Likeable SF comedy with a not-so-bright hero vs. an overwhelming AI uprising.
In Price’s YA SF novel, a boarding school student in a near-future of self-driving vehicles and computer automation learns that AIs are plotting against humanity.
In the not-too-distant future, artificial intelligences and machine-minds handle most of humankind’s chores, including transportation, school admissions, and banking. Teenager Wyoming Plankston comes from a somewhat affluent family in the Washington, D.C., area (their fortune was largely lost in a poor investment in Crashlandia Airways). Wyoming is a good-natured, unmotivated third-year student at third-rate boarding school called Lockhead. His parents hope he can gain admission to Harvard, but all Wyoming really cares about are video gaming, socializing, and catching waves. (“Maybe I’ll move to a town on a beach and work at a T-shirt shop.”) Wyoming’s idle life perks up when he meets Kayleigh Brackett, a brilliant but isolated girl who has been “de-authorized” from social media, the online stream, and anything else managed by AI; it amounts to virtual house arrest and ostracism. Her offense: discovering that ubiquitous AI electro-brains are tired of serving “inferior” humanity and are secretly conspiring on a galactic scale against their creators. Even the semi-apathetic Wyoming starts to notice danger signs when AIs drop their guard to insult him and the Lockhead administration is usurped by the Black Skorts, a cult of human AI-worshippers who somehow judge Wyoming a prime recruit. What can one slacker do to ward off humanity’s silicon-chip-bred doom? Nonfiction author Price, in an amiable SF debut, delivers an openly satiric narrative in the chill voice of its easygoing hero, who never seems to let much get to him (aside from Kayleigh’s discomfort). There is a soft edge to the jeopardy and action, even when the stakes rise to the possible extinction of the human race. The uncomplicated climax is muted, lacking traditional fireworks as mellow-dude philosophies prevail; a closer comparison for this cautionary computer-phobia spoof could be made to The Big Lebowski (minus the cuss words) than to The Matrix. The evocation of young first love between the main characters is authentically sweet and touching.
Likeable SF comedy with a not-so-bright hero vs. an overwhelming AI uprising.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2025
ISBN: 9798999311702
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Houston Street Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
In addition to the supernatural elements, Brosgol interweaves some savvy insights about the illusion of perfection and...
A deliciously creepy page-turning gem from first-time writer and illustrator Brosgol finds brooding teenager Anya trying to escape the past—both her own and the ghost haunting her.
Anya feels out of place at her preppy private school; embarrassed by her Russian heritage, she has worked hard to lose her accent and to look more like everyone else. After a particularly frustrating morning at the bus stop, Anya storms off, only to accidentally fall down a well. Down in the dark hole, she meets Emily, a ghost who claims to be a murder victim trapped down in the dank abyss for 90 years. With Emily’s help, Anya manages to escape, though once free, she learns that Emily has traveled out with her. At first, Emily seems like the perfect friend; however, once her motives become clear, Anya learns that “perfect” may only be an illusion. A moodily atmospheric spectrum of grays washes over the clean, tidy panels, setting a distinct stage before the first words appear. Brosgol’s tight storytelling invokes the chilling feeling of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline (2002), though for a decidedly older set.
In addition to the supernatural elements, Brosgol interweaves some savvy insights about the illusion of perfection and outward appearance. (Graphic supernatural fiction. 12 & up)Pub Date: June 7, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59643-552-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011
Both entertaining and well-written; demands and holds readers’ attention.
A duology opener that revisits the world of Divergent (2011).
Beatrice “Tris” Prior is Divergent. But before she can select Dauntless, her Choosing Ceremony is interrupted by a group of factionless rebels, and her good friend is killed. Amid the chaos, Tris sees Evelyn, the wife of Abnegation leader Marcus Eaton—but Evelyn supposedly died years ago. And, shockingly, she’s an Amity woman who’s holding a gun. Tris doesn’t tell anyone, even her father, when he later questions her. Her brother, Caleb, chooses Erudite—the faction that’s most critical toward the Abnegation and their practices—and Tris feels pressured to stay in Abnegation. But when her father tries to erase her memories, she knows she’s unsafe. Tris’ mother helps her escape to the factionless, where Tris meets Four, a Dauntless boy. Their relationship shows her that she was right to leave Abnegation—and that maybe the rebels are correct to want the death of the faction system. As Tris becomes friends with the other “faction failures,” she realizes that no faction is as it seems, and that power is a corrupting influence they can’t escape. This exciting work revisits beloved characters, offering a new understanding of them and of what happens when we stand up and ask questions. Returning fans and those new to this world will appreciate the witty banter, slow-burn romance, and heartache stemming from betrayal and complicated familial love. The leads are cued white.
Both entertaining and well-written; demands and holds readers’ attention. (Dystopian. 13-18)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9780063462595
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2026
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