Jesus

[C.C.]

Did anyone else think this book was setting up Joshua to have to sacrifice himself for all mankind?

The authors clearly set Joshua up as a Christ-figure. First, they gave hime the same name (Jesus=Yeshua=Joshua), and gave his mother the name Maria. Then they had his birth occur under unusual circumstances, and did not rule out the possibility of it being a virgin birth, as they never mentioned a potential father. Finally, Joshua is shown to possess special abilities that set him apart, and he acts as a savior on step day.

Based on this set up, I thought I knew what the pay off would be, but nothing of the sort happened. Perhaps they were just waiting for a sequel. If (when?) one is released, I will continue to anticipate Joshua sacrificing himself and probably coming back from it.

[Vadim]

Lol, now that you lay it out like that, it does seem like a strong foreshadowing, doesn't it? I didn't notice it at the time, but then again, I miss most obvious clues to the ending, usually.

What I didn't understand from the beginning was why everybody knew Joshua's name. Everywhere he went people heard of him, even Helen Green on a colony a hundred thousand Earths away. He wasn't really that special, there are plenty of people that we see and hear about that step without a stepper like him, there are the trolls that also have some connections to the "Silence", which, by the way, nobody even knew about, not even Lobsang.
The only thing he would remotely be known for is for saving a few kids on stepping day. Did that really make such an impact on everybody? A kid that was a bit more put together than the others? What about all the policemen and firemen and all the like that also helped out. What about all the kids in other neighborhoods that Joshua didn't get to that were rescued somehow. I fail to see how among the greatest event on the planet that all the news will concentrating on, how his name would even have time to be brought up anywhere.