Review: Moojag and the Auticode Secret, by N.E, MacMorran

Book description

When Nema and her friends discover a hidden sugar-hooked society holding lost kids, they find their perfect world in danger. The strange, sticky place hides the truth about Nema’s missing brother, and a plot to destroy the free world she knows. But only they can reverse a code to prevent a rock candy robot invasion and rescue the captives. Fail and they might never make it back home…

This dystopian, cli-fi mystery is a quirky adventure featuring a neurodivergent cast and autistic/dyslexic/adhd main characters, for readers 10 years and up. Highly recommended as a family read due to the thought-provoking concepts and subject matter introduced.

Set in the utopian world of post-catastrophe ‘Surrey Isles’, Britain 2054, where neurodivergents live in harmony with nature and technology, and the hidden dystopian ‘Gajoomdom’.

Anyone who has ever felt different or had trouble fitting in will identify with this story about finding the strength to be your true self. A fun, Alice-esque adventure revealing what it means to be neurodivergent, in a way that’s relatable to all.

My Review

I picked this book and the second in th series up at Autscape in August for my cousin’s kids, they’re about the right age to enjoy the mix of friendship and silly adventures in the books.

I love the characters of Adam, Nema, Izzy and Moojag, and the world building is wonderfully mad. The story kept my intrigued and I enjoyed it. I think it’d work really well as a children’s animated film, honestly. The imagery of being flushed down a giant loo made me giggle and the bouncing gahjooms are brilliant. At first I didn’t like the Pofs but once I read their backstory as physically disabled and LD children experimented on, their nature made sense. They’ve been abused and taken advantage of by the Conqips, like the Auts. Kitty reminds me of some of the people with LD that I’ve worked with in the past, very sweet, easily confused, and incredibly loving.

The Conqips are absolutely horrible and I can definitely see where the author, Nem, got the inspiration. Several of the billionaire class already have bunkers and compounds for when the midden hits the windmill, rather than actually doing something to stop the midden taking to the air in the first place. Has anyone else seen that very recently some wretched defence contractor – the one named after the seeing stones in LOTR that has an NHS contract for data – has advertised on X for NDs to apply to work for them? They’d definitely have us in a bunker doing coding to keep them in power if the could. Evil bastards. 

The neurodivergent normative world with innovations that help to negotiate interactions and regulate emotions while providing comprehensive body feedback is a dream come true for a lot of us, I think. I could definitely do with a device that tells me when I’m hungry, tired, needing certain nutrients, etc.

I did have some issues with the descriptions of the fat characters as always guzzling sweets; it’s not an accurate understanding of how and why fat people get fat and I feel that it could give children the wrong idea, especially if they already have fatphobic beliefs, which most people do have in the current culture.

I really appreciated the author writing about the way we can pick up on and slightly predict the emotional atmosphere. I honestly have never seen other people write about it. I can be sat in a room and read the emotional turmoil of people when they walk in, even if I can’t read their faces or body language for emotion. I feel what they’re feeling. It’s awful when people are hurting.

Due to that, I struggled with the description of our sense of emotions as atmosphere being described as a superpower. The autistic traits are superpowers narrative, the Super Crip narrative in another form is really damaging to us as autistic people; it makes us one dimensional, like the Conqips thinking all Auties are great coders, when frankly, I can barely use Word fully.

I understand, from chatting to the author when I bought the books, that she was early in her post-diagnostic journey when she wrote this novel and had less knowledge back then. I understand that, really I do, we all learn and grow, but I worry it’ll encourage misunderstanding of Autistic people. I do think, in general, that Nem did a great job of describing the autistic experience and the way the limiting ideas people have about us can affect the way we see ourselves. I think the Neurodiversity paradigm has definitely started to crack those narrow boxes, we just need to get it into the heads of the people who want to limit us!

I was a bit confused by some of the changes in perspective and tense at times, especially at the end, it took me a second read to realise it was Nema narrating in first person. I did like the use of a paler font to indicate when their Mum was talking, it was ghostly and implied her unseen presence protecting and guiding them.

I’m going to read book two next, I’m actually quite impatient to get started. I want to know if Monzi and Nema rescue the Pofs! And more about where their Mum is. I really enjoyed the pencil drawings in the book. More books should have marginalia.

Now, on to book two – book three is out on Thursday!