A riveting series starter about a future world and its remarkable inhabitants.
In Yates’ YA SF debut, teenagers journey outside their domed city and discover the true nature of their 22nd-century, post-apocalyptic planet.
Cathy is one of the Eight, otherwise known as the members of the Elite Unit, in 2125. A century before, the Ecological Wars nearly wiped out humanity, and the few survivors founded and formed a society called the Red World. Cathy and her fellow 18-year-olds have been training for the past decade to become the Red World’s leaders. Each of the Eight has special abilities; some are unique, such as Tabitha’s “exceptional hearing,” and others are shared, such as telepathy. They live in domed Kantas City, whose current administration keeps the population in check by occasionally expelling people. The Eight, however, don’t always agree with the leaders; at one point, Cathy, Leah, and James kill several soldiers to keep them from murdering “foragers” outside Kantas City—an incident that they then cover up. They see the world outside Red World during a 10-day shuttle trip, which is their final test before they begin their next phase of training. Using coordinates from a Red World–defying Rebel and hacker, the Eight secretly travel to places where survivors live. They learn that their leaders—and some of their parents—have been deceiving them. Yates’ tale, the first in a prospective series, takes place in a detailed dystopia. The Red World has a few advantages—racism is said to no longer exist—but there are considerably more defects. The characters are compelling and multilayered, and Yates effectively shrouds the novel in mystery. For example, she offers few specifics about the Mark that all Elite Unit members have on their left shoulders. She also uses short, alternating chapters that tell stories of numerous characters before, during, and after the Ecological Wars; these are initially confusing, although their purpose eventually becomes clear. By the end, there are still plenty of elements remaining for sequels to explore.
A riveting series starter about a future world and its remarkable inhabitants.Pub Date: May 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-359-68543-1
Page Count: 210
Publisher: Lulu
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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