THE EXPERIMENT

In this sequel to The Factory (2025), the future seems fabulous—as long as you don’t look too closely.

Twenty years after Asher deployed the Time Bomb and froze himself and Director Mach on the Factory roof, he awakens to a transformed world. His childhood friend and former partner in rebellion, Vi, is now the 33-year-old director of TimeLabs, the rebranded name of the Factory. Climate change has devastated the planet, and enclosed environments now protect human life. The Factory also appears improved: Extractions are safer, participants are fully informed about the procedure, and the facility presents itself as fun and kid-friendly. Even as Asher is slowly “re-integrating into the timefield,” he’s encouraged to blend in under an assumed identity, make friends, and enjoy himself. As Asher explores TimeLabs, he begins to suspect that not everything is as it seems. Befriending Ruby, a girl with secrets of her own, and a boy named Hadi, Asher works to unravel the threads of what really happened over the last two decades and what’s going on inside TimeLabs now. Returning fans will be pleased by this action-packed entry. The fast-moving writing is smart and filled with complex ideas, and the characters are interesting and sympathetic, though not as deeply developed as in the first book. Asher and Ruby present white, Hadi is of Arab descent, and Vi is cued Chinese American.

A satisfying follow-up that will leave readers eager for the next entry.