Dense but engaging speculative fiction that focuses on the disquieting misuse of new tech.
In Marie’s YA SF series installment, a third-year student in an elite science school is troubled when her cohorts—and her parents—unquestioningly accept an implanted brain-enhancement device.
Cognation Academy is an intrigue-ridden science and technology boarding school of the future, first unveiled in After Intelligence: The Hidden Sequence (2020), which introduced teen hero Charlotte Blythe as a second-year student. Now, she’s in her third year at an institution that produces such inventions as contact lens digital “viewers” and startlingly humanlike androids, which are later incorporated into wider society. The latest paradigm-shift invention is the “soulmate”—a small, implantable data capsule that promises to upgrade virtual-reality sensations, enable new skills, and link human minds (“an amazing innovation that is going to significantly help people everywhere”). Despite the hype, Charlotte is wary of the soulmate’s intrusive nature, especially after her discoveries (in previous novels) of the dark secrets of Cognation’s late founder and his rogue artificial-intelligence projects. What if a soulmate can be hacked and abused—perhaps allowing mass mind-control? Her fears are not allayed when she finds out that the pioneering developers and first adopters of the soulmate are none other than her own parents. Soon, a growing number of students and faculty members are happily undergoing soulmate procedures, including some who’d vowed not to do so—including Charlotte’s boyfriend, Gavin Hooper. The ultra-logical androids aren’t swept up in the soulmate wave, and a few assist Charlotte in investigating whether the tech is part of a nightmarish conspiracy. Marie’s boarding school SF series entry is kind of a YA cousin (and perhaps even a soulmate) to Jack Finney’s influential and oft-filmed The Body Snatchers (1955). The narrative is low-key but effective in how it creates an atmosphere of rising paranoia as the walls close in on a dwindling number of students and adult characters unaffected by the new tech. It finishes on a cliffhanger, even though the story generally prioritizes dialogue, codebreaking, and puzzle-solving over more action-oriented thrills. Invested readers will want to continue to follow the curriculum in future series installments.
Dense but engaging speculative fiction that focuses on the disquieting misuse of new tech.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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 lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes.
The Plague has left a population divided between Elites and Ordinaries—those who have powers and those who don’t; now, an Ordinary teen fights for her life.
Paedyn Gray witnessed the king kill her father five years ago, and she’s been thieving and sleeping rough ever since, all while faking Psychic abilities. When she inadvertently saves the life of Prince Kai, she becomes embroiled in the Purging Trials, a competition to commemorate the sickness that killed most of the kingdom’s Ordinaries. Kai’s duties as the future Enforcer include eradicating any remaining Ordinaries, and these Trials are his chance to prove that he’s internalized his brutal training. But Kai can’t help but find Pae’s blue eyes, silver hair, and unabashed attitude enchanting. She likewise struggles to resist his stormy gray eyes, dark hair, and rakish behavior, even as they’re pitted against each other in the Trials and by the king himself. Scenes and concepts that are strongly reminiscent of the Hunger Games fall flat: They aren’t bolstered by the original’s heart or worldbuilding logic that would have justified a few extreme story elements. Illogical leaps and inconsistent characterizations abound, with lighthearted romantic interludes juxtaposed against genocide, child abuse, and sadism. These elements, which are not sufficiently addressed, combined with the use of ableist language, cannot be erased by any amount of romantic banter. Main characters are cued white; the supporting cast has some brown-skinned characters.
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes. (map) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9798987380406
Page Count: 538
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
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