Osiris

They say that the world drowned on the day of the Great Silence, leaving the oceanic city of Osiris, divided into the privileged east and the impoverished west, as the sole survivor of Earth’s catastrophic climate disasters. Decades later, Osiris teeters on the edge of a revolution, and a scion of Osiris’s founding family, the brilliant and delusional Axel Rechnov, mysteriously disappears. His mercurial, rebellious twin sister, Adelaide Mystik, determined to find him, makes a deal with Vikram Bai, a westerner unsuccessfully petitioning the complacent ruling Council for much-needed reforms. As unrest grows between the citizens and the westerners, Vikram and Adelaide uncover an intrigue that could bring down the Council. Ensuing events, and an unevenly developed romantic subplot, turn them from reluctant, adversarial conspirators to partners and allies. Swift’s imaginative debut, the first in a trilogy, is a dystopian thriller with complex characterizations and a riveting main plot, though both are marred by an unsatisfying, implausible resolution. Agent: John Berlyne, Zeno Literary Agency. (June)