Book Review: Steps by Sam A.D.

Reviewed by John M. Murray

A darkly comic adventure that explores the nature of society when every life has the same countdown

Overpopulation has pushed the world to a tipping point leading several world governments to enact a drastic population control method. Sixty million steps, that’s the limit. Once a person hits that limit, they die an instant and painless death. 

Some citizens refuse to acknowledge the countdown and live a reckless life while others find novel ways of getting around that don’t trigger the steps counting mechanism. But on the night of a lottery with several prizes of unlimited steps, a nefarious plot arises, aiming to wipe out a large swath of the population in order to hoard their steps.

Agnes is a Roller who gets around by rolling, partially due to a genetic defect in her legs but also to minimize the step counting. She collides with Aksel, a Strider who uses his abnormally long legs for the same reason. The two become quite close, almost brother and sister, as they travel to the stadium for the lottery later that night. 

But they’re waylaid by a wheelchair-bound man who abducts people to siphon off their steps before discovering the plot to execute everyone at the lottery. They race to save the day without losing too many of their own steps.

The step-counting limit is said to be tied to genetic engineering, but some questions remain, particularly why everyone has the limit and how steps are able to be taken from some and given to others. Wealthy people travel by slave labor effectively using the poor class to keep their own step count high, prompting an interesting parallel on modern day class disparity. 

Perhaps due to its shorter page count, there’s not much space given to worldbuilding or exposition. The lottery terrorist plot is deeply intriguing and offers a worthy antagonist with real stakes, but this pulls up a bit short in development too. 

There’s so much potential in a concept like this. There’s human relevance to the plotline and so much genuineness in being fearful of a future of an all-too powerful government control. Your brain will be humming with possibilities in some of the topics discussed, like class disparity, the unusual ways people avoid lowering the step count, and the gangs that populate the world. Steps is a dark & engaging adventure in a weird society that feels isolating and hedonic—where every moment is literally a step closer to death.

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