Indelible characters fuel this deliberately paced but wholly engaging SF story.
A teen and a band of unlikely allies find adventure in outer space in Cleary’s YA novel, the first in a series.
Ash Bennett’s mid-24th-century life is “nomadic,” with her parents often between jobs. Landing on the Martian moon Phobos for supplies changes everything: Someone kills her parents and takes their bodies away, and Ash, to get answers, reluctantly teams up with an 18-year-old stranger, Edan. He’s been helping twins Isaac and Izzy, who are looking for their own missing parents. The twins are rare “pathers”; Isaac is an empath, while Izzy is telekinetic. They’re like the Mind Squad Agents who helped fight off alien species during a war that saved humanity but not the Earth. MSAs may be the ones abducting pathers, while Edan likely has a bounty on him courtesy of the criminal parents he’s been evading. In any case, he and the twins must leave Phobos; Ash, with piloting skills and her family’s spaceship, makes an ideal new friend. Meanwhile, Ash, who’s been having intense dreams of a blue-skinned figure, discovers that she has newfound abilities not unlike a pather’s. The first installment of Cleary’s series is jam-packed with impressive worldbuilding—characters visit or hail from various moons in the solar system, and three distinct nonhuman races (all tied to the war) make appearances. The characters have complicated relationships and backstories; the teens and parents have secrets among them, and Ash and Edan’s mutual attraction comes with all sorts of obstacles (“I’d rather be alone,” Ash claims). The teens are capable and work together to great effect, especially when danger is involved. But despite the superbly developed cast, this interstellar narrative barely unfolds. Ash and the others dig up copious mysteries (like one concerning an enigmatic “chosen one”), but most are left unresolved; even Isaac’s gift for reading minds usually leads only to more questions. Answers surely await the intrepid teens (and readers) in the sequels.
Indelible characters fuel this deliberately paced but wholly engaging SF story.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2026
ISBN: 9798317820916
Page Count: 328
Publisher: BookBaby
Review Posted Online: Feb. 18, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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