Title:  A Long Long Sleep [indie bound] [amazon]
Author: Anna Sheehan [website] [facebook]
Genre:  Science Fiction
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Series: None
Format: eBook
Source: Publisher (via NetGalley)
Parental Advisory: language, criminal activity, violence, stalking
Teachable Moments: individuality, humanity, abandonment, digital literacy

“The next month was a bit of a blur.  It was all too big, too dark, too terrible.  I’d been ripped from my own time, and my world had died around me.   Nothing belonged to me.  Not the world, not my life, not even my own feelings.”

Summary (from the publisher):
Rosalinda Fitzroy has been asleep for sixty-two years when she is woken by a kiss.

Locked away in the chemically induced slumber of a stasis tube in a forgotten sub-basement, sixteen-year-old Rose slept straight through the Dark Times that killed millions and utterly changed the world she knew.  Now, her parents and her first love are long gone, and Rose — hailed upon her awakening as the long-lost heir to an interplanetary empire — is thrust alone into a future in which she is viewed as either a freak or a threat.

Desperate to put the past behind her and adapt to her new world, Rose finds herself drawn to the boy who kissed her awake, hoping that he can help her to start fresh.  But when a deadly danger jeopardizes her fragile new existence, Rose must face the ghosts of her past with open eyes — or be left without any future at all.

Opinion:
Loved this book.  Loved it!

A fantastic science fiction take on the classic fairy tale Sleeping Beauty, A Long Long Sleep focuses on a girl living her life in bits and pieces over a period of time much longer than the average human should live.  Set in a future where people are able to suspend aging by placing themselves in stasis the story centralizes on Rosalinda, the heir to a vast interplanetary empire.  Rosalinda, placed into one of her regular bouts of stasis by her parents, is woken up after a sixty-two year nap only to realize that not only are her parents gone but that the world has barely survived “The Dark Times”.  The Dark Times, being like most catastrophic events, has culled down the human race and significantly altered the way people lead their lives.  Now that she’s awake Rose is expected to adjust to this new way of living life but also as the heir to her father’s fortune is placed in no shortage of danger. Oh and she also deals with mourning the loss of everything and everyone she knew from before.

Sheehan has created just the kind of book I adore.  It is filled with a great many futuristic details that allow immersion into a time that doesn’t exist while still allowing for pieces of “home” — places and things — that ground the reader to the familiar.  Though Sheehan did this, in part, by using flashbacks into Rosalinda’s life prior to her lengthy stay in stasis she doesn’t fall into the trap of making that the only way to do so.  She infuses small pieces of our every day life into Rosalinda’s current existence as well.  For it’s part, the time spent in the future isn’t too shabby either.  Despite never taking the reader to the outer planets Sheehan’s world of the interplanetary empire is appropriately vast.  The details on it’s existence and the development of Rosalinda’s father’s corporation goes to show just how larger than life everything is.  Add to that the advances in technology (communication devices, transportation, medicine, bots and the like) and there is no shortage of intriguing components to this world.

One of the more compelling parts of the story was to watch Rosalinda’s character progression.  This is a girl who, as a result of stasis, has lived an extraordinary length of life.  A life span that far exceeds the normal human being.  Because she has be spent so much of her life in a state of sleep she is much older in age than her physical appearance presents her to be.  It is this fact that allows for the deepest and most meaningful parts of the story.  How she recognizes that she is still technically a teenager though factually  she is well into adulthood.  Grappling with how to navigate her responsibilities (school, being heir to her father’s empire) she grows from an extremely frightened, closed-off shell of a girl into an empowered young lady who is fully capable of protecting herself from harmful situations.

In doing so, she develops relationships with a variety of friends (and ultimately foes) who help shape who she becomes.  Sheehan’s diverse cast of characters could best be described as teachers.  Each plays a particular role in Rose’s life — protector, historian, shoulder to cry on, potential lover, and manipulator.  In this way Rose learns a great deal about herself and the society in which she now lives.  She becomes a stronger more independent woman who takes charge of her life in a way that she was never able to do under the strong hands of her domineering and careless parents.

These characters also provide an open door into an interesting sub-plot focusing on humanity.  Given both the focus on technology and the inclusion of interplanetary life there are a variety of “life forms” to be interacted with.  The development of a mutual admiration between Rose and Otto, a young man from another planet, begins with great caution but then grows into a relationship of love and respect despite their differences.  It, along with the dangerous relationship she has with a quite nefarious hit man robot, gives real perspective on how the various beings of this time are viewed.  In fact, she herself is an anomaly that requires those of modern times to readjust their viewpoints on what it is to be human.  There are any number of questions to ask related to this issue — what is humanity in this time?  Is it a thought process?  Is it a physical manifestation?  Is Rose less human for having been asleep so long.  Is Otto less so because he comes from a different planet?

Though Rose does have great admiration for Otto, thankfully, A Long, Long Sleep doesn’t delve too deeply into an all encompassing love story.  Not completely devoid of romantic elements the story does well to appropriately focus on the progression of Rose’s relationship with her childhood sweetheart Xavier.  Not a typical love story theirs spans a much greater period of time due to her bouts in stasis.  That is what makes it so compelling.  Rose starts out as a caretaker for baby Xavier but then as he grows up while she’s sleeping he becomes her first true love.  The longing and loss she feels for him when she awakes in this futuristic time is palpable and the flashbacks to her life before give great perspective on their romance.  But, it is a thing of the past, and as such serves only to pay the role of catalyst in the story.  But, it does add a bit of tenderness to a story fraught with anxiety and tension so Sheen did well to include it an do so at the level she did.

One aspect that struck me in this book wasn’t always the fantastic world building, it was the more emotional elements of the story.  Rose’s journey over the very lengthy span of her life experiences a form of abandonment when her parents continually send her into stasis as a way to make their own lives convenient.  Though I understand Sheehan only had so much time and space to tell that story I do wish that this subject had been delved into a bit more than it was as it shaped who Rose became and how she interacted with those around her.  Their treatment of her as more of a pet than a human was quite intriguing indeed.

From the plot perspective I have to say that I found this story to be quite interesting.  Primarily a character study I was pleased to see a bit of corporate intrigue and elements of a good mystery infused in.  The story of Rosalinda’s robot hit man wasn’t overwhelmingly unpredictable but, frankly, I could overlook that because everything else was just that good.  The themes that could be pulled out and discussed are plenty — the aforementioned focus on humanity being one, as well as the role technology plays in society and finally parental responsibility.  There is no shortage of discussable topics which makes it a good choice for a book club selection.

A Long, Long Sleep is firmly planted in the science fiction genre but I have to say that it didn’t bang me over the head with every futuristic element imaginable.  It was subtle in it’s presence which makes it accessible to those who may not be so inclined to embrace a book in this genre.  I would encourage those who may be on the fence, those looking to experiment, and those looking for just an all around good read to pick this one up.