This sequel feels like it’s under new management, its enticing high concept abandoned by the wayside all dressed up with no...
Safe for now behind the firewall in Elusion, the dangerously addictive virtual-reality experience Regan’s dad designed, she and Josh join the race to dismantle it before its mass-market release.
Each of Elusion’s virtual miniworlds must be destroyed from inside, a tricky business that takes a harsh toll on the team (kids Elusion earlier ensnared, including Josh’s sister, Nora). Too soon, Patrick, Regan’s would-be boyfriend and her dad’s cohort, pulls her back to the real world but ascribes her account of finding her dad alive to nanopsychosis. Not only is Patrick no help, he’s the reason she’s confined to the hospital psych ward she must escape as the countdown to Elusion’s release continues. As in its stronger predecessor, the setup is promising, raising expectations, but structural problems hobble this sequel. The beginning crawls as readers are fed complex back story and far more abstract information than is required, via awkward dialogue, on Elusion’s programming. Once characters start interacting with Elusion (hands-down the most interesting character), the pace picks up and the story ignites, only to deflate again when Regan returns to the real world. In contrast to Elusion’s elaborate mechanics, the story’s humans feel drab and one-dimensional, and several are nearly unrecognizable, as if they’ve been replaced midarc by strangers bearing their names.
This sequel feels like it’s under new management, its enticing high concept abandoned by the wayside all dressed up with no place to go . (Science fiction. 14-17)Pub Date: March 30, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-212244-5
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
The shelves are already crowded with teens-training-for-space stories; there’s no need to make room for this one.
Teens become astronauts in record time for an inaugural space mission.
After losing his family to “the greatest flood Rome has ever known,” skilled white Italian swimmer Leo Danieli would never have expected that in his darkest moment he would be drafted by the European Space Agency to attend the International Space Training Camp, where teens will train to terraform and colonize Jupiter’s moon Europa for human settlement. California native Naomi Ardalan, a second-generation Iranian-American, has also been chosen for her expertise in science and technology. During a period of violent climate change worldwide, Earth’s governments are desperate to draft teens for a space mission for which they have only a few weeks in which to prepare. Twenty-four teen finalists, many orphaned by cataclysmic natural disasters, have been chosen from all over the world to compete for this space colonization mission. Warnings come to Leo and Naomi that there is a more sinister aspect to this mission, especially after things go tragically awry with other candidates during the training. The relationship that develops between Naomi and Leo feels forced, as if their meeting necessitates speedy deployment of a romantic cliché. The use of predictable plot devices, along with the fundamentally ludicrous premise, undermines any believability that would make a reader invest in such an elaborate space journey.
The shelves are already crowded with teens-training-for-space stories; there’s no need to make room for this one. (Science fiction. 14-17)Pub Date: March 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-265894-4
Page Count: 352
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017
A tightly plotted thriller helmed by a firecracker that never loses her spark.
Estranged best friends must come together to survive man-made threats in the harsh Alaskan wilderness.
Maddie and Logan, both white, were best friends at age 10. Maddie’s father’s job was to keep the president safe, and as the president’s son, that meant Logan too. But when Russians attempt an attack on Logan and the first lady, everything changes. Maddie’s father decides they must move somewhere with no phones, no internet, no access. Soon Maddie and Logan are thousands of miles apart, she in rural Alaska and he in the White House. For six years there’s no contact; Maddie spends two years writing to him with no response. She becomes skilled in the ways of the wilderness, her anger at Logan building. His perspective highlights a privileged, reckless life, leading the president to administer a unique punishment: staying with Maddie and her father in Alaska. But Logan brings dangerous baggage with him, and with her father away for the night, it’s up to Maddie to keep them both safe. Maddie’s grit, humor, and cleverness make her an engaging action hero. Logan’s less dynamic, hyperfocused on ensuring Maddie’s safety when she’s not the one who needs saving. Fans of survivalist fiction will be impressed by the well-researched, immersive Alaskan landscape and all its beauty and brutality.
A tightly plotted thriller helmed by a firecracker that never loses her spark. (Thriller. 14-17)Pub Date: March 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-338-13414-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Jan. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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