A well-crafted thriller that offers both a warning and hope for the future.
A dystopian sci-fi YA novel about a teenager whose unexpected discoveries hold the promise of a revolution against a totalitarian regime.
In compelling prose, debut author Hughes weaves an intriguing story of an epic battle of good against evil. Readers will find the plot easy to follow but not overly simplistic as they accompany the teenage protagonist in his existential campaign against the hegemony of the Sovereign Regime. Set in 23rd-century Los Angeles, the story immediately emphasizes the totalitarian nature of the worldwide regime, introducing Goro as he narrowly escapes SR operatives with his brother, Josiah, and friends Cory and Alex. Readers soon learn the source of the SR’s power and control: a zettabyte identity chip implanted in everyone’s right wrist. The technology records every fact of a person’s existence, and this has caused a resistance movement to emerge. Unbeknownst to Goro, he has information about the identity chip that contains the seeds of its destruction. It’s only when he accidentally eavesdrops on a conversation between SR authorities and his father that he comes to understand that he holds the power to destroy the chip. The promise is realized in a nail-biting conclusion in which he and his friends attempt to sabotage the ruling power’s central computer. With its convincing, engaging characters, Hughes’ novel is certainly entertaining, yet it also will give readers pause about a future in which a single authority has too much power. The author also challenges readers to consider themes of ethnicity, youth empowerment, and social and moral values. Secular readers may find the subtle but tangible religious undertones irksome, as Goro variously praises and gives thanks to God with increasing frequency as he heads toward a climactic confrontation with the villain Sheitan (the Arabic word for “devil”). However, this is a minor quibble given the book’s taut writing, credible colloquial dialogue, and dark portrayal of a possible future world.
A well-crafted thriller that offers both a warning and hope for the future.Pub Date: July 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-63047-820-9
Page Count: 262
Publisher: Morgan James Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 20, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.
A tightly wound caseworker is pushed out of his comfort zone when he’s sent to observe a remote orphanage for magical children.
Linus Baker loves rules, which makes him perfectly suited for his job as a midlevel bureaucrat working for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, where he investigates orphanages for children who can do things like make objects float, who have tails or feathers, and even those who are young witches. Linus clings to the notion that his job is about saving children from cruel or dangerous homes, but really he’s a cog in a government machine that treats magical children as second-class citizens. When Extremely Upper Management sends for Linus, he learns that his next assignment is a mission to an island orphanage for especially dangerous kids. He is to stay on the island for a month and write reports for Extremely Upper Management, which warns him to be especially meticulous in his observations. When he reaches the island, he meets extraordinary kids like Talia the gnome, Theodore the wyvern, and Chauncey, an amorphous blob whose parentage is unknown. The proprietor of the orphanage is a strange but charming man named Arthur, who makes it clear to Linus that he will do anything in his power to give his charges a loving home on the island. As Linus spends more time with Arthur and the kids, he starts to question a world that would shun them for being different, and he even develops romantic feelings for Arthur. Lambda Literary Award–winning author Klune (The Art of Breathing, 2019, etc.) has a knack for creating endearing characters, and readers will grow to love Arthur and the orphans alongside Linus. Linus himself is a lovable protagonist despite his prickliness, and Klune aptly handles his evolving feelings and morals. The prose is a touch wooden in places, but fans of quirky fantasy will eat it up.
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-21728-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
PERSPECTIVES
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.
A man walks out of a bar and his life becomes a kaleidoscope of altered states in this science-fiction thriller.
Crouch opens on a family in a warm, resonant domestic moment with three well-developed characters. At home in Chicago’s Logan Square, Jason Dessen dices an onion while his wife, Daniela, sips wine and chats on the phone. Their son, Charlie, an appealing 15-year-old, sketches on a pad. Still, an undertone of regret hovers over the couple, a preoccupation with roads not taken, a theme the book will literally explore, in multifarious ways. To start, both Jason and Daniela abandoned careers that might have soared, Jason as a physicist, Daniela as an artist. When Charlie was born, he suffered a major illness. Jason was forced to abandon promising research to teach undergraduates at a small college. Daniela turned from having gallery shows to teaching private art lessons to middle school students. On this bracing October evening, Jason visits a local bar to pay homage to Ryan Holder, a former college roommate who just received a major award for his work in neuroscience, an honor that rankles Jason, who, Ryan says, gave up on his career. Smarting from the comment, Jason suffers “a sucker punch” as he heads home that leaves him “standing on the precipice.” From behind Jason, a man with a “ghost white” face, “red, pursed lips," and "horrifying eyes” points a gun at Jason and forces him to drive an SUV, following preset navigational directions. At their destination, the abductor forces Jason to strip naked, beats him, then leads him into a vast, abandoned power plant. Here, Jason meets men and women who insist they want to help him. Attempting to escape, Jason opens a door that leads him into a series of dark, strange, yet eerily familiar encounters that sometimes strain credibility, especially in the tale's final moments.
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.Pub Date: July 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-90422-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
PROFILES
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