Prophecy

In the sequel to Legacy (2014), teen heroine Lex Knightley has moved on and started a new life with her boyfriend—until his father is charged with another violent act.

Things have changed since readers last saw Lex. The brutal Guardian Force has been disbanded, and dangerous emotion-altering drugs, such as Emovere (which suppresses fear) and Eupho (which boosts happiness to the point of giddiness), have been banned. People are repopulating the abandoned city of San Francisco and salvaging whatever they can of their normal lives. Lex is living with her father, taking classes at the newly reopened Stanford University, and falling deeper in love with Quin McAllister despite his emotional baggage. However, everything falls apart when Quin’s father, George, is accused of the brutal murder of his new wife, Shelly. He was previously jailed for murdering Quin’s mother; his violent behavior was possibly the result of a rare genetic marker that Quin may also carry. Quin is confident that his father is innocent of this new crime, but Lex isn’t so sure. As her relationship with Quin threatens to crumble under the weight of too many secrets, Lex begins to uncover evidence that George is being framed—and that Resistance leader–turned–drug czar Augustus Porter may be involved. Author Kane is also a forensic psychologist with experience evaluating violent criminals and treating trauma victims like those who populate her dark, disturbing dystopia. Because of this, her characters feel like well-rounded humans, right down to their all-too-real flaws and self-sabotaging emotional impulses. Her vision of an alternate San Francisco will appeal to fans of Philip K. Dick, while Lex and Quin’s love story will recall Tris and Four’s in Divergent, for better or for worse. A warning: one needs to have read Legacy in order have any inkling of what’s going on here, and even then, enough time has passed on the page that readers may occasionally be confused. 

A solid second installment in a dystopian drama that hinges on human emotion.