Despite intentions, this tale never connects past to present, resulting in a book with a message but no resonance.
Standish Treadwell, 15, has lost parents, neighbors, best friend: All disappeared from Zone Seven, a post-war occupied territory, into the hellish clutches of the Motherland. Now a new horror approaches.
Though it’s unnamed, the Motherland’s distinguishing features scream “Nazi Germany.” Life in Zone Seven is a dreary round of familiar miseries. Standish and Hector spin fantasies about the far-off tantalizing consumer culture they glimpsed on television (now banned), but they lack a vision of the future beyond vague dreams of rescue. Food is scarce; surveillance constant. Loved ones vanish; teachers beat children to death while classmates look on. Abetting the powerful, residents inform on their neighbors for food. Kindness revealed is punished; solutions are final. Call it Auschwitz lite. Why the brutal state bothers to educate those, like Standish, labeled “impure” (his eyes are of different colors and he’s dyslexic), is unclear. Despite short chapters and simple vocabulary and syntax, the detailed, sadistic violence makes this is a poor choice for younger readers, while oversimplified characters, a feeble setting and inauthentic science make it a tough sell for older ones. In this nuance- and complexity-free world, scarcity rules. Standish dreams of “ice-cream-colored Cadillacs” and drinking “Croca-Colas.” Wealth-disparity, climate change and childhood obesity don’t exist.
Despite intentions, this tale never connects past to present, resulting in a book with a message but no resonance. (Speculative fiction. 13 & up)Pub Date: Feb. 12, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6553-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 30, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A thoughtful and thrilling story of life, death, and meaning.
Two teens train to be society-sanctioned killers in an otherwise immortal world.
On post-mortal Earth, humans live long (if not particularly passionate) lives without fear of disease, aging, or accidents. Operating independently of the governing AI (called the Thunderhead since it evolved from the cloud), scythes rely on 10 commandments, quotas, and their own moral codes to glean the population. After challenging Hon. Scythe Faraday, 16-year-olds Rowan Damisch and Citra Terranova reluctantly become his apprentices. Subjected to killcraft training, exposed to numerous executions, and discouraged from becoming allies or lovers, the two find themselves engaged in a fatal competition but equally determined to fight corruption and cruelty. The vivid and often violent action unfolds slowly, anchored in complex worldbuilding and propelled by political machinations and existential musings. Scythes’ journal entries accompany Rowan’s and Citra’s dual and dueling narratives, revealing both personal struggles and societal problems. The futuristic post–2042 MidMerican world is both dystopia and utopia, free of fear, unexpected death, and blatant racism—multiracial main characters discuss their diverse ethnic percentages rather than purity—but also lacking creativity, emotion, and purpose. Elegant and elegiac, brooding but imbued with gallows humor, Shusterman’s dark tale thrusts realistic, likable teens into a surreal situation and raises deep philosophic questions.
A thoughtful and thrilling story of life, death, and meaning. (Science fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4424-7242-6
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 25, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
A satisfying reality dating competition unfolds within a dystopian fantasy.
In Ethyria, only the highborn may express love; now lowborn Axira must put her life on the line to compete in a love tournament—unexpectedly forging a strong romantic connection along the way.
Axira Merreri never meant to enter the Tournament of Hearts, “a chance for lowborn to earn Skyborn citizenship by proving they can handle true love.” All she wanted was to smuggle Heartfillers (the drug Ethyria’s ruler uses to keep citizens docile) in order to earn enough to escape the kingdom’s socio-economic disparities. When she gets caught while carrying out a scheme involving the prince’s cousin, she’s forced to enter the deadly tournament to win her freedom while secretly allying with Prince Caelus. He wants her help stealing magic from the tournament in exchange for her passage on a ship out of Ethyria. The early part of the book is heavy on worldbuilding, making for a slower pace until the tournament, which is Love Island meets The Hunger Games in a racially diverse world. The contestants must survive potentially deadly tests of strength, loyalty, and courage while going on dates; they face elimination if they can’t find love. The secondary characterization in this duology opener is fairly light, but the leads are strong and compelling, and their sultry and emotive romance provides a necessary core to a plot with multiple strands that occasionally fray.
A satisfying reality dating competition unfolds within a dystopian fantasy. (Dystopian romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2026
ISBN: 9798217238224
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2026
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