THE INTERGALACTICS

Raised in confinement, a small band of genetically engineered escapees makes its way across a rugged planet in this all-action science-fiction outing.

Brinx was born into a world of normies (“humans with unaltered DNA”) and hybrids (who are “engineered by a team of genejackers”). Challenges mount when a crash leaves 13-year-old copper-skinned Brinx—a Featherbone, or someone designed to be capable of huge leaps—and a rapidly dwindling group of fellow surviving hybrids undertaking a long trek to safety across a chain of sky islands populated with aggressive, flesh-eating flora and fauna. In the course of battling an arachnosaur, shankwyrms, vampry, and other evocatively named horrors, the fugitive hybrids learn to use both the complementary abilities they were selected to embody and a few late-developing superpowers in concert. All of this comes in handy when they later face unforeseen deadly challenges. Along the way, Brinx acquires an affectionate, giant pet rock he dubs Rocky, introducing comic relief. He also meets a band of humans dubbed Pocket-troopers, who are indistinguishable from the non-genetically engineered except for being “half the average size of a normie.” Their chief superpower, as their scientist creator dryly remarks, consists of “being underestimated”; some readers may find that they feel uncomfortably close to little people. The central cast is lightly developed but displays some degree of individuality. Alongside their significant physical differences as hybrids, the characters possess fantasy-diverse skin tones.

Chock-full of heroic exploits.