They stamp on any change: they close the way and keep the type fixed because they’ve got the arrogance to think themselves perfect. As they reckon it, they, and only they, are in the true image; very well, then it follows that if the image is true, they themselves must be God: and, being God, they reckon themselves entitled to decree, “thus far, and no farther.” That is their great sin: they try to strangle the life out of Life.

John Wyndham is one of my favourite writers, and is definitely my favourite science fiction novelist. His works hone in on the people within these giant, unearthly events, so I find his stories more compelling and easier to engage with. The Chrysalids is probably my favourite of his works that I've read so far - I love the way that he deals with otherness and the way society ostracises those who are different, and I think this is his most relevant novel. The paranoia and condemnation in this society is eerily not too far off from what we see in our own world today, and I think a lot of people would benefit from reading this book.