At the end of the 6th Domicile we saw Q descending into the muerte, elated that she had finally freed the members of the domicile from their life of compliance, their masks surrendered in defiance of the elders. She welcomes the release of death the the muerte will bring - however the meurte isn’t all that it seems. Waking up restrained on a hospital bed, she is met by A100B, whilst formality is still present, A100B is not your traditional Domicile regular, showing humility and compassion to our Q on one hand but then complete reverence for the elders on the other. Initially believing that B and Grandmother were taken by the muerte, she soon comes to learn that she was “saved” by the Elders and is now a resident of the Vrai Domicile, underground from the 6th. She later learns that Grandmother and B are alive, however they are used against her to ensure her dedication for the cause and she is forced to fight a very different fight, a fight to return order to the domicile.
Something isn’t right though, an over familiarity from members of the Vrai domicile, open acceptance of rule bending, better food, better treatment and why do people always simply call her Q?
Q becomes lost in a world of not knowing where she ends and the domicile begins, can she trust herself, after all, not everything is as it seems…...
So it’s not often that i don’t know where to start. I loved the 6th Domicile, I found it so unique in it’s ideas that I knew I wouldn’t be disappointed in the Vrai Domicile and I was right. I really hate the term “emotional rollercoaster” but I can’t think of anything that fits this book more perfectly. From the moment a confused Q wakes up from the meurte bound to the table, she is thrown into a world of emotional and physical turmoil. The recurring theme of “everything is not as it seems” leaves you indeed questioning everything. Q’s ability to love, once her saviour, is now her undoing as it is held over her at every opportunity. She is trained to be a fighter, a warrior for the domicile and all that they stand for, whilst emotionally she is being put through the wringer at every turn, finding it so hard to be herself and be the person the domicile wants her to be.
Shocking twists are abound in this book, who are the Elders? Who else is resident in the Vrai Domicile?
As with book one, the world created even below ground is richly woven, the more relaxed formality at times really drives the character development forward, Where the 6th domicile was about Q and the other domicile members, who were simply masks, the Vrai domicile allows you behind the masks and into the world more completely.
The pace at times is unbelievable and I had easily gone 100 pages in a blink, the frenzy towards the end really adds to the drama of the conclusion, the desperation of Q’s predicament, the alliances she must forge and risks she must take at the cost of others, left my head spinning - but in a good way.
In summary this book is amazing and if you are after YA dystopian with a unique twist then this is definately a series for you.
