Calm follows two characters as their lives begin to fall apart. In a near-future society, the majority of the population is drugged via the water supply into an almost dream-like calm, making them complacent and apathetic. Resistance must be reported. 

Owyn is starting to feel things. Emotions rise from the calm, and he’s unsure what to do about them. When his teacher confronts him for showing signs of resistance, he is left with only one choice: to run. 

Tiegan’s whole family is resistant, and they’ve been successfully hiding it for years until one day, she returns to find her father has been taken. Her family, while devastated, must feign apathy, or else they will be caught as well. They make it a few days, but when her brother lets out a scream of fear at school, she knows that that is only the beginning of the end.

The premise of this book is undoubtedly fascinating. Though there are several books in which a society drugs its citizens into compliance, this is the first in which the water is directly tampered with. Baker uses this to their advantage, exploring the implications of the different forms of resistance introduced later in the book. A drugged water supply is undoubtedly terrifying. 

Baker makes an excellent choice in following two characters in different circumstances and experiencing the same hardship. Owyn is entirely on his own from the start, while Tiegan has her brother and allies who help her early in her escape. Both experiences with resistance are also different, which creates interesting and dynamic storytelling that culminates in a very satisfying way.

With an exciting concept and creative storytelling decisions, Calm has the makings to be an incredible story, but it still misses the mark. A lot of the book’s struggles come from the story being a lot bigger than what many authors can fit into 350 pages. Calm feels incomplete, the beginning of a much larger overarching story. With many unanswered questions and so much valuable worldbuilding, there is still so much that can be explored in this universe.

Calm has an exciting premise and explores a terrifyingly possible dystopian future. It struggles under the weight of its grand concepts but pushes through with an exciting storytelling style. There is so much more to be explored in this world, and with all the world-building out of the way, if Baker decides to return to the universe, it can only improve.