A fast, ferocious thriller in which water wars, virtual violence, and murky morals collide.
In a near-future Toronto where clean water is tightly controlled, survival depends on who controls the tap.
Drinking water is managed by Hydrexo, whose head engineers are 14-year-old Wyatt Docherty’s parents. While Wyatt never worries about going thirsty, he’s bullied for being a Water Baby. So he climbs the leaderboard of Fathom Fall, a virtual reality game that involves hunting down Bluddites—slimy, bloodthirsty monsters with gills. Armed with VR goggles and a controller, Wyatt is an elite Bluddite-killer—until a real one appears in his apartment, changing everything. Wyatt’s notoriety earns him a spot in a live, nationally televised Fathom Fall competition with nine other teens under 16, but he soon begins to suspect that there’s more to the contest than video game glory. Using cutting-edge augmented reality, the players enter a brutally gory, hyper-realistic version of the game, where rivalries, alliances, and bloodshed determine who survives. As Wyatt fights to prove he’s more than a Water Baby, he realizes that the game—and the organizer’s motives—aren’t as clean as they seem. Attentive readers may regard some elements of the story as illogical, but the breakneck pace, eerie future setting of environmental devastation, and surprise twist at the end make this a compulsive read with room for a sequel. Wyatt is cued white, and his competitors (only one of whom is a girl) are racially diverse.
A fast, ferocious thriller in which water wars, virtual violence, and murky morals collide. (Dystopian. 12-17)Pub Date: March 3, 2026
ISBN: 9781547616527
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A glossy repackaging of a jejune tale.
A reissue of the 2016 novel published as Consider.
Alexandra Lucas and her boyfriend, Dominick, are about to start their senior year of high school when 500 vertexes—each one a doorway-shaped “hole into the fabric of the universe”—appear across the world, accompanied by holographic messages communicating news of Earth’s impending doom. The only escape is a one-way trip through the portals to a parallel future Earth. As people leave through the vertexes and the extinction event draws nearer, the world becomes increasingly unfamiliar. A lot has changed in the past several years, including expectations of mental health depictions in young adult literature; Alex’s struggle with anxiety and reliance on Ativan, which she calls her “little white savior” while initially discounting therapy as an intervention, make for a trite after-school special–level treatment of a complex situation; a short stint of effective therapy does finally occur but is so limited in duration that it contributes to the oversimplification of the topic. Alex also has unresolved issues with her Gulf War veteran father (who possibly grapples with PTSD). The slow pace of the plot as it depicts a crumbling society, along with stilted writing and insubstantial secondary characterization, limits the appeal of such a small-scale, personal story. Characters are minimally described and largely racially ambiguous; Alex has golden skin and curly brown hair.
A glossy repackaging of a jejune tale. (Science fiction. 13-16)Pub Date: June 6, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-72826-839-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Mercurial and cartoonishly violent but enjoyable thanks to its exuberance.
The lives of two high school students become intertwined as trails of pain and destruction are left in their wake following the All-City Karate Tournament.
It’s love at first sight for awkward Benjamin Harrison High student Don Jones when he’s pitted against Lincoln High’s Samantha Steadman for a shot at the finals in the local karate tournament. After Sam quickly defeats Don, he asks her on a date, and the two instantly connect, leading to a follow-up at prom. All is well until Don’s murderous ex-girlfriend, Astor Violenzia, shows up to the after-party, and chaos ensues. Broken into three unpredictable and highly energetic acts—with key and unexpected moments occurring off page—the story feels like a playful tribute to ’80s pop culture that’s gone off the rails. The dramatic fight sequences offer a head nod to Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim series. The violence, which drives the story forward, can come across as gratuitous but is in line with the narrative’s cheeky nature, while the characters subvert the expectations of their stereotypes. Fiery orange coloring and plentiful action lines match the story’s fast pace. Sam has light blond hair and tan skin; Don has brown skin and Afro-textured hair. Diverse body types and skin tones are represented among the cast members.
Mercurial and cartoonishly violent but enjoyable thanks to its exuberance. (Graphic fiction. 13-17)Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9781250868657
Page Count: 176
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
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