An absorbing tale of survival in a post-apocalyptic future.
The Corporation runs everything inside the Wall.
If you’re not part of the Corp, you’re in debt to them and there is no escape. Will Meadows and his Ma live in Zone F, where Will attends school and works long hours at the desalination plant. Ma gets him his daily doses of Crystal 8, starving herself to be able to afford the drugs. When they run out, Will is forced to become a Breeder runner in the Gray Zone in exchange for a supply of Crystal. In a world where environmental degradation has left most people infertile, Breeder runners smuggle young girls and women into the Incubator, where they are branded, forcibly inseminated, and made to give birth. The smugglers get a cut of the profits. While in the Gray Zone, Will meets Alex, an escaped breeder disguised as an undocumented Wall Kid. When Will is captured by the Corp, he thinks his life is over, but the corruption of the Gray Corps may offer a way out. Will has to find a way to save himself and Alex—or die trying. This short, fast-paced novel set in a futuristic yet terrifyingly familiar world is perfect for fans of Marie Lu’s Legend series. Readers will find themselves fully immersed in the bleak Corporation landscape and the lives and fates of those struggling to survive. Main characters are cued as White.
An absorbing tale of survival in a post-apocalyptic future. (Dystopian. 14-18)Pub Date: July 13, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-09-409980-4
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Blackstone
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
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 meditation and adventure quest offering solace to anyone bearing an unfair burden.
What does it mean to come into your own power by letting go of it?
The villagers of Empalme devoutly pray to Solís, the feared higher power who unleashed La Quema, or fire, on humanity for its ills of greed, war, and jealousy. As the village cuentista, Xochitl listens to and receives the villagers’ stories into her body, clearing their consciences, preventing the manifestation of their nightmares, and releasing them to Solís in the desert. Having diligently played this role since childhood, she is now a deeply lonesome 16-year-old whose only comfort comes from cherished poems. Worn weary by her role, she leaves on an odyssey in search of another way to exist. In their sophomore novel, Oshiro deftly weaves an intricate, allegorical, and often gory tale within a post-apocalyptic desert setting that readers will feel so viscerally they may very well need to reach for a glass of water. It is a world parallel to ours, rife with Biblical references and the horrific traps that Latinx immigrants face while seeking better lives. Xochitl’s first-person, questioning narration—interlaced with terrifying cuentos that she receives on her journey—is the strongest voice, although secondary and tertiary characters, both human and mythical, are given a tenderness and humanity. All main characters are Latinx, and queer relationships are integrated with refreshing normality.
A meditation and adventure quest offering solace to anyone bearing an unfair burden. (Fantasy/horror. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-16921-1
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Tor Teen
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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