Review: A Succession of Faces by Abigail Porter

An award winning short story that explores identity and rebellion.

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Dates read: 02/07/25 to 02/07/25

Star rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Word to describe: Rebellious

Genre: Dystopian Fiction

A Succession of Faces follows a young women labelled as 3-1-1-5 and her difficult life as a testing subject hidden in a medical facility. She is not given a name and spends her day in servitude to the white coated doctors that take her from room to room for experimentation. Her motto is her expressed believe that she is a good girl. She does not fight, talk, or embody any regret for her situation. In the sea of faces she has come to know during her time in the facility 3-1-1-5 has come to name everyone either Jane or John.

The protagonist lives in a world of pain and the unknown, with her commentary offering readers an insight into a home of screaming, hurt, and violence. With the Jane's and John's battling against their wards for freedom, 3-1-1-5 seeks favour with her captures by subduing herself into calm and peaceful captive, rarely fighting against their hands and seeking to be known as the good girl - the patient who is easy and willing to be experimented on. There is a reminiscent past that she talks about in which she fought against her captors but the unreliable narrative she gives also gives the indication that she is sill fighting until she is drugged into submission once more.

The experiments leave her missing vital body parts, weak with pain, and bleeding, yet 3-1-1-5 still wishes to be a good girl. This repetitive nature brilliantly captures the despair that 3-1-1-5 feels in her life and how quickly her desire for freedom was crushed under the weight of her circumstances. Her life changes when unknown people enter the facility with the loud bangs of weapons and fighting and her room door opens for the first time, not by a doctor but by someone wishing to give her freedom. Stuck in her own routine 3-1-1-5 fears that this is a test and is reluctant to leave until she is coaxed into the unknown by her rescuers.

A Succession of Faces, though a short and fast-paced read, gives readers a strong sense of who the characters are and the moral implications of the dystopian future they live in. The young author, Abigail Porter envisions a story in which a bleak present can be saved by the presence of activists and how easily mental and physical torture can cause huma nature to reject freedom in place of the known and comfortable.

I really enjoyed this book and listened to the audio version in one sitting using BorrowBox and my library card. Seeking something fast-paced and quick to devour A Succession of Faces fit every box and I was in awe and the captivating and compelling writing of the young author. I would love to see more of her work.