A sublime, energized heroine headlines this tale of a dark future.
A teenager proficient with knives seeks vengeance against a corrupt authority figure in this YA dystopian adventure.
Tessa is surviving in the city of Victor’s Dark District. Only the wealthy live in the Light District, with the Enforcers targeting any Darksiders trying to steal necessities like food and clothing. Employing her knife-throwing skills, courtesy of her father, Tessa faces off against Enforcers as she raids Light District warehouses. She anonymously steals supplies for Darksiders, always wearing a cap to hide a facial scar from Enforcers. These Robin Hood-style exploits earn her a nickname, the Scorpion, which soon both Districts know. Tessa also works with her romantic interest, River, and Elle, a rogue Lightsider whose father, Campbell, leads the Enforcers. But an apparent betrayal and a threat against Cass, the 10-year-old girl Tessa cares for, lead to the Scorpion turning herself in. Once inside Decay prison, Tessa aligns herself with her cell neighbor Pike, a former Enforcer trainee, and the two plan an escape. Tessa’s ultimate goal is revenge against Campbell, who, she learns, has devised a scheme that’s taking away jobs from Darksiders and putting money that should be theirs into his own pockets. Wilson’s swiftly paced tale is grim but entertaining. While the Dark District proves more harrowing than Decay, where Tessa regularly has food, her later problems escalate both the tension and the melodrama. For example, she remains torn between Pike and River; constantly worries about Cass; and debates whether certain friends are traitors. Tessa is a resounding protagonist; she’s capable, smart, and has enough flaws—including impatience—to be believable. The novel would have benefited from a backstory centered on Tessa showing how she mastered such skills as building and maintaining the bots she uses to “scout” areas. Regardless, it’s gratifying to watch her vigor and tenacity inspire others.
A sublime, energized heroine headlines this tale of a dark future.Pub Date: March 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-64063-826-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Review Posted Online: March 25, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A weak trilogy finale: thin, purposeless, anticlimactic.
This sequel to The Godhead Complex (2023) ambles its way to a close amid just deserts and joyful reunions.
In the third volume of this series, which is set some seven decades after the events of the Maze Runner books, the possibility of a remedy for the zombie-making Flare virus sends parties of Immunes toward Alaska. The story unfolds through the perspectives of several point-of-view characters—Isaac, Ximena, Minho, and Alexandra. The descendants of the characters from the original world are joined by sage Old Man Frypan whom fans of the earlier series will already know; he accompanies Isaac, Ximena, and Jackie and gets the chance to try to persuade an underground colony of scientists that it’s time to rejoin the outside world. The cast just seems to be going through the motions here—so bland and juiceless that even the villain, a glib killer with a god complex who periodically enters a mystical state by reciting numbers in the Fibonacci sequence, seems too weak to merit the violent fate she receives. If ever a series showed clear signs of running on empty, this jumble of mini-chapters, darting choppily back and forth between storylines that are, too often, just marking time, fits the bill. Names cue some diversity in the cast.
A weak trilogy finale: thin, purposeless, anticlimactic. (Dystopian. 12-18)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9798988421535
Page Count: 280
Publisher: Akashic Media Enterprises
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
For lovers of dystopian romance, this gripping tale is a tormented look at identity and a dark trip down Lost-Memory Lane.
As a teen-suicide epidemic sweeps the nation, Sloane and her friends struggle with depression from which the only release is death or The Program.
Every day the teens pretend that they’re not “infected” in order to avoid being seized by The Program. This government-sanctioned treatment returns high schoolers to the community after stripping them of their memories and making them vacant versions of their former selves. With raw emotion, 17-year-old Sloane relates the story in three parts. In the first, Sloane and her boyfriend, James, cling to their intense love while their friends commit suicide or are taken away. There’s nowhere to hide as Sloane and James try and fail to keep themselves from The Program. The stomach-churning second part follows Sloane in treatment, where her memories are plucked and her body violated, and her only friend is playing both sides. Finally, Sloane is re-introduced to her school and family. She retains one key memory, which leads her back to fear, pain and love. How this epidemic began and whether The Program is a sinister conspiracy is left unanswered, but despite weak worldbuilding and a bleak plot, Sloane’s quest for survival and individuality is a tribute to the tenacity of the essential self.
For lovers of dystopian romance, this gripping tale is a tormented look at identity and a dark trip down Lost-Memory Lane. (Dystopian romance. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 30, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4424-4580-2
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 26, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2013
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