A sometimes-engaging but overwrought tale of the near future that alternates between vigorous melodrama and tiresome dudgeon.
A teenage lesbian battles homophobic persecution and torture in this dystopian fable.
The novel unfolds in 2026, when President Doug Miller, a Republican who has secret reveries about having sex with enslaved men, declares his campaign to rid America of what he calls the “disease” of homosexuality. After returning home from her native New York City’s last Gay Pride parade, 17-year-old Maia Anna Robinson and her girlfriend, Aimee, are arrested by the U.S. Morality Guard and taken to a “conversion” camp with other teens. The rebelliousness of the LGBTQ+ youth kicks in after Aimee starts an uprising on the bus and is shot to death; this horror results in Maia spending much of the book mourning her lost love. Later, Maia punches out the female camp commandant, Gen. Wilson, during an orientation assembly; she’s punished with an injection that causes her unbearable pain. More torments ensue, beginning with Freudian indoctrination that insinuates that Maia’s sexuality is a pathological reaction to bad parenting. Then Gen. Wilson orders the camp kids to hurl homophobic insults at one another to undermine their queer solidarity. During a session of aversion therapy, Maia is forced to watch lesbian pornography after taking blue pills that make her nauseous; she’s then given pink euphoria pills and made to watch heterosexual pornography and upsettingly finds herself becoming aroused and even attracted to the male performers. Soon, Maia plots an escape with other inmates that will either set her free or land her in another camp with more gruesome tortures.
Athena, who identifies as queer, offers a scenario that bears only a cartoonish resemblance to today’s reality, with occasional references to real-life figures, as when the government revokes the marriage license of Pete Buttigieg and his husband, Chasten. However, the author does capture a sensibility that feels authentic to its teen heroes thanks to the novel’s paranoid atmosphere and the intense energy of some of the prose and dialogue, as when Maia states, “I was born gay, and I will always be gay, and there’s nothing you can do to change it,” and Gen. Wilson responds, “You’re just a privileged freak that needs to be taught her place.” At its best, the author’s writing attains a dark, magnetic lyricism, as when Maia imagines jumping off a cliff: “that feeling of the wind rushing past you—as if you are flying, and then, the world will end in your eyes—your mind will black with a glitter of stars…and then you will be nothing.” Unfortunately, the book often bogs down in its depiction of Maia’s psychological angst, which feels claustrophobic and repetitive: “I fall into this loop, this loop of self-hatred and hating myself for hating myself, and it repeats, and it’s a downward spiral, and I don’t know how to deal with it, I don’t know how to think, I don’t know how to deal with it….” Readers won’t dislike Maia, but they may grow weary of listening to her ruminations.
A sometimes-engaging but overwrought tale of the near future that alternates between vigorous melodrama and tiresome dudgeon.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-73781-280-7
Page Count: 392
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Jan. 4, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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 thrilling alien-invasion novel based on a chillingly nefarious premise.
When a worldwide rain results in alien plant life taking over the Earth, three Canadian teens are the only ones strong enough to resist the invasion.
Anaya, Seth, and Petra have always felt different from their peers on their British Columbia island. Anaya has severe allergies that give her acne and perpetual congestion. Seth is a foster child with scars running up and down his arms. Although pretty and popular, Petra is allergic to water. None of the teens think much about the others until strange black plants begin sprouting all over town after a day of heavy rain—that somehow doesn’t trigger Petra’s water allergy. When the plants turn carnivorous, Petra, Anaya, and Seth are the only ones able to withstand their strange perfumes and their acidic interiors, and they realize they must have something more in common. And then Anaya’s botanist father reveals that the plants came from another planet—and they are in the process of colonizing the Earth. In this fast-paced thriller, Oppel spins a richly drawn, incredibly fascinating world. Beginning with the brilliantly unique premise of a botanical alien invasion, the plot unravels satisfyingly, building readers’ curiosity by creating 10 new questions for every answer given. The book’s one significant weakness is its lack of diversity. Other than Anaya, whose name implies she might be South Asian, the other characters present white.
A thrilling alien-invasion novel based on a chillingly nefarious premise. (Science fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: March 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5247-7300-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
