SuitabookThe Extraordinary Colours of Auden Dare
Zillah Bethell
- Reading
- Pause after the early move and again after meeting Paragon: ask what Auden and Vivi know, what they are assuming, and whose interests may shape the water authority’s actions. Leave the ending open for discussion.
- Themes
- Living with achromatopsia: Auden cannot see colours, resents the condition and encounters difficulties connected with it; the story also links him with a possible cure. The premise can invite discussion about difference, identity and whether a difficulty must be overcome, but the complete evaluative treatment is not clear.
- Scarce water and power: Near-future Britain has little rain, rationed water, desalination plants, worldwide water wars and a powerful Water Authority Board that monitors daily life. The setting presents environmental breakdown and authoritarian control as serious pressures affecting ordinary life, encouraging questions about resources and power.
- Friendship and moral choice: Auden meets Vivi, and together they investigate Paragon while the story raises questions about purpose, living entities, humanity and doing what is right. Friendship, courage and moral action are presented as important resources within an uncertain world, alongside humour and emotional moments.
- Worth knowing
- The story includes global water conflict, rationing, thirst, grime, Auden’s father away fighting, a death in the family, school bullying, an authoritarian Britain and monitoring by drones and bots.