The Roar

The Roar situates itself firmly within the Young Adult/Middle Grade dystopian science-fiction genre alongside such stalwarts as Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game (1985) and Lois Lowry’s The Giver (1993). Like these others, The Roar adheres to a few standard genre conventions: The narrative is centered on youth—in this case Mika and Ellie Smith and their adolescent peers—and adults are present, but they are often ineffectual or tyrannical. Mika’s parents, for example, are well-meaning, but Mika defies them at every turn, and he is justified in doing so since he possesses knowledge they do not: His sister, Ellie, is alive. His parents believe the lie that she is dead because it came from an authoritative source. Mika, on the other hand, has the skepticism to question the official story. The polar opposite of Mika’s parents is Mal Gorman, the malevolent Minister for Youth Development. He is not only brutally effective, but he has the power to orchestrate a global conspiracy of child military recruitment. In Emma Clayton’s world—as in the genre in general—the youthful protagonists must battle both the evil and the clueless benevolence of the adult world.

Another feature of the genre is the resourcefulness of these underage heroes. In Ender’s Game, children are ideal candidates for the military’s elite officer corps because they have the ability to creatively problem-solve in a way adults don’t. Similarly, The Roar’s protagonists are selected because of their mutations, and since the recruitment tool used by the YDF is a video game, there is also an implicit suggestion that the children have the necessary skills—hand-eye coordination, for example—that adults lack. The genre demands that children be left on their own in perilous circumstances, pushing them to rise to the occasion. Indeed, both Ellie and Mika fly Pod Fighters with more skill than Gorman’s trained pilots. It’s true that young brains are still developing, more flexible and resilient than older ones, and perhaps therein lies the crux of their resourcefulness. They see possibilities that adults do not because life has not yet forced them into rigid ways of thinking. While the centenarian Gorman has the position and the resources to threaten, coerce, and perpetuate a global lie, he cannot foresee how the children will eventually beat him at his own game.