Book Synopsis:
Set in a dystopian world, a thousand years after a destructive comet hit the Earth and wiped off almost all the civilizations and histories, Leo, a sixteen year old boy has been enduring a horrible life inside a new man-made world named Kahon. It is a small metal place with a shape of a box and located underground.
He lives in the lower layer of Kahon where people who failed to be a variant are put to be slaves and served the nobles from the two upper layers. Being oppressed and maltreated by the commanders of their military government, he wishes to reach the upper layer, where he can find the way out to the Earth’s surface. Until there is a strange girl who accidentally puts a capsule in his pocket. Unknowingly, it is an unexpected gift that can give him ability to wrestle against the fiendish society they have. But, along with that said ability, it can also release either truth or more lies in his world, depending on how he will use it and who will he believes in.
(https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48525572-project-pandora)
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My things about dystopian stories are the way they introduce the characters, the world, and the flow of the story. This Filipino book Project Pandora is my first local dystopian encounter. Set within a world called Kahon (Box) is a male lead named Leo who instantly possessed a Pandora pill where super powers are filled.
The idea of a futuristic world lies within the book. I got some vibes of Suzzaine Collins’ books while I’m reading this. A typical dystopian book where one must conquer and win the battle. As a Filipino reader, I appreciate the idea of the story and how twisted it is compared to other local dystopian books. With a touch technological advancement, the story itself brought its own to showcase the talent of the author. What I love about this book is the embedded character as the story goes; family and friends appreciation, love depiction, humanity and survival, and self-absorbed patience and perseverance. Mostly dystopian books shows the same characteristics and I believe that this book may go beyond expected level of Pinoy stories. This whole new level of storyline must click and must be appreciate by fellow Filipino readers.
On the other side, of course every story has its own weakness. What I see around this book is the proper term to be used. I personally know that it is really hard to find a perfect tagalog word that fits an english term though some words have its own equivalent tagalog word. I found passages that sounds cringe whenever they are termed in english in between tagalog words. And the back stories if each section is lacking in some information that will enlighten every reader. The character development is good but at some point it doesn’t suit the character. The uniqueness of the world is very intriguing to me along with the description of every quarter around the Kahon.
The book needs some development to fully introduce the so called Kahon. honestly, I did love the story. The wit, imagination, authenticity, and the love of literature the author possess, it goes through the book as a blood of the whole masterpiece. A salute to Filipino writer who introduced us to this world Kahon.
Looking forward to the success of the second book.
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Books available at:
VIVA Books | https://vivabooks.ph/books/project-pandora
and at all bookstore nationwide.
About the Author:
Krishmar Llorin is a former missionary, customer representative, and a collections advisor. He began his journey at the age of thirteen by writing poems which lead him to finish his first novel in English. He is a fan of horror and dark fantasy stories since childhood and these are his inspiration on his writing. Project Pandora is his fifth novel.
The Filipina Bookish 