Burrowed by Mary Baader Kaley
Published by Watkins Media Limited
Age Group: Young Adult
Genres and Categories: Chronic Illness, Medical Scenes, Mental Health, Mobility Aids, Physical Disabilities, Trauma, Vision impairment, Dystopian Sci Fi, Eugenics, Futuristic Setting, Scientist Characters
My Rating:
Published on: 10th January 2023
Pages: 400
Disability Representation: Albinism, Allergies, Brittle Bones, Chronic illness, Cleft Chin, Colour Blind, Disabilities used as plots, Immunocompromised, Invisible Disabilities, Light Sensitivity, Mental Health, Migraines, Pandemic, Physical Disability, Plague, Respiratory Condition, Trauma, Unnamed Disability, Visual Impairment
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An exciting YA-crossover Jane Eyre sci-fi retelling about a world split in two...

In the distant future, a genetic plague has separated humanity in two – Subterraneans who live in underground burrows to protect their health, and strong surface-dwelling Omniterraneans. 

Zuzan Cayan, a brilliant Subter girl with “light blindness,” is about to leave the safety of her burrow and earn a living. With her low life expectancy, however, her options are slim. That is until she’s offered the chance of a lifetime to study the population’s broken genetic code, fix the divide and reunite the world once again.

But when a new virus turns fatal for the Omnits, Zuzan must find a cure or humanity won’t simply remain separate, it will become extinct. 

With enemies on all sides, Zuzan must hold on to the light at the end of the tunnel – or risk the world falling into darkness.

This book was provided for free by NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book!

Content Warnings:

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I was immediately intrigued by the world mentioned in the synopsis of Burrowed by Mary Baader Kaley, where all humans either suffer from a debilitating condition of the body or the mind. Unfortunately, this book wasn’t quite what I expected it to be based on what that line of the synopsis suggests. Keep reading to find out more.

The aftermath of a genetic plague is the setting for Burrowed by Mary Baader Kaley. As a result of the plague, humanity has been split into two separate groups: the sickly yet super-intelligent Subterraneans, who can only survive under the earth and healthy but weak-minded Omniterraneans who live above the earth. The Subters run the intellectual areas of human society, such as science and medicine, while the Omnits are the builders and heavy lifters.

Only Omnits are fertile, which means that Subter children are taken from their Omnit parents when born and are then raised in group nurseries underground. Burrowed follows the story of one such child, Zuzan, from the nursery to a burrow where she continues her studies as a teenager. In addition to the compromised immune system that all Subters have, Zuzan has a visual impairment that requires her to wear specialised googles that offer her some degree of vision, although it remains very limited and does not correct her colour blindness.

Zuzan eventually finds herself in the middle of a conspiracy that is linked to the growing war between Omnits and Subters. She has the skills to help cure a new plague that is killing Omnit babies, and the Subters need to find it fast. Tensions are rising between the two groups as Omnits believe that Subters are stealing their Omnit babies away from them rather than trying to help cure them. It’s a race against the clock, and there is much more going on than Zuzan realises.

On the surface, Burrowed seems like a book with positive chronic illness representation. The problem is that the more I got into the book, the more I realised that this representation was just on the surface. For instance, Baader Kaley emphasises the weakened immune system that Subters have throughout the book, yet the only example given of it in practice is that they are very susceptible to allergies. As someone who has a compromised immune system and a condition where my immune system constantly attacks itself, I’m very aware of how this can manifest. Likewise, the range of chronic health conditions that the Subters had was very limited, and if I’m honest, either obvious or stereotypical. Again, mostly allergies and susceptibility to infections. The only specifically named condition, other than Zuzan’s visual impairment, was brittle bones, which was named at the start of the novel. After that, none are mentioned again as though this part of the plot had been established for the reader.

Instead, the focus moves onto what I believe is the main point of this book: finding a cure. In an interview, Baader Kaley mentions that her personal experience with her daughter becoming ill with meningitis played a large part in creating  “virus-as-a-villain”. That is fair enough if this were just a book about viruses and pandemics, but it’s not. Baader Kaley has chosen to write a book where half the world’s population are physically disabled. It’s a little unclear whether the Omnits are also disabled. While the synopsis mentions “condition of the mind”, in the book, they are only referred to as being weak-minded. It is not specifically mentioned whether they have intellectual or learning disabilities, something that I feel was overlooked. The active choice to have disabled characters and such a forceful ongoing narrative for a cure sends the wrong message. It is saying that disability is a problem that needs to be fixed, and that is what it felt like a lot of the time reading this book.

The sub-plot to cure the Omnit babies is one thing, but it is linked to a larger plot to then cure the damage done to humanity by the original plague. Helping Subters is always discussed as a cure rather than ways to relieve symptoms or pain. Of course, Subters don’t want to live under the earth, have weakened immune systems or be in pain, but so much emphasis was placed on how terrible their lives were. It was always one bad thing after another. The very few moments of joy that Zuzan had with her childhood friend always evolved into some catastrophe, where the reader is reminded how bad the situation for Subters is. This is, unfortunately, a common viewpoint from non-disabled writers, where they see every part of disabled lives as being inherently bad, and the Subters are the ultimate metaphor of that view. 

In the same interview, Baader Kaley is adamant that Burrowed is not a product of the COVID-19 pandemic, although interestingly, she cites other outbreaks, including HIV/AIDS, which is a little concerning. While the author may see a separation between her book and the most recent pandemic, publishing a young adult book about characters with chronic illnesses during the pandemic is worrying. Many people, including children and teenagers, are now living with chronic health conditions as a result of COVID-19. Their lives are irreversibly changed, and here is a book that talks about people who have developed chronic illnesses from a virus as something wrong, something that needs to be cured.

In case you’re thinking I’m just being pedantic, I’m not. I developed a chronic illness, ME/CFS, due to a virus (flu); I saw myself in these characters, and the message I got throughout Burrowed was that I just needed to wait for someone to magically cure me. That isn’t going to happen, and that’s a worrying message for a young adult book to be giving out to disabled and non-disabled readers.

I want to emphasise that the issue here is not writing a book about pandemics, viruses or finding a cure for a virus. It’s mixing that with chronic illnesses and disability representation. Essentially, the good representation is overwritten by the core plot line, and it becomes a plot device. And yes, despite the curse trope, there is some good representation in Burrowed. There is a very good representation of light sensitivity, especially with regard to its causing migraines. Zuzan’s perspective throughout the book frequently covers some important topics, although please note that there are some very dark subplots, so please check the content warnings before reading. I’m also not sure if this is a standalone or part of a series, as it ended very abruptly and there is no information anywhere with regard to a follow-up book. There were still some unanswered questions, and Zuzan’s story does not feel completed to me.

About Mary Baader Kaley

Mary Baader Kaley writes stories for children and adults with quirky characters whose huge hopes and dreams drive them into impossible situations. She loves the sound of spring crickets, the colors of the fall, and shady porches in between. She spends summers healing her soul over a small Midwestern lake upon a rickety pier, while smiling into the sun. On any given day, you’ll find her laughing with family and friends, binge-watching shows, reading while sneaking bites of chocolate, or warming her bones by a campfire.

Website | Goodreads | Twitter

Thanks for reading my review for Burrowed by Mary Baader Kaley.

This review is a part of GeekDis, an event for the disabled and neurodivergent community to discuss representation from our perspective. You can learn more about this event, how to join in or support it at the GeekDis Information Hub.

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