L3K by M.O. Walsh

5 stars

In this compelling, gripping dystopian near future of climate collapse, Louisiana is fully submersed underwater. The U.S. government wants to shut down L3K, a wildlife refuge that it has been sustaining on a cluster of abandoned oil rigs in the Gulf. The Gulf itself is polluted from oil spills due to storms and the garbage of New Orleans now underwater.

You get swept up into the passionate defiance of the scientists, refusing an eviction order to abandon their beloved animals, many the last of their species, especially as they blame human carelessness about the environment as causing their near extinction. Each biologist cares for a different species each on their own rig: pelicans, crocodiles, large rats, to name just a few.

Head biologist, Graham Flanagan, leads the team’s effort to get the government to stand down: first by amassing millions of social media followers vested in the plight of the animals and secondly by posting a video about the pending government threats, begging followers to protest, and demanding that the government specifically send in Ella Powell, a relocation specialist.

Ella has relocated many other communities, but always from her Midwest sterile desk at a remove and mainly acts as a persuader that their lives will be better elsewhere. Ella proves to be as sterile as her work environment: emotionless, unfulfilled, rudderless, lonely, isolated, shut down. She arrives with 5 days before the government will arrive in force to take away the scientists.

The real essence of the story lies in the poetic writing in which unfurls a romance between Ella and Graham. Ella opens, softens, feels deep connectivity to the humans and the pelicans, and must reexamine every tenet of her life to this point. As her personality and sexuality awakens, it becomes infused with unexpected pivotal moments.

This is a book that will stay with me for a long, long time – and stands out as simply exemplary in a compelling field of climate refuge fiction.

Thanks to Little Brown and Company, and NetGalley, for an advance reader’s copy.

Stacy DeBroff

Stacy DeBroff, founder and CEO of Mom Central.com and social and digital consultancy, Influence Central, is a social media strategist, attorney, and best-selling parenting author. A sought-after expert for national media, she trend-spots regularly with national brands and speaks frequently to national and international audiences on a wide range of subjects, including influencer marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, and consumer trends. A passionate cook, gardener, reader, and tennis player, she adores this new chapter of post-college-age parenting.