitions to change the world through quantum physics.  She rarely communicates with Esso. An orphan from the other side of the tracks in Peckham, her outstanding mind lacks self-confidence - the same as any Fresher meeting an esteemed professor for a one-on-one tutorial for the very first time.

Rumours of a secret elite society called the Ravens, tantalize Rhia. Even Oxford graduates can wind up back on struggle street beyond university – but not this network producing many of the world’s wealthy and powerful people. Its most famous Alumni running for Prime Minister is unlike any politician or corporate CEO Rhia has ever met but it's Imogen and her friends (all older students) who confirm the existence of the Ravens.  They pressure her to take drugs for the first time in return for a shot at membership. Will she succumb to peer pressure or is this the first test ahead of a gruelling initiation ceremony?

Reaping success from her Raven connections,  Zedek, takes her to the heart of the CantorCorp where Rhianna will eventually work. He shares the Mirror chip at the centre of a quantum computing project, capable of storing the sum of all human knowledge.  Later Imogen alerts Rhia to the growing malevolent presence from The Upper World. Can Rhia calculate the physical forces necessary or be destroyed by electromagnetic fields? 

Another fast-paced instalment in the series, to follow the announcement that The Upper World is soon to be a major movie starring Academy Award Winner, Daniel Kaluuya. Senior students may even start thinking about their own upcoming academic lives in the near future.  

Themes: Speculative, Sci Fi, fraternities, diversity,.

Deborah Robins