THE RISE OF THE LEGENDS

In this debut middle-grade SF novel, some drone-loving teenagers have no idea how pivotal they are to a brighter future.

Thirteen-year-old Mikaela Kadono is new to the town of Good Harbor, having just moved into an eerie historical house across the street from her soon-to-be-friend, George Mendoza. He invites Mikaela to join the Drone Legends club at school, which consists of George, tech whiz Kendall Fontenot, and science teacher Jaswinder Singh. As they bond over their shared passion, school villain and former drone club member Malcolm Avar observes their every move. He even attempts to electrocute Kendall when the club members go to a park to practice piloting their crafts, but his plan goes awry when a mysterious high-tech drone interferes and saves her life. Unbeknownst to the teens, this drone has arrived from the future to preserve a valuable timeline that is in danger of being tampered with. In fact, the novel’s frame narrative is set in this nebulous future. As Mikaela and her friends hone their drone skills, they also begin to unravel a decades-old puzzle left by Good Harbor’s former residents while Malcolm watches, hoping to exact revenge on the Drone Legends and his cold, unsupportive family. The situation escalates rapidly until all of the teens are involved in mortal peril, caught in a temporal crossroads where only quick thinking can save them. The narrative’s weakest element is Malcolm’s cartoonlike villain persona, which has unparalleled and unrealistic access to school surveillance technology and a single-minded hatred that seems disproportionate to how far he’s willing to go. Zortman relies on overexplaining Malcolm’s nature rather than letting it speak for itself: “Besides being a technical genius, Malcolm was very good at manipulating people.” But when the story follows the Drone Legends themselves, it coheres excellently as it explores themes of self-identity, teamwork, and social responsibility. George embarks on a captivating journey to embrace his Mexican heritage while Mikaela finds her place in her new town.

An engaging, action-packed adventure for technophiles and aspiring detectives.