An engrossing dystopian tale with well-developed characters.
A chronically ill teen and her best friend strike out into the perilous world beyond a city in this YA novel.
Olivia Rosette Sloane lives in a city surrounded by a fence that no one can cross on foot for fear of falling prey to the numerous dangers that live in the woods beyond. The city is shrouded in perpetual fog and is plagued by two sorts of corrosive rain: acid rain, which damages buildings, and “death rain,” which kills people. Needless to say, it isn’t the cheeriest place to grow up in. High school junior Olivia has just survived her third suicide attempt. Suffering from severe asthma and panic attacks, she’d really rather not exist at all than continue to live sick and depressed. She wakes up in a psychiatric ward, where she’s forced to wait out her stay with a thoroughly unhinged roommate named Cindy—or maybe Joselyn. When Olivia is released and returns to school, her old problems are still there waiting for her: She feels terrible; she’s ostracized by her peers; and she fights with her mother. Her best—and only—friend is David Beckett, another chronically ill teen who suffers from epilepsy. David suggests that Olivia run away with him, past the fence and into the forbidden woods, even though they’ve been raised to fear the wilderness. “How do we know what’s out there?” he asks her. “We only know what they tell us. I would rather die going on an adventure and seeking truths, than die inside a hospital never having lived.” Olivia reluctantly agrees—after all, could life out there be any worse than her plight at home?—but as the two travel on their own, they wade into perils far different than those they’ve known before. There are secrets in the woods—related to the government, history, and even Olivia’s own past—but sometimes secrets can be deadly.
In this dystopian series opener, Anthony’s prose, narrated by Olivia, is urgent and angsty, capturing the emotional state of her protagonist: “I go to my room, but instead of working on homework, I start packing some things I’m going to need for Wednesday.…I slip the bag on my back and take a look at myself in the mirror. A wave of excitement hits me, closely followed by terror. Are we really going to be able to survive out there?” The novel has many of the familiar elements of dystopian YA, particularly in its broad strokes. But the author’s choice to focus on issues of physical and mental health—particularly in Olivia, David, and Cindy/Joselyn—lends a deeper psychological layer to the narrative. The book takes a while getting started, but Anthony uses this time to steep readers in the real-world problems of the characters. When things start to go in a faster, more speculative direction, this initial investment pays off in terms of readers’ emotional investment in Olivia and the others. The story ends on a cliffhanger, foretelling the sequel to come, and readers will likely return to see what further adventures—and answers—the author has in store for this world.
An engrossing dystopian tale with well-developed characters.Pub Date: Dec. 7, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-64477-004-7
Page Count: 202
Publisher: Authors 4 Authors Publishing Cooperative
Review Posted Online: March 11, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A thoughtful and thrilling story of life, death, and meaning.
Two teens train to be society-sanctioned killers in an otherwise immortal world.
On post-mortal Earth, humans live long (if not particularly passionate) lives without fear of disease, aging, or accidents. Operating independently of the governing AI (called the Thunderhead since it evolved from the cloud), scythes rely on 10 commandments, quotas, and their own moral codes to glean the population. After challenging Hon. Scythe Faraday, 16-year-olds Rowan Damisch and Citra Terranova reluctantly become his apprentices. Subjected to killcraft training, exposed to numerous executions, and discouraged from becoming allies or lovers, the two find themselves engaged in a fatal competition but equally determined to fight corruption and cruelty. The vivid and often violent action unfolds slowly, anchored in complex worldbuilding and propelled by political machinations and existential musings. Scythes’ journal entries accompany Rowan’s and Citra’s dual and dueling narratives, revealing both personal struggles and societal problems. The futuristic post–2042 MidMerican world is both dystopia and utopia, free of fear, unexpected death, and blatant racism—multiracial main characters discuss their diverse ethnic percentages rather than purity—but also lacking creativity, emotion, and purpose. Elegant and elegiac, brooding but imbued with gallows humor, Shusterman’s dark tale thrusts realistic, likable teens into a surreal situation and raises deep philosophic questions.
A thoughtful and thrilling story of life, death, and meaning. (Science fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4424-7242-6
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 25, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
A high-concept premise that falls short in its execution.
A teenage girl finds herself alone after everyone else in her town mysteriously disappears, leaving her scrambling to figure out how to find them all.
One late summer day, everybody in July Fielding’s town disappears. She is left to piece together what happened, following a series of cryptic signs she finds around town urging her to “GET THEM BACK.” The narrative moves back and forth between July’s present and the events of the summer before, when her relationship with her best friend, cross-country team co-captain Sydney, starts to fracture due to a combination of jealousy over July’s new relationship with a cute boy called Sam and sweet up-and-coming freshman Ella’s threatening to overtake Syd’s status as star of the track team. The team members participate in a ritual in which they jump off a cliff into the rocky waters below at the end of their Friday practice runs. Though Ella is reluctant, Syd pressures her to jump. Short, frenetically paced sections move the story along quickly, and there is much foreshadowing pointing to something terrible that occurred at the end of that summer, which may be the key to July’s current predicament, but there is much misdirection too. Ultimately this is a story without enough setup to make the turn the book takes in the end feel fully developed or earned. All characters read white.
A high-concept premise that falls short in its execution. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9780593327173
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
