Not so much a vision of a complicated future as a warmhearted ode to a simpler time and place in a community so small that...
Doucette's genial, leisurely novel feels like a throwback to the squeaky clean science fiction of the mid-20th century.
Though marketed toward adults, this book would seem just as much at home in the young adult section. Its 16-year-old heroine, Annie Collins, is the smartest and most capable person in her little mill town in western Massachusetts, with the possible exception of her odd, home-schooled best friend, Violet. Annie is also probably the one who knows the most about the spaceship that landed in a nearby field in Sorrow Falls three years ago and has been sitting there ever since, observed with dismay and interest by the military and a group of “alien watchers” camped out in RVs equipped with surveillance equipment as close to the ship as the military will allow. Annie, whose personal life includes a mother dying of cancer and a semirequited crush on a young soldier with a lot of time on his hands, is recruited by a mysterious newcomer to help him get to know the town; Ed Somerville calls himself a journalist, but he seems to have connections to the military. Doucette (The Frequency of Aliens, 2017, etc.) takes his time advancing the plot, which finally picks up its pace in the last quarter of the book, when soldiers and townspeople, both alive and long dead, start behaving like zombies, leaving most of the novel's named characters to grab some wheels and head toward the spaceship in hopes of placating its inhabitants. The science behind the fiction is largely unconvincing, and Doucette's dialogue is often clunky and overloaded with exposition. But the town is vividly realized and described, and its physical and social reality helps ground the more unlikely elements of the story in a sense of place. Doucette's dry sense of humor and obvious affection for his characters go a long way toward compensating for the novel's meandering progress.
Not so much a vision of a complicated future as a warmhearted ode to a simpler time and place in a community so small that everybody knows everybody else's business.Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-328-56746-8
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Mariner/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review Posted Online: June 17, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
Well-drawn characters and playful twists keep this thriller fully charged.
This YA SF novel features a teen who must halt a virus that will kill two-thirds of humanity.
In Silver Oak, Maryland, Alice Sherman is a high school junior enjoying lunch near her campus basketball court. With her is Archie, her brother, a senior and science prodigy who likes equations more than his fellow students. Alice has been Archie’s one true friend since their mother left six years ago. Alice is about to catch up with Lalana Bunyasarn, her best friend, when a sudden “streak of electricity zaps through” her head. The agony intensifies until a Voice enters Alice’s mind, asking her, “Do you want this pain to stop?” The Voice then instructs her to go up to Bandit Sakda, a classmate playing basketball, and say that she loves him. Bandit is a beautiful Thai boy who’s talented and arrogant. Strangely, the Voice calls her Malice and says not to fall for him because “it’ll only make what you have to do later harder.” Eventually, Alice learns that the Voice belongs to someone from 10 years in the future who needs help saving humanity. A virus will be created by a person Alice knows that will wipe out two-thirds of the world population. Following the Voice’s directions can save everyone—except the person Alice is ordered to kill. Dunn’s (Star-Crossed, 2018, etc.) latest YA adventure offers increasingly tantalizing twists that gleam in succession like nested matryoshka dolls. Alice will charm readers with her quirks, especially her devotion to Chris Hemsworth of Marvel’s Avengers films. Tension builds as characters in the large cast, including crushworthy Zeke Cain and the brilliant Cristela Ruiz, become potential targets for Alice’s mission. Details about Thai culture add a splendid dimension to the narrative; for example, Bandit is pronounced “bun-dit” and means “one who is wise.” While the notion of a high school killer may not sit well with some, the author doesn’t use the device lightly. Her book takes a strong anti-bullying stance, doing so through an entertaining narrative that doesn’t resort to preaching. The author’s heart and craftiness make a sequel welcome.
Well-drawn characters and playful twists keep this thriller fully charged.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-64063-412-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Any moral that may be gleaned from the tangled narrative is buried in confusion. (Fantasy. YA)
A convoluted fantasy offering a series of morals about justice, mercy, human treatment of animals and human treatment of other humans.
A cluster of animals have been educated by a World War II veteran and his activist wife. The animals, a now-vegetarian mix of carnivores, herbivores and omnivores, live in harmony on Cloudburst Mountain. Following their scriptures (the Bible, Animal Farm and judgments such as “Humans Are Evil”), they plan for the day when they will kill all the humans and rule the world. The tale follows the adventures of their coyote prophet Justice and human ally Cody as they travel the United States preparing other animals for “The Rebellion.” Though they meet mostly repellent, violent humans and mistreated animals, they also encounter enough well-meaning, victimized humans to make Cody question his alliance with the cause of human genocide. Meanwhile, the grandson of the original human missionaries to the animals threatens the entire endeavor as he plans to mine the mountain for uranium. Ultimately, the animals succeed in murdering the vast majority of the human race, giving them hope for a shining new day. This overly complex tale is dense with purple prose and far too many extraneous characters–for example, Gordon “Raindance” Fell, the Shadow Shaman of the Pokihallah tribe; and Forest Victor, who appears for the first time late in the story, saying of his never-mentioned-before dead wife, “if only her hatred of the evil deeds of the baby seal killers hadn’t drawn her and her cameras into a combative stance.”
Any moral that may be gleaned from the tangled narrative is buried in confusion. (Fantasy. YA)Pub Date: June 21, 2006
ISBN: 0-595-39274-1
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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